Provider

Provider is the party a panel sends an order to for delivery, which may be a supplier producing the engagement itself or another panel forwarding the order further up the chain.

Inside panel software, a provider is a connection record: an API address, a key and a balance. Each service in the catalogue is linked to one provider and to one of that provider's service IDs. When an order comes in, the panel sends it to that provider, and from then on the order's status, start count and remaining quantity are whatever the provider reports.

Panels often use provider and supplier interchangeably, but the useful distinction is position. Provider is relative: it is simply the next step up from whichever panel you are looking at. That next step can be the supplier that runs the accounts or software, or it can be a panel that is itself a reseller. From inside one panel there is often no reliable way to tell which, and an order can pass through several providers before it reaches a supplier.

Panels switch providers on a service when a provider becomes slow, raises its rate or stops delivering. The service ID and name on your panel stay the same, but the accounts, speed, drop behaviour and refill handling can all change overnight. This is why an old review of a service, or your own last order on it, is weaker evidence than it looks. It is also why a refill request on an older order can fail: the provider that delivered it may no longer be connected, and the new one has no record of the order.