Managing bidders and buyers

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Managing bidders and buyers

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	Viewing bidder information Blocking bidders and buyers Canceling bids Setting up buyer requirements

All members can participate in bidding and buying on eBay. However, as a seller you might prefer to limit your sales to people you feel comfortable with, such as those who have positive Feedback scores. We offer several ways to help you define the bidders and buyers you want to do business with.

	Viewing bidder information We help protect members by limiting how their information and bid history can be viewed. However, sellers can view the user IDs of all bidders. Other members see only anonymous IDs. After the listing ends, all members can view the winning bidder’s user ID. Bidders who bid on an item, but did not win, remain anonymous to other bidders.
	Blocking bidders and buyers If you don't want to sell to certain members, you can put their user IDs on your blocked list. Members on the list can’t bid on any of your listings until you remove them from the list. You can block up to 5,000 user IDs. To add a member to your blocked list: Go to the Blocking a bidder/buyer page. Enter the user IDs of the members you wish to block. Click the Submit button. To remove a member from your blocked list: Go to the Blocking a bidder/buyer page. Delete the user ID of the member from the text box. Click the Submit button. Note: You should inform members after you remove them from your blocked list, so they can resume bidding on your items.
	Canceling bids In general, sellers shouldn’t cancel bids on their listings. However, there are a few legitimate reasons for doing so: A bidder contacts you to back out of the bid. You cannot verify the identity of the bidder after trying all reasonable means of contact. You end your listing early. Note: Bids cannot be reinstated after they've been canceled. To cancel a bid: Go to the Canceling bids placed on your listing page. Enter the item number, the user ID of the bid you’re canceling, and the reason you’re canceling the bid. Click the Cancel bid button.
	Setting up buyer requirements You can specify buyer requirements to manage the types of buyers who can bid on your items. Doing so reduces your exposure to buyers who might make sales difficult for you, but it also reduces the number of potential bidders for your items. You can specify buyer requirements for all your listings, or you can specify the requirements only for particular listings. To add buyer requirements to all of your listings: In My eBay, under the Account tab, click the "Site preferences" link. In the Buyer requirements section, click the “Show” link and then the “Edit’ link. The Buyer Requirements page opens. Select your buyer requirements. For example, you might not want to do business with buyers who: Are registered in countries to which you don't ship Have a negative Feedback score Have received unpaid item strikes Have reportedly violated eBay policies Are currently winning or have bought are large number of your items in the last 10 days Do not have a PayPal account If you want to apply these settings to all current and future listings, select the “Apply above settings to current and future listings” check box. Click the Submit button to save your requirements. To add buyer requirements for a specific listing, you can specify your requirements on the Sell Your Item page.

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