Building a sales channel with the REST Admin API's [`Checkout`](/docs/api/admin-rest/latest/resources/checkout) resource or Storefront API's [`Checkout`](/docs/api/storefront/reference/checkouts/checkout) object represents lower integration effort because Shopify makes it easy to handle the complexities of payment processing.

- Shopify offers a variety of [payment processing](/docs/apps/build/sales-channels/start-building#step-3-request-payment-processing) options, depending on your business case and the needs of your app.
  - Learn about payment processing with the [REST Admin API](/docs/apps/build/sales-channels/checkout-api/complete-payment).
- Shopify handles paying out to the merchant for you.
- Shopify keeps track of orders and fulfilments.
- Shopify handles disputes, refunds or cancellations.

If you want to direct customers who want to buy a specific product from the sales channel directly to a merchant's store checkout, you can build a sales channel with [cart permalinks](/docs/apps/build/checkout/create-cart-permalinks).

## REST Admin API or Storefront API?

When you build a sales channel app, you can use the [REST Admin API](/docs/api/admin-rest/latest/resources/checkout) or [Storefront API](/docs/api/storefront/reference/checkouts/checkout) depending on your business case and the needs of your app.

- You can use the REST Admin API to build an app that allows merchants to integrate products, orders, and customers with your channel.
- You can use [Checkout Kit](/docs/storefronts/headless/mobile-apps) to develop a native mobile app.

## Checkout creation and completion flow

Regardless of what API you choose, checkout creation and completion includes the following process:

1. Obtain the line item data necessary to create the checkout object.
1. Specify the shipping information (address, rate) and customer information.
1. Complete the checkout using the one of the following methods:
  - Shopify web checkout
  - Third-party tokenization service (Stripe, Spreedly)
  - Shopify card vault

In order to complete the checkout, the total price needs to be paid. The total price can change depending on duties, taxes, and discounts.

## Next steps

- [Create a sales channel checkout with the Checkout API](/docs/apps/build/sales-channels/checkout-api/create-checkout).