# How It Works

Blocksmiths connects buyers and vendors through a simple, on-chain flow. Here is what happens from listing to delivery.

## The Flow

### 1. Vendor lists a product

A vendor applies for approval, gets verified by an admin, and creates a product listing. They set the price in USD or USDC, upload assets, and publish.

### 2. Buyer browses and pays

A buyer finds a product on the marketplace, adds it to their cart, connects their wallet, and pays in USDC on their preferred chain (Ethereum, Base, Polygon, or Solana).

### 3. Transaction is confirmed on-chain

Once the transaction is confirmed on-chain, the order is automatically marked as complete. No manual approval is needed.

### 4. Buyer receives instant access

The buyer immediately receives access to their purchase — either a license key, a download link, or both — from their orders dashboard.

### 5. Vendor receives their payout

After the platform fee is deducted, the vendor's share is recorded and paid out to their configured wallet address.

***

## Key Concepts

### Orders

Every completed purchase creates an order. Orders track the product, payment method, amount paid, and on-chain transaction hash.

### License Keys

Products that require access control are delivered as license keys in the `BLOCKSMITHS-V1-XXXX` format. Keys are generated automatically on payment confirmation.

### Commission

The platform takes a percentage of each sale (default 10%). The remainder goes to the vendor. See [Fees & Commission](/platform/fees-and-commission.md) for details.

### Disputes

If a buyer has an issue with a purchase, they can open a dispute from their order page. Admins review and resolve disputes.


---

# 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.blocksmiths.tech/getting-started/how-it-works.md?ask=<question>
```

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.