Key concepts
Components of Rye ecosystem
Glossary
Product
Refers to items listed on merchants’ inventory; however, a product variant must be specified to place an order, such as the size and color of the product. Each product_variant is associated with a unique identifier.
Inventory
Product data and meta data supplied by merchants, including price, image, and stock availability. Rye maintains an up-to-date database that developers can pull from using the Sell Anything API.
Cart
A cart contains one or more product_variant. Rye supports carts with items from multiple merchants, hosted on various eCommerce building platforms. The entire cart is submitted when an order is placed.
Checkout
Payment processing for the items in cart. Rye supports a native checkout experience (no need to redirect to individual merchant sites) using most payment methods called Rye Pay.
Order
Rye programmatically sends orders to merchants and returns an order_id.
Amazon Standard Identification Number
An Amazon Standard Identification Number (“ASIN”) is a unique identifier assigned by Amazon to products within its catalog. ASINs are used to identify products in the Amazon marketplace.
An ASIN looks like the following example: B00TTD9BRC.
The ASIN for a particular Amazon product can be found inside the product page URL. For example, the ASIN for the following URL is B00TTD9BRC: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TTD9BRC.
Gross merchandise value
Gross merchandise value (“GMV”) refers to the total value of goods exchanged on the platform, excluding add-ons such as shipping and tax.
Developer monetization
Developers have two ways to monetize with Rye: by adding a % markup on MSRP or by receiving a % commission of the GMV for each sale.
Commission rate
A % of the GMV serves as a reward for the platform that facilitated the sale. Developers can specify a set commission rate with merchants with whom they have an existing relationship. Merchants that integrate directly with Rye are able to set a custom commission rate. Developers are likely to prioritize products with higher commission rates.
Shipping details
To successfully place and fulfill an order, a valid shipping method and shipping address must be submitted. Shipping options are defined by merchants, who may sometimes use third-party logistics (3PL) providers.
The merchant of record (“MoR”) is the entity responsible for selling goods or services to the customer. The customer pays the MoR when making a purchase. In addition to processing the transaction, the MoR will also handle other financial aspects of the sale, such as collecting sales tax, compliance items, transaction safety and liability, as well as managing refunds and chargebacks when necessary.
The MoR is not to be confused with a payment processor who strictly processes transaction payments; however, the MoR does assume some financial responsibility for their customers.
The MoR may also act as the Seller of Record, responsible for the product, fulfilling orders, and answering customer questions.
Tools
B2B services, mostly in the form of Shopify apps, facilitate the eCommerce experience, including loyalty and reward programs, order tracking, bundles, and upsells. Rye has a Shopify app for merchants to plug into.
Vaulting
A credit card vault securely stores credit card details. “Vaulting” a card means storing it in such a vault for future use. Credit cards within a vault can be used to place orders using a payment method token.
Rye’s APIs use Spreedly as a vaulting service.
Webhooks
A method to notify one system about updates in an external system. Rye has webhooks that send real-time updates when orders fail, tracking info gets confirmed, and more.
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