27. Glossary
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27. Glossary
Every term is defined the way it actually works in this system — where the real behavior differs from the ecommerce-industry-standard meaning, that’s called out rather than glossed over. See the linked section for full detail on any term.
Allocation — how a Promotion’s discount is spread across matching items: each (per item),
across (split among them), or once (a single flat deduction). See
[Section 11]/11-coupons-and-discounts/#promotion-creation—real-fields.
Available — calculated stock a customer can actually buy: In Stock − Reserved. Never
edited directly. See [Section 5]/05-inventory-management/#core-concepts-as-this-system-actually-models-them.
Campaign — an optional container a Promotion can attach to, carrying real start/end dates and a budget. A standalone Promotion has no dates of its own. See [Section 11]/11-coupons-and-discounts/#campaigns—how-dates-and-budgets-work.
Category — a real, navigable product grouping with parent/child nesting and its own public/internal visibility toggle. Not used today (2 products, no need yet). See [Section 12]/12-categories/.
Coupon — the business term for what this admin calls a Promotion. See [Section 11]/11-coupons-and-discounts/#terminology-note.
Credit Note — this project’s own GST document generated automatically when an order with an
issued invoice is canceled from the admin. Separate numbering series (CN/FY/000001) from
invoices. See [Section 16]/16-invoicing/#credit-notes-cancellations.
Customer Group — a named grouping of customers (e.g. wholesale), used to target Price Lists or Promotions. Never used today. See [Section 10]/10-customer-management/#customer-groups.
Financial Year (FY) — India’s tax year, April 1–March 31, used for invoice/credit-note numbering (e.g. “2026-27” compacted to “2627”). See [Section 16]/16-invoicing/#invoice-number.
Fulfillment — the packing/shipping record created when staff clicks “Fulfill Items” on an order. Has its own status independent of payment status. See [Section 8]/08-order-management/#fulfillment-status-values.
GSTIN — the seller’s GST registration number. The value currently configured is a confirmed placeholder, not real — see [Section 16]/16-invoicing/#system-capability-vs-businesslegal-configuration.
Handle — the URL slug for a product or category. The only real SEO-adjacent field in this admin — there’s no separate meta title/description. See [Section 3]/03-product-management/#seo.
HSN Code — the tax classification code for a product (1507 for both products today),
stored in product metadata, not a dedicated field. Feeds GST invoicing directly — missing it
makes invoice generation fail loud. See [Section 3]/03-product-management/#product-identification.
Inventory Item — the stock-tracking record automatically created for a variant when “Manage Inventory” is on. Has its own stock level per Location. See [Section 5]/05-inventory-management/.
In Stock — the one number staff can actually edit for a SKU at a location. Represents the new total, not an amount added. See [Section 5]/05-inventory-management/#receiving-new-stock.
Invoice — the GST-compliant PDF generated automatically the moment an order is placed. A frozen snapshot — later data changes never retroactively alter an issued invoice. See [Section 16]/16-invoicing/.
Location (Stock Location) — a physical warehouse the system tracks stock at. Only one exists today, “India Warehouse” (placeholder address). See [Section 13]/13-shipping/.
MRP — not a real field. This store’s Selling Price is the only price field; there is no separate MRP-vs-selling-price distinction in this admin. See [Section 3]/03-product-management/#pricing.
Order — created automatically when a cart completes checkout. Tracked by two independent statuses (Payment status, Fulfillment status), not one linear status. See [Section 8]/08-order-management/#correcting-a-assumption-from-the-original-brief.
Payment Status — one of not_paid, authorized, captured, refunded, etc. — see the
full real enum in [Section 8]/08-order-management/#payment-status-values.
Price List — Medusa’s mechanism for overriding prices per customer group/sales channel (e.g. wholesale pricing). Not used — this store has one flat price per variant. See [Section 2]/02-admin-dashboard/#price-lists.
Product — the shared container (title, description, images, HSN/GST metadata) grouping related Variants. Does not itself have a price or stock. See [Section 4]/04-product-variants/#product-vs-variant-vs-sku.
Product Status — real values: draft, proposed, published, rejected. The create
wizard only offers Draft/Publish directly. See [Section 3]/03-product-management/#status—publishing.
Promotion — Medusa’s real name for a discount/coupon. Can be code-based or automatic,
fixed or percentage, standard or buyget. See [Section 11]/11-coupons-and-discounts/.
Refund — issued from an order’s Payment section; supports partial amounts, and captures a real Reason + Note. See [Section 15]/15-refunds-and-returns/#refund-processing.
Reservation — a hold placed on stock automatically when an order is created, so two customers can’t buy the last unit. Released automatically if the order is canceled (verified in Medusa’s own cancel workflow). See [Section 5]/05-inventory-management/#reservations and [Section 24]/24-troubleshooting/#inventory-incorrect.
Return — a staff-initiated process for getting items back from a customer, capturing a real Reason/Note per item, ending in a Refund. There’s no separate multi-person “approval” gate — creating the return is effectively the approval. See [Section 15]/15-refunds-and-returns/.
Service Zone — the geography a Stock Location ships to. This store has one zone: all of India as a single country-level zone. See [Section 13]/13-shipping/#creating-a-service-zone—real-fields.
Shipment — the physical delivery, tracked via a Fulfillment’s Tracking Number/URL/Label URL fields, entered manually today (no live carrier integration confirmed working yet). See [Section 9, step 11]/09-order-processing-sop/#11-mark-as-shipped-add-tracking.
Shipping Option — the actual method + price a customer picks at checkout (e.g. “Standard Delivery,” ₹49 flat). Supports real conditional/tiered pricing, unused today. See [Section 13]/13-shipping/#creating-a-shipping-option—real-fields.
SKU — the unique code identifying one exact variant, e.g. SINDHU-GRN-500. Inventory is
tracked by SKU. See [Section 4]/04-product-variants/#product-vs-variant-vs-sku.
Variant — one specific purchasable version of a product (e.g. one size), with its own SKU, price, weight, and stock. See [Section 4]/04-product-variants/.
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