About Authorized Buyers

Authorized Buyers are Commerce Max brand accounts you've approved to run Retailer Budget campaigns on your inventory. This article explains what they are, how to manage them, what to prepare before campaigns go live, and how billing responsibilities are structured.

What Are Authorized Buyers?

When a brand is an Authorized Buyer, their Commerce Max account can create and manage Retailer Budget campaigns that serve on your inventory, funded by working media budgets you've agreed on commercially, such as a joint business plan (JBP) or insertion order (IO).

The Authorized Buyer model gives you explicit control over which brands can activate Retailer Budget spending with you, without changing how you manage other demand sources.

The Authorized Buyer designation applies at the account level, not to individual users. Any Commerce Max user with the appropriate role in an approved account can create and manage Retailer Budget campaigns.

How It Works

Your Criteo account team reaches out with an Authorized Buyer submission request for a brand interested in running Retailer Budget campaigns with you.
You confirm whether you approve the brand account.
If approved, Criteo activates the brand as an Authorized Buyer in Commerce Max. The brand's access is governed by your Retailer Budget Campaign Profile, which defines the campaign types and buy types available to all Authorized Buyers — these settings apply uniformly to every approved brand. Unless adjusted, the profile defaults to your Criteo-sold settings. Contact your Criteo account team to review and update these settings before your first Authorized Buyer goes live.
Once you and the brand agree on a budget amount, the Criteo team creates a Retailer Budget balance in the brand's Commerce Max account.
The brand creates campaigns in Commerce Max targeting your inventory, within the limits of your Campaign Profile.
Campaign performance data becomes visible in Commerce Yield Analytics, across both the demand side and supply side tabs, alongside your existing Private Market campaigns.

The brand manages all campaign activity — targeting, budgets, and creative — in Commerce Max. Campaign setup and configuration are not visible from your dashboard. You have read-only access to performance data.

What You Control

Who is approved: no brand can run a Retailer Budget campaign without your explicit approval.
Campaign types and buy types for all Authorized Buyers: your Retailer Budget Campaign Profile defines which campaign types (Sponsored Products, Onsite Display, or both) and buy types (Direct, Indirect, Private Market, Retailer Budget) are available. These settings apply to all Authorized Buyers, not to individual brands.
Budget amounts: set in line with your IO with each brand. Any budget changes require an updated IO before your Criteo account team can adjust the balance.
Revocation: to remove a brand's Authorized Buyer status, contact your Criteo representative. Associated Retailer Budget campaigns will stop running.

How To Access Authorized Buyers

In Commerce Yield, go to Configuration → Authorized Buyers. This is where the Authorized Buyer list for your account is managed.

How To Add or Remove Authorized Buyers

Adding and removing Authorized Buyers is handled by your Criteo account team. To add or revoke access for a brand, reach out to your Criteo representative.

Before You Launch: Preparation Checklist

Before your first Authorized Buyer goes live, align with your Criteo account team on the following:

Reporting workflows: confirm how Retailer Budget campaign performance will appear in the demand-side Analytics tab and whether any downstream pipelines or custom dashboards need updating, particularly if you use the DSP Analytics API.
Billing workflows: confirm how working media invoicing will work between you and each brand, and whether existing IO terms cover Retailer Budget activity.
API dependencies: if you use the DSP API for reporting, the Accounts endpoint now returns Retailer Budget campaign data alongside Direct Sold campaigns when queried using your supply account ID. See Introduction to Demand-Side Analytics for details.
Campaign Profile settings: confirm which campaign types and buy types you want to enable before your first brand is activated. These settings apply to all Authorized Buyers.

Billing Responsibilities

You are responsible for billing brands for working media in line with your IO. Before any campaign launches, confirm the balance amount matches your agreed budget. During campaigns, monitor spend via the balance dashboard and DSP Analytics. If budget changes are needed, update the IO first, then notify your Criteo account team to adjust the balance.

For a full breakdown of billing responsibilities and spend reconciliation, see About Retailer Budget Campaigns.

Visibility in Commerce Yield Analytics

Performance data for Retailer Budget campaigns is available in the Analytics tab of Commerce Yield, within the demand side of Commerce Yield, consolidated alongside your Direct Sold and Private Market campaigns. No need to navigate into individual brand accounts separately.

Use the Budget Model dimension to filter specifically for Retailer Budget campaigns, or the Activation Platform dimension to distinguish Commerce Max activity from Private Market activity.

For more on the Analytics tab, see Introduction to Demand-Side Analytics.

Get Started With Authorized Buyers

Contact your Criteo account team to set up your first Authorized Buyer relationship. They will:

Submit an Authorized Buyer request and confirm the brand account with you.
Set up the approval under Configuration → Authorized Buyers in Commerce Yield once you confirm.
Apply your Retailer Budget Campaign Profile settings to the activated account.
Coordinate balance creation once a budget amount is agreed with the brand.

The brand can then create campaigns in Commerce Max immediately.