--- title: "Third Party Shops" description: "A non-technical ecosystem overview of Third Party Shops, also known as Shops, in RevCent, focused on how external stores such as WooCommerce or custom storefronts connect to RevCent, how shop activity becomes Sales and related commerce records, and how Shops support payments, products, shipping, subscriptions, fulfillment, emails, anti-fraud, AI, customer support, and BigQuery reporting across the RevCent relationship graph." type: "feature" company: "RevCent" canonical: "https://revcent.com/documentation/markdown/ecosystem/feature/ThirdPartyShop.md" relationships: - name: "Sale" url: "https://revcent.com/documentation/markdown/ecosystem/item/Sale.md" technical_links: web_app: "https://kb.revcent.com/en/integrations/third-party-shop" api: section: "https://revcent.com/docs/api/v2#section-shops" operations: - name: "Get Site Shops" operation_id: "GetSiteShops" operation: "https://revcent.com/docs/api/v2#operation-GetSiteShops" schema: "https://revcent.com/documentation/files/api/operation/GetSiteShops.json" - name: "Get A Site Shop" operation_id: "GetSiteShop" operation: "https://revcent.com/docs/api/v2#operation-GetSiteShop" schema: "https://revcent.com/documentation/files/api/operation/GetSiteShop.json" - name: "Get User Shops" operation_id: "GetUserShops" operation: "https://revcent.com/docs/api/v2#operation-GetUserShops" schema: "https://revcent.com/documentation/files/api/operation/GetUserShops.json" - name: "Create A User Shop" operation_id: "CreateUserShop" operation: "https://revcent.com/docs/api/v2#operation-CreateUserShop" schema: "https://revcent.com/documentation/files/api/operation/CreateUserShop.json" - name: "Get A User Shop" operation_id: "GetUserShop" operation: "https://revcent.com/docs/api/v2#operation-GetUserShop" schema: "https://revcent.com/documentation/files/api/operation/GetUserShop.json" - name: "Edit A User Shop" operation_id: "EditUserShop" operation: "https://revcent.com/docs/api/v2#operation-EditUserShop" schema: "https://revcent.com/documentation/files/api/operation/EditUserShop.json" - name: "Validate A User Shop" operation_id: "ValidateUserShop" operation: "https://revcent.com/docs/api/v2#operation-ValidateUserShop" schema: "https://revcent.com/documentation/files/api/operation/ValidateUserShop.json" - name: "Fix A User Shop" operation_id: "FixUserShop" operation: "https://revcent.com/docs/api/v2#operation-FixUserShop" schema: "https://revcent.com/documentation/files/api/operation/FixUserShop.json" mcp: overview: "https://revcent.com/documentation/markdown/mcp/operation/OverviewShop.md" operations: - name: "Get Site Shops" operation_id: "GetSiteShops" markdown: "https://revcent.com/documentation/markdown/mcp/operation/GetSiteShops.md" available_via_ai: true - name: "Get A Site Shop" operation_id: "GetSiteShop" markdown: "https://revcent.com/documentation/markdown/mcp/operation/GetSiteShop.md" available_via_ai: true - name: "Get User Shops" operation_id: "GetUserShops" markdown: "https://revcent.com/documentation/markdown/mcp/operation/GetUserShops.md" available_via_ai: true - name: "Create A User Shop" operation_id: "CreateUserShop" markdown: "https://revcent.com/documentation/markdown/mcp/operation/CreateUserShop.md" available_via_ai: true - name: "Get A User Shop" operation_id: "GetUserShop" markdown: "https://revcent.com/documentation/markdown/mcp/operation/GetUserShop.md" available_via_ai: true - name: "Edit A User Shop" operation_id: "EditUserShop" markdown: "https://revcent.com/documentation/markdown/mcp/operation/EditUserShop.md" available_via_ai: true - name: "Validate A User Shop" operation_id: "ValidateUserShop" markdown: "https://revcent.com/documentation/markdown/mcp/operation/ValidateUserShop.md" available_via_ai: true - name: "Fix A User Shop" operation_id: "FixUserShop" markdown: "https://revcent.com/documentation/markdown/mcp/operation/FixUserShop.md" available_via_ai: true bigquery_schema: "https://revcent.com/documentation/files/bigquery/dataset.json" bigquery_tables: - "third_party_shop" --- # Third Party Shops Third Party Shops, also called Shops, are how RevCent connects external ecommerce stores to the RevCent backend. A Shop represents a storefront, cart, or outside store that can send commerce activity into RevCent. Once connected, the outside store can remain the customer-facing shopping experience, while RevCent becomes the backend system that understands the customer, Sale, products, payment, shipping, tax, refunds, subscriptions, trials, fulfillment, fraud