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A Seller Account is one of two types:
  • Listing. Your products are listed for buyers. You bring your own sales agent. A Listing account has no access to Enhanced Reporting, and is meant to carry no charged activities once pricing follows the account type.
  • Storefront agent. Apostra hosts the agent that answers buyer briefs for you. Its seller-paid activities are meant to be charged at your plan’s rate once pricing follows the account type.
Pricing by account type has not taken effect yet. Changing the type does not change what you are billed today; billing follows the account type in a later release. Both are Seller Accounts. The type is stored on the account itself, so it does not depend on the plan or on any feature setting of your organization. Some organizations call a Listing account the pass-through account.

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Read the type

get({ kind: "seller" }) returns sellingMode: listing or storefront_agent.
The Entitlements read (include: ["entitlements"]) still returns operatingMode with the same answer under its older name: LISTING_ONLY or AGENTIC_MEDIA_COMPANY.

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Change the type

Send sellingMode alone to save_seller.
The change happens on the same account. The storefront, inventory sources, connections and history stay as they are. Each change is recorded with who made it, when, and the type before and after. The result names the seller-paid activities that will become billable (a switch to a Storefront agent) or free (a switch to a Listing) once pricing follows the account type, each with its IU amount. Until then billing is unchanged. A period already earned stays billed. Nothing already billed is repriced. Setting the type the account already has succeeds and changes nothing. The result reports selling_mode_unchanged.

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Rules

  • Only a direct administrator of the billing organization can change the type, through save_seller. Seller Settings has no type control. The change alters what the organization is charged, so it needs the same authority as accepting its Terms. Anyone else is refused with ACCESS_DENIED.
  • A Storefront agent needs a plan that covers it. If the organization’s plan does not, the call is refused with CONFLICT, and the reason says what to do next.
  • A switch to Listing is refused while Storefront-agent work is still running. The call returns CONFLICT with details.reason selling_mode_change_refused and details.blockers. Each blocker has a reason, a message, a count and up to five identifying examples. Nothing is saved. Finish or stop the work, then send the change again.
  • A Demo Storefront has a fixed type. A change in either direction is refused with the blocker demo_storefront.
  • A switch to Listing closes Enhanced Reporting. A Listing account cannot hold it. The result says how many connected accounts it closed in closedEnhancedReportingAccounts. A period already earned stays billed. Switching back to a Storefront agent does not turn it on again.
  • Accepting a plan sets the type. When an organization accepts a plan, its Seller accounts take the type the plan gives: a plan that includes the Storefront agent makes them Storefront agents, and a Listing plan makes them Listings. Each change is recorded. A Listing plan is refused, with the same blockers, while Storefront-agent work is still running, and nothing about the plan or the account changes. A Demo Storefront keeps its fixed type.
  • Compare plans in Seller Settings does not change the type. It only records which product you want to see plans for.
  • Send sellingMode alone. Together with any other save_seller field it is refused with VALIDATION_ERROR.
  • Nothing is deleted by a switch to Listing. Your demand inbox, product marketing, pitch history and campaigns stay stored and return if you switch back.

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Enhanced Reporting on a Listing account

Enhanced Reporting cannot be turned on for a Listing account. The call to turn it on is refused with VALIDATION_ERROR and the reason listing_account. The connected account’s enhancedReporting state reads eligible: false with ineligibleReason: "listing_account". Campaign agent accounts are not affected. See Set Enhanced Reporting.