How to block a buyer on eBay, and unblock them.

When you add someone to your Blocked buyers list, they cannot place bids on your items or buy from you until you take them off the list.¹ The same list covers a person who has bid before and a person who has never touched your listings, so you can add a username at any point.

There are two separate tools, and people often mix them up. The first is the Blocked buyers list, where you name individual members. The second is buyer requirements, where you set rules and eBay blocks anyone who matches them.¹ Both are described below. eBay documents the desktop website steps, so the screens in the mobile app may be labeled differently, and we do not describe them here.

1. Open the Block bidders or buyers from your listings page. eBay links to it from its Blocking a buyer help article.¹
2. Type the buyer's username in the text box.
3. Select Submit.

The box accepts up to 5,000 usernames.¹ If you have saved a list before, select Restore list to bring a past blocked bidder or buyer list back.¹

Double-check the spelling before you submit. Usernames can look alike, and a blocked list is only as accurate as what you type into it.

You can remove a buyer from your list at any time.¹

1. Go back to the Block bidders or buyers from your listings page.
2. Delete that member's username from the text box.
3. Select Submit.

If you removed the wrong name by mistake, Restore list brings back a past list, which saves retyping the rest.¹

If you would rather not add names one at a time, buyer requirements block buyers who match a rule. eBay lists three things a requirement can check:²

• The buyer has a delivery address in one of your excluded shipping locations.
• The buyer has a history of canceled orders because they did not pay.
• The buyer is currently winning, or has bought, a number of your items that you choose, in the last 10 days.

eBay also says you can control whether you accept bids from buyers with poor feedback scores, though its help pages do not give a cutoff number, so check the settings screen for what it offers.³

To set them up:²

1. Go to Buyer Management.
2. Choose the requirements you want and fill in any details.
3. To apply the settings to all active and future listings, select Apply above settings to active and future listings. Without it, the settings apply to future listings only.
4. Select Submit.

Shipping exclusions are not the same as blocking

You can exclude shipping locations so buyers cannot check out with an address you do not ship to. Buyers from those regions can still bid on or buy your items unless you have also set buyer requirements.² If you want the exclusion to stop the bid itself, turn on the matching requirement as well.

The activity log and the exemption list

Your Buyer requirements activity log shows who was blocked, when, and which requirement blocked them. If a username appears as an asterisk, eBay could not share it because of its privacy rules.² Check the log now and then. If a rule caught someone you want to keep, add that username to your Buyer requirements exemption list and the requirements will no longer block them.²

By default, yes. Buyers blocked by your requirements can still contact you about your listings.² If you do not want that, select Don't allow blocked buyers to contact you in Site Preferences. Even then, they may still reach you through an Item Not Received case, or through a return on an existing transaction.²

That setting is described in eBay's buyer requirements article. Its Blocking a buyer article does not repeat it for the manual list, so do not assume it behaves differently there; look at the setting on your own account.

• It does not cancel a bid. Canceling is a separate action. eBay lets sellers cancel a bid when a buyer asks and you agree, when you must end the listing early because the item is no longer available, when you made an error in the listing, or when you are concerned the bid is fraudulent. Once canceled, a bid cannot be reinstated, and eBay discourages canceling unless it is necessary.³ eBay's pages do not say whether blocking removes a bid that is already placed, so look at the auction before you rely on it.
• It does not replace reporting. If a buyer breaks eBay's rules, such as asking you to complete a sale off eBay, abusing bid retractions, or misusing returns, report them. eBay says you should report a buyer only when you think they are violating its policies.⁴
• It is not a shipping rule. Excluding locations and blocking people are different settings, as covered above.

eBay's help pages do not say whether a blocked buyer can still view your listings, so this guide does not claim either way.

A buyer you blocked from bidding gets a notification when they try to place a bid on your listing.⁵ eBay groups seller blocks with buying limits, and describes them as a way for sellers to choose who they do business with, for example buyers with low feedback scores or buyers they no longer wish to deal with.⁵ A block on your list affects your listings only. It is separate from any limits eBay puts on a member's account.⁵

eBay describes blocking as something for rare cases, such as a buyer with a history of not paying or one who has been aggressive or threatening in messages.³ Other common reasons are shipping to a place you do not serve or a member who keeps returning items. Because every extra bidder tends to matter on an auction, it helps to try the lighter tools first:

1. Set buyer requirements. Rules catch the pattern, such as unpaid-order history, without you hunting for names.²
2. Use the normal process for the order. eBay points sellers to its articles on unpaid items, returns and refunds for order problems, and says you do not need to report order-specific issues as a buyer report.⁴
3. Report rule-breaking. Use Report a buyer, or choose Leave feedback from the dropdown next to the item in your Orders list and then Report buyer.⁴
4. Block the member. Add them to the Blocked buyers list when the other tools do not fit.

Keep your own records

Before you block, write down the username, the item number and the reason, and keep the messages. A short note in a spreadsheet is enough. It helps you remember why a name is on the list months later, and it gives you something to attach if you report the buyer or need to explain a canceled bid.

Strooply does not block buyers, change your Blocked buyers list or set buyer requirements. Those are eBay settings, so make them in your eBay account. What Strooply does is track the money side of your sales: its profit tracker accounts for eBay fees, shipping labels, buyer refunds and return shipping, so the cost of a return shows up in your profit. See how Strooply works. To estimate what is left on a sale before you list, use the eBay fee calculator, and plan packing costs with the shipping supplies guide.