protection, emails, automation, AI workflows, and reporting. At the simplest level: ```text External store or WooCommerce storefront ↓ RevCent Shop connection ↓ RevCent Sale and related commerce records ↓ Payments, products, shipping, tax, subscriptions, trials, fulfillment, emails, AI, support, and reporting ``` This makes Shops a major bridge between a merchant's public ecommerce experience and the deeper RevCent ecosystem. ## Why Third Party Shops Are a Feature Third Party Shops are a feature because they are reusable configuration. A business connects or configures a Shop once, then many Sales, Product Sales, Products, Shipments, Payments, Subscriptions, Trials, Refunds, Fraud Detections, Email Templates, AI workflows, and reports can reference that Shop over time. The Shop is not the order itself. The Shop is the storefront connection that helps explain where the order came from. The simplest distinction is: ```text Shop = the connected external storefront or store source Sale = the purchase event created from that store activity Product Sale = each line item inside that Sale Product = the reusable item being sold ``` For ecosystem graphing, a Shop is a feature node that helps identify the origin and context of commerce activity. ## Core Purpose The core purpose of a Third Party Shop is to connect external ecommerce activity to RevCent's backend commerce system. A Shop helps RevCent answer business questions such as: - Which store created this Sale? - Which WooCommerce store did this order come from? - Which Products came from this storefront? - Which Sales, Product Sales, Shipments, Taxes, Payments, Subscriptions, Trials, Refunds, and Fraud Detections belong to this store? - Which payment profile, campaign, tax approach, and shipping mappings apply to this store? - Which customer emails, internal alerts, AI workflows, and fulfillment workflows should run for this store? - How is this store performing across revenue, refunds, subscriptions, trials, fulfillment, fraud, and customer activity? A Shop gives RevCent a stable relationship point for understanding store-specific ecommerce activity. ## Technical Links | Area | Link | |---|---| | Web App | `https://kb.revcent.com/en/integrations/third-party-shop` | | API | `https://revcent.com/docs/api/v2#section-shops` | | MCP | `https://revcent.com/documentation/markdown/mcp/operation/OverviewShop.md` | | BigQuery Table | `third_party_shop` | These links identify where Shops are documented or represented technically. This ecosystem document stays focused on meaning, purpose, relationships, and business value rather than implementation details. ## Third Party Shop, Shop, User Shop, and Site Shop RevCent documentation may use several related terms around Shops. In plain language: ```text Third Party Shop / Shop / User Shop = the merchant's connected store instance Site Shop = the type of store integration RevCent supports, such as WooCommerce ``` For most business discussions, the important term is simply **Shop**. A Shop is the merchant's actual storefront connection. For example, a business might have: ```text Main WooCommerce Store Wholesale WooCommerce Store International WooCommerce Store Custom Storefront ``` Each connected store can become a Shop relationship inside RevCent. ## Custom Stores vs Native WooCommerce Stores RevCent can support stores in two broad ways. ### Custom Stores A custom store is a storefront or checkout experience built outside RevCent and outside the native WooCommerce integration. A merchant might have a custom website, custom checkout, headless storefront, proprietary ecommerce app, or another external ordering system. In that model, the custom store can use RevCent as the backend commerce system by sending purchase, customer, product, and payment context into RevCent through the appropriate integration path. The value of using RevCent behind a custom store is that the merchant does not need to rebuild a complete backend commerce engine from scratch. The custom store can focus on the customer-facing buying experience, while RevCent can manage the deeper lifecycle: - Sales. - Product Sales. - Customer records. - Payment processing or payment tracking. - Shipping and fulfillment. - Tax and discounts. - Subscriptions and trials. - Refunds and chargebacks. - Email Templates. - Functions and automation. - AI Assistants and AI Voice Agents. - BigQuery reporting. In this model, the custom store becomes the storefront, and RevCent becomes the operational and reporting backend. ### Native WooCommerce Stores WooCommerce