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Overview for Steel Sellers
North American steel sellers can promote their companies, increase sales and generate
sales leads using Steel Spider. Registration is free. Sellers need to register to
use the features applicable to sellers. Steel Spider provides sellers with additional
sales channels to reach current and new customers. Most of the features available
to steel sellers are free but for some we charge a fixed monthly or quarterly fee
described below.
We provide five platforms to help steel sellers sell steel:
Inventory, Offer,
Inquire,
Auction and Facility Directory.
Sellers advertise their companies through company logos that appear randomly on
each page and inclusion in the Facility Directory. Sellers advertise steel available
for sale on the Steel Spider using Inventory, Offering and Auctions. Sellers can
also receive inquiries from buyers for products that they deal in.
Multi-Supplier Inventory
Sellers advertise the availability of their steel by adding their steel to the searchable
Multi-Supplier Inventory where buyers and other suppliers can easily find your steel
when their own inventory does not contain the steel the need.
Manual Data Entry
Sellers can manually add steel to the Multi-Supplier Inventory by using the forms
in Post Steel to Inventory under Inventory. Items are
added immediately. Once your steel is in the Inventory you can refresh, edit or
delete it in Manage Your Steel under Inventory. Sellers
can manually add steel to the Multi-Supplier Inventory using these forms without
charge.
Automatic Data Entry
An easier method of adding steel to the Multi-Supplier Inventory is to use our Automatic Data Entry process. This is especially useful
when a seller has a large quantity of steel to advertise. The seller provides us
with a file containing descriptions of their steel. The seller uploads or attaches
the file to an email. We process the file and add the steel to the Inventory. We
can handle nearly all file formats including as text, Excel XML, and CSV files.
Since every supplier handles their inventory data differently we do not specify
a particular layout for the file. Instead we tailor the Automatic Data Entry process
to the layout preferred by the seller. Normally our Automatic Data Entry process
lets sellers provide their data without data format conversion. There is no limit
to the number of steel items that can be added using the Automatic Data Entry process
and, if helpful, we can handle the submittal of multiple files.
Sellers using the Automatic Data Entry process can manage their steel by providing
an updated file. The steel from the previous file is deleted and the steel in the
new file is added to the Multi-Supplier Inventory. Sellers can also use
Manage Your Steel to edit and delete their steel in the Inventory. We charge
$100 US per month to use the Automatic Data Entry process and this also includes
the ability of the seller to display his company's logo randomly on each page.
It may be possible to download a file containing descriptions of your steel from
your website or scrape the steel information from your website. If the seller has
his available steel on a website, we can often capture the descriptions of the steel
and add it to the Inventory automatically. We can set up a Web Service that a seller
can use to add his steel to the Inventory. These are available for a slightly higher
monthly charge.
Manage Your Steel
We require that a seller periodically confirm that their steel being advertised
is still available. When steel is added it is marked for deletion in 30 days. By
going to Manage Your Steel under Inventory a seller
can push a single button and extend the deletion date by 30 days. We may send a
reminder to a seller to confirm their steel's availability. If no confirmation is
received, we will remove the seller's steel after the deletion date. Sellers can
send offerings without charge.
Offering
Sellers can use Steel Spider to send offerings to buyers using Steel Spider who
are interested in receiving them as well as buyers in your
Contact List. Sellers currently sending an inventory list by email to potential
buyers can use this feature to also send your inventory list to buyers using Steel
Spider. This is also a way to advertise your steel's availability to buyers when
it does not lend itself to display in the Inventory (large quantities sold as a
single lot, special deals, truck, railcar or barge quantities). Sellers can send
offerings without charge.
Send an Offering
To send an Offering go to Send an Offer under Offers.
Identify the Form and Type of steel you are offering and then use the box to describe
your Offering. You are also able to include a file to provide additional information
about your Offering. You have two choices on whom you send your Offer to. You can
select from a list of buyers using Steel Spider who are interested in receiving
offerings of the type you are sending. You can send it to buyers you know in your
Contact List. You can also elect to have your Offering
displayed in View Recent Offerings under Offer so
additional buyers can see it. The listing is chronological based on when it was
sent. Offerings are removed automatically after two weeks.
Inquiry
Buyers can send an Inquiry to sellers describing the steel they are looking for.
An Inquiry can be a Request for Quote (RFQ) or a Request for Information (RFI).
Go to View Recent Inquiries under Inquire to see some
of the Inquiries sent in the past week or two. Sellers who want to receive Inquiries
need to identify the products that they deal in.
Receive Inquiries
To enable a buyer to send an Inquiry to you, identify what products you sell in
Receive Inquiries under Inquire. Your company will
then be included in the list of companies the buyer can send his Inquiry to. If
you have steel that might meet the buyer's needs, you respond to the buyer directly.
We charge a seller $100 US per quarter (or $40 per month) to receive Inquiries.
Sellers can receive Inquiries without charge for a period of time sufficient to
evaluate the potential value of these Inquiries to the seller. A seller can receive
inquiries without charge until we contact him. A seller will not be invoiced for
receiving Inquiries until after he authorizes us to invoice. If multiple people
in the same office all wish to receive Inquiries, we charge $200 per quarter. Spider
Bites are messages sent through Steel Spider where a buyer is responding to a specific
item in the Inventory. Spider Bites are not considered Inquiries and there is no
charge to send or receive a Spider Bite.
Auction
In certain circumstances running an Auction may be an appropriate way to advertise
and sell some of your steel. We provide platforms for single item and multi-item
auctions. You set up an auction in Start Single Item Auction or Start Multi-item
Auction under Auction. All our auctions are invitational in that the bidders need
to be authorized to bid by the seller before they can bid. You identify the authorized
bidders by adding their email addresses to your Contact List using
Manage Your Contact List under Personalize. When you set up your auction
you identify which of your contacts are authorized to bid. To become familiar with
the auction and the bidding process use the Demo Single
Item Auction and the Demo Multi-Item Auction.
To set up a Single Item Auction go to Run Single Item Auction under Auctions. Use
the form to describe the item you are selling and identify the parameters that apply
to your auction such as reserve price, bidding period end and approved bidders.
Sellers can run Single Item Auctions without charge.
For Multi-Item Auctions the seller provides a file describing his steel much in
the manner as files are provide with the Automatic Data Entry Process. Contact us
if you are interested in having us provide you with the capability to run Multi-Item
Auctions. These auctions need to be tailored to the seller's particular product
and automated so he can periodically run these auctions. We charge a seller a flat
fee of $300 to run a Multi-Item Auction. There is no other buyer's premium, fee
or commission applicable to the bidders or the seller.
Facility Directory
The Facility Directory is a searchable database to
help buyers find companies by company name, by the steel products they deal in or
by the company's processing capabilities. Sellers can add their company to the Facility
Directory. Go to Add to Facility Directory under Personalize
and describe your company. In addition to basic contact information you can describe
the products you carry as well as the processing services you perform. There is
no charge to include your company in the Facility Directory.
Border Ads
Sellers and others can have their company logo appear randomly on each page of Steel
Spider. The logo links to the seller's website or we can set up a Company Profile
page that the logo can link to is the seller provides the content for the page.
We charge $100 US per month to randomly display your company's logo.
Events Calendar
The Events Calendar contains a listing of upcoming events
in North America of interest to the users of Steel Spider focusing on networking
with those who buy and sell surplus, excess and secondary steel.
Personal Contact List
Registered sellers can maintain a personal Contact List.
This allows sellers to use Steel Spider to send offerings to those buyers they regularly
contact including those they may have met through Steel Spider and to identify the
approved bidders in an auction.
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