Contracts
Contracts enable a customer organization or a customer group to purchase products from a store at a specified price for a specified time under specific conditions.
Types of contracts
- Default contract
- A default contract defines the default customer entitlement for a store. The default contract
applies to all customers shopping at a store and do not have any other contract with the store, for
example, guest customers. Also, the default contract applies to customers who buy products that are
not covered by other contracts they have with the store, if the customer is permitted to purchase
products that are not covered by a contract.Note: The only type of contract that is supported by the Professional and Express editions of WebSphere Commerce is the default contract.
Business contracts types:
When
you create contracts for WebSphere Commerce, it is important to understand
the business model in which your store is based, the participants,
usages, and XML elements for each business model:
| Business model | Contract XML element | Usage | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| B2B Direct | BuyerContract | Organization buyer (default) |
|
- Buyer contract
- A buyer contract enables a customer organization
to purchase products from a store at a specified price for a specified
time under specific conditions. All buyer contracts are associated
with business accounts; buyer contracts cannot be created for customers
who do not have an account.Note: A single order that contains different items can be purchased under different contracts. Depending on the store design, buyers can select the contract they shop under at either the start of the shopping flow or when they add an item to their order. When buyers purchase items under different contracts, the following rules apply:
- Contracts for all items in an order must share at least one payment method. If the contract for an item does not share a payment method, the buyer cannot add that item to the order. Only the payment methods that are shared by all items in an order can be used to pay for the order.
- All items in an order must come from contracts that belong to the same business account or the store default contract.
- Referral contract
- WebSphere Commerce provides the ability for your store to pass requests for quotes and orders from resellers to your proxy stores or distributors. These abilities and the terms and conditions that are applied to these abilities are defined in a service agreement. Creating and managing distributor service agreements is the basis of distributor relationships in WebSphere Commerce. A distributor service agreement is also referred to as a referral contract.
- Hosting contract
- A hosting contract is a contract between the hosting
service provider and the store operator.Note: A hosting contract is often referred to as a reseller service agreement.