Uncap builds crop protection B2B ecommerce on Shopify for ag retailers, distributors and co-ops selling herbicides, fungicides, insecticides and seed treatments to growers and custom applicators. Three things shape how this trade sells online. Restricted use products sit behind an applicator license that has a category, an issuing state and an expiration date. The catalog changes at the state line, because a product registered in Iowa may have no registration in Nebraska. And each jug, drum and minibulk fill is sold under a specific product label and safety data sheet.
Restricted use products sit behind a license, the catalog changes at the state line, and each jug is sold under a specific label and SDS.
The applicator license is a record with a life cycle, not a checkbox. EPA's certification rule, 40 CFR Part 171, requires state certification plans to include provisions "making it unlawful for persons other than certified applicators or noncertified applicators working under a certified applicator's direct supervision to use restricted use pesticides." At your counter that becomes a license number, a category, an issuing state and a date. Part 171 says "Each commercial and private applicator certification shall expire five years after issuance, unless the applicator is recertified in accordance with this section." A certifying authority "may establish a shorter certification period," and state plans provide for "suspending or revoking an applicator's certification." The license on file in March can be expired by June.
Category and issuing state matter as much as the number. Part 171 sorts commercial applicators into categories, including crop pest control, seed treatment, soil fumigation and aerial pest control. It also states that a certification "is only valid within the geographical area specified in the certification plan approved by the Agency." So a custom applicator who sprays on both sides of a state line can hold two licenses with two expiration dates, although a state may waive its certification procedures "when certifying applicators in reliance on valid current certifications issued by another State." The grower buying for one farm and the custom applicator buying for fifty arrive with different credentials at the same counter.
State registration decides what each ship-to can order. Federal registration is not the end of it. Nebraska's Pesticide Act, for one, says "no pesticide shall be distributed in this state" unless "it is registered with the department." It adds: "The manufacturer or other person whose name appears on the label of the pesticide shall register the pesticide." So the herbicide your Iowa branch sells daily is a different question for a grower whose field address is in Nebraska.
The label is the law, and it travels with the jug. EPA says pesticide labels "are legally enforceable," that every one carries the statement "It is a violation of Federal law to use this product in a manner inconsistent with its labeling," and, in EPA's words, "the label is the law." The safety data sheet (SDS) has its own federal rule. OSHA's Hazard Communication Standard states that "Distributors shall ensure that safety data sheets, and updated information, are provided to other distributors and employers with their initial shipment and with the first shipment after a safety data sheet is updated," and that "Retail distributors selling hazardous chemicals to employers having a commercial account shall provide a safety data sheet to such employers upon request." Putting the current label and SDS on the product page and on the order line keeps both one click away. A custom applicator loading a sprayer at five in the morning wants the label for the exact product on the ticket, not a search box.
Each restricted use sale leaves a record behind it. Part 171 requires state certification plans to include provisions requiring restricted use pesticide retail dealers to record and maintain "at each individual dealership, for the period of at least two years, records of each transaction where a restricted use pesticide is distributed or sold to any person." The record lists the buyer, the certification number, the issuing authority and the expiration date. It adds the "category(ies) in which the applicator is certified relevant to the pesticide(s) sold," the product name and EPA registration number "including any applicable emergency exemption or State special local need registration number," the quantity and the date. Transactions "solely between persons who are pesticide producers, registrants, wholesalers, or retail sellers, acting only in those capacities" are excluded. If that record is a carbon copy at the counter, keyed in at month end, an online order has nowhere to write it.
Minibulk tanks and returnable totes come back. Where a volume program runs through minibulk tanks and totes filled at your plant and set on the farm, each container can carry a number, a deposit and a return date. Delivery, tank rental and custom application by the acre can ride along. A storefront that only knows "case of jugs" has no place for any of it.
On Shopify, the license record and the registration rules live with the company account and its locations, and that logic is built during implementation from your data.
The license as a gate with six statuses. Each applicator license is its own record on the company account: number, private or commercial, categories, issuing state or agency, expiration date and a scan of the card. It moves through six statuses. Submitted when the buyer uploads it. Verified when your compliance desk checks it against the issuing state's records. Active once approved. Expiring inside a window you set, which sends reminders to the buyer and the rep. Expired the day after the date on the card. Suspended when your team or the state pulls it. Only an active license opens restricted use products, and only for the categories and states on that license. The license record, the statuses and the gate are built during implementation on the company accounts in Uncap Portal, which gives buyers "real multi-user accounts with roles and permissions."
State registration as catalog visibility. Registrations are loaded per product: EPA registration number, the states where it is registered, any special local need number, and status. Each ship-to location carries its state. Portal already shows each buyer "their assortment and pricing," and the registration filter narrows that assortment to the ship-to on the order. A grower shipping to a Nebraska field address does not see the product registered only in Iowa, while the same company's Iowa location still does. Change the ship-to at checkout and the cart is checked again. Registration data, the state filter and the cart check are built during implementation.
