# Standard flow
The following sequence diagrams outline a standard [Direct Integrations](/digital-river-api/integration-options/checkouts.md) flow. They depict interactions between the customer, your commerce platform, the Digital River APIs, and Digital River. These diagrams are meant to outline Digital River's core capabilities, focusing specifically on:
* Important states in an [order's life cycle](https://docs.digitalriver.com/digital-river-api-reference/2021-12-13/orders/order-basics#the-order-lifecycle)
* The sequence of major [events](/digital-river-api/order-management/events-and-webhooks-1/events-1.md)
* The data you must provide to use Digital River's [authorized reseller of record](/digital-river-api/readme.md) business model
* How checkouts, orders, events, and fulfillments work
Refer to the [Sequence diagrams](/digital-river-api/general-resources/standards-and-certifications/integration-checklists.md#sequence-diagram) section on the [Integration checklists](/digital-river-api/general-resources/standards-and-certifications/integration-checklists.md) page to learn about other flows.
## Product management
You can use several approaches when identifying and describing your products in the Digital River APIs.
For details on your product management options, refer to the [Product basics](/digital-river-api/product-management/skus.md) page.
## Pre-checkout
Digital River is typically not involved in initial pre-checkout interactions between customers and your commerce platform. During this stage, customers land on your storefront, build a cart, confirm the cart's details, and initiate checkout. Your commerce platform typically presents them with the option of checking out as either a [guest or registered customer](/digital-river-api/integration-options/checkouts/creating-checkouts/using-the-checkout-identifier.md).
## Building a checkout
When a new customer checks out on your storefront, you can use the Digital River APIs to create a [customer ](https://docs.digitalriver.com/digital-river-api-reference/2021-12-13/customers)and a [checkout](https://docs.digitalriver.com/digital-river-api-reference/2021-12-13/checkouts). The [checkout](/digital-river-api/integration-options/checkouts/creating-checkouts.md) contains the transaction's tax details and assigned [selling entity](/digital-river-api/integration-options/checkouts/creating-checkouts/selling-entities.md). Your commerce platform should update the user interface with this tax information and use the selling entity to [display compliance disclosures](/digital-river-api/developer-resources/reference/elements/compliance-elements.md).
## Creating an order
When customers enter the payment entry stage, your commerce platform must render [Drop-in payments](/digital-river-api/payments/payment-integrations-1/drop-in.md). Customers submit their payment details, and [Drop-in payments](/digital-river-api/payments/payment-integrations-1/drop-in/drop-in-integration-guide.md) use that information to create a payment [source](/digital-river-api/payments/payment-sources.md).
{% hint style="success" %}
Explore the [Drop-in payments builder](https://drapi.io/drop-in-builder/) to better understand of how sources are created.
{% endhint %}
If customers opt to save the payment [source ](https://docs.digitalriver.com/digital-river-api-reference/2021-12-13/sources)for future purchases, and that source is [ready for storage](/digital-river-api/payments/payment-integrations-1/drop-in/drop-in-integration-guide.md#optional-allowing-the-customer-to-save-their-payment-details), you should [attach it to the customer](/digital-river-api/payments/payment-sources/using-the-source-identifier.md#attaching-sources-to-customers) and then [apply it to the checkout](/digital-river-api/payments/payment-sources/using-the-source-identifier.md#attaching-sources-to-checkouts). Otherwise, simply apply the source to the checkout for use in this [single transaction](/digital-river-api/payments/payment-sources.md#reusable-or-single-use).
Once payment is applied, use the [checkout ](https://docs.digitalriver.com/digital-river-api-reference/2021-12-13/checkouts)to update the commerce platform with the transaction's final tax information and [selling entity](/digital-river-api/integration-options/checkouts/creating-checkouts/selling-entities.md). The commerce platform should render an order review page with the appropriate [compliance information](/digital-river-api/developer-resources/reference/digitalriver-object.md#digitalriver-compliance-getdetails-businessentitycode-locale).
