> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://ctracker-docs.keywordrush.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://ctracker-docs.keywordrush.com/shops-and-cashback-rates/shop-catalog.md).

# The Shop catalog

`Cashback Tracker` → `Shop catalog` is every shop your networks know about, in one list.

> **This screen used to be called Advertisers.** Same screen, same data, new name — see [What changed](#what-changed-and-why) at the bottom of this page.

### Two lists, and the difference between them

Cashback Tracker has two screens with "shop" in the name, and they are not the same thing.

**Shops** (its own menu, near Posts and Pages) holds your **shop pages** — the pages visitors read. Titles, descriptions, images, categories, reviews. This is where you edit content.

**Shop catalog** (under Cashback Tracker) holds what your **networks told you** about each shop — the commission you earn, the currency, how long orders are held, the shop's ID at the network. This is data you do not write; it arrives with each refresh.

The practical difference: the catalog includes shops that have **no page yet**. If you have joined 400 programmes and created 50 pages, Shops shows 50 and the catalog shows 400.

![The Shop catalog](https://3545740495-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F-M69sU0hfZj3QsteYxmI%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-c8e2ffbabac273bc87d7d5986e2ee156e4b024fa%2Fshop-catalog.webp?alt=media)

### Finding a shop

Above the table:

* **Search** matches the shop's name, its domain, or its ID at the network. Any of the three, so you can paste in whichever you happen to have.
* **Every network** narrows the list to one network. Networks you have switched off are still listed, marked *(inactive)* — their shops are still on your site even though nothing is updating them.
* **Any page state** finds the shops that have a page, or the ones that do not. "No shop page" is the list to work through when you are building out your site.
* **Any coupons** finds shops with coupons and shops without. Only shown when coupon import is switched on.

The row of links above the filters — **All**, **Active**, **Paused**, **Rejected**, **Inactive** — filters by status and shows how many are in each. The counts describe your other filters too, so filtering to one network changes them.

Click **Shop**, **Network** or **Last seen** in the header to sort by that column. Click again to reverse it.

### What each column means

| Column         | What it is                                                                                                                                                                                               |
| -------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Shop**       | The shop's name as the network spells it, with its domain underneath. Click the name to see everything the network sent.                                                                                 |
| **Network**    | Which affiliate network this shop came from.                                                                                                                                                             |
| **Cashback**   | What a member earns here, with the commission it comes out of underneath — `4.5%` / `of 9% · EUR` reads as "the member gets 4.5%, which is half of the 9% the network pays you".                         |
| **Validation** | Roughly how long this merchant takes to approve an order.                                                                                                                                                |
| **Coupons**    | How many live coupons this shop has.                                                                                                                                                                     |
| **Status**     | Whether the network still carries this shop — see [When a shop is paused, rejected or disappears](/affiliate-networks/shop-status-policies.md). A shop on its way out reads "missing 2 runs" underneath. |
| **Last seen**  | When a refresh last found this shop at the network.                                                                                                                                                      |
| **Shop page**  | **Edit** and **View** if the shop has a page, or **Create page** if it does not.                                                                                                                         |

### Looking at one shop

Click a shop's name to open its details: every field the network sent, when it was first and last seen, how many refreshes have missed it, and — at the bottom — everything the network sent in its own words.

For a shop that came from a network, this is **read only**. That is deliberate: the next refresh would overwrite anything you typed here, and the shop would then be retired for going missing. To change what visitors actually see — the title, the description, the logo — edit the **shop page** instead. The drawer links straight to it.

![One shop, opened from the catalog](https://3545740495-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F-M69sU0hfZj3QsteYxmI%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-750772b94ba8eab209943134a2a546962baeea98%2Fshop-catalog-detail.webp?alt=media)

### What you can do here

Two buttons beside the title.

**Add shop** appears only if you have a custom network. Networks with an API send their own shops; a custom network's shops are the ones you enter here. See [Adding a shop by hand](#adding-a-shop-by-hand).

**Bulk tools** opens everything that runs across the whole catalog. Four jobs, each with its own count so you can see whether it has anything to do before you start it:

| Row              | What it does                                                                                                                                                           |
| ---------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Shop pages**   | Makes a shop page for every shop that does not have one. See [Creating shop pages in bulk](/shops-and-cashback-rates/creating-shop-pages-in-bulk.md).                  |
| **Logos**        | Fetches logos by domain. **Fill missing** leaves existing logos alone; **Replace all** refetches every one. See [Shop logos](/shops-and-cashback-rates/shop-logos.md). |
| **Descriptions** | Writes descriptions, meta descriptions, SEO titles and taglines onto shop pages with AI. See [Writing text in bulk](/running-your-site/tools.md#writing-text-in-bulk). |
| **Sort order**   | Rebuilds the values your shop directory sorts by. See [Sort order](#sort-order).                                                                                       |

All four run in the background. Close the dialog and carry on — a line under the heading shows progress while a job is running, and each row grows a **Stop** button that abandons the rest without losing what is already done.

