> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.mercurjs.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# What is an offer

> The offer record, how it points at a master product variant, and its SKU.

In this document, you'll learn what an offer is and how it relates to the shared
master catalog.

## Offer

An offer is a store's listing against a master product variant, represented by
the `Offer` data model (table `offer`, id prefix `offer`). It's a thin
marketplace-side record: it holds the store (`seller_id`), the master variant it
points at (`variant_id`), the master product (`product_id`), the store's own
`sku`, optional `ean` / `upc` barcodes, and the shipping profile it ships with.
Price and inventory are attached through links rather than stored on the row.

```ts theme={null}
const { result } = await createOffersWorkflow(container).run({
  input: {
    offers: [
      {
        seller_id: "sel_123",
        created_by: "mem_123",
        variant_id: "variant_123",
        shipping_profile_id: "sp_123",
        sku: "ACME-WIDGET-01",
        prices: [{ amount: 2500, currency_code: "usd" }],
        inventory_items: [{ stock_levels: [{ location_id: "sloc_1", stocked_quantity: 50 }] }],
      },
    ],
  },
})
```

<Note>
  **Products are not seller-owned.** The master product and its variants live in
  the shared catalog. An offer never modifies the product. It points at a
  variant and layers the store's own commercial terms on top.
</Note>

## Offer vs. master product

A single master variant can back many offers, one per store that sells it. The
`Offer` carries the identity of that particular listing:

* `product_id` / `variant_id`: the master records the offer points at (joined through read-only links).
* `seller_id`: the store that owns the offer (read-only link to the store).
* `sku`: the store's own stock-keeping unit for this listing.
* `ean` / `upc`: barcodes, snapshotted off the linked variant when not supplied.

<Tip>
  A store's `sku` is **unique within that store** (`(seller_id, sku)`, enforced
  while `deleted_at IS NULL`). Two different stores may reuse the same SKU string
  for their own offers.
</Tip>

## One offer per variant

Each offer points at exactly one variant, so a store's offers on a product mirror
that product's variants. When offers are grouped by store
(`group_by_seller`), the service computes a `variant_count` and an `offer_ids`
list for the grouped `(product, seller)` row. The dashboards use it to act on
all of a store's offers on a product at once.