stores have a more native RevCent path. A WooCommerce merchant can connect their store to RevCent using the RevCent WooCommerce/WordPress integration. Once connected, WooCommerce acts as the public storefront and shopping cart, while RevCent handles the deeper backend commerce lifecycle. The WooCommerce integration can help RevCent receive checkout and order activity, associate Sales with the correct Shop, connect products and shipping methods, process or record payment methods, support PayPal and alternate payments, power subscription and trial workflows, and provide reporting by store. For WooCommerce businesses, the recommended mental model is: ```text WooCommerce = storefront, cart, and customer-facing checkout RevCent = backend commerce engine, payment system, automation layer, reporting layer, and lifecycle system of record ``` This is one of the most important benefits of Shops in RevCent. ## WooCommerce as Storefront, RevCent as Backend Engine WooCommerce is strong as a public storefront: product pages, cart, checkout, customer-facing pages, and the WordPress ecosystem. RevCent adds the backend commerce depth that many ecommerce businesses need as they grow. A connected WooCommerce Shop can use RevCent for: - Credit-card payment processing through RevCent payment routing. - PayPal transaction tracking and refund context. - Alternate payment handling through Offline Payments where appropriate. - Product mapping and product sync. - Sale and Product Sale creation. - Shipping method mapping. - Fulfillment and shipment tracking workflows. - Subscription and trial billing. - Customer Portal self-service. - Email Templates for purchase lifecycle emails. - Functions for custom automation. - Sentinel anti-fraud protection. - AI Assistants for backend ecommerce automation. - AI Voice Agents for support and revenue recovery. - BigQuery reporting by shop, product, campaign, payment method, and metadata. This allows the merchant to keep WooCommerce as the visible store while using RevCent for the serious backend commerce lifecycle. ## How Shops Connect to Sales Sales are the most important downstream item connected to Shops. When a customer checks out through a connected store, RevCent can create or associate a Sale with that Shop. That Sale then becomes the parent purchase item for the rest of the lifecycle. Conceptually: ```text Customer checks out in external store ↓ Shop connection identifies the store source ↓ RevCent creates or links a Sale ↓ Sale connects customer, products, payment, shipping, tax, subscription, trial, refund, support, and reporting context ``` The Shop relationship helps a business understand not only that a Sale happened, but **where it came from**. This matters when a merchant operates multiple storefronts, brands, country stores, funnels, or WooCommerce installations. ## Shop Relationship Graph A Shop can appear throughout the RevCent ecosystem as store-origin context. A connected Shop can relate to: ```text Third Party Shop / Shop ├─ Sales ├─ Products ├─ Product Sales ├─ Customers ├─ Shipping ├─ Tax ├─ Discounts ├─ Transactions ├─ PayPal Transactions ├─ Offline Payments ├─ Checks / COD-style payments ├─ Pending Refunds ├─ Subscriptions ├─ Subscription Renewals ├─ Trials ├─ Fraud Detections ├─ Chargebacks ├─ Tracking Visitors ├─ Tracking Entries ├─ Metadata ├─ Email Templates ├─ Functions ├─ AI Assistants ├─ AI Voice Agents ├─ Customer Portal ├─ Fulfillment Accounts └─ BigQuery reporting ``` Not every Shop will use every part of this graph. The point is that once a store is connected to RevCent, store activity can become part of the broader RevCent commerce ecosystem instead of remaining isolated in the storefront. ## Products and Shop Mapping Products are a key part of Shop setup. When WooCommerce or another store has products, those products should be represented in RevCent so that Sales can create accurate Product Sales, subscriptions, trials, shipping, fulfillment, and reporting context. For WooCommerce stores, RevCent can import or sync products so that WooCommerce catalog items have matching RevCent Product records. This matters because RevCent Products are more than simple catalog labels. A RevCent Product can define whether an item is shippable, whether it creates a subscription, whether it creates a trial, whether fulfillment should be notified, whether the product belongs to Product Groups, and how the product appears in reporting. The important relationship is: ```text WooCommerce product or custom-store product ↓ RevCent Product ↓ Product