Labels and SDS on the product and on the order line. The current label and SDS sit on every product page. When the order is placed, the versions on file that day are attached to each order line with the EPA registration number. The delivery ticket, the reorder and the sale record point at the same documents. Document versioning and the line-level attachment are built during implementation.
The restricted use sale record, written at checkout. When an order contains a restricted use product, the order carries the fields Part 171 lists for a dealer's record: buyer and address, license number, issuing authority, expiration date, relevant category, product name, EPA registration number, any emergency exemption or special local need number, quantity and date. If an employee orders for the account's certified applicator, the record names that applicator. Because Part 171 asks for records at each individual dealership, each record also carries the branch that filled the order. The record fields, employee ordering and the sync of each record to the ERP through Uncap Connect are built during implementation. Whether it meets your state's dealer rules is for your compliance lead and the state lead agency to confirm. The build stores what you decide it must store.
On whether a regulated chemical catalog needs a heavier platform. Uncap's published products do not include pesticide license gating or state registration filtering; on Shopify, that logic is built during implementation from your data. One way to run it is a separate compliance service between store and ERP: one more system to host, monitor and reconcile in April. On Shopify, the license record and the registration rules live with the company account and its locations, inside the store. Uncap Connect is embedded inside Shopify rather than running as "a separate platform that sits between systems." It keeps inventory, orders, customers and pricing in real-time, two-way sync, "syncs customer-specific pricing, credit terms, and tax rules," and logs changes in an audit trail. The ERP stays the system of record.
Containers, services and programs on one order. Minibulk fills, tote deposits and returns are built during implementation as line items tied to the container number. Portal lets a Shopify store "sell services and rentals alongside standard ecommerce products," so tank rental, delivery and custom application sit on the same order as the product. Volume programs run through Uncap Quotes: "Negotiated prices, tiers, and volume breaks applied automatically," exceptions sent to the right approver, "validity windows and a full revision history," and approved quotes that turn straight into Shopify orders. Grower accounts settle with "NET terms, invoices, and payments in the portal."
Adjacent proof, labeled as adjacent. The closest published agriculture build is Farmers Depot, on Shopify Plus B2B, where Microsoft Dynamics 365 F&O "stays the system of record for products, companies, pricing, and inventory." It serves "14,528 customers across 13,046 companies." It is not a crop protection build and has no license gating. Its sync runs through APPSeCONNECT middleware, not Uncap Connect. What transfers is the company account and pricing structure at that scale.
Account roles, assortments, net terms, services and quote approvals ship in Uncap Portal and Uncap Quotes, and the license gate, registration filter and sale record are built during implementation from your data.
Submitted, verified, active, expiring, expired and suspended, with only an active license opening restricted use products for its own categories and states.
The catalog filtered by the ship-to's state against each product's registrations, with the cart checked again whenever the ship-to changes.
Current documents on the product page, and the versions on file at the time of sale attached to each order line with the EPA registration number.
Buyer, license, issuing authority, expiration, category, product, EPA registration number, any emergency exemption or special local need number, quantity and date written to the order.
Container numbers, deposits and returns as line items, with delivery, tank rental and custom application sold alongside the product through Uncap Portal.
Negotiated prices, tiers and volume breaks through Uncap Quotes, and net terms, invoices and payments in Uncap Portal.
Applicator license records. License number, private or commercial, categories, issuing state or agency and expiration date on the company account, built during implementation.
Six-status license gate. Submitted, verified, active, expiring, expired and suspended, with only active licenses opening restricted use products for their own categories and states, built during implementation.
State registration filtering. The catalog filtered by the ship-to's state against each product's registrations, with the cart checked again whenever the ship-to changes, built during implementation.
Label and SDS on every line. Current documents on the product page, and the versions on file at the time of sale attached to each order line with the EPA registration number, built during implementation.
Restricted use sale record at checkout. Buyer, license, issuing authority, expiration, category, product, EPA registration number, any emergency exemption or special local need number, quantity and date written to the order and synced to the ERP, built during implementation.
Buying for a certified applicator. Employees on an account order under the licensed applicator the record names, built during implementation, with roles and per-user limits in Uncap Portal.
Minibulk, totes and services. Container numbers, deposits and returns as line items built during implementation, with delivery, tank rental and custom application sold alongside the product through Uncap Portal.
Account pricing and terms. Negotiated prices, tiers and volume breaks through Uncap Quotes, and net terms, invoices and payments in Uncap Portal.
ERP sync. Pricing, inventory, customers and orders kept current through an owned Uncap Connect app embedded in Shopify, or a managed iPaaS integration.
The line between product and build, in writing. Account roles, assortments, net terms, services as line items, quote approvals and ERP sync are published capabilities of Uncap Portal, Uncap Quotes and Uncap Connect. The license gate, registration filtering, document versioning, the sale record and container tracking are built during implementation from your data. You see which is which in the scope, before anything is built.