{% hint style="info" %}
**A number on the button** — *Bulk tools (1)* — means something is actually waiting: a shop with no page, or a sort order that has fallen behind. No number means nothing needs you.

Missing logos are deliberately not counted. Some shops will never have one, so a badge for those would be permanent and you would stop reading it.
{% endhint %}

{% hint style="info" %}
**Refreshing shops happens on the Networks screen**, not here. That is where each network shows what it holds, when it last refreshed and how that went. `Cashback Tracker` → `Networks` has **Refresh shops** on each row and **Refresh all shops** at the top.
{% endhint %}

### Adding a shop by hand

Only for **your own custom networks**. A shop that came from a real network is refreshed from that network, so anything you typed would be replaced within the day.

Press **Add shop**, or **Edit** under a custom shop's name. The only field you must fill in is the **name** — everything else is either optional or worked out for you:

* **Shop ID** — left blank, one is made from the name. Once saved it cannot change, because your orders and tracking links refer to it.
* **Site URL** — where the member ends up. Also fills the `{{url}}` part of a tracking link. You can type `example.com`; the `https://` is added for you.
* **Domain** — filled in from the site URL. Change it only if orders arrive under a different domain from the one members visit.
* **Deeplink** — this shop's tracking URL. Leave it empty if your network has a **Tracking link pattern** that covers every shop.
* **Commission the network pays** — the range you earn. Used to show a cashback figure on the shop page; the money a member actually gets is worked out from the real order.
* **What this shop pays a member** — see below.

Two warnings can appear at the top of the form. Neither stops you saving, because both may be waiting on something you have not set up yet:

* **No tracking link** — this shop has no deeplink and its network has no pattern either, so a member clicking through would not be tracked and could not earn.
* **No site URL** — the deeplink expects a destination to send the member to, and there is nothing to put there.

#### What this shop pays a member

Your custom network has one rate that covers all of its shops. Use this section only when a shop should differ — a merchant paying you 3% cannot fund the same cashback as one paying 12%.

* **Use the network's rate** — the default. This shop is paid like every other.
* **A share of the commission** — a share of what you earn. The safe choice: you can never pay out more than you were paid.
* **A share of the order total** — a share of what the member spent. Check your commission covers it.
* **A fixed amount per order** — the same cash amount every time, in the currency you choose.

{% hint style="info" %}
**"Use the network's rate" is not the same as a rate of zero.** Choosing it removes this shop's own rate so it follows the network again. Setting a rate of `0` would mean the shop genuinely pays nothing.
{% endhint %}

### Sort order

The last row in **Bulk tools**:

> **Sort order** — all shop pages indexed

Your shop directory can be sorted by cashback, by rating and by coupon count. Doing that quickly means each shop page stores those values rather than working them out on every visit. They are kept up to date automatically — when you save a shop page, when a network refreshes, and daily for coupon counts.

The row says whether every page carries its values, and offers a **Rebuild**. You should not need it. Use it if the shop directory ever sorts in an order that looks wrong.

If this one falls behind it counts towards the number on the **Bulk tools** button, because until it is rebuilt your public shop directory really is sorting wrongly.

### When a shop is missing

If a shop you expect is not listed, in order of likelihood:

1. The network has not been refreshed since you joined that programme. Refresh it from the Networks screen.
2. The programme is not actually approved yet at the network's end. Cashback Tracker only ever sees the merchants you have been approved for.
3. The network is switched off. Its shops stop being updated, though the ones already loaded stay — filter to that network and you will still see them.

### What changed and why

In version 3 this screen was called **Advertisers**, and the rest of the plugin called the same thing a shop. One word won.

* The menu entry **Advertisers** is now **Shop catalog**.
* The **Cashback shops** menu is now simply **Shops**.
* Wherever the admin said "advertiser", it now says "shop" — settings, columns, order screens, coupon search.
* The one deliberate exception is **Shop ID at the network**, on the shop page editor. That value is copied from your network's own dashboard, and calling it anything shorter invited pasting the wrong number.

The screen itself was rebuilt after that rename. Search, filters, sorting, status and the date each shop was last seen are new. **Refresh all shops** moved to the Networks screen, where the rest of each network's refreshing already lived. The two "rebuild index" buttons became the **Sort order** row described above, which tells you whether a rebuild would help before you press it.

The bulk jobs were four separate buttons across the top, each reporting itself in its own way and one of them leaving a line on the screen permanently. They are one **Bulk tools** list now, so you can see at a glance which of them has work outstanding.

Nothing moved and nothing was renamed behind the scenes. Your shops, pages, orders, links and settings are untouched.

### Related

* [Creating shop pages in bulk](/shops-and-cashback-rates/creating-shop-pages-in-bulk.md)
* [Shop pages](/shops-and-cashback-rates/shop-pages.md) — turning a shop into a page on your site.
* [Loading shops from a network](/affiliate-networks/loading-shops.md)
* [When a shop is paused, rejected or disappears](/affiliate-networks/shop-status-policies.md)