What are TradeCircles?

A TradeCircle is a private group of buyers a seller has decided to share specific listings with. Anything you put inside a TradeCircle is invisible to the rest of the marketplace — it won't appear in search, in recommended listings, in similar-equipment widgets, or anywhere else a guest might wander. The only people who can see it are the people the seller has chosen.

Think of it as a side door next to the main showroom. The showroom is open to everyone. The side door has its own guest list.

Why TradeCircles exist

Sellers told us the same story over and over:

1. "I want my returning customers to see new stock first, before I open it to the public."
2. "This particular machine isn't priced for retail buyers — only my dealer network should see it."
3. "My family-of-brands distributor agreement says certain models can't appear publicly. But I still need to show them to qualified buyers."
4. "I have a refurbished line that's too embarrassing to put on the open marketplace, but my regulars know what it is and are happy to buy it."

Until now, the answer was either "don't list it" or "send a private link by email and hope nothing leaks". TradeCircles is the proper answer: a structured, auditable way to publish a listing that only specific buyers can see.

Two kinds of access

Every TradeCircle works in one of two modes:

• Followers — anyone who follows your seller profile is automatically in the circle. Easiest mode. No one-by-one approvals; the moment a buyer follows you, they see your followers-only listings.
• By request — buyers must apply to join, and you (the seller) approve or deny each request individually. Slower, but you decide exactly who gets in.

You pick one mode per circle, when you create it. You can have several circles, mixing modes. See Access modes for the full comparison.

A real example

Maria runs a mid-sized excavator dealership. She lists most of her stock publicly, but she has three problems she wants to solve cleanly:

1. Her regular buyers — about 40 returning customers — should see every new arrival the day it lands, before she opens it to the open marketplace.
2. She has a refurbished sub-line with deeper discounts that she doesn't want her brand-new stock to compete against in search results.
3. Her import partners receive specific Komatsu models under a contract that forbids public display.

Maria creates three TradeCircles:

When a buyer follows Maria's seller profile, they immediately see the Early-access listings on her profile page. The Refurbished and Import-partners circles each show as a tile on her profile with a Request access button — buyers can apply with a short message, and Maria reviews them in her dashboard. The general public sees only the listings Maria has marked as Public.

What a TradeCircle is not

• Not a chat or community. No posts, no threads, no comments. It's a visibility container, not a forum.
• Not a payment gate. Joining a TradeCircle costs nothing; the platform doesn't charge for access. Sellers may have their own arrangements with their members offline, but that's between them.
• Not a private listing per buyer. A TradeCircle is a group — when you attach a listing to it, every member of the circle can see that listing, not a single specific buyer.
• Not a backup to verification. Even inside a circle, document access still respects UnitVault rules — the circle controls who sees the listing exists, not who can pull every PDF on it.

Who can create them

Any verified seller can create TradeCircles from their dashboard at /dashboard/trade-circles. There's no limit on how many you can have. Empty circles cost nothing — many sellers create one early and start attaching listings to it later.

Buyers don't create TradeCircles — they join them, either by following the seller (Followers-mode) or by sending a request (By-request-mode).

What buyers see

If you're a buyer browsing a seller's profile, you'll see a TradeCircles tab listing the seller's active circles. Each card shows you what mode it's in and gives you the right action button:

• Followers mode — Follow seller, or View listings if you already follow.
• By request mode — Request access if you don't have access yet, Pending (with a Withdraw option) if you've applied, View listings if you've been approved.

Inside an authorized circle's listings page, you see the listings exactly the way they look on a normal listing page — same photos, same documents (subject to UnitVault access rules), same contact options. The only difference is how you got there.

What it looks like in search

A listing that lives in a TradeCircle does not appear in:

• Public search and filters
• The homepage feed
• "Recommended for you"
• "Similar listings" on other listing pages
• Search autocomplete

It does appear in the seller's profile listings tab for buyers who already have access, and in the circle's own listings page linked from the seller's TradeCircles tab. If you're an authorized buyer, the listing's card on these pages shows a small TradeCircle: <circle name> chip so you know where it came from.

Next steps

• Creating and managing a TradeCircle — the full seller flow.
• Requesting access as a buyer — what to do when you find a private circle you want into.
• Access modes: Followers vs By request — pick the right mode for the circle you're planning.
• Listing visibility and TradeCircles — how the public/private toggle on a listing works.