At this point, customers typically confirm the transaction's details and submit the order. This event should trigger a [create order request](/digital-river-api/order-management/creating-and-updating-an-order.md#creating-an-order-with-the-checkout-identifier). This request primarily acts as a [fraud review](https://docs.digitalriver.com/digital-river-api-reference/2021-12-13/orders/order-basics#fraud-review) and [payment authorization call](https://docs.digitalriver.com/digital-river-api-reference/2021-12-13/charges/charge-basics).
The [immediate response](/digital-river-api/order-management/creating-and-updating-an-order.md#processing-the-post-orders-response) contains either a `409 Conflict` or `201 Created` status code. In the event of an error, update the status of the commerce platform and render the appropriate message to storefront customers. If an [order ](https://docs.digitalriver.com/digital-river-api-reference/2021-12-13/orders)is created, update commerce platform's order statis by using the response's data.
For [immediately accepted orders](/digital-river-api/order-management/creating-and-updating-an-order.md#accepted), move the commerce platform's order into a ready to fulfill state and direct customers to a "Thank You" page.
If an [order's](https://docs.digitalriver.com/digital-river-api-reference/2021-12-13/orders) [`state`](https://docs.digitalriver.com/digital-river-api-reference/2021-12-13/orders/order-basics#order-states-and-events) is immediately returned as [pending payment authorization](/digital-river-api/order-management/creating-and-updating-an-order.md#pending-payment) or [in fraud review](/digital-river-api/order-management/creating-and-updating-an-order.md#in-review), you'll need to handle [asynchronous, order-related events](/digital-river-api/order-management/creating-and-updating-an-order.md#listening-for-and-handling-order-related-webhook-events) sent by Digital River.
Once an [order ](https://docs.digitalriver.com/digital-river-api-reference/2021-12-13/orders)is successfully screened for fraud or customers complete the steps necessary to [push payment](/digital-river-api/payments/payment-sources.md#pull-or-push), Digital River creates the [order accepted and ready to fulfill event](/digital-river-api/order-management/creating-and-updating-an-order.md#listening-for-the-order-accepted-event). If an [order ](https://docs.digitalriver.com/digital-river-api-reference/2021-12-13/orders)asynchronously fails due to suspected fraud or because the payment window closes without funds, we create an [order blocked](/digital-river-api/order-management/creating-and-updating-an-order.md#the-fraud-review-failure-event) or [charged failed](/digital-river-api/order-management/creating-and-updating-an-order.md#the-payment-failure-event) event, respectively.
When you're notified of one of these [events](/digital-river-api/order-management/events-and-webhooks-1/events-1.md), retrieve the order's [`state`](https://docs.digitalriver.com/digital-river-api-reference/2021-12-13/orders/order-basics#order-states-and-events) from the event's payload and, depending on that value, move the commerce platform's order into an accepted, blocked, or payment failed state.
## Fulfilling an order
Once an [order's](https://docs.digitalriver.com/digital-river-api-reference/2021-12-13/orders) [`state`](https://docs.digitalriver.com/digital-river-api-reference/2021-12-13/orders/order-basics#order-states-and-events) is [`accepted`](/digital-river-api/order-management/creating-and-updating-an-order.md#handling-accepted-orders), the client can initiate fulfillment. As products are fulfilled or cancelled, the commerce platform updates the status of those line items and emits status change events. These events should trigger a [`POST/fulfillments`](/digital-river-api/order-management/informing-digital-river-of-a-fulfillment.md) request that specifies the fulfilled quantity, the cancelled quantity, or both. Depending on the configuration of that request, Digital River initiates a [funds capture](https://docs.digitalriver.com/digital-river-api-reference/2021-12-13/charges/charge-basics#captures) and/or [authorization reversal](https://docs.digitalriver.com/digital-river-api-reference/2021-12-13/charges/charge-basics#refunds).
---
# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation
If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.
Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:
```
GET https://docs.digitalriver.com/digital-river-api/integration-options/checkouts/process-flow.md?ask=
```
The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.
Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.