On MarbleMap, correspondence takes place inside the deal you are working on. Below you will find how buyers and suppliers run a conversation, which actions you can take on a message, how automatic translation works, and how to report inappropriate content.
Conversations are always tied to a demand
There is no general inbox on the platform. Every conversation is tied to a single demand and a single supplier. In other words, you cannot message a person independently of a demand; if you are talking to the same supplier about two different demands, those are two separate conversations. This structure protects the sealed-bid model: a supplier cannot see another supplier's conversation, or even learn that it exists.
Running a conversation as a buyer
- Open the relevant demand from the My Demands screen.
- Switch to the Messages tab.
- Pick the supplier you want to talk to from the Conversations list on the left.
- The correspondence opens in the panel on the right; type your message and press Send.
You must have a supplier selected on the left before you can write a message. While no supplier is selected, the right-hand side shows only Select a conversation and no compose box appears.
The list also includes suppliers that have submitted an offer to you but that you have never exchanged messages with. When you select such a row, the conversation opens empty and you can start it by writing the first message yourself.
Asking questions as a supplier
Open the demand detail from the Marketplace and press the Messages button. The conversation opens over the same screen.
You can also ask questions before submitting an offer. Two conditions apply: the demand must be live on the marketplace, and you must have an active seller package. No conversation opens for an account without a package, or for a demand that is no longer listed.
As a supplier, you only see your own conversation. The correspondence of other companies bidding on the same demand is never visible to you in any way.
After the demand closes
A demand that has been closed or removed from the marketplace no longer opens in the Marketplace, so if you never submitted an offer on it, there is no route left to the conversation. If you did submit an offer, your conversation stays open: go to My Marketplace Offers, open the offer detail, and continue the correspondence with the Messages button there.
There is no such restriction on the buyer side; you can open your own demand from My Demands and enter the Messages tab even after the demand has closed.
What you can do with a message
The Send button next to the compose box delivers your message. Right-clicking a message on desktop opens a small action menu:
- Reply — you answer by quoting that message; the quote appears as a small box above your new message.
- Edit — visible only on your own messages. An edited note appears next to a message that has been edited.
- Delete — visible only on your own messages.
- Pin — flags the message; the message you pinned most recently is shown in the strip at the top of the conversation. You can undo it with Unpin from the same menu.
If you want to search within a conversation, press the magnifier button in the header and type into the Search in conversation… field.
What happens to a deleted message
When you delete a message, the text disappears on the other side as well; This message was deleted is left in its place. If someone had previously replied to the deleted message with a quote, the quote in that reply is emptied too. So a deleted text does not remain visible, not even by way of a quote.
Automatic translation
The message you send is automatically translated into the first language listed on the other party's company profile. If no language at all is defined on their profile, the translation is made into English.
The reader sees the translation first on screen; to view the source text, they only need to press the link shown as Original (EN) below the message — the code of the language the text was written in appears in the parentheses. If a message cannot be translated, it still reaches the other party — only the translation is missing, your text is not lost.
To make sure messages are translated into the right language on your own side, fill in the Languages field on the My company profile page via Edit profile. If this field is empty, messages sent to you by the other party are translated into English.
Reporting inappropriate content
If the content of a demand breaches the rules, use the Report link on the demand detail page. This link is available on the demand screen on the buyer side, on the demand detail in the Marketplace, and on the Make an Offer screen.
In the Report content dialog that opens:
- Pick a heading from the Reason list: Sexual content, Violence, Spam, Scam / fraud, Illegal content or Other.
- If you wish, write details that will help the review into the Note (optional) field.
- Press Submit report.
Your report lands in the MarbleMap team's review queue. There is no separate page where you can track the status of a report. If you try to report the same content a second time, no new record is created; you will see the You have already reported this. notice.