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User Guide

Initial Release January 2013

Internet Searching, Buying, Selling, Contracting, Supplying, Performing, Paying, Accounting, Archiving and Advertising … collectively defined as ‘Purchasing & Trading’, now safe, secure, fast, thorough, global-reaching, expert, all in one place, easy to navigate and interesting to use.

Should a User of FocusedBuyer.com need further help and/or information about the process or has uncovered a bug or other issues while using the Beta web site release, please send an Email to support@focusedbuyer.com. Your concerns, insights, and suggestions are welcome feedback and we thank you for your time and consideration.

Tom and Don

Table of Contents

Introduction

The Homepage

Searching (Current Public Buyer postings)

Registration

Buying

Creating a posting

Using the Other (+) Icons

Managing Your Postings

Selling

Creating an Offer

Using the Other (+) Icons

Managing Your Offers

Purchase Order

Creating a Purchase Order

Reordering a Purchase and Blanket Order Releases

Using the Other (+) Icons

Managing Contracts and Contract Performance

Payment

Select Payment Option for Contract Settlements

Services

FOCUSEDBUYER Fee-Based Services

Other Services

Advertising

Advertising on FocusedBuyer.com

Resolution Center

Entering the Resolution Center 

FOCUSEDBUYER.COM

Introduction

This Guide will help you quickly master our comprehensive but easy to use Internet Purchasing & Trading Commerce Application. Important information, content, definitions, notes, and process guidance are included and arranged by subjects for fast reference. 

Buyers can begin to achieve benefits (cost, operating, overhead, transaction controls) from the FocusedBuyer® process by ….

  1. Becoming a Registered User of FocusedBuyer.com.
  2. Notifying your current Suppliers that you will begin to direct Listings (RFIs, RFQs, RFPs) to them, receive Offers from them and then issue Purchase Orders (POs) to them executed and managed by www.focusedbuyer.com’s e-Commerce platform. System generated e-Mail notifications (to buyers and sellers) inform the parties of the status of each commerce transaction and provide a gateway for further interaction(s).
  3. Requesting your current Suppliers to participate by becoming a Registered User of FocusedBuyer.com. They can then respond online to your Listings efficiently and professionally with offers, quotations, proposals, communications, confirmation’s and receive your purchase orders using the cloud-based FocusedBuyer® software. They then also have the opportunity to migrate their own buying process to the platform.
  4. Publicly posting your Listings (in addition to directing them to your current supply base) and thereby expanding your search for qualified, competitive and efficient suppliers to a global audience. 

Helpful Tools:

  1. For additional help while navigating FOCUSEDBUYER.COM, look for and access the “What’s this?” and “More” icons for helpful details, examples, and explanations.
  2. The Required Content you enter into FocusedBuyer® data fields and any important optional information you add facilitate successful completions of focused buying and selling transactions.
  3. Use the 'SAVE' button, where available, to ensure that your input remains captured for reviewing, editing and reporting.
  4. Should you need to document special data, reminders, and other information related to a transaction but do not want it to be included in the viewable content, use the ‘Notes’ feature to enter private content. This ‘Notes’ link in conjunction with its own ‘Save’ feature captures your notes for ongoing recall and review

PS: The 'SAVE' and 'NOTES' buttons are found to the right side of most screens for Listings, Offers and POs.

Take advantage of these tools and all FocusedBuyer.com features to enhance your user experience. Our tools and features provide you with a simple and unique opportunity to use FocusedBuyer.com as a cloud-based, all-in-one 'Buying & Selling' process and e-Commerce data warehouse.

 

 

The Home Page

Check out the various links to explore your interests and uncover how you might use FocusedBuyer® to...

  1. Develop new business opportunities
  2. Reduce operating and overhead costs
  3. Find added value (quality, delivery, services, support, diversity possibilities)
  4. Discover consumer advantages & controls
  5. Document & manage business purchasing expenditures
  6. Seek buying or selling support & services
  7. Help prevent purchasing fraud & illegalities
  8. Routinely browse
  9. Posted Listings to see what businesses & individuals are looking to buy, rent, lease, find or find out as well as what specific information they seek on any product or service.

