--- title: Claiming a Business Listing That Already Exists - Buy it Local.US author: webiedesign url: https://buyitlocal.us/support/business-owner-help/claiming-a-business-listing-that-already-exists --- # Claiming a Business Listing That Already Exists ## Claiming Your Business Listing You may find that your business is already in the Buy it Local.US directory. That is normal. Community members and directory staff add local businesses so visitors can find them. The listing is yours to take over whenever you are ready, and claiming it is free. ### Why You Should Claim It Until a listing is claimed, nobody is looking after it. Once you claim it, you can: - Correct your hours, phone number, address, and description - Add your logo and real photos instead of whatever placeholder is there - Reply to customer reviews - Receive messages and quote requests that visitors send through the page - Display a Claimed badge, which tells visitors a real person is behind the listing - Upgrade to a paid plan and start posting offers and events An unclaimed listing with wrong hours costs you customers. A claimed one earns them. ### Step 1: Find Your Listing 1. Go to the Buy it Local.US home page 2. Type your business name into the search box, or browse to your category and city 3. Open your listing to confirm it is really yours and not a similarly named business If you cannot find your business anywhere, it is not listed yet. Follow our guide to adding your business instead. ### Step 2: Create an Account or Sign In You need an account before you can claim a listing. If you do not have one, use the **Register** link and create one with an email address you actually check. Confirm your email, then sign in. Use a business email address if you have one. It makes verifying your claim faster. ### Step 3: Click Claim on the Listing With your listing open and while signed in, look for the **Claim** option on the page. Click it and fill in the short form. You will be asked to confirm who you are and how you are connected to the business, for example owner, manager, or authorized employee. Be specific in the message box. Something like the following works well: I am the owner of this business. Our phone number is on the listing and I can be reached there. Our website is listed below and shows my name on the About page. ### Step 4: We Verify the Claim A person reviews every claim. We are checking one simple thing: that the person claiming the business is genuinely connected to it. We may call the number on the listing, email the address on your website, or ask for a document such as a business license or a utility bill in the business name. This usually takes a day or two. You will get an email when the claim is approved. ### Step 5: Clean Up Your Listing Once the claim is approved, the listing appears under **My Business** in your account menu. Work through it in this order: 1. **Fix anything wrong.** Hours and phone numbers first, since those cause the most frustration for customers 2. **Rewrite the description** in your own voice 3. **Add your logo and photos** 4. **Check your category and subcategory** and change them if a customer would look elsewhere 5. **Add social links, opening hours, and your service area** 6. **Reply to any existing reviews,** especially the critical ones ### If Someone Else Has Already Claimed Your Listing This occasionally happens when a former employee, a marketing agency, or a previous owner claimed the page. Contact the Buy it Local.US team and explain the situation. We will verify ownership and transfer the listing to the right person. Do not create a duplicate listing, because duplicates split your reviews and confuse customers. ### If There Are Two Listings for Your Business Let us know which listing you want to keep. We will merge or remove the duplicate so your reviews and traffic stay in one place. ### Common Questions **Does claiming cost anything?** No. Claiming is free, and the listing stays on whatever plan it is on. **Can I remove a review I do not like?** No, and neither can we simply on request. You can reply to it publicly, which is usually more persuasive to future customers anyway. Reviews that break our guidelines can be reported. **Can I delete the listing entirely?** Yes. Contact us and we will remove it, though we would rather help you make it useful. ### Getting Help If the Claim option is not appearing, make sure you are signed in first. That is the most common reason. If it still does not show, contact the Buy it Local.US team and we will claim it on your behalf. More guides are available in the [Support](https://buyitlocal.us/support) section.