The Quest4Data TradingNet is a wholesale trading system, which enables real-time dynamic adjustment of buying and selling activities depending upon market conditions. It employs a unique TradingNet exchange as well as traditional shopping and auction tools, thereby finding the best matches between market players.
TradingNet empowers buyers and sellers to conduct commerce in a way no other system does: it allows interactive negotiations between businesses while factoring in such variables as quantity of goods, desirable packaging, time, method and place of delivery, and most importantly the type, time and other conditions of payment.
TradingNet allows buyers to scan a database of suppliers and their catalogs in order to find desired products. When such products are identified, the buyer fills out a requisition form, indicating desirable quantity, packaging, time, method, place of delivery, and payment option. These requisitions are submitted to several sellers at once (if available for a particular product). The buyer's identity is protected during this stage as the requisition is submitted anonymously. Sellers reply with their offers to the buyer via email. Upon receipt of an offer, which satisfies the buyer's requirements, the buyer proceeds with a formal request, discloses their identity and arranges payment. If the buyer is not satisfied with any of the offers received, they may re-submit a requisition to other potential sellers. Alternatively, they may anonymously negotiate an agreement with those sellers whose offers come closest to a requested specification.
The Quest4Data Exchange allows trading products and services as a commodity, maintaining balance between supply and demand in real time. The exchange allows buyers and sellers to trade anonymously, which is key because prematurely identifying buyers and sellers during the requisition phase can damage their respective competitive position(s) and skew pricing.
The Quest4Data Auction provides a venue for the purchase and sale of unique items such as surplus services and inventory, as well as discontinued and perishable services and goods. Market participants may also use an auction to purchase and sell new and used capital equipment. Quest4Data maintains two distinct auction mechanisms: Buyer's auction and Seller's auction.
The Buyer's Auction accepts buyer requests for particular goods and services. In response, sellers, who are allowed to scan the database and/or receive notification regarding a posted request (requires pre-registration for this service), submit their bids. This bidding process naturally lowers the price of goods for the payer due to competition between sellers. The auction has time and price limits set by the buyer. A buyer may review a pricing history for a particular product prior to posting a request to avoid unrealistic expectations.
The Seller's Auction accepts sellers' posting of available goods and services. The buyers, if pre-registered, may scan this database and post their bids. The seller sets their price limit and a time, before which the last bid must be submitted. As in the case of the Buyer's auction, both parties may refer to a history of similar deals transacted on the particular web site through easily accessible reference tools.
The Quest4Data Shop works as a regular catalog sales operation. This provides sellers with the ability to list and display their products and services at a fixed price and sell them online using a shopping cart mechanism.
