Does a Bahamian shop need an online store or a WhatsApp catalogue?

Do you need an online store for your business?

Start with how your customers buy from you today. Say you post new stock on Facebook or Instagram. Customers message you on WhatsApp to ask “how much?” and “do you have it in a medium?”. Then they pay by bank transfer and send a screenshot, or pay cash when they collect. That is already a working shop, run through your messages.

From there, a shop has three routes. Each one moves more of the order and the payment out of your chats.

A WhatsApp catalogue and a payment link. Customers look through your products inside WhatsApp, send you an order, and pay by a link you send them. This fits when most orders already start in a message and someone answers messages through the day.

A place on a Bahamian marketplace. Customers find you on a shared shopping site with other sellers and pay at its checkout. This fits when you want people who don’t know you yet to find your products and buy without messaging you first.

Your own online store. Customers browse, pay and choose delivery on your own site, at any hour, without you. This fits when orders arrive faster than you can answer them, or you carry more products than a chat can show.

You can also run two routes at once, for example a catalogue for regular customers and a marketplace listing for new ones.

Pick the route that matches how your customers already order and pay.

What to know before you build a WhatsApp catalogue

A WhatsApp catalogue (the app spells it Catalog) is a list of your products that sits on your business profile in WhatsApp. A customer taps it, looks through your items, and sends you the ones they want. WhatsApp’s help webpages set out four things to know before you build one.

Every item needs a name, at least one photo and the country it comes from. Each item can carry up to 10 photos or videos. You can also add a description, a link and a product code.

WhatsApp checks each item before customers see it. An item shows only after WhatsApp approves it under its business messaging rules. If an item is rejected, you can appeal.

The price field is not offered everywhere. WhatsApp says the ability to add prices “is only available in certain countries”, and it does not publish that list, so we could not confirm whether Bahamian accounts get the Price field. Look for it when you add an item. If it is not there, our suggestion is to start the item’s description with the price.

The cart sends you an order. It does not take payment. Customers can add items to a cart. Then, in WhatsApp’s words, they can “send the items in their cart to your business account as a WhatsApp message.” The money still reaches you another way, such as a payment link, a bank transfer or cash.

You can copy a link to your catalogue, or to one item, and paste it wherever you post, such as your Facebook Page, the business page, not your personal profile. WhatsApp has also stopped showing Facebook and Instagram shop storefronts inside the WhatsApp Business app, and says the catalogue is now its main selling tool.

Do you need WhatsApp Business for a catalogue?

Yes. The catalogue is part of the WhatsApp Business app, which is a separate app from personal WhatsApp, and a personal account cannot carry one. For many shops, the first step on this route is the WhatsApp Business account and a number customers can see. The catalogue comes after.

The 2026 edition of the index shows why. Among the retail businesses it read, more than half had a Google listing found open, but WhatsApp, the door a catalogue needs, was found open least often of the four. The index counts WhatsApp as open when a phone number the business lists in public is registered on WhatsApp. So a customer who finds a shop on Google and tries its listed number on WhatsApp often finds nothing there. If your shop takes orders on a different number, customers who already know that number can order. A new customer who finds you online and messages your listed number cannot reach you on WhatsApp. Put your WhatsApp Business number where you are listed. Retail in the index shows each door for the trade.

The account matters too. Across all trades, close to half of the WhatsApp numbers the index found open were personal accounts, so for those shops the catalogue waits on a switch. If your shop’s number is on personal WhatsApp, our guide on how to switch to WhatsApp Business explains how to move it and what your customers will see.

How to take payment without a website

A payment link is a web address for one payment. You paste it into the chat, the customer taps it and pays by card on the provider’s webpage, and the money is paid out to your bank account.

Banks that operate in The Bahamas offer this. RBC says its e-commerce service lets you take payment online “with or without a website”, including payment buttons for social media and messaging. Scotiabank lists link-based payments, and CIBC Caribbean offers payments by chat apps through a partner, Fygaro, on a webpage for its Caribbean markets. On those webpages, the banks do not publish their rates, so you ask for a quote.

