Merchant Management
Merchant management is the operations-side entry for onboarding and administering merchants. Menu path: Merchant Management → Merchant List.
For the main track that takes a new merchant from zero to accepting payments (create → channel merchant → keys → verify), see steps 4-8 of From Deployment to First Payment; this page is the complete reference for the merchant management domain.
Merchant List
- Query conditions: merchant name, entity type (micro / individual / enterprise), status (enabled / disabled)
- List columns: merchant name, merchant short name, entity type, status, merchant number, creation time
- Actions column: a single "Manage" button — enters that merchant's Merchant Workbench; all managed operations happen inside the workbench, and the list page itself offers no edit, enable/disable, or delete
Creating a Merchant
"New" in the toolbar opens a drawer; the form has two groups:
Merchant info
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Merchant name | Yes | Full merchant name |
| Merchant short name | Yes | Short name shown in lists and pages |
| Entity type | Yes | Micro merchant / individually-owned business / enterprise |
Administrator info (the merchant's administrator account, used to log in to the merchant panel)
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Account | Yes | 6-20 characters; letters, digits, _, - only; unique within the merchant panel |
| Name | Yes | Display name of the administrator |
| Password / confirm password | No | Leave empty to auto-generate a random initial password; if filled in, both entries must match |
After a successful save, the system automatically does four things: generates the merchant number (starting with M), creates the merchant administrator account (bound to the merchant super-admin role), creates the default app, and creates the default store. The result page shows the account and the initial password in plain text (displayed only once) — copy it immediately and pass it to the merchant.
Merchant Workbench
Entered from "Manage" in the merchant list, it is the hub for administering a single merchant's entire configuration on the operations side, organized into four tile-card groups. The configuration pages the merchant sees in the merchant panel mirror it, backed by the same data.
| Group | Entry | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Basic Management | Merchant Info | View / edit merchant info and the enable/disable status |
| Merchant Users | Account management for this merchant (create, assign roles, reset password, ban) | |
| Store Management | CRUD for store records, default store | |
| System Terminals | Terminal ledger and binding to channel terminals | |
| Payment Configuration | Channel Merchants | Onboard channel merchants on each payment product (the creation entry is here only) |
| App Management | Management of the merchant's apps (appId); see Application Configuration | |
| Payment Apps (WeChat) | Register WeChat official-account / mini-program open apps (required for JSAPI / mini-program payments) | |
| Payment Apps (Douyin) | Register Douyin open apps | |
| Business Configuration | API Credentials | Manage this merchant's API signing keys on its behalf (same data as the merchant panel's API Credentials) |
| Domain Verification Files | Upload WeChat domain verification files (MP_verify_*.txt only, for WeChat authorization callbacks) | |
| Dangerous Operations | Delete Merchant | Strong confirmation (requires typing the merchant name); see the deletion rules below |
For the workbench's "Channel Merchants" and "Payment Apps (WeChat/Douyin)", see Channel Merchants and Payment Apps; for "App Management", see Application Configuration. The remaining sub-pages are described in the sections below; for the key configuration model of each channel, see Common Channel Configuration.
Merchant Users
Workbench → Basic Management → Merchant Users manages the login accounts of this merchant (unlike platform users: the accounts belong to the merchant and use merchant-panel roles):
- Query: name, account, status (normal / locked / banned); the list includes an identity column — merchant administrators show a gold tag, regular users show their role name;
- New: name + account + password (leave empty to auto-generate an initial password, shown once on the result page) + role (single-select cards, defaulting to the regular merchant role — the role is bound at creation so a new account never logs into an empty menu);
- Actions: view details, edit (only the name can be changed; email may only be changed by the user through the binding flow), assign roles, reset password, ban / unlock; supports batch execution on selected rows.
Two hard rules
The merchant administrator role is fixed and cannot be changed, and the administrator cannot be banned (a ban would leave the merchant unmanaged — blocked on both frontend and backend). To change the administrator, create the new account first and then hand over.
Store Management
Workbench → Basic Management → Store Management:
- Query: store name, store number, status; the list shows the default-store tag and the assembled full address;
- Form fields: store name, status, default store, contact phone, region (province / city / district cascade), detailed address, latitude/longitude (7 decimal places, for map scenarios), remark;
- Default store rule: same structure as the default app — transactions without a store number fall back to the default store; the default store cannot be deleted (transfer the default first); deactivating the default store asks for a second confirmation.
API Credentials (managed administration)
Workbench → Business Configuration → API Credentials manages this merchant's API integration keys on its behalf (same data as the merchant panel's API Credentials):
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| Platform public key | Read-only; provide it to the merchant for verifying signatures of platform responses and callbacks |
| Merchant public key | The merchant keeps the private key and configures the public key on the platform for signature verification; "Generate key pair" can generate one online |
| Communication key | AES symmetric key for encrypted transport of API messages; can be generated online |
Private key shown only once
When generating a key pair online, the private key is displayed only once in the dialog and cannot be recovered after closing — hand it to the merchant to store securely right away. Regenerating an existing key requires a second confirmation (the old key is overwritten).
WeChat Domain Verification
Workbench → Business Configuration → WeChat Domain Verification hosts the merchant-side WeChat verification files:
- "Upload verification file" selects the
MP_verify_*.txtfile downloaded from WeChat (this format only); the system reads and hosts the content; - The list can be searched by file name and verification code; editing only changes the remark — the file content is immutable;
- Verification files for platform-level domains (
.txt/.htmlsupported) are maintained on the "Domain Verification" page of Payment Apps; the two locations own different files.
Merchant Status and Deletion
Enable / disable: changed in Merchant Workbench → Merchant Info. Effects of disabling:
- None of the merchant's accounts can log in to the merchant panel;
- The merchant cannot initiate new payments (transaction-context validation fails);
- In-flight orders are unaffected — channel callbacks still complete status updates for existing orders;
- The merchant no longer appears in merchant dropdown selectors.
Delete merchant: only via Merchant Workbench → Dangerous Operations → Delete Merchant (requires typing the merchant name to confirm). The system refuses to delete a merchant that has transactions, orders, refund records, or remaining users; deletion is a logical delete that cascades through child data — use it only for scenarios such as cleaning up test data.
WARNING
Changing the merchant number or short name does not affect transactions; however, the entity type cannot be changed after creation — confirm it is correct when creating.
Related Sections
- Application Configuration — apps and the default-app rule
- Channel Merchants — the channel merchant concept, creation, and allocation receivers
- Common Channel Configuration — the common model for each channel's ISV keys and onboarding
- Payment Channel Integration — the channel-integration main track (worked examples for Alipay and WeChat direct)
- User Management — common account operations (password reset, lockout mechanics)