MFG.com Launches Buyer Rating System

MFG.com, an online manufacturing marketplace, has launched a new buyer rating system designed to add greater transparency to platform activities. Beyond reflecting subjective supplier feedback on issues related to a buyer’s willingness to communicate, adequacy of responses and bill payment timeliness, the new buyer rating incorporates objective measures that more fully capture the buyer and the value that firm may represent to an MFG.com supplier, the company reports.

A supplier’s decision to respond to a request for quote (RFQ) has a cost attached to it in terms of time. Whether 30 minutes or 3 hours, time spent developing a quote is time not used to develop other prospects or perform work. Thus, metrics that capture likeliness of an award and the business potential a buyer represents can greatly facilitate bid-no bid decision-making. MFG.com developed data-driven rating factors for the buyer rating that paint a fuller profile of the buyer:

• number of RFQs posted within the last 24 months and the percentage awarded on the platform;
• the buyer’s total award amount (in dollars) over the last 24 months and the average dollar value of each award; and
• supplier feedback on the buyers responsiveness and on-time payments.

Buyers that post numerous RFQs but never award them will have that fact reflected in a lower rating. So, this category serves as an encouragement to finish transactions initiated on the platform.

“The new, data-driven buyer rating system is part of a larger initiative to increase transparency in the MFG.com marketplace for all of our users," Bo Hagler, chief executive officer, MFG.com, says. "Previously, for example, MFG.com instituted a location verification policy whereby all suppliers must certify the geographic location of their primary production facility. This move assures that buyers know precisely where their parts are being manufactured, especially for those companies that adhere to a ‘Made in America’ business philosophy.”

For more info, visit MFG.com.

Sources: Press materials received from the company.