NeoGrid Negotiations: ezMarket v9.3
Making an Offer in a Parallel Trade Negotiation
A Supplier’s Quick Reference Guide
Making an Offer in a Parallel Trade Negotiation
Making an offer in a parallel trade negotiation is unlike bidding in any other type of negotiation. The
negotiation may or may not have a time limit and can often run for days or weeks. You answer a series of
questions about attributes pertaining to the item, which could include price. The auctioneer negotiates
separately with each supplier by requesting changes to the individual offers made or by creating a new offer
to the whole market. These new offers are called counteroffers. You can either accept the auctioneer’s
counteroffer or make a counteroffer of your own. The auctioneer may award the business to one or multiple
suppliers, depending on the rules applying for each market.
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To access the ezMarket application, go to https://ezmarket.neogrid.com.
2
Enter the Logon and Password provided in the email sent to you when your account was
created.
Notes:



If you have not received the email with your login credentials, contact the auctioneer. Or
alternatively, contact Customer Support Services (CSS.)
If you have forgotten your password, click “Forgotten your password?” In order to
receive the forgotten password email with a new password, you will need to provide the
correct answer to a challenge question.
If you fail to enter the correct password credentials after 3 attempts the account will be
become disabled. If disabled you will need to contact your administrator to have the
account enabled again.
Best Practice: It is highly recommended to click “System Check” prior to accessing the
site to make sure that your computer has all necessary components for you to participate in a
market.
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Click "Log In."”
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Making an Offer in a Parallel Trade Negotiation
You are required to change your password upon your initial login and provide a Challenge
Question & Answer.

Notes:
The auctioneer has the option to set your password to expire.

All existing users will have their Challenge question set to “Please confirm your email
address?” and the answer will be set to the value in the their user profile.

To change your password or update and manage your own Challenge Question and
Answer click “Update My Profile.”
Notes:

The Market Listing page lists all the markets to which you have been invited, sorted by
Status. By default, the list shows “active” auctions only (those with an Awaiting Start
Time, Paused, or In Progress status.)

Mock markets have an asterisk * in front of the Market Name to differentiate them from
live markets.
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Locate the negotiation in which you were invited to participate.
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
If the auctioneer requested that you accept the terms and conditions for participating in the
online auction, click “Accept T&C”.
Note: There are two types of terms and conditions: those specific to the auction, and
those specific to the auctioneer’s organization – you might need to agree to both.
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Making an Offer in a Parallel Trade Negotiation

6
7
If accepting terms and conditions is not required, click the Market Name to access the Market
Summary page. Skip Steps 6 and 7.
Click “Name of the T&C” to read the
terms and conditions.
Click “I accept” to participate in the market.
Note: If you decline, you will not be able to view or bid in the market.
Note: If the negotiation
has not yet started, but a
preview period has been
enabled, the Market
Preview page appears.
You are able to preview
the information but not
make an offer.
8.
Exchange Rates: If the buyer has enabled
suppliers to see the exchange rates, they can
be seen by clicking on the Exchange Rates
information symbol.
Event
Eventlevel
level
attachment
attachment
can can
be found
be found
in the in the
Supplementary
Supplementary
Information
Information
section.
section.
This section element, will only display if event level
attachments are specified.
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Making an Offer in a Parallel Trade Negotiation
Note: If the negotiation has started and another supplier has already made an offer, the
Recent Bidder Offer page appears. Click “Make New Offer” under the Actions column to
respond to the negotiation.
Note: The Make New Offer page also appears if the negotiation has started and no other
supplier has yet made an offer.
9.
10.
Review the following sections of the screen:
 Attribute: Name and description of the attribute pertaining to the item
 Negotiability Indicator (Unlabeled): Indicates whether the attribute is:
Negotiable: You chose how to respond to the attribute. The auctioneer may assign a
default value, which you can accept or override with your own offer.
Non-Negotiable: The auctioneer assigns a default value with which you must comply
in order to make an offer. Making an offer for a non-negotiable attribute implies
acceptance of the terms specified by the auctioneer.
Informational: You do not need to respond to informational attributes. They are
presented for information purposes only.
 Comments : If the auctioneer allows you to add comments to the offer, this row will
display at the end of the table.
 Previous Offer: Auctioneer’s previous offer (blank if auctioneer has not made a
counteroffer)
 Current Offer: Displays any default values set by the auctioneer for the current offer
Complete all negotiable attributes in the My Offer column.
Notes:



