Private and business accounts

Many marketplaces have two kinds of members: private people selling a few things, and businesses such as dealers, shops and agencies. These options let you treat them differently from the moment they sign up:

• new members say whether they’re private or a business on the sign-up form, and you can rename the two types, for example Buyer and Seller;
• each type can be asked its own questions, such as a company name only for businesses;
• you choose who can post at all, and who can post in each category;
• businesses can pay a different price to post than private sellers.

They build on business accounts, so switch those on first: everything on this page does nothing while Business accounts is off. All of it is part of the Professional and Marketplace plans and is off until you switch it on.

Ask the account type at sign-up

1. Go to Settings › General.
2. In Business sellers, make sure Business accounts is on.
3. Switch on Ask the account type at sign-up.
4. If you like, give the two types your own names (see the table).
5. Click Save changes in the bar at the bottom.

Setting	What it does
Ask the account type at sign-up	New members choose between the two types when they sign up.
Name of the private type	What the private type is called on the sign-up form. Empty means Private. Up to 40 characters.
Name of the business type	What the business type is called. Empty means Business. Up to 40 characters.
Approve business accounts	Off by default. When on, a new business account can’t post until you approve it under Business in the sidebar. See Business sellers.

The choice is on the sign-up form of the Nova and Default themes. If your site uses another theme, leave this switch off.

What new members see

The sign-up form asks I am signing up as with your two types, and the member must pick one.

Members who sign up with a social login button are asked once, on a One more step page, straight after their first sign-in. They click Continue and carry on to the page they were going to. Members who sign up with their phone number start as private and can switch later.

A member who chooses the business type gets a business account straight away, or, with Approve business accounts on, one that waits for your approval. Members can change their type later on their Edit profile page, under Account type.

Emails about business accounts

While Ask the account type at sign-up is on:

• you get an email when a new business account waits for your approval, with a link to the Business page. It goes to the Sender email in Email settings;
• the member gets an email when you approve or reject their business account.

These emails have a fixed text and aren’t in Email templates.

Ask each type its own questions

With account types on, every user custom field has an extra setting, Only for, with a tick box for each type.

• Leave both unticked to ask everyone.
• Tick one type to ask only that type.

On the sign-up form, a field for one type appears once the member picks that type, and an answer is never saved for the other type. So a required Company name field ticked for businesses only doesn’t get in the way of private members.

Only for applies to the sign-up form. On their Edit profile page, members see every field that isn’t admin-only.

Choose who can post

Only business accounts can post

Switch on Only business accounts can post in Settings › General › Business sellers to make your site a marketplace where businesses sell and everyone else browses.

• Other members can still browse, message sellers and save favourites.
• When they try to post, they’re taken to their profile with Only business accounts can post on this site. Switch your account to Business in your profile to post.
• Visitors who aren’t signed in are asked to sign in or sign up first.
• You, your administrators and your moderators can always post.

Turn on Approve business accounts too. Otherwise any member can switch their account to Business and post straight away.

Who can post in each category

Each category can be limited to one type of account:

1. Go to Listings › Categories and open the category.
2. In Who can post here, choose an option (see the table).
3. Click Save in that card.

Option	Who can post
Same as parent (…)	The default: the category follows the category above it. The brackets show what that is.
Everyone	Every member, whatever the parent says.
Business accounts only	Only business accounts.
Private sellers only	Everyone except business accounts.

Subcategories follow the nearest category above them that has a rule, so setting Vehicles to Business accounts only covers Vehicles › Cars too, unless you give Cars its own rule.

• The posting form only lists the categories each member may post in. Moving a listing into a category they can’t post in is refused.
• Visitors who post without an account count as private sellers.
• Rows of a business seller’s bulk import or stock feed for a category they can’t post in are skipped and reported as a problem.
• Administrators and moderators can post in every category.

The card only shows while Business accounts is on. If Only business accounts can post is also on, private members can’t post anywhere, whatever the category says.

Charge businesses a different price

If you charge for posting, each category has a Business price next to its Price. Business accounts pay the business price; everyone else pays the price. A second category price for business accounts is part of the Professional and Marketplace plans.

1. Go to Listings › Categories and open the category.
2. Enter the Business price. Leave it at 0 to charge businesses the normal price.
3. Click Submit.

How the price is found, from the listing’s category upwards:

• at each level, a business pays that category’s Business price if it has one, otherwise its Price;
• a category with neither uses the category above it.

So a subcategory with its own Price but no Business price charges businesses its Price, not the parent’s business price. The easiest set-up is to put both prices on your top-level categories and leave subcategories at 0.

Business prices are only set on each category’s own page. The … to post label in the category list and the price table in Make money show the normal price. Business accounts see their price on the posting form and pay it at checkout, and it applies to their bulk imports and stock feeds too. Coupons work on either price.

Good to know

• If you switch Business accounts off, all of this stops: the sign-up form no longer asks the type, everyone can post in every category, and everyone pays the normal price. Your settings are kept for when you switch it back on.
• A business account that is waiting for approval, or that you rejected, can’t post anywhere.
• The type names you choose are used on the sign-up form, the One more step page and the approval emails. Elsewhere, such as the Edit profile page, your site says Private seller and Business.

Related guides

• Business sellers — the Business badge, approvals, bulk import and stock feeds.
• User custom fields — the questions you ask members.
• Pay to post — charge per listing and category.
• Sign-up and login settings — the rest of the sign-up form.