My product is approved — why can't buyers see it yet?
Approval is only one of four gates. Your product shows up on a storefront only when it's approved, active, has an image, and a vendor has added it to their store.
TL;DR: Approval clears BTAB's review — but it's only one of four gates. Your product shows up on a storefront only when it's approved, active, has at least one image, and a vendor has added it to their store.
The four gates a product passes before a buyer sees it
Approval means your product is eligible to be sold — not that it's on sale anywhere yet. All four of these have to be true at the same time:
| Gate | What it means |
|---|---|
| Approved | BTAB has reviewed and accepted the product |
| Active | The product is live in the catalog — not archived or discontinued |
| Has an image | At least one product image is attached. No image means the product stays hidden, even after approval |
| Listed by a vendor | A vendor has chosen your product and added it to their storefront |
Miss any one of these and buyers won't see the product. Approval alone is not enough.
"It's approved but still not showing" — check these first
Most "approved but invisible" cases are one of the first three gates, and they're the ones you can fix yourself:
- No image. This is the single most common cause. An approved product with no image is hidden from buyers. Add one and it becomes eligible right away. See How do I add images to my products?.
- Archived or discontinued. If the product isn't active, it drops out of every storefront. Set it back to active in your catalog.
- Actually still Rejected. If it came back with a reason, it isn't approved yet — fix the reason and resubmit. See Why was my product rejected, and how do I fix it?.
Why "approved" doesn't mean "on sale"
BTAB is a marketplace. Approving your product adds it to the catalog — the shared pool that vendors browse. Each vendor decides which catalog products to put in their own storefront. So there's one more step, and it's the one you don't control: a vendor has to add your product to their store before that store's buyers can see it.
You can't add it to a storefront yourself — but you can make it an easy pick:
- A clear, complete title and description
- At least one clean, well-lit image (more angles is better)
- A sensible price
Complete, well-presented products get chosen faster.
What this means for you
Approval is the finish line for your part — but not for being sold. After approval, confirm your product is active and has an image; then it sits in the catalog waiting for vendors to pick it up. Keep the listing clean and complete so vendors reach for yours first. See How do I get my products onto BTAB?.