 

 

Searching (Public and Current Buyer Listings)

You do not have to be a Registered User to search posted public listings, however you do have to be a Registered User to Create a Listing or Make an Offer or Create a Purchase Order.

Enter keyword(s) in the general search box or select from the ‘categories’ drop-down menu.

Click ‘SEARCH’ to proceed to Listings.  If you need to organize your search results differently, re-sort the Listings by clicking on date created, date expires, country or state.

Click on the Listing which interests you to view its complete content, detail(s) and requirements.

Once registered on FocusedBuyer.com, you will be able to use the QUICK SEARCH feature to find any transaction (by Listing Title, Listing Number, Offer Number, and PO (Purchase Order) Number) that was initiated by your ongoing purchasing efforts or find any Public Listing by entering a known Listing number.

Listings and listing details posted by Buyers which are designated “Private and Directed” are available for review only by the party to which they were directed or by an administrator if set-up for management overview by company owners or supervisors. These Listings are not available to the public.

 

 Registration

There are many different ways to register. Click Register to Buy, Register to Sell, Log In/Register, or the Register Button found on each of the Welcome Pages accessed via Home Page links.

  1. Proceed to complete the *REQUIRED FIELDS on the presented Registration Page.
  2. Read, understand, accept and agree to the Focusedbuyer.com Terms of Use (TSU).
  3. Correctly complete the CAPTCHA™ code.
  4. Click ‘Register’. Follow the email instructions.

Upon completion of registration you will receive a FocusedBuyer® Member Number (FBM Number). You will then be able to post RFI, RFQ, RFP Listings, respond to Posted Listings other than your own with offers, and use all FOCUSEDBUYER.COM’s free or inexpensive buying and selling features.

To be able to initiate or receive and execute a “Purchase Order Contract” online and/or a “Payment Settlement” online using our Precious ® Payment process, buyers and suppliers/sellers must be Registered Users AND have completed the required fields within the …

  1. “Expand Your Profile-Account Information” section
  2. “Expand Your Profile-Preferences” section
  3. And read and agree to the Precious ® Payment Rules of Use (ROU) and its Terms and Conditions of Use (TCOU)

Standard financial account information for each and every Precious ® Payment money transfer transaction between buyers and suppliers/sellers is accomplished by completing and authorizing a Precious ® Payment money transfer form found at the Precious ® Payment or Precious® Gateway Links.

Definitions: RFI = a Request For Information; RFQ = a Request For Quotation; RFP = a Request For Proposal

 

Buying

Creating a Posting

Listing content might come from your own product or service ideas, research and requirements, from supplier/seller specifications and descriptions or from purchase requisitions written by others. In any case you control the content and its presentation on the site for Suppliers & Sellers to review and make Offers.

  1. While in Listing Edit Mode you can click the “SAVE” button at any time to ensure your information input has been saved to your specific Listing.
  2. Log-in and click Buy Now (above the Navigation Bar) or Start Buying (in the Homepage center)
  3. Click Create Listing for one of four possible action alternatives…

Single Listing: Detailed one item, lot or service buying

Quick Listing: Routine, simpler one item, lot or service buying

Multiple Listing: Multiple items/services or combinations of both

Reorder: From a previous Listing which still may be open for Offers or in draft Listing status; in PO draft status; under PO Contract; in Closed Contract status; or in Inactive status

  1. Title Your Listing. Enter alpha, numeric or alpha-numeric characters of your choice to create a unique title for your listing. A purchase requisition number might often be used here. Note that unless you are in Reorder mode, this identifying title can not be changed or modified. 
  2. Tell us (for Single Listing Formats) or Summarize for us (for the Multiple Listing Format) what you want to buy, rent, lease, find or find out. Enter information, descriptions, data, etc. up to 1024 characters to define your buying requirement(s). 
  3. Click Continue. Your listing enters “saved and edit ready mode”. It is assigned a Listing Number (FBL Number) and placed in the Draft Listings subsection under the “My Buys” Listings Index.
  4. For the next presented set of four (4) FocusedWords™, enter the word, words, or phrases that best summarize your buying requirement(s). The more applicable your (4) FocusedWords™ are to your listing, the more they can assist searchers to find your requirement(s) faster, understand them better and potentially return more Supplier/Seller offers to you. 

