2 min article

Setting buyer requirements

To increase your chances of making a sale, you'll usually want as many potential buyers as possible. However, we understand that there may be certain types of buyer you don't want to do business with. To manage who can buy from you, you can use our buyer requirements feature.

Are you looking to resolve an issue raised by a buyer? Read our article on resolving buyer issues

Buyers impacted by your requirements can still see your listings, but they won't be able to bid on or buy your items.

You can set buyer requirements to exclude buyers who:

  • Have a delivery address in countries you don't want to ship to
  • Have a history of cancelled orders because they didn't pay

Tip
Even after setting up buyer requirements, you can still allow individual buyers who fall into these categories to buy from you by placing them on your exemption list.

How to set eBay buyer requirements

Here's how to set up your buyer requirements:

  1. Go to Buyer Requirements - opens in new window or tab.
  2. Decide which requirements you'd like to apply to your listings, and enter any details requested.
  3. To have settings apply to all active and future listings, select Apply above settings to active and future listings. Otherwise your settings will apply only to future listings.
  4. By default, blocked buyers are still able to contact you about your listings. If you don't want buyers blocked by your requirements to contact you, select Don't allow blocked buyers to contact you in Site Preferences. (They may still be able to get in touch with you through an Item Not Received case or a Return if it's about an existing transaction). Then select Submit.

How to view your Buyer Requirements Activity Log

Your Buyer Requirements Activity Log includes who you blocked, the date they were blocked, and which requirement caused them to be blocked.

View your Buyer Requirements Activity Log - opens in new window or tab.

Tip
If you see an asterisk in place of a username in the Buyer Requirements Activity Log, this is because we aren’t able to share the information because of our User Privacy Notice and User Agreement.

How to create exemptions to your buyer requirements

To exempt particular buyers from your requirements, you can add the username to your Buyer Requirements Exemption List.

Update buyer exemption list - opens in new window or tab

You can manage who you sell to by setting your eBay buyer requirements. These allow you to exclude buyers who fall into certain categories.

Was this article helpful?

Related help topics

See other articles in: