Order - Entity Data Model
An Order is created when a buyer proceeds to checkout and confirms selected Cart items. It represents the commercial transaction between the Marketplace, the Merchant, and the Consumer.
When Cart items are marked ready for checkout, the system generates:
- One Invoice ID - an aggregated view of all items purchased within the checkout session.
- One or more Order IDs - each Order records the sale transaction and defines the Merchant's fulfilment obligation. It includes purchased items or services, quantities, agreed pricing, commission deductions, and status tracking.
Order Custom Fields can extend the Order object for workflow-specific data, commonly used for B2B requirements and operational routing:
- PO numbers and billing references
- Delivery constraints (time window, access instructions)
- Approval or verification flags for staged fulfilment
Checkout Stages & Lifecycle
Arcadier follows a structured, state-driven checkout model. Purchase intent progresses through a defined lifecycle: Cart → Invoice → Orders → Transactions. This lifecycle supports multi-merchant, multi-item cart checkout in a single session. Understanding this lifecycle is essential before implementing any checkout or fulfilment integration.
| Stage | What Happens |
| Cart | Buyer adds an item. A Cart ID is created per item-variant-shipping combination. Persists across sessions for authenticated users. No Invoice or Order exists yet. Stores:
|
| Checkout | Selected Cart IDs are marked ready. System validates, finalises pricing and shipping calculations. |
| Invoice | One Invoice ID per checkout session. Aggregated view of all items. References all underlying Orders. Stores:
|
| Orders | One Order per Merchant. Contains the following:
|
| Transactions | Payment records. One per Merchant plus one for Admin commission in standard gateway integrations. |