# Markets A market is made of a [merchant](https://docs.commercelayer.io/core-api-reference/merchants), an [inventory model](https://docs.commercelayer.io/core-api-reference/inventory_models), and a [price list](https://docs.commercelayer.io/core-api-reference/price_lists). Optionally, a market can be associated with different [price list schedulers](https://docs.commercelayer.io/core-api-reference/price_list_schedulers) and [stores](https://docs.commercelayer.io/core-api-reference/stores), a [customer group](https://docs.commercelayer.io/core-api-reference/customer_groups), a [geocoder](https://docs.commercelayer.io/core-api-reference/geocoders), and a [tax calculator](https://docs.commercelayer.io/core-api-reference/tax_calculators). You can define a custom alphanumeric (case-sensitive) `code` for your markets, provided that it's unique across the environment (it can contain underscore and hyphens, spaces are not allowed, the maximum length is **25** characters). {% hint style="info" %} [Sales channels](https://docs.commercelayer.io/developers/api-credentials#sales-channel) must specify a [market scope](https://docs.commercelayer.io/developers/authentication#putting-a-market-in-scope) when obtaining an access token. This way, all the resources (e.g., SKUs, prices, stock items) are automatically filtered. If you [put a store in scope](https://app.gitbook.com/s/-LgByaSP8eKjad-MIuHE/authentication#putting-a-store-in-scope) instead, there's no need to specify the associated market, which is inherited from the store itself. {% endhint %} ## Scheduling price changes for a market To be able to associate a price list scheduler with a market, their price lists must share the same `currency_code` and `tax_included` attributes. The price list associated with an active price list scheduler temporarily overrides the one originally associated with the market, letting you change a subset of prices within a specific time window (e.g. seasonal sales). A market can be associated with more than one price list scheduler but, at a given moment in time, [only one](https://docs.commercelayer.io/core-api-reference/price_list_schedulers#price-list-scheduler-status) will be chosen to override the market's original price list (that you can still fetch by checking the `base_price_list` relationship). ## Default payment method You can create a specific payment method and set it as the [default payment method](https://docs.commercelayer.io/core-api-reference/payment_methods#default-payment-method) for one or more markets by leveraging the `default_payment_method` relationship. This way all the market's orders not already associated with a payment method will be [automatically associated](https://docs.commercelayer.io/core-api-reference/orders#default-payment-method) with the default one. To be eligible for being set as default, a payment method must not already be associated with any markets. Otherwise, the API will return an error when [associating the relationship](https://app.gitbook.com/s/-LgByaSP8eKjad-MIuHE/updating-resources#updating-relationships). ## Default shipping method You can create a specific shipping method and set it as the [default shipping method](https://docs.commercelayer.io/core-api-reference/shipping_methods#default-shipping-method) for one or more markets by leveraging the `default_shipping_method` relationship. This way all the shipments that belong to the market's orders and that are not already associated with a shipping method will be [automatically associated](https://docs.commercelayer.io/core-api-reference/shipments#default-shipping-method) with the default one. To be eligible for being set as default, a shipping method must not already be associated with any: * Markets * Stock locations * Shipping categories * Shipping zones Otherwise, the API will return an error when [associating the relationship](https://app.gitbook.com/s/-LgByaSP8eKjad-MIuHE/updating-resources#updating-relationships). ## Market-specific shipping costs policy Based on the selected inventory strategy, an order can be associated with more than one shipment. Each shipment must be associated with a shipping method, the cost of which will result in a line item of type `shipments` in the order summary. If you want to override this behavior for one or more of your markets, you can set the `shipping_cost_cutoff` attribute (not enabled by default) whose value will define the maximum of shipping line items of the order that will have a cost, while the remaining ones will have their unit amount set to 0 — e.g. if you set the `shipping_cost_cutoff` value to 1, only the shipping method that is first associated with an order's shipment will have its cost, while the subsequent ones cost will be zeroed (this way, for example, you can charge the customer with one single shipping cost for the whole order). ## External URLs When setting up a market, you can decide to manage some market-specific features using an external/custom service. Specifically: * **Prices** — fill in the `external_prices_url` field with your external service endpoint and follow the [external prices](https://app.gitbook.com/s/-LgByaSP8eKjad-MIuHE/external-resources/external-prices) guide for more information on how to inject the unit amount price of a specific [line item](https://docs.commercelayer.io/core-api-reference/line_items) from an external source. * **Order validation** — fill in the `external_order_validation_url` field with your external service endpoint and follow the [external order validation](https://app.gitbook.com/s/-LgByaSP8eKjad-MIuHE/external-resources/external-order-validation) guide for more information on how to trigger the validation of a specific [order](https://docs.commercelayer.io/core-api-reference/orders) from an external source. When activating both of the features above, a shared secret is generated at the market level. You can use it to verify the related [callback authenticity](https://app.gitbook.com/s/-LgByaSP8eKjad-MIuHE/callbacks-security). ## Disabling markets Markets are automatically enabled at the time of creation, but they can be disabled by sending a `PATCH` request with the `_disable` trigger attribute set to `true`. Similarly, you can use the `_enable` trigger attribute to re-enable a disabled market. Once a market is disabled it is excluded from any [authorization scope](https://app.gitbook.com/s/-LgByaSP8eKjad-MIuHE/authentication#authorization-scopes) recalculation: existing access tokens previously created with that market in scope receive a `422 Unprocessable Entity` error on market-specific actions (e.g. if you try to create/update an order or a line item), any attempts to request a new access token with that market in scope receive a `400 Bad Request` error (due to invalid scope). {% hint style="warning" %} Your [plan limits](https://commercelayer.io/pricing) refer to *active* (i.e. enabled) markets only. If you've reached your plan's limit in terms of the number of markets, make sure to disable one of the active markets before enabling a new one. {% endhint %}
Data model Check the related [ER diagram](https://commercelayer.io/docs/data-model/markets-and-business-models) and explore the flowchart that illustrates how the market resource relates to the other API entities.