Merchant Documentation

Complete guide to Merchant features, access, products & discount system

Access & Permissions

Product Management

Discount Codes

Orders & Returns

Analytics & Finance

Referral System

Merchant Access Overview

Merchants have a dedicated role (role: merchant) that gives them access to the Merchant Dashboard — a completely separate interface from the public shop and rider portal. The layout automatically detects the merchant role and renders the merchant-specific UI.

Feature	Merchant	Admin	Rider/Public
Merchant Dashboard	✅ Full access	✅ Via AdminShop	❌ No access
Add Products	✅ Own products only	✅ Any product	❌ No
View All Products	❌ Own only	✅ All products	✅ Approved+active only
Approve Products	❌	✅ AdminShop	❌
Create Discount Codes	✅ Own codes only	❌ (admin uses shop directly)	❌
View Orders	✅ Orders with their products	✅ All orders	✅ Own orders only
Payout Requests	✅ Via MerchantFinance	✅ Process payouts	❌
Analytics	✅ Own data only	✅ Platform-wide	❌
Bulk Product Upload	✅ CSV/Excel upload	✅	❌
Reviews	✅ Can reply to own reviews	✅ All reviews	✅ Can submit

Merchant Onboarding Flow

Registration

Merchant visits /MerchantOnboarding and fills in business name, contact details, product categories, and agrees to terms.

Admin Review

Admin sees the application in AdminApprovals. Reviews the business information and decides to approve or reject.

Account Activation

Upon approval, admin sets user.role = 'merchant'. The merchant can now log in and access the Merchant Dashboard.

Profile Setup

Merchant completes their store profile via MerchantProfile page — logo, description, contact info, and payout preferences.

First Product

Merchant adds their first product from the Products tab. The product awaits admin approval before going live in the shop.

Merchants receive real-time notifications via the NotificationCenter component in their dashboard — new orders, order status changes, and review alerts are all surfaced instantly without page refresh.

Merchant Data Entities

Entity	Purpose	Merchant-Scoped?
Product	Product listings with price, stock, category, images	✅ Filtered by merchant_email
Order	Customer orders containing merchant's products	✅ Filtered by merchant_email
DiscountCode	Promo codes the merchant creates	✅ Filtered by merchant_email
MerchantReferral	Referrals that led to product purchases	✅ Filtered by merchant_email
MerchantPayout	Payout requests and history	✅ Filtered by merchant_email
ProductReview	Customer reviews on merchant's products	✅ Via product_id
DeliveryCharge	Per-order shipping charge records	✅ Via order_id
PlatformSettings	Global product categories configuration	❌ Shared (read-only for merchant)