> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.apostra.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Why you approve and map buyers

> What approving and mapping a buyer is for, the two cases you will meet, why only some buyers wait for you, and what happens until you act.

Before a buyer's agent can buy from you, it asks you for an account (AdCP
`sync_accounts`). Each account is one brand bought through one agency, shown
for example as `loetje.nl care of draftdigital.nl`. This is the same job your
CRM or order system does today when a new advertiser or agency comes to you:
you decide whether to work with them, on what terms, and which advertiser they
are in each of your systems.

## The two decisions

1. **Approve: do you work with this buyer, on these terms?** By default,
   Apostra approves a new account for you when it asks for payment terms of
   net 60 or shorter, for prepay, or for no particular terms. A request for
   longer terms waits for your review.
2. **Map: which advertiser in each of your systems is this buyer?** Each
   inventory source, such as your ad server or a sales agent you connected,
   books buys against its own advertiser or account. For each source, the
   buyer is either mapped to one of them, or the source needs no account for
   this buyer.

## The two cases

| The buyer is | What you do |
| - | - |
| New to you | Create the advertiser in each of your systems, then map the buyer to it. A buyer billed through Apostra can use the source's default advertiser instead. |
| Already a customer | Map the buyer to the advertiser you already use for them in each system, so their buys through Apostra sit with their other orders. |

## Why only some buyers wait for you

Apostra does most of this for you, so most buyers never need you:

* **Approval.** Most buyers ask for standard terms, so they are approved
  without you.
* **Your default advertiser.** On a Google Ad Manager or FreeWheel source run
  by Apostra's sales agent, a buyer billed through Apostra goes to the
  default advertiser you set for that connection until you choose another.
* **Your own sales agent.** Apostra maps the buyer to the matching account
  your agent lists, or asks your agent to create one.
* **Sources with no buyer accounts.** A source that doesn't keep an account
  per buyer needs nothing from you.

A buyer waits for you when Apostra can't decide alone. For example:

* the buyer asked for longer payment terms than you approve automatically;
* you bill the buyer directly, so they need an advertiser of their own rather
  than your default;
* the source isn't run by Apostra's sales agent, or you haven't set a default
  advertiser for it;
* several of the source's accounts match the buyer, and you need to choose
  one; or
* the account the buyer was mapped to is no longer listed by the source.

The [Buyer Account Mapping Page](https://docs.apostra.com/v3/seller-buyer-account-mapping-page.md) shows
each buyer's status on each source.

## What happens until you act

Until a source is decided for a buyer, that source is held back from them:
its products are not shown to the buyer, and the buyer's buys do not route
there. Sources that are decided keep working. If no source is decided yet, a
buyer's product request returns no products, with a message that their
account with you needs setting up, rather than a search that never finishes.

## Bring your existing advertiser list

You may already keep the link between one advertiser across your systems in
a CRM, an order management system or a spreadsheet. You don't have to map
buyers one at a time: on the Buyer Account Mapping Page, download the mapping
CSV, fill in the account each source uses for each buyer, and import it.
Apostra checks every row against the accounts that source has listed and
shows you any row it cannot match before anything changes. Apostra does not
read your CRM directly.

## Related

* [Buyer Account Mapping Page](https://docs.apostra.com/v3/seller-buyer-account-mapping-page.md)
* [From signup to your first booking](https://docs.apostra.com/v3/seller-first-booking.md)


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