---
title: "Sales channels"
description: "Create sales channels, choose which products each one carries, and switch a channel off or delete it."
url: "https://docs.poltura.com/en/developer/sales-channels/"
lang: en
alternates:
  en: "https://docs.poltura.com/en/developer/sales-channels/"
  hu: "https://docs.poltura.com/hu/developer/sales-channels/"
---

# Sales channels

Create sales channels, choose which products each one carries, and switch a channel off or delete it.

- Where: Settings → Developer → Sales Channels
- Status: Developer mode

This page appears only when [developer mode](https://docs.poltura.com/en/developer/) is switched on.

A sales channel is a place your store sells through: your online store, a second storefront, a marketplace. Each product is in one or more channels. A storefront shows only the products of the channels its [publishable API key](https://docs.poltura.com/en/developer/api-keys/#publishable) is linked to. Most stores work with the one channel they started with. Add another when you run a second storefront or want to offer part of your catalog somewhere else.

To put a single product into a channel, you can also use the product page. See [Edit a product](https://docs.poltura.com/en/products/edit-a-product/#sales-channels).

![The Sales channels list with one enabled channel, Online store, and the Create button](https://docs.poltura.com/screenshots/en/developer/sales-channels.webp)

_Most stores have just this one channel._

## Before you start

You need a role that includes store settings, such as Owner, Administrator or Store manager.

## Create a sales channel

1. Open **Settings** and choose **Sales Channels** in the **Developer** group.
2. Select **Create**.
3. Type a **Name**. A **Description** is optional.
4. Leave **Enabled** ticked if the channel should sell straight away. When it is off, the channel keeps its products but stops selling them.
5. Save. The page of the new channel opens.

A new channel has no products and no API key. Add products, then link the channel to a publishable key.

## Add products to a channel

1. Open the channel from the list.
2. In the **Products** section select **Add products**.
3. Search if you need to, then tick the products. Products the channel already carries are ticked and marked **In this channel**.
4. Select **Add products**.
5. You return to the channel and the products are listed.

One save takes up to 50 products. For more, save the first batch and open the picker again. Adding never removes products that are already in the channel.

## Remove products from a channel

1. Open the channel.
2. In the **Products** section tick the products to remove.
3. Select **Remove** in the bar that appears, or press `R`.
4. Confirm.

The products stay in your catalog and in their other channels. They only stop being offered through this channel.

## Edit a channel or switch it off

1. Open the channel and select **Edit sales channel**.
2. Change the **Name** or the **Description**, or untick **Enabled** to switch the channel off.
3. Save. A channel that is switched off shows the tag **Disabled**.

> **Warning**
>
> A switched-off channel takes no new carts. Nothing stops you from switching off the default channel of your store, so check which channel your storefront uses before you untick **Enabled**.

## Keep your own data on a channel

1. Open the channel and select **Edit custom data**.
2. Type a key and a value in a row. Use the blank row to add another pair.
3. Save.

Custom data is for your integrations: Poltura stores it and does nothing else with it. A value of `true` or `false` is stored as a yes or no value, a value made only of digits as a number, anything else as text. Rows without a key are not saved. A key can be up to 100 characters and a value up to 500.

## Delete a sales channel

> **Warning**
>
> Deleting a channel cannot be undone. Its links to products, locations and API keys go with it. The products themselves stay in your catalog.

1. Open the channel.
2. In the **Delete this sales channel** section select **Delete sales channel**.
3. Type the name of the channel to confirm, exactly as it is written.
4. Select **Delete sales channel**. You return to the list.

## Good to know

- The list shows **Name**, **Description**, **Status** and **Created**. You can search, filter by status and date, and sort.
- The channel page lists the first 10 products only. A product further down cannot be removed from the channel on this page until earlier ones are removed. Use the product's own page instead.
- The default sales channel of the store cannot be deleted. The page does not mark which channel is the default: you learn it when the delete is refused. The default is chosen in [Store details](https://docs.poltura.com/en/settings/store/#details).
- Channel names do not have to be unique, but give each its own name, because deleting asks you to type it.
- A name can be up to 200 characters, a description up to 1,000.
- A [location](https://docs.poltura.com/en/developer/locations-and-shipping/#locations) serves the sales channels linked to it. A channel with no location has nowhere to ship from.

## If something goes wrong

- **"This store uses that sales channel as its default, so it cannot be removed."** Make another channel the default first, then delete this one.
- **"That does not match, so nothing was changed."** The name you typed differs from the channel's current name. Capital letters count.
- **"That change could not be saved." when removing products.** One of the ticked products was already removed from the channel. Reload the page and try again.
- **The storefront shows no products.** Check that the products are in the channel, that the channel is enabled, and that the storefront's publishable key is linked to it.
- **Customers cannot start a cart.** The channel of the storefront was switched off. Tick **Enabled** again.

## Related

- [Developer mode](https://docs.poltura.com/en/developer/)
- [API keys](https://docs.poltura.com/en/developer/api-keys/)
- [Locations and shipping](https://docs.poltura.com/en/developer/locations-and-shipping/)
- [Edit a product](https://docs.poltura.com/en/products/edit-a-product/#sales-channels)
- [Store details](https://docs.poltura.com/en/settings/store/)