Sale when purchased ↓ Sale, Shipping, Tax, Subscription, Trial, Fulfillment, Refund, and Reporting context ``` ## WooCommerce Product Sync For WooCommerce stores, RevCent can help keep product information aligned from WooCommerce to RevCent. WooCommerce can notify RevCent when certain product changes happen. This is separate from broad API/MCP product sync and is a direct WooCommerce-store-to-RevCent notification path. The key idea is: ```text WooCommerce product changes ↓ WooCommerce notifies RevCent ↓ RevCent updates the matching Product context where supported ``` This sync is one-way from WooCommerce to RevCent. Updates made in RevCent do not automatically update WooCommerce. Common product change behavior includes product updates such as price, description, dimensions, weight, SKU, UPC, and rating context where supported. When a WooCommerce product is placed in Trash, RevCent can also treat the matching product as deleted. Creating a brand-new WooCommerce product does not necessarily create a new RevCent Product through this direct change notification; merchants should use the product import or sync path for new catalog items. This keeps WooCommerce as the product-management surface for storefront catalog changes while preserving RevCent as the backend commerce context. ## Shipping Method Mapping Shipping method mapping helps RevCent understand how a shipping choice from the external store should be represented inside RevCent. If a WooCommerce customer chooses a shipping method during checkout, RevCent needs to know how that remote store method maps to RevCent's shipping provider and provider method context. This supports: - Accurate shipment creation. - Better fulfillment handoff. - Better shipment tracking context. - Better customer support answers. - Better reporting by shipping method or shop. - Better PayPal tracking updates when PayPal is involved. Without shipping method mapping, a store may send order data to RevCent, but the shipping context may be less useful for fulfillment, tracking, support, and reporting. ## Additional and Alternate Payment Methods WooCommerce stores often accept payment methods beyond credit cards and PayPal. Examples include: - Sezzle. - Klarna. - Afterpay. - Amazon Pay. - Affirm. - Direct bank transfer. - Cash on delivery. - Other alternate or external payment methods. In RevCent, these can be represented through Offline Payment context when the payment is not processed as a standard RevCent credit-card transaction. This is important because alternate payment activity should still connect to the same RevCent ecosystem: ```text Alternate payment in WooCommerce ↓ RevCent Offline Payment context ↓ Sale, Product Sale, Customer, Shipping, Tax, Refund, Shop, Metadata, and Reporting relationships ``` When RevCent supports a specific alternate payment integration, mapping the WooCommerce payment method to that RevCent integration can improve support visibility, refund handling where supported, and reporting accuracy. ## PayPal and Shops If a connected store accepts PayPal, the PayPal activity should also be connected to RevCent. A RevCent PayPal Account can help PayPal payments become part of the same backend commerce graph as other Sales. This can support: - PayPal Transaction visibility. - PayPal refunds through RevCent where supported. - PayPal shipment tracking updates. - PayPal dispute context. - Shop and campaign attribution. - Support workflows. - BigQuery reporting by shop and PayPal payment activity. For WooCommerce merchants, this means PayPal orders do not need to live in a separate operational silo. They can connect to RevCent Sales, Product Sales, Customers, Shipping, Tax, Pending Refunds, and reporting. ## Payment Profiles and Credit Card Processing A connected Shop can use a RevCent Payment Profile to process credit-card activity. The Payment Profile represents how credit-card transactions should be routed through RevCent's payment infrastructure. The Shop relationship helps RevCent know which payment behavior should apply to transactions from that storefront. For WooCommerce businesses, this means WooCommerce can remain the checkout surface while RevCent handles payment routing, gateway context, decline handling, card vaulting where applicable, salvage/recovery opportunities, and payment reporting. ## Tax and Shop Configuration A Shop can influence how tax is handled. Some stores may send tax amounts into RevCent from the external checkout. Other stores may use RevCent tax profiles or tax-related configuration so RevCent can