Product types
Standard, serialized, composite, pre-order and customized products.
The product type decides how a product tracks stock, how it is priced, and what extra configuration it carries. It is chosen at creation and cannot be changed afterwards — a serialized phone cannot later become a bundle.
Who can do this: the type is picked on the add form, so the same people who can create a product.
The five types#
| Type | Stock tracking | What makes it different |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | Optional | The default. Everything on the field reference applies plainly. |
| Serialized | Always on | Each unit carries its own serial number (an IMEI, say). Tracking cannot be switched off, and fractional quantities are not allowed — you cannot sell half a phone. |
| Composite | Never its own | A bundle built from a recipe of other products. |
| Pre-order | None | Sold before it exists, so there is no stock to track. Carries a release date and a deposit. |
| Customized | None | Made to order from options the customer picks — each option can carry a price modifier. |
Older catalogues may show types labelled "(legacy)" — they still work but can no longer be created.
Composite products: the stock moves in the parts#
A composite's recipe lists its components and quantities — a gift hamper might be one tea, one treacle, two jaggery blocks. Two rules follow from that:
- Selling the bundle moves the components' stock, never a stock row of its own. The hamper's availability is its parts' availability. See How inventory works.
- Its price is either dynamic or static — dynamic is computed from the components' prices and follows them; static is a price you set for the bundle. The ordinary pricing strategies don't apply.
Pre-orders and deposits#
A pre-order carries a release date (fixed, or chosen by the customer) and a deposit — a percentage of the price or a fixed amount per unit. The server validates the date and asks for the deposit when the order is placed; the balance settles like any other payment. The merchant can override the deposit on a particular order — see Recording payments & deposits.
Customized products#
A customized product defines its options — size, engraving, extras — each with an optional price modifier. When one is ordered, the server prices the chosen options; what the customer pays is always the catalogue's rules, never arithmetic done on the page.
Related pages#
Creating a product · Product fields reference · How inventory works