Welcome suppliers!
The AgoraCX university marketplace is a great opportunity for you to receive more quote requests and claim more merchandise projects.
How does this work? AgoraCX brings suppliers, licensing, and buyers together into one central marketplace, providing all the tools buyers need to locate the best supplier for the job. With one click, buyers can send out multiple quote requests, compare offers side-by-side, and then select the supplier they’d like to fulfill the order.
Because everything is simplified and streamlined, buyers can seek out more quotes, giving you much more exposure to many more merchandise opportunities. And that is why we built AgoraCX. We’re here for your success!
The AgoraCX Timeline
(Click on the graphic to see full screen)
How do you make the most of AgoraCX? First, we need to cover some basics:
- Activating Your Account
- Personalizing Your Account
- Receiving and Responding to Quote Requests
- Getting Licensing Approval for an Accepted Offer (If Required)
- Receiving and Fulfilling Your Orders
Activate Your Account
You need to activate your account to be visible in your university’s or organization’s directory.
To activate, you’ll receive an invitation via email with your custom activation link. Click that link, enter your email address, set up a password, and done! Now buyers can find you in the directory and send you requests.
Personalize Your Account
Once your account has been activated, it’s time to personalize. Give your company a “face” and a story – buyers like to know who they’re doing business with!
- Add (or update) your logo
- Include a blurb about your company
- Double check your contact information for accuracy.
Check out this video for more details, and for a sneak peak at a buyer’s version of an AgoraCX account:
Receive and Respond to Quote Requests
Now as a registered AgoraCX Supplier, you’re set up to receive email alerts when buyers submit quote requests to you. Those emails will include a quote request link directing you to your Supplier Dashboard, where you can respond with an offer.
A few tips to make you more competitive:
- The sooner you respond with a quote offer, the better. It’s very likely that buyers will be waiting for offers from more than one supplier, so you’ll want to make sure you respond in time to make the decision process. Who knows, if you respond right away with an offer they can’t refuse, they may just skip the decision process altogether and send you the job.
- Include images and comments with your quote offer. Try to anticipate questions that the customer might ask, and answer them with added details and comments. The more clarity on their end the better.
- Pay close attention to the customer’s request. As part of the quote request process, customers must answer a questionnaire regarding their end use of the items. You may view these details from the quote request form by clicking the “View” hyperlink labeled “Authorization Form Review”.
- Rest easy on royalty calculations. Most AgoraCX university marketplaces are set up to automatically add royalty amounts to your quote if required by the type of project. This is determined by the questionnaire the customer fills out. If you have any questions regarding royalty amounts, please contact the university licensing manager. Note: while our system calculates royalties, you are still ultimately responsible for them, so do make sure to double check us.
How to respond to a quote request:
How a customer will review your quote offer:
Wait for Licensing Confirmation (If Required)
If Required:
After you submit a quote, the customer receives an email notification directing them to review the quote offer details. When the customer reviews and accepts your offer, you will receive a notification via email, but…
Before a buyer can finalize their order, the Licensing Manager will need to review and submit confirmation to continue.* This process can generally take 1-3 business days.
If the Licensing Manager confirms the quote, the customer can place their order. If the quote is declined, you’ll receive a notification via email, but there’s nothing left for you to do.
*Please note: the quote review and confirmation process with your Licensing Manager does not replace other licensing approval protocols required by your university licensing office.
If Not Required:
After you submit a quote, the customer will receive an email notification directing them to review the quote offer details. When the customer reviews and accepts your offer, they can go ahead and finalize their order.
Receive and Fulfill Your Orders
After the customer accepts (and, if needed, the licensing manager confirms) your quote offer, you will receive an email giving you the all clear to fulfill the order. As payment is part of the process, some AgoraCX university marketplaces are set up to accept customer payment through the system. Some do not, though! If it does not, you will be required to make final payment arrangements directly between you and the customer. Learn important details about Customer Payment Tracks in this article.
Congratulations on being accepted for fulfillment. Now’s your chance to provide quality products to excited customers!
Update Order Statuses
Once an order has shipped, been hand delivered or picked up by the customer, it’s time to mark the order on the system as fulfilled. Here are the steps:
- From the Supplier Dashboard, scroll down to the Outstanding Orders section.
- Find the order and click “Update Order Status”
- On the Update Order Status page, select the appropriate Item Status from the dropdown menu.
- Be sure to add tracking numbers and any additional comments to help document the fulfillment of the order.
- Click “Save Order Status” at the bottom of the page. Once the new status has been saved, the customer will receive an email notification listing the updated item status details.
After all items within one order have been marked as delivered or received, the order will now appear in the Completed Orders section at the bottom of the Supplier Dashboard page. Please note that this is a required step for suppliers who are awaiting payouts on delivered credit card orders. Learn more about it in the Order Payouts to Suppliers article.