calculate or represent tax more directly. The important ecosystem idea is that tax is not isolated from the store. Tax can connect to: ```text Shop → Sale → Product Sale / Shipping / Tax → Customer / Campaign / Payment / Reporting ``` This helps the business understand tax in the context of the store that created the order. ## Subscriptions and WooCommerce Shops For WooCommerce stores connected to RevCent, RevCent should be treated as the subscription billing and subscription lifecycle system of record. WooCommerce can display and sell subscription products, but RevCent should manage the actual subscription lifecycle. The recommended architecture is: ```text WooCommerce sells the subscription product ↓ RevCent creates the Sale and Product Sale ↓ RevCent creates and manages the Subscription ↓ RevCent handles renewals, failed renewal recovery, emails, shipping, fulfillment, refunds, support, and reporting ``` A merchant should avoid running duplicate subscription systems where WooCommerce or a WordPress subscription plugin and RevCent both attempt to create, renew, cancel, or bill the same subscription. Duplicate subscription systems can create duplicate charges, conflicting cancellation status, inconsistent reporting, customer confusion, and support problems. For serious subscription ecommerce, RevCent should be the backend subscription authority. ## Trials and Shops Shops can also create Sales that lead to trial records. A WooCommerce or custom-store purchase can sell a Product that has trial behavior in RevCent. When that happens, the Sale and Product Sale can lead into a Trial lifecycle. This allows RevCent to connect the trial back to: - The originating Shop. - The Customer. - The Product. - The Product Sale. - The Sale. - Future trial expiration behavior. - Payment, shipping, tax, refund, email, AI, and reporting context. For ecommerce businesses, this makes trials measurable and recoverable instead of simply being checkout settings in a storefront plugin. ## Fulfillment and Shippable Products Shops are especially valuable for physical ecommerce because store orders often need fulfillment. When a shippable product is sold through WooCommerce or another connected store, RevCent can connect the Sale and Product Sale to Shipping and Fulfillment Account context. Conceptually: ```text Customer buys shippable product in WooCommerce ↓ RevCent creates Sale and Product Sale ↓ RevCent creates shipping context ↓ RevCent uses Fulfillment Account configuration where applicable ↓ Shipment status and tracking can support customer emails, support, PayPal updates, and reporting ``` This turns the connected Shop into the storefront while RevCent handles the backend fulfillment relationship. ## Customer Portal for Shops A WooCommerce storefront can embed or expose the RevCent Customer Portal as part of the customer account experience. This allows WooCommerce to remain the visible customer-facing website while RevCent powers customer self-service behind the scenes. The Customer Portal can help customers interact with their RevCent-backed account, purchases, subscriptions, and support lifecycle without forcing the merchant to rely only on WordPress account features. The mental model is: ```text WooCommerce = storefront and account page shell RevCent Customer Portal = backend customer self-service experience ``` This can reduce support load and keep customer lifecycle management tied to RevCent records. ## Email Templates and Shop Lifecycle Emails RevCent Email Templates can send customer and internal emails based on commerce lifecycle activity. For WooCommerce stores, RevCent emails are often more powerful than default WooCommerce emails because RevCent has the broader backend context: Sales, Product Sales, Customers, Shipping, Subscriptions, Trials, Refunds, PayPal Transactions, Offline Payments, Fraud Detections, Metadata, and Shop relationships. RevCent Email Templates can support shop-specific communication such as: - Purchase confirmation emails. - Declined payment or failed Sale emails. - Shipment and tracking emails. - Refund notifications. - Subscription renewal emails. - Trial expiration emails. - Internal fulfillment alerts. - Internal risk or fraud alerts. - Support follow-up messages. If WooCommerce emails are still enabled, the merchant should be careful to avoid duplicate customer messages. ## Functions and Shop Automation Functions can extend shop workflows when custom automation is needed. For example, a business might use a Function to notify an external system, enrich metadata, send