Clayton Kunz is the Senior Policy Manager responsible for policies related to Unpaid Items.

Few things are as frustrating and disruptive to eBay sellers as Unpaid Items (also known as UPIs). Although the unpaid item process is designed to facilitate smooth resolution of transaction disputes, dealing with non-paying bidders still consumes time and energy that could instead be spent on improving your sales.

One of the most powerful tools sellers have in reducing their exposure to UPIs is the Buyer Requirements feature. In effect, Buyer Requirements is like a dial that you can turn to adjust the UPI risk you're willing to take, either upward or downward, depending on your own business needs. Turning up the dial by selecting more Buyer Requirements will lower your UPI risk, but it could also reduce the number of bids your listings receive. That's why Buyer Requirements decisions should be made carefully.

In this month's Marketplace Safety column I want to share two exciting new enhancements to Buyer Requirements that we're launching this spring. These new enhancements should help sellers maximize the effectiveness of their Buyer Requirements choices.

Buyer Requirements revisited
As a reminder, Buyer Requirements are available in My eBay, in the Preferences section under My Account. Buyer Requirements let you block bidders who don't meet your criteria for bidding on or purchasing your items. These criteria help you to block buyers who:

• are registered in countries to which you don't ship
• have a negative feedback score (for example, -1, -2, etc.)
• have received Unpaid Item strikes from eBay
• have bought or are bidding on too many of your items recently
• don't have a PayPal account

Select your Buyer Requirements on an item-by-item basis
Up until now, sellers' Buyer Requirements selections would apply to all their listings at once (with the exception of the PayPal requirement, which has always been item-specific). But all that's changing, starting in mid-April. Now you'll be able to customize your Buyer Requirements criteria for each of your listings through the new Sell Your Item form. Making Buyer Requirements selections on an item-by-item basis will help you adjust the level of selling risk you're willing to take for individual items.

For example, you may decide to turn up your Buyer Requirements selections for higher-priced items you're selling, such as a laptop. On the other hand, you may be willing to accept a higher level of UPI risk for lower-priced items like a laptop's power cord. In fact, for such items, you might choose to turn off Buyer Requirements altogether. This would reduce your UPI protection—but it could also result in your item getting more bids.

You can make Buyer Requirements selections on an item-specific basis through the Create Your Listing section of the new Sell Your Item (SYI) form. (Try out the early access version of the new SYI form. The Buyer Requirements component will be added in mid-April.)

If you have previously made Buyer Requirements selections, they will be carried over into the new SYI form. If you would like to adjust them for a new item that you're selling, you can edit them in the Describe Your Item section of the new SYI form. As you finish filling out the information to list a new item, you can also adjust your Buyer Requirements selections for that item.

View the number of blocked bids
The second enhancement we've made to Buyer Requirements is the ability to see how many bids your selections have blocked. Until now, sellers using Buyer Requirements had no way of knowing just how many bids they were blocking. Now, with a new Buyer Requirements Activity Log, you can find out how many bids have been blocked over the past 60 days due to your Buyer Requirements selections.

The new Buyer Requirements Activity Log is a great tool to help you make better informed decisions about the levels of UPI risk you're willing to take. For example, one of your Buyer Requirements blocks might be: “Block buyers who are registered in countries to which I don't ship.” But in your Buyer Requirements Activity Log you notice that you've been blocking a lot of bids from Canada. If you don't actually mind shipping to Canada, you can adjust your shipping preferences so that Canadian bids won't be blocked any more.

See blocked bidders' profiles
Another important feature with the new Activity Log is the ability to see exactly whom you've blocked, and click through their User ID to get to their Member Profile page. If they seem acceptable to you, you can choose to add them to an exemption list so they won't be blocked again by your Buyer Requirements selections.

There are two important exceptions to this feature. For privacy protection reasons, eBay doesn't disclose information about the unpaid item strikes a member may have received, or whether they have a PayPal account. So if a member is blocked by your Buyer Requirements selections related to unpaid item strikes or PayPal registration, you won't be able to see their User IDs in the Buyer Requirements Activity Log. You also won't be able to exempt them.

You can access your Buyer Requirements Activity Log by going to My eBay and clicking on the Preferences link under My Account.

Buyer Requirements are a great way for you to reduce your Unpaid Items risk, and with these two new enhancements you can make even more tailored and informed decisions about how to best use Buyer Requirements for your business.