Access modes — Followers vs By request

How the two TradeCircle access modes work, what each is good for, and how to pick the right one.

Last updated 2026-04-30

Every TradeCircle is set to one of two access modes when you create it. The mode decides how buyers get into the circle. You can't switch modes after creation in Phase 1 — pick deliberately, or create a fresh circle if the wrong choice locks you in.

At a glance

	Followers	By request
Who's in	Everyone who follows your seller profile	Only buyers you've individually approved
Effort to grow	Zero — adding a follower is automatic	One approval per buyer
Granularity	Coarse: it's all-or-nothing per follower	Fine: you choose one by one
Revoke a single buyer	Not possible without unfollowing them publicly	Yes — Revoke on the Members tab
Best for	Loyalty perks, early-access stock, "soft" exclusivity	Dealer-only models, restricted lines, contract-bound stock
Buyer's action	Follow seller	Request access + a short message + wait for approval

Followers mode

In Followers mode, the seller's follow graph is the membership list. The moment a buyer follows your seller profile, they're in the circle. The moment they unfollow, they're out.

You don't see a "Members" tab on a Followers-mode circle's dashboard page — there's nothing to manage there individually. Member count on the circle card mirrors your followers count (since they're the same set of people).

Followers mode is the lower-friction option:

No approval queue cluttering your dashboard.
No risk of you forgetting to approve someone for two days.
Buyers don't have to write a request message and wait — they just follow.
Onboarding new returning customers is trivial: tell them "follow my profile, and you'll see the new arrivals first."

The trade-off is that you can't selectively exclude a follower without unfollowing them, which is a public, reciprocal action. If you need to keep a specific buyer out without making it a thing, this is the wrong mode.

Good fits for Followers mode

Early access for loyal buyers. New arrivals visible to followers for 14 days, then promoted to public.
VIP discounts. A "members preferred pricing" line, where being a follower is the entry ticket.
Sneak previews. Equipment you're about to put on the public marketplace next week — give followers the head start.

Poor fits for Followers mode

Contract-restricted stock. If your distributor agreement says "show only to dealers we have on file", a follower-driven circle is too loose.
Confidential pricing. If the wrong follower seeing the price would damage a separate negotiation, don't use Followers mode.

By-request mode

In By-request mode, every buyer must apply before they can see anything inside the circle. You review the application in your dashboard's Requests tab and either approve or deny it.

Approved buyers receive a grant — a record that they can see the circle's listings. You can:

Set the grant to expire automatically (e.g. 30 days, 6 months) — useful for short campaigns.
Set it as permanent — most common for long-term dealer relationships.
Revoke the grant at any time, with an optional reason — the buyer is removed from the circle but keeps their request row in their history.

Denied applications get a Reason field if you want to explain why; some sellers leave it blank. The buyer's status flips to Denied and they can re-apply later if circumstances change.

By-request mode is the higher-control option. The cost is operational — every applicant is one decision you have to make.

Good fits for By-request mode

Dealer-only models. Manufacturer or distributor contracts that restrict who can see specific equipment.
Refurbished or "B-grade" lines. Inventory you sell to repeat buyers but don't want general-public discovery on.
Contract-bound buyers. Wholesale, fleet, or government buyers who have NDAs and price agreements with you offline.
Investor-only listings. A few sellers run circles that are visible only to financing partners or co-investors.

Poor fits for By-request mode

Big circles. A by-request circle with 500 members is a queue of 500 approvals you had to click through. Followers mode scales much better.
Open promotional campaigns. If your goal is to reach as many buyers as possible quickly, a request gate just slows everyone down.

How buyers see the difference

On the seller's profile page, the TradeCircles tab shows each of your circles with a button reflecting its mode and the buyer's current state:

Circle	Buyer's state	Button on the card
Followers mode, not a follower	Follow seller	Follow seller (the standard follow flow)
Followers mode, follower	Following	View listings — opens the circle
By-request, no relationship	Not a member	Request access — opens a modal with an optional message
By-request, applied	Pending request	Withdraw (when your application is loaded), or a disabled Pending chip while loading
By-request, approved	Member	View listings — opens the circle
By-request, denied	Not a member	Request access — same as a fresh applicant; the buyer can re-apply

A buyer who's the owner of a circle (i.e. it's their own circle on their own profile) sees a Manage button instead, leading to the dashboard.

Choosing between them

Three quick questions:

How many people do you want in this circle? > 100 — Followers. < 30 — By-request is fine. In-between — depends on your tolerance for clicking Approve.

How important is it to keep specific buyers out? Very important — By-request. Doesn't really matter, as long as random visitors can't see it — Followers.

Are you bound by a contract that lists specific approved buyers? Yes — By-request, definitely. The audit trail of who you approved and when matters.

When in doubt, start with Followers mode. It's lower-effort and you can always create a separate By-request circle later for the items that need stricter control.