Only the first of these four content fields is a required, essential entry and it is titled Broad Category. Start typing into the field the word under which you want your Listing to be located and discoverable. As you type, category suggestions appear for you to choose from or continue typing in your full category word. If your category is not found among our 4,000 plus selections, an error screen appears and provides an alphabetic category list. Click on the category that best fits to automatically fill the field.  Note you can review available categories (individually from A to Z) on the Home Page in the section titled ‘Look what Buyers can purchase at FocusedBuyer.com’.

PS: If your essential category is not found and you would like to have it added to our ‘category database’, please email your request to support@focusedbuyer.com.

Click the More link for additional examples to further develop your ideas for entering a complete, four field sequence of search enhancing FocusedWords™.

Note that the Quick Listing process only presents and requires the Broad Category.

In the next presented eight field set Important Details (All Required), fill in:

  1. Quantity Needed
  2. Unit of Measure (UOM)
  3. Condition … New, Used, New or Used
  4. Wanted Date/Delivery Expected (using the dropdown calendar)
  5. Country
  6. State or Province
  7. City
  8. Zip/Postal Code

Note you have now completed the eleven (11) data fields required to launch a Listing.

Checking the RFI (Request for Information) box changes each of these fields to ‘OPTIONAL’. 

Multiple Listing Format:

An online spreadsheet facilitates the entry of information detailing requirements for multiple line items.  Either enter information into this online spreadsheet or, if preferred, download to a blank excel type spreadsheet and enter your multiple line item content and requirements.  If using the downloaded spreadsheet, save the file and attach it to your Listing via the ADD FILE button found in the Add Attachments section.  Suppliers and Sellers, whenever they respond to a “Multiple Item/Service’ formatted Listing, must always use and complete (with additions or changes) a spreadsheet that has been downloaded from the Buyer’s Listing, saved and then attached to their Offer.

If you prefer to use the ‘Save As’ process, you can do so and choose a different file type, file name, or ‘Save To’ file location.  It is recommended you keep the Listing Number (FBL #) referenced in the new file name.

In Multiple Listing Mode there are only five fields for this field set that are REQUIRED; the others are to be entered in the online or downloaded spreadsheet.

  1. If additional descriptive or important information is required to complete your Listing, optional Listing information can be entered under any of the More Options sections.
  2. Review the More Options sections and enter/attach any important, essential, or helpful information as desired. Click (+) to open up each data field. An expert template of checklists ensures that Suppliers and Sellers know with the finest precision and in substantial detail what you are interested in purchasing. Refer to Usingtheother (+) Icons for more information.

If you do not need to use any of the More Options fields, scroll down to or click the ‘skip’ link to proceed to step 10.

Note that the Quick Listing process is streamlined for faster execution and posting and as such, provides substantially fewer optional fields to consider. However, if at any time you decide your QL needs more definition, you can always click the ‘Full Listing Mode’ link found at the top of the View/Edit QL page.

Send Listing To: The default setting is for your Listing to be posted as Public (for anyone in the world to see, review, and respond to with Offers). If you want the Public option, click Continue to proceed to the final Listing action screen. If ‘Public’ does not suit your needs, choose another Send Listing To option and then click Continue to finalize.

‘Private’ allows you to direct your Listing by e-Mail to specific Suppliers and Sellers chosen by you. The Listing can only be seen by the e-Mail recipient and they are unaware of any other recipient addressees.

‘Public’ and ‘Directed’ makes your Listing publicly viewable but also enables it to be directed to potential supplying parties.

Require a returned, signed NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) before you decide to direct a ‘complete in details’ Listing to interested Suppliers or Sellers. Suppliers and Sellers can execute an Online Confidentiality and Secrecy Document you have attached to your Listing and send it back via an attachment to a Preliminary Offer to you for review and acceptance. You can then choose to create and release Full Listing details, information, and attachments to the NDA signature compliant Supplier or Seller.

See the Two-Way NDA example presented on the web site for reference and use.

