MarbleMap is a request-for-quotation (RFQ) marketplace that brings buyers and suppliers in the natural stone industry together. The way it works comes down to three steps: a buyer publishes a need as a demand, suppliers submit offers against that demand, and the buyer compares the offers received and makes a decision.
The sealed-bid principle
MarbleMap operates on a sealed-bid basis: suppliers never see one another's offers. Each supplier sees only its own offer, while the buyer sees every offer submitted to it. Offer amounts, the number of offers and who submitted them are all hidden from suppliers.
The buyer journey
- Sign up with Create account; verify your email by entering the 6-digit code sent to your business address.
- Once you are signed in, fill in your company details and send your application with Submit application. Our team reviews every company before granting access; the large majority of applications are reviewed within 1 business day. In the meantime you can follow your status on the Your application is under review screen.
- After approval you land on My Dashboard. From there, create your first demand with New Demand. The wizard guides you step by step: the title and description of the demand, category, delivery, pricing currency and the offer deadline. You can also enter a line-by-line product list if you wish. On the final step, choose Publish demand.
- Your published demands sit in the My Demands list. Clicking a demand opens its cockpit, with the Offers, Details, Messages, FAQ and Activity tabs.
- On the Offers tab you compare incoming offers side by side, build a shortlist, ask a supplier for a revision with Request revision, or turn an offer down with Reject. When you have reached your decision, you conclude the demand by choosing Accept on an offer. Splitting a demand line by line across several suppliers is also possible: you collect the lines in the Award basket and choose Finalize split. The split then goes to the suppliers for approval; once every one of them has approved its own share, Start orders creates the orders.
- Once the orders exist, you follow their confirmation status from the same demand page. A supplier can confirm the order or propose a change; whether to accept or reject that proposal is up to you.
The supplier journey
- Sign up with Create account and verify your email.
- Enter your company profile and the stone categories you work with, choose Submit application, and wait for approval.
- After approval you, too, land on My Dashboard. To view demands and submit offers you need an active seller package; if you do not have one, the package selection page appears on the Marketplace screen. Every package comes with a set weekly offer allowance, and that allowance starts over every Monday.
- On the Marketplace screen you can filter live demands by category, country, currency and publication date, save the ones that interest you, or assign them to a teammate.
- Once you have opened and reviewed a demand, you prepare your offer with Make an offer: line prices, extra charges, discount, Incoterm, payment terms, validity date and attachments. When you are ready, choose Submit offer.
- Every offer you send is gathered in the My Marketplace Offers list, where you can see the status of each one (Submitted, Viewed, Accepted, Rejected, Revision requested…).
- When your offer is accepted, the work moves on to the My Orders screen. There you accept the order with Confirm order, or send the buyer a change with Propose a change. If the buyer has set aside only part of the lines for you, you are first asked to review that share and choose Approve or Decline.
What lives where in the menu
The top menu is identical on every account — your role does not change it. Your role determines what the screens contain (for example, the buyer and supplier sections on My Dashboard appear according to role); what you are able to do is determined by your plan and your application status.
- My Dashboard — your landing screen: your plan, your usage and summary figures.
- My Demands — every demand you have created.
- Marketplace — live demands; where you submit offers as a supplier.
- My Marketplace Offers — every offer you have submitted, in a single list.
- My Orders — the orders you have won; confirmation and change proposals happen here.
- New Demand — the button at the top right; opens a new demand from any screen.
- The account icon at the top right gives you My company profile, Edit profile, Settings and Log out.
Your role and the one rule
When you register, you choose the capacity in which you are joining the platform: Buyer, Supplier or Both. If you only buy, Buyer suits you; if you only sell, Supplier; if you do both at once, Both.
There is one rule that never changes: you cannot submit an offer on your own demand. The Make an offer button does not appear on your own demand.
Where to go next
If you are a buyer, the articles ahead cover the steps for creating a demand and comparing the offers you receive. If you are a supplier, take a look at the articles on seller packages, filtering and search alarms on the Marketplace screen, and preparing an offer. The details of the sealed-bid principle — and which information is visible to whom — can be found in a separate article.