Orders, Payments & Fulfillment
Follow this step-by-step sequence to master the domain concepts in order.
Order
An order is an immutable financial and fulfillment contract representing a customer's purchase agreement.
Read Step 1 →Order vs Transaction
Understand the architectural boundary between merchant purchase contracts and payment gateway transactions.
Read Step 2 →Payment Gateway
A payment gateway is the software service that securely encrypts, authorizes, and processes credit card or digital wallet transactions between shoppers and merchants.
Read Step 3 →Location
A location represents a physical or logical site where inventory is stocked, fulfilled, or processed.
Read Step 4 →Warehouse
A warehouse is a physical industrial facility dedicated to receiving, storing, picking, packing, and dispatching product inventory.
Read Step 5 →Third-Party Logistics (3PL)
A 3PL (Third-Party Logistics) provider is an outsourced fulfillment service that handles inventory storage, pick-and-pack, shipping, and returns for merchants.
Read Step 6 →Warehouse vs Location
Understand the difference between physical warehouse buildings and platform inventory location abstractions.
Read Step 7 →3PL vs In-House Fulfillment
Compare outsourced 3PL logistics services against self-managed in-house warehouse fulfillment.
Read Step 8 →Shopify Location Architecture
How Shopify manages physical and fulfillment locations across Admin GraphQL APIs and inventory levels.
Read Step 9 →Fulfillment
Fulfillment encompasses the complete operational pipeline of receiving, picking, packing, shipping, and delivering customer orders.
Read Step 10 →Subscription Commerce
Subscription commerce is a business model where customers pay a recurring fee at specified intervals to receive recurring product deliveries or digital access.
Read Step 11 →Product Bundles
A product bundle is a collection of multiple distinct items packaged and sold together as a single commercial offering, often at a discounted price.
Read Step 12 →Shopify Selling Plan Architecture
How Shopify models recurring subscriptions, preorders, and try-before-you-buy via SellingPlan and SellingPlanGroup APIs.
Read Step 13 →