Telegram paid media is pay-per-view inside a chat. A bot sends a photo or a video with sendPaidMedia. The buyer sees it locked, pays a Stars price in Telegram, and the file unlocks in that same thread. There is no product page and no card form.
Tiny Shops does this from the merchant inbox when the shop is in the chat format. This note is the rulebook for that send: what Telegram documents, and the tighter limits the product keeps. It was checked against the Bot API page on 24 September 2026.
What the buyer sees#
A locked photo or video, with a Stars price on it. They pay inside Telegram. The bubble they already have in the chat unlocks. They do not create an account on your site, and they do not type a card number for this file.
That is the whole purchase. It is one file, paid once. It is not a subscription and not a channel post.
What Telegram documents#
From sendPaidMedia, read on 24 September 2026:
star_countis a whole number from 1 to 25000. That is the price in Telegram Stars.mediais a list ofInputPaidMedia: a photo, a video, or a live photo, up to 10 items in one message.business_connection_idis optional on the method. When it is set, the message is sent on behalf of a Telegram Business connection.- If the chat is a channel, Star proceeds are credited to the channel’s balance. Otherwise they are credited to the bot’s balance.
Telegram fetches the file in order to deliver it. Do not treat the file address as a secret download link.
What Tiny Shops actually sends#
The product is narrower than the API, on purpose.
| Bot API | Tiny Shops chat sale | |
|---|---|---|
| File | Photo, video, or live photo, up to 10 | One photo or one video |
| Price | 1–25000 Stars | The same range, rejected outside it |
| Connection | Optional | Required. The inbox will not send without your Telegram Business connection |
| Where Stars land | Channel balance, or the bot’s balance | Your bot’s balance, because this sale is a chat, not a channel post |
| Platform fee | Telegram’s own rules for Stars | Tiny Shops takes 0% and does not hold the Stars |
A document is refused, priced or free. A PDF, a zip, or a license key cannot be sent from this inbox. An album and a live photo are also outside this flow.
A price with no file is rejected. Text replies stay free.
What you need before the first send#
- A Tiny Shops shop on the chat format, not the Mini App catalog.
- A bot token from @BotFather, saved on the Telegram bot page.
- The bot added in Telegram under Business → Chatbots. Until that connection arrives, the inbox shows a connect prompt and sends nothing.
- A customer who wrote to you in the last 24 hours. Telegram only lets a business bot reply inside that window. When it closes, the composer in Tiny Shops is disabled until they write again, or until you reply from Telegram itself.
Send one photo#
Open the thread in the inbox. Attach one photo or one video. Enter a whole number of Stars from 1 to 25000. Send.
The buyer pays in the chat. The message is then marked paid. That unlock does not create a storefront order. Orders, the catalog, and checkout belong to the Mini App shop, which is a different format. The choice between the two is in pay-per-view or a Mini App.
What this flow does not do#
- It does not take a card for the file. Cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay are Mini App checkout.
- It does not refund Stars from a button in Tiny Shops. There is no refunds screen for these sends.
- It does not host a pack of files or email a download.
- It does not keep selling after the 24-hour window until the customer writes again.
If you want a catalog, shipping, or a card rail, build the Mini App. If you want the next photo in a conversation to cost Stars, use paid media.