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If the auctioneer specified default values, those values will
be populated in your initial offer fields. If desired, you can
delete these values and enter your own values.
If the auctioneer specified a range as a default value, hover
over
to display the lower and upper limit of acceptable
values.
For File attribute types, click “Upload File” to attached the
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Making an Offer in a Parallel Trade Negotiation
requested file.
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Hint: Upon subsequent offers, this section will display
the values of your previous offer. To accept the values of
the auctioneer’s offer, you can click the arrow
to the
left of the attribute field to copy the values into your new
offer.
Make sure that you can comply with any non-negotiable
attributes.
Review any informational attributes.
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Click “Make New Offer.” The Confirm Offer page appears.
11
Note: Any attribute values which differ from the auctioneer’s current offer will appear in
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bold red text.
Click “Confirm Offer.” The Recent Bidder Offers page appears.
Important: If the negotiation is “binding,” you cannot change your offer once confirmed.
Notes:
 Your offer appears below the auctioneer’s offer in the Bid Details section.
 The Differences row shows the total number of differences under the Trader column.
Under each attribute with a difference, the system displays either the number of the
difference in bold red text, or a red flag
if the difference is not numeric.
 Depending on the auction rules set by the auctioneer, other suppliers’ offers may display
in the Other Bidder Details section.
Notes:


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If the auctioneer counters your offer, you will see a bell
under the Status column of
the Bid Details section.
Any attributes that changed from the auctioneer’s previous offer to the current offer
appear in bold black text.
To either accept an auctioneer’s counter offer or make a counter offer of your own, click “Make
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Making an Offer in a Parallel Trade Negotiation
New Offer” under the Actions column.
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
To make a counter offer of your own, change your attribute values by repeating Steps 11
through 15.

To accept the auctioneer’s counter offer, click “Accept Current Offer.” The Confirm Offer
page appears.
Note: The system changes your offer to match the offer you have accepted. Any attribute
values which differ from your previous offer will appear in bold red text.
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Click “Confirm Offer.” The Recent Bidder Offers page appears.
Note: A star
appears in the Differences row indicating that no differences exist between
your offer and the auctioneer’s current offer. The Status column shows that the offer has
been Accepted.
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Click “Log Off” from the title bar to exit the application.
Note: Support link provides access to Support
& Training information.
Receiving Broadcast Messages
When entering into an event, the system will display any broadcast messages that the event host has sent.
The number of messages is indicated within the message header, after the name of the hosting company.
(i.e. Message from User Admin (Training Company) - (1/3) – would indicate that there are 3 broadcast
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Making an Offer in a Parallel Trade Negotiation
messages and that you are viewing message 1).
Broadcast messages are presented as a popup window and, while displayed, will prevent access to the event
until one of the following actions is taken. The options available will depend on what has been configured
by the event host when sending the broadcast. There may be options to either Close, Acknowledge and/or
Reply.
1.
While the message is displayed, access to other functionality is not available until one of the
following actions is taken.
 Close: A message can be closed by clicking the X on the top right.
 Reply: Depending on the nature of the broadcast message, the event host may provide
you with the option to respond to a broadcast message.
 Acknowledge: The event host has requested to be notified that the message has been
received.
Notes: If both the Acknowledge and Reply button are available then either option will
result in the message being marked as received. If the message is closed using the close link
“X”, the message will be continue to pop-up, until either one of the actions is taken.
Replying to a Broadcast
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Making an Offer in a Parallel Trade Negotiation
2.
The reply message window displays.
Click “Reply” after completing your
message.
3.
A split screen interface will be expanded. Continue on with the conversation.
Notes: The history of event related
broadcasted messages can be accessed using
the “Broadcasts” tab.
To reply to a broadcast message after having
either acknowledged or closed the original
message click “ ” from within the
Broadcasts tab.
Depending on the nature of the broadcast message, the event host may provide you with the option to
respond to a broadcast message.
Starting Conversations
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Making an Offer in a Parallel Trade Negotiation
1.
Click “Messages (n)>>” from the top menu
bar to start a conversation or discussion.
2.
A split screen interface will be expanded to
allow you to focus on both the event and
discussion thread.
Click “
..” A conversation window
displays.
3.
Type a topic and message. Click “Send”
when complete.
Notes: Depending on the way the
buyer configured the event, users may
not have this option available.
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Making an Offer in a Parallel Trade Negotiation
Within the “Conversations” tab:
The list of event related conversations will
be displayed. Click the conversation topic in
order to view the conversation and/or post a
message.
Note: If the event host has enabled file
sharing click “Share a File” to upload a file.
Replying to Messages
If the Message Side Bar is collapsed, hover over “Messages” to view new discussions / conversations.
1.
Updates to conversations will be notified
via the message indicator if the message
window is not already collapsed.
Click the “Topic” of the message. (e.g.
Awarding)
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Making an Offer in a Parallel Trade Negotiation
2.
After reviewing the message, you can
respond by typing in a message in the “Post
a message” window.
Click “Reply.”
3.
The conversation thread will display.
Notification via Emails
If a message is sent to you while you are not on-lineand the event host has configured that email
notifications should be sent to off-line users, you will receive an email that will include a link which will
direct you to the event after signing in successfully.
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