Payment companies offer links too, for example Kanoo and HandyPay. Kanoo’s product webpage offers card payment links, and its payout webpage says merchants can move their balance to a registered bank account in The Bahamas. But its own FAQ says it currently cannot process Visa or Mastercard, so ask Kanoo which cards you can take before you sign up. As of 25 September 2026, HandyPay’s Bahamas webpage lists a standard price of 4.9% plus US$0.40 per payment. HandyPay, for one, reviews your business, your identity and your bank account before you can take payments. Our guide on how to take card payments online in The Bahamas compares the options and what they cost.

Selling on a Bahamian marketplace

A marketplace is one shopping website where many sellers list their products. Customers find you there, alongside other shops, and pay at the marketplace’s checkout. Two local examples:

Tingsea says it is “powered by the SBDC”, the Small Business Development Centre. To sell, you fill in its readiness form, upload your business licence and logo, agree to its vendor terms and pay a one-time onboarding fee. Then you upload your products, descriptions, prices and policies, and its team builds your store from them. As of 5 November 2026, the comparison chart on its sell webpage shows $85 a month and no transaction fee “currently”, and says your payment gateway’s own fee depends on the gateway you choose. The chart says sales revenue goes straight to your Bahamian bank account through that gateway. The webpage does not give the onboarding fee, so ask before you sign up. Its help webpage says that “for a limited time” sellers can accept card payments, cash on delivery or bank transfer.

Arueka publishes its seller plans and prices. As of 25 September 2026, its Starter plan is $20 a month, billed annually ($240 a year), for up to 20 products and one delivery zone. The same webpage says “a 6% credit card processing rate applies to all online transactions.” The Nassau Guardian reported in April 2026 that Arueka collects the payments and pays sellers weekly.

On a marketplace, you still pack each order, deliver it and keep your listings current. Tingsea’s help webpage says to check each vendor’s page for shipping details and to use the “Email Vendor” option for product questions, so those questions come to you.

When is your own online store worth it?

Your own store is a website where customers browse, pay and choose delivery without waiting for you. It earns its cost when messages have become the slowest part of selling. That happens when orders arrive faster than you can answer, when customers want to pay late at night, or when you carry more products than a catalogue can show well.

It also asks the most of you each day. Every item’s stock and price has to be right, or customers pay for things you no longer have.

A website with one webpage helps customers find you whichever route you choose. The website door covers that question.

Shopify Payments and Stripe are not offered to Bahamian businesses

Two widely used ways to take cards on an online store are not open to a business based here.

Shopify Payments works only for businesses located in the countries on Shopify’s list, and The Bahamas is not on it. Shopify says: “If your country isn’t listed … then you need to use a third-party payment provider.” So this applies to any Bahamian store built on Shopify. Stripe’s list of supported countries does not include The Bahamas either. Some providers that serve The Bahamas, HandyPay among them, process cards through Stripe on your behalf. That is different from opening a Stripe account yourself.

So a Bahamian store pairs a store builder with a provider that pays into a Bahamian bank account. One route is a bank’s own e-commerce service. Another is a provider with a store builder of its own. For example, with the pricing country set to The Bahamas, Fygaro Shops starts at US$14.99 a month for Shops Lite, a catalogue with checkout and orders. Its plans with the full store builder start at US$44.99 a month. Fygaro says that if a setup or card processing cost applies through the bank or payment method behind the account, it confirms that cost during setup. HandyPay offers an add-on for stores built on WordPress, a common website system, and, as of 25 September 2026, lists Shopify as “coming soon”. Before you pay for either a store plan or a provider, check that the two connect.

How to get an online order to another island

You can send an order to another island by mailboat from Nassau. Set your terms before the first order, and put them in your WhatsApp Business profile and in the message that confirms each order:

• What the customer must tell you: the island, the settlement and the boat.
• The days you take orders to the dock, such as Potter’s Cay.
• The customer pays the boat’s freight on collection.
• Your responsibility ends when the order is on the boat.

On Arueka, you can set delivery zones by island, area or neighbourhood. Its Starter plan includes one delivery zone, and delivery fees are listed from its Business plan up.

Help with e-commerce from DigiLearn

DigiLearn Bahamas runs a set of courses called E-Commerce Essentials. It covers the strategies and tools to build, run and grow an online business. DigiLearn does not charge for its courses. The sign-up for the group that began on 14 September 2026 has closed. That group is for New Providence, Cat Island and Abaco, and runs to 3 December 2026. You can join DigiLearn’s interest list on the same webpage to hear when the course opens again.