Core concepts
Business, stores, products, stock and orders, and how they fit together.
This page explains the main parts of SellerTower and how they connect. Every screen in the app belongs to one of these parts.
Who can do this: everyone. This page is for reading only.
How the parts fit together#
Business
Your account. One owner, one plan, one currency.
Stores
Each shop in the business. You always keep at least one.
Catalogue
One list of products, shared by every store.
Inventory
How many of each product a store has.
Orders
A sale in one store: items, payment and fulfilment.
Invoices, returns and refunds
The records of a sale, and how it is undone.
- Business. Your whole account. It has one owner, one plan and one country.
- Stores. Each shop in your business. A business always keeps at least one store.
- Catalogue. One list of products and categories. Every store uses the same list.
- Inventory. The stock of each product, counted separately in each store.
- Orders. A sale in one store: the items, the prices, the payment and the delivery.
- Invoices, returns and refunds. The documents for a sale, and the way a sale is reversed.
Products and stock are separate#
A product belongs to the whole business. Its stock belongs to one store.
When you add a product to the catalogue, no store has it yet. You link the product to a store, which starts its stock there at zero, and then add stock. That link is the product's inventory in that store. Ten stores can sell the same product, and each store has its own count.
This is why Products and Inventory are separate sections in the app. The Products & inventory page helps you choose the right one.
People and permissions#
- The Administrator is the person who created the account. There is only one. Only the Administrator can manage billing. See The Administrator.
- Staff are people you invite. Each staff member has one or more roles. Roles are the only thing that gives a staff member permissions.
- Five roles are built in: Admin, Store Admin, Cashier, Inventory Manager and Reports Viewer. You can also create your own roles. Available on Scale
- You can limit a staff member to certain stores.
Money terms#
- A pro-forma invoice is a quote. It changes if the order changes.
- An issued invoice is the final tax document. Once issued, it never changes. To correct it, you issue a new invoice that replaces it.
- A return brings goods back. A refund pays money back. A refund can never be more than the customer paid.
- Store credit is a refund the customer keeps to spend on a later order. It can be spent only once.
- Discounts are worked out by the server, not by the screen. The total you see is the total that is saved.
Plans and seats#
Your plan decides which features you can use and how many stores and staff seats are included. On most paid plans you can buy extra seats and give them back later. The free plan does not sell extra seats and has a monthly limit on orders. See Plans & billing.
Related pages#
What is SellerTower · Quick start: your first sale · How inventory works · Glossary