Selling
Buying Network: Trade With Other Stores
Join an opt-in network of BestWebby stores to offer surplus stock, wholesale deals and group buys, recommend suppliers, and ask each other for quotes. Exactly what other stores can see, and what they never can.
Overview
The buying network lets BestWebby stores that choose to take part trade with each other:
- Offers. Publish surplus stock, a wholesale deal or a group buy for other participating stores.
- Group buys. Organise a shared order: other stores pledge the quantity they want and you see the running total against your target.
- Supplier directory. Recommend the suppliers you use, and see which suppliers other participating stores recommend and how many list each one.
- Quote requests. Ask another store for a quote on its offer. The quote is prepared in the seller's own Quotes and paid through the seller's own invoices and Stripe account, like any other quote. BestWebby moves no money between stores.
It is on the Scale plan and above. Find it at Channels > Buying network.
What other stores can see
Nothing is shared until an owner or admin joins, ticks the consent box and saves. After that:
| What | Who sees it | How |
|---|---|---|
| Your directory profile (the name you choose, country, categories, a short description) | Other stores in the network | As you typed it |
| Offers you publish | Other stores in the network | Under your network name. The price shows only if you tick Show price. |
| Draft, paused and closed offers | Only you | |
| Suppliers you list | Other stores in the network | Without your name: they see the supplier, its category, countries, and how many participating stores list it. Never which stores. |
| A quote request | Only the two stores involved | With the quantity, message, network name and the contact name and email the buyer typed into that request |
| Reports you file | Only you and BestWebby staff | The store you report is never told who reported it |
Never shared: your customers, orders, products, sales figures, prices you did not publish, supplier prices or terms, and anything else in your store.
Stores that have not joined see nothing at all. These rules are enforced by the database itself (row-level security), not only by the screens, so no request or query can read past them.
Joining and leaving
Owners and admins join from the Buying network page: choose the name other stores see, optionally your country, region, up to six categories and a short description, tick the consent box and click Join. Edit the profile later on the Settings tab.
Leave from the Settings tab. Your offers are paused and your supplier listings withdrawn straight away, and your own open requests are withdrawn. Quotes you already drafted stay in your Quotes. You can join again at any time.
Offers
Managers, admins and owners create offers on My offers:
- Kind: surplus stock, wholesale or group buy.
- Title, description, category, unit (for example "case of 12"), minimum order and optionally available quantity.
- Price per unit in your store currency. Tick Show price to show it; otherwise other stores see "Price on request" and the price is only used to pre-fill your quotes.
- Ships from and an optional end date, after which the offer stops showing.
Save as a draft or publish straight away. Pause, close or edit at any time. An offer with requests cannot be deleted, so the stores that asked keep their record; close it instead.
Every offer is checked against the same listing rules as your products. An offer that names a prohibited item is refused with the reason. One that needs a closer look is saved but held for a BestWebby review before other stores see it; the reason shows on the offer.
Group buys
A group buy has a target quantity: the total at which you, the organiser, place the order. Other stores pledge how much they want; everyone sees the running total and how many stores have pledged, never who. A pledge is not an order: you send each store a quote, and nothing is ordered or paid until they accept it.
Supplier directory
List a supplier on My suppliers with its name, category, and optionally its website and country. You can start from one of your saved suppliers; only those four fields are ever shared, never your prices, terms, account details or API keys.
Listings of the same supplier by different stores are grouped by website address (or by name when there is no website), so the directory shows each supplier once, with the number of participating stores that list it. BestWebby does not vet suppliers: check any supplier yourself before you buy.
Quote requests
On Browse offers, click Request a quote (or Join group buy), enter the quantity, an optional message, and the contact name and email the seller should use. The seller sees the request under Requests.
As the seller:
- Click Draft a quote. A draft quote is created in your Quotes, addressed to the buyer's contact, with the offer as a line at your price. Drafting needs finance access as well, so owners and admins do it.
- Review, adjust and send it from Quotes as usual. The buyer accepts and pays through your normal quote and invoice flow.
- Or Decline, with an optional note the buyer sees.
The buyer can withdraw a request at any time before it is accepted.
Reports and moderation
Use the flag button on any offer or directory supplier to report it to BestWebby, with a reason. The reported store is never told who reported it. When three different stores report the same offer or supplier, it is held for review automatically until BestWebby staff decide. Staff can hide an offer or supplier, or suspend a store from the network, which removes all of its offers for everyone.
Who can do what
| Action | Roles |
|---|---|
| See the Buying network pages | Anyone with product access |
| Publish offers, list suppliers, request quotes, answer requests, report | Owner, admin, manager |
| Draft a quote from a request | Owner, admin (it needs both network and finance access) |
| Join, edit the profile, leave | Owner, admin |