How to Send a UPI Payment Link Through an Instagram DM

A buyer comments “want” on your reel. You reply “DM us”, then spend fifteen minutes confirming the size, sharing a QR code as a screenshot, waiting for them to type the amount by hand, and checking your bank app for their payment screenshot. Multiply that by fifty comments on a sale day.

Most Indian shoppers already pay with UPI, so the problem is not the payment. It is the back and forth before it. A UPI payment link in an Instagram DM cuts most of that out: the buyer taps, their UPI app opens with your business name and the amount filled in, and they pay.

This guide shows how to create a payment link in any payment gateway, how to have an automatic Instagram DM deliver it after a comment, how to keep buyers safe, when COD is the better choice, and what to track.

What is a UPI payment link?

A payment link is a web page your payment gateway hosts for you. It shows your registered business name, what the buyer is paying for and the amount. When the buyer opens it on a phone, they choose UPI and their app, such as Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm or BHIM, opens with everything filled in. They check the name and amount and approve it with their UPI PIN in their own app.

There are three common ways to take UPI from a chat, and they are not the same:

For an automatic DM, a gateway payment link is the simplest choice. It is a normal https address, it works on every phone, and the gateway records each payment against your account so you do not have to match screenshots.

How do you create a payment link?

Every major Indian payment gateway has payment links, and the steps are much the same in each. You need a verified business account with KYC done before you can take live payments.

1. Log in to your gateway's dashboard and open the Payment Links (or Payment Pages) section.
2. Create a new link with your product's name and price, for example “Green cotton kurta, size M: ₹1,499”.
3. Choose a reusable link if many buyers will pay the same amount. A one-time link is meant for a single buyer and a single order.
4. Ask for what you need to ship: name, phone number and delivery address as fields on the payment page.
5. Turn on UPI along with cards and net banking, and set an expiry date if the price is for a sale only.
6. Copy the link and open it on your own phone. Check that your business name, the amount and UPI all show as expected.

How to put a UPI payment link in an Instagram DM automation

Once you have the link, the DM does the delivering. With Inboxa, the set-up is the same as any comment-to-DM automation; only the link changes.

1. Connect your Instagram business or creator account with Instagram's own login. Inboxa runs on Meta's official API and never asks for your password.
2. Pick the post or reel for the product, several posts, or the whole account.
3. Set the keyword, such as BUY or PRICE, or answer every comment.
4. Write the DM: thank them, say the price and what is included, and put “Pay now” or “Get the payment link” on the button.
5. Paste your payment link as the DM's link. The buyer gets it one tap after the DM arrives.

You can add steps around that core. A short public reply under the comment tells other viewers you answered. You can ask people to follow your account before the link arrives, which grows your following from every sale post. You can also ask for an email in the chat, which goes into your leads list with their @handle.

Keep the DM honest about what happens next: “Tap below to pay ₹1,499 by UPI. We ship in 3 days and send tracking on WhatsApp.” A buyer who knows the amount and the next step before tapping is far more likely to finish.

Is it safe to send a payment link on Instagram?

It is, if you build trust into the link and the words around it. Indian buyers have heard about UPI frauds, and a careless payment message looks exactly like one.

• Never ask for a UPI PIN. A PIN is only ever typed into the buyer's own UPI app, to send money. Say this in your DM or highlights, so buyers know a real seller will never ask.
• Use your registered business name. The name on the payment page and in the UPI app should match your Instagram brand, or say “operated by” your company name.
• Do not send a personal UPI ID to strangers at scale. It exposes your phone number and name, gives buyers no receipt, and makes refunds and matching payments hard. Banks may also flag a personal account that suddenly takes hundreds of payments.
• Never send a collect request the buyer did not expect. Many people have been cheated through collect requests, and they distrust them.
• Keep your gateway keys private. Only paste the finished payment link into the DM. No DM tool needs your gateway's secret keys for this.

UPI payments on Instagram for Indian D2C brands: what's different

UPI is the default way many Indian buyers pay online, and it is fast on a phone. But not every buyer wants to pay before they have seen the product, especially from a brand they found on a reel ten minutes ago.

• Offer COD as well. For first-time buyers and smaller towns, cash on delivery is often what closes the sale. Your DM can carry the payment link and a line such as “COD available: reply COD with your pin code”.
• Make prepaid worth it. A small prepaid discount or free shipping on UPI orders nudges buyers away from COD, which can lower returns at the door.
• Write in their language. The DM goes out exactly as you write it, so Hindi or Hinglish is fine: “Price ₹1,499 hai, neeche tap karke UPI se pay karein.”
• Plan for sale days. During Diwali and festive sales, make the links in your gateway and set up the automation before the post goes live, not when the comments pile up.

What should you track?

Two places hold your numbers, and you need both. Inboxa shows, for each automation, the DMs sent, replies, people engaged and link taps, with a leads list of each commenter's @handle, the word they used and the steps they took, downloadable as a CSV. Your payment gateway's dashboard shows who paid, how much and when.

Put the two side by side each week. If many people tap but few pay, look at the payment page: the price, the delivery fee or a long form. If few people tap, change the DM's words or the button. Inboxa does not see your payments, so the gateway is your record of sales.

Common mistakes to avoid

• A link that has expired. A sale ends, the link stops working, and the DM keeps sending it. Change both together.
• A price in the DM that differs from the link. Buyers stop trusting a brand when the amounts do not match.
• Sending a QR screenshot. Most buyers are on the same phone they would need to scan it with. A link works in one tap.
• No COD option. Some buyers will never prepay a new brand. Give them another way.
• Only checking one dashboard. Link taps without payments, or payments without taps, both tell you something.

For the WhatsApp side of the same flow, read how to move Instagram comments to WhatsApp. The Instagram DM automation page shows each step of the DM itself.