The Series· No. 11 · Act III — The Catalog

By DocuSeller · Published

The Catalog
DocuSeller · No. 11

A product is a recipe, not a folder

A resale package looks like a folder of PDFs.

It isn't. Open one and there are seven genuinely different kinds of thing inside — and some don't exist yet.

Stored files, live data, and generated documents combine in one package Three sourcesOn fileLive dataTo createPackage
Three different worlds. One line on a receipt.

Here's the trouble with "it's just a folder."

The contents live in three different worlds.

Some already exist, sitting quietly in the management company's own files. A budget. An insurance certificate.

Some live inside the accounting system and have to be fetched at the moment of sale, because a balance from Tuesday is a liability by Friday.

And some don't exist at all yet. A letter that needs this owner's real numbers merged into it. A form the buyer has to fill in. An entire automation that goes off and produces the rest.

So an item inside a package can be any of seven types.

Seven supported item types form one product recipe Seven item typesLive pullFolderDocumentLetterFormAutomationSmart ruleOne product, assembled from different sources
Each item also carries a sort order, a required-or-optional flag, and a display name you can override.

That display name matters more than it sounds.

A clear buyer-facing title replaces an internal filename on the package Stored filenameCCR_FINAL_v3_USE_THIS.pdfCovenants, Conditions& RestrictionsBuyer-facing title
What it's called, and what it's called in front of guests.

The file on disk is called CCR_FINAL_v3_USE_THIS.pdf.

The buyer sees "Covenants, Conditions & Restrictions." Nobody should ever have to meet v3.

The package itself is named, priced, previewable before purchase, and carries an expiry window on the finished order. Seven days by default.

One more thing a package decides: which upgrades it offers at all. Not every package can be rushed, and not every one can be posted. A statement emailed in ten seconds cannot be express, and a printed binder cannot be electronic. So handling and delivery choices are attached to a package one at a time, not switched on for everything. Attach none and the builder says so plainly — buyers will see no choices at checkout — and the cart simply reads Instant, included. And if a browser ever asks to buy an option that package never offered, the payment refuses it rather than charging for it.

And putting it on sale is its own separate decision.

A draft package is assembled, previewed, and deliberately published for sale Publication is a separate decisionAssemblePreviewPublishDraftReviewFor sale
Assembled and previewable is not the same as on sale. Publishing stays a decision.

A package can be completely assembled and still not be for sale. You build it, look at exactly what a buyer would receive, and only then put it on the menu.

A package isn't a folder. It's a recipe.

Coming next: the package item that keeps itself current, so nobody re-opens 400 products when the insurance renews.

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