Built from the files you already keep. Your compliance desk holds the license copies and purchasing holds the registration lists. The build loads those records into the license and registration fields, and the scope names which system stays the master for each.
Credentials you can check. Uncap is a Shopify Platinum Partner, on Shopify since 2013, with 380+ unified storefronts launched on Shopify.
Scoped before it is built. The Uncap Blueprint is a fixed-price, four-week plan, credited 1:1 toward implementation. Deliverables include solution architecture, data taxonomy, an ERP integration audit, UX and flow prototyping, total cost of ownership, a risk register and a fixed-cost implementation estimate. That architecture work can cover the license gate, the registration filter and the ERP mapping. You walk with everything you need to brief any agency or your in-house team.
This page sits under agriculture and farming ecommerce, which covers seasonality, negotiated grower pricing, parts without a part number, settlement terms and Restricted Use Pesticide gating at the account level. This page goes one level down, into the license as a record with a status, state registration as catalog visibility, and the documents and records each sale carries. If you also sell nitrogen, phosphate, potash or custom blends, see fertilizer and soil amendments. For field notes on certification gating, labels and records, read crop protection and chemicals: compliance-aware ecommerce. For the ERP side, see the Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations integration, the Epicor Eagle integration for farm and home retailers, or the full list of ERP integrations.
Bring two documents: your product registration list by state, and last season's restricted use sale records from one branch. Between them they show how far your catalog changes at each state line, and which license fields your counter already captures.
Book a strategy session with Uncap, or start with a Blueprint, whose architecture work can cover the license gate, the registration filter and the ERP mapping, written down and costed.
Yes, Shopify can run it. On Shopify, license gating and state registration filtering are built during implementation from your data; Uncap's published products do not include them as standard features. The real decision is where the rules live. A separate compliance service between store and ERP is one more system to run. On Shopify, the license record and registration rules sit with the company account and its ship-to locations. Uncap Connect runs inside Shopify in real-time, two-way sync with the ERP, syncs customer-specific pricing, credit terms and tax rules, and keeps the ERP as the system of record.
Part 171 requires state plans to make it unlawful for anyone other than certified applicators, or noncertified applicators under a certified applicator's direct supervision, to use restricted use pesticides, and to require dealers to record each restricted use sale. What the store does is built during implementation: restricted use products appear only to accounts with an active, verified license on file, and the sale record is written at checkout. Whether and how your state allows restricted use sales online, including any dealer license, is for your compliance lead and the state lead agency to confirm.
Part 171 lists the fields state plans must require dealers to record for each restricted use sale, kept at each individual dealership for at least two years. They cover the buyer's name and address, the certification number, the issuing authority, the expiration date and the categories relevant to the product sold. They also cover the product name, EPA registration number, any special local need or emergency exemption number, the quantity and the date. The build writes those fields to the order at checkout and syncs them to the ERP, built during implementation.
The registration filter hides that product from ship-to locations in states where it is not registered. Nebraska's Pesticide Act, for example, bars distributing a pesticide in the state unless it is registered with the state department, with limited exceptions such as distribution under a federal experimental use permit. Each product carries its list of registered states, each ship-to carries its state, and the catalog is filtered by the ship-to on the order. Changing the ship-to at checkout re-checks the cart. The filter is built during implementation from your registration data.
The license moves to expired on the day after its expiration date and restricted use products close for that account. Part 171 sets certifications to expire five years after issuance unless the applicator recertifies, and lets the certifying authority set a shorter one. Before that, the expiring status sends reminders to the buyer and the rep inside a window you choose. General use products stay orderable. Once a renewed license is uploaded and verified, the gate opens again with the new date.
Part 171's dealer record covers a noncertified buyer when the product is "distributed or sold for application by a certified applicator." On the store, employee users can order under the account's licensed applicator, and the sale record names that applicator, built during implementation. Uncap Portal adds roles, budgets, approvals and limits per user. Whether your state permits these sales, and whether you allow them, is your compliance lead's call.
Uncap publishes twelve ERP family integrations: Acumatica, Cin7, Epicor, Fishbowl, Infor, Microsoft Dynamics, NetSuite, Odoo, Oracle, QuickBooks, Sage and SAP. For agriculture, the closest pages are Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations and Epicor Eagle. Integrations are delivered through an owned Uncap Connect app or a managed iPaaS integration. Agvance and Agris are not among the published integrations, and the Uncap team scopes them directly.
The agriculture page covers farm supply as a whole: seasonality, grower pricing, parts ordering, settlement and Restricted Use Pesticide gating at the account level. This page covers what that gate is made of in crop protection. The license is a record with six statuses, a category and an issuing state. State registration controls catalog visibility, and labels, SDS and the restricted use sale record ride on each order.
