<b>DIRECT relationships that are quietly RESELLER</b>

<b>DIRECT relationships that are quietly RESELLER</b>

Heard: a recurring audit finding — publishers list an SSP as <code>DIRECT</code> in ads.txt while that SSP's sellers.json marks the same seat as <code>RESELLER</code>. The mismatch is the tell. It usually means a managed-service team is reselling under the pub's name without the pub knowing.

— ads.txt says DIRECT, sellers.json says RESELLER = laundered path
— DSPs increasingly drop bids on the conflict rather than guess

Impact: reconcile your DIRECT/RESELLER tags across both files or watch eligible demand silently shrink. (sourced)