eBay Lister

Guides 4 min readUpdated 25 September 2026

eBay cannot find your business policies

business policy not found

Publishing fails because a payment, postage or returns policy cannot be found. You can see all three on eBay’s website, which makes the error look like a lie.

It usually is not the policies. It is that the account has never been opted in.

Opting in is a separate switch

Business policies are not enabled on every seller account by default. Until an account opts in, eBay’s API reports no policies at all, even while the website shows them — because what the website shows and what the API can read are not the same thing until the switch is thrown.

It is one action in eBay’s seller settings and only has to be done once per account.

Policies belong to a marketplace

A policy made for the US site does not exist for the UK one. Connect a second marketplace and it needs its own three, which is a second common cause of this message.

The location that fails separately

Every listing published through the API also needs an inventory location — where goods are sent from. It never appears in the listing, and without it publishing fails with a different message that is just as opaque.

One location per country you send from, with a real address and a country, is enough.

In order

  • Opt the account in to business policies
  • Confirm a payment, a postage and a returns policy exist for the marketplace you are listing on
  • Create an inventory location if there is none
  • Choose the three defaults for the store, then publish again

Questions

I can see my policies on eBay. Why does the API say there are none?
The account has not opted in. Until it does, the API sees nothing.
Do I need policies for each country?
Yes. Policies belong to a marketplace, and each connected marketplace needs its own set.
What does an inventory location do?
It tells eBay where goods are sent from. Buyers never see it, but publishing fails without it.

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