a custom webhook, create an internal record, or coordinate with a system that is not natively integrated. In the ecosystem graph, Functions are not the Shop itself. They are automation features that can respond to events involving Shop-created Sales, Product Sales, Shipping, Refunds, Fraud Detections, or customer activity. The Shop gives the Function useful context about where the commerce event came from. ## Sentinel Anti-Fraud for WooCommerce Shops WooCommerce stores are public checkout surfaces, which means they can attract card testing, bot activity, suspicious payment attempts, and fraudulent orders. When WooCommerce is connected to RevCent, Sentinel can act as a backend anti-fraud layer for the storefront. The value is that RevCent can evaluate suspicious activity before it becomes a costly or risky payment attempt wherever configured to do so. Sentinel can help WooCommerce merchants reduce: - Card-testing activity. - Suspicious checkout attempts. - Repeated abusive IP activity. - Gateway exposure to fraud traffic. - Decline fee exposure. - Chargeback risk. - Fulfillment loss from fraudulent physical orders. - Manual fraud review burden. The shop relationship makes fraud analysis more useful because Fraud Detections can be understood by storefront, campaign, product, customer, and payment context. ## Tracking Domains and Attribution A connected Shop becomes more valuable when the storefront domain is also connected to RevCent tracking. Tracking Domains can help RevCent understand how visitors arrived at the storefront, which URLs or campaigns they interacted with, and how that visitor context connects to later Sales. For WooCommerce stores, this can support: - Better source attribution. - Better campaign performance reporting. - Better affiliate or advertising visibility. - Better fraud and visitor validation context. - Better customer journey analysis. - Better BigQuery reporting by traffic source, shop, product, and Sale outcome. The strongest model is: ```text Customer visits storefront ↓ RevCent tracking captures visitor and source context ↓ Customer checks out through Shop ↓ RevCent creates Sale tied to Shop, Customer, Product, and tracking context ↓ Reporting can connect acquisition source to revenue and lifecycle outcomes ``` ## AI Assistants for Shops AI Assistants can act as backend automation workers for Shop activity. A WooCommerce or custom-store Sale may trigger events that an AI Assistant can review. The assistant can reason over RevCent's backend context and take configured actions such as sending an Email Template, creating a Note, creating an AI Memo, triggering a Function, reviewing recovery eligibility, or summarizing risk. Shop-related AI Assistant use cases include: - Declined Sale review. - Pending Sale or abandoned checkout follow-up. - Subscription renewal recovery. - Trial conversion recovery. - Fulfillment exception review. - Refund review summaries. - Fraud Detection summaries. - Shop performance summaries. - Internal operations alerts. - Customer support context summaries. The Shop relationship lets the assistant scope behavior to a specific storefront, brand, country, campaign, or business unit. ## AI Voice Agents for Shops AI Voice Agents can support connected stores through inbound and outbound phone workflows. For a WooCommerce business, a Voice Agent can use RevCent context to help customers with questions such as: - Where is my order? - Did my payment go through? - Can I get tracking information? - What happened with my refund? - Can I update my payment method? - Can I continue my subscription? - Can I complete my order? Outbound Voice Agents can also help recover revenue from failed or pending Sales, failed subscription renewals, failed trial conversions, or high-value abandoned checkouts when configured with appropriate business rules and customer consent. The important ecosystem idea is: ```text Shop creates or relates to customer commerce activity ↓ RevCent stores the backend context ↓ AI Voice Agent can use that context for support and recovery conversations ``` ## Shops and BigQuery Reporting The `third_party_shop` BigQuery table helps represent connected stores as reporting and relationship nodes. BigQuery can also show how Shop context appears across other RevCent records, such as Sales, Products, Product Sales, Shipping, Tax, Discounts, Offline Payments, PayPal Transactions, PayPal Disputes, Fraud Detections, Subscriptions, Trials, and more. For business-level reporting, Shop context can help answer questions such as: - Which store generated the most Sales? - Which WooCommerce store produced the most revenue? - Which products perform best by store? - Which store has the highest refund rate? - Which store has the most declined payments or recovery opportunities? - Which store has the most subscription renewals or failed renewals? - Which store has the most shipping or fulfillment issues? - Which store has the most alternate payment usage? - Which store has the most fraud or chargeback risk? - Which store has the strongest customer lifetime value? The purpose of BigQuery in this ecosystem document is not to expose technical table structure. The purpose is to show that Shops can be analyzed as business nodes connected to many other RevCent records. ## Benefits for Ecommerce Businesses Third Party Shops help ecommerce businesses by turning external storefront activity into structured RevCent commerce activity. Key benefits include: - Keep an existing storefront while using RevCent as the backend system. - Connect WooCommerce orders to RevCent Sales and Product Sales. - Use RevCent payment routing and payment lifecycle tools. - Map PayPal and alternate payments into the same reporting and support model. - Preserve product-level visibility across Sales, refunds, subscriptions, and reporting. - Improve fulfillment and shipping workflows for physical products. - Use RevCent as the subscription and trial lifecycle system of record. - Support more accurate customer emails and internal alerts. - Add Sentinel anti-fraud protection to public storefront checkout activity. - Use Customer Portal for customer self-service on the storefront. - Use AI Assistants and AI Voice Agents for backend automation, support, and recovery. - Report by store, product, campaign, payment method, customer, refund, subscription, fulfillment, and fraud context. The main value is that the external store no longer lives alone. It becomes part of the RevCent ecosystem graph. ## Common Mistakes Common mistakes include: - Treating WooCommerce as the full backend instead of the storefront. - Forgetting that RevCent should manage the deeper commerce lifecycle after checkout. - Creating or importing products without preserving the store relationship. - Forgetting to map shipping methods for shippable products. - Forgetting to map alternate payment methods such as Sezzle, Klarna, Afterpay, Affirm, or Amazon Pay where applicable. - Accepting PayPal in the storefront without connecting PayPal activity into RevCent. - Running WooCommerce subscription plugins and RevCent subscriptions at the same time. - Allowing duplicate customer emails from both WooCommerce and RevCent. - Skipping fulfillment configuration for shippable products. - Ignoring Tracking Domain setup for attribution and Sentinel context. - Leaving Sentinel disabled for a public WooCommerce checkout. - Treating Shop reporting as a simple order list instead of a relationship graph across Sales, Products, Customers, Payments, Shipping, Refunds, Subscriptions, Trials, and Fraud Detections. ## Relationship Summary The core relationship is: ```text Shop ↓ Sale ↓ Product Sales, Shipping, Tax, Payments, Subscriptions, Trials, Refunds, Fulfillment, Emails, AI, Support, and Reporting ``` A Shop is the external store source. A Sale is the purchase item created from that source. The Sale then connects to the rest of the RevCent commerce ecosystem. ## Summary Third Party Shops, also known as Shops, are how external storefronts connect into RevCent. For WooCommerce merchants, Shops allow WooCommerce to remain the storefront while RevCent becomes the backend commerce engine for payments, Products, Sales, Product Sales, Shipping, Tax, PayPal, Offline Payments, Subscriptions, Trials, Fulfillment, Email Templates, Functions, Sentinel, AI Assistants, AI Voice Agents, Customer Portal, Metadata, and BigQuery reporting. For custom stores, the same concept applies: the storefront can focus on the customer-facing experience, while RevCent manages the backend commerce lifecycle. In the RevCent ecosystem graph, Shops are important because they identify where commerce activity originated and connect that origin to Sales and the many downstream records that make ecommerce operations, automation, support, and reporting possible. --- Document Parent Directory * [Features](https://revcent.com/documentation/markdown/ecosystem/feature/index.md) - Non-technical markdown documentation for features within the RevCent ecosystem. A feature is a part of the RevCent ecosystem that a user can create and configure.