Prior to clicking ‘Continue’, you have an option to ‘reveal your specific contact information’ from your registration profile to the Public or to the directed recipient(s) of your Listing. Check ‘Show my contact info on Listing’ to execute this step. The default is for the box to be unchecked and for you to remain anonymous.

The User always has the option to print out the Full Listing and fax, scan/e-mail or postal mail it separately to their Directed audience. If you are in the “Private/Directed process mode” and your intended audience does not have an e-Mail address or fax number you can notify them of the Listing via a phone call.

The Directed e-Mail Option allows you to send the Listing to others in your business, personal, or social circles. Colleagues may have an interest in your plan to purchase. Family & friends could be interested. Both may have suggestions, supplier/seller alternatives, etc. Supervisors and managers may want knowledge of your Listing or they might, by procedure, need to approve and authorize each planned purchase as well as the budgeted expenditure for it prior to allowing the Listing to be posted on FOCUSEDBUYER™. They also may need the Listing information for confirmation of future expenditure(s) for cash flow planning.

  1. Having clicked Continue at the bottom of the second Listing page, the third page of the Listing process will appear.  A few final options to refine your Listing are presented.
  2. “Filter Seller Offers”.  “All Suppliers and Sellers without restrictions” can make Offers in response to your Public Listings.  However, if you need to sort out, minimize, and/or restrict the Supplier(s)/Seller(s) Offers that you will consider, click the (+) icon. Proceed to check off the presented, standard filters that apply or create and enter other filters you want to apply to your Listing. These filters will appear in your Listing summary information seen by all Users.
  3. “Offer Expiration Date”. Set by default to “plus 60 days” validity from the initial Listing date.  This can be revised by clicking the calendar and selecting a different validity date.  Unless changed by a Supplier or Seller in their Offer response, this date is valid for the creation and acceptance of a Purchase Order from a buyer to a chosen Supplier or Seller.
  4. “Listing Expiration Date”. Set by default to “plus 30 days” validity from the initial Listing date. This date can be changed by clicking the calendar and selecting a different validity date. This date is valid for the Listing to be in open status to receive Offers from Suppliers and Sellers.
  5. Options are presented for you to select the RFQ/RFP mode; the RFI mode; or the PO mode. Set by default to “I am ready to receive Supplier/Seller Offers and make a purchase”. One of the modes must be selected in order to move on to the next step.
  6. Options are presented for you to select the “Publish” mode; the “Save Draft” mode; or the “Go to Purchase Order” mode. Set by default to “Publish”.  One of the modes must be selected in order to move on to the next step.
  7. Click Submit to execute (confirm and launch) the Listing action you chose.

IF YOU CHOOSE:

Publish

The Listing will be Posted and e-Mailed per your ‘Send Listing To’ instruction(s).  New or existing Suppliers and Sellers can then respond to your Listing with Online Offers.

Save Draft

The Listing is moved to ‘Draft Listings’ where it can be recalled, revisited, reviewed, modified, updated, etc. at your convenience.

Go to Purchase Order

The Listing Details will be transferred to a draft ‘Purchase Order Document’ and a Purchase Order Number is assigned to it.  This PO document can be opened, reviewed, edited, modified, updated, etc. to align with a final negotiated agreement between the Buyer and a chosen Supplier/Seller and their Offer. The PO can then be submitted to the chosen Supplier/Seller via the system or via other print, etc. methodologies  

Each of the above actions will be confirmed to you, to your ‘Directed’ Suppliers/Sellers or to your ‘Directed’ others via FocusedBuyer® email messages that include tracking identification numbers.

Using the other (+) Icons

 

Managing your Posting(s)

Buyers review and manage their buying efforts through “My Buys” (located above the Navigation Bar). “My Buys” summarizes all of their Listings by sub-sections covering various activities and their current status.

  1. Open Listings
  2. Draft Listings
  3. Draft Purchase Orders
  4. Listings Under Contract
  5. Closed Contracts
  6. Inactive Listings
  7. Resolution Center

The overall content of the subsections can be filtered by category, project name, project number and project account. Within each subsection, its content can be sorted by most of the column headers or via a drop down sorting feature. For each unique Listing Line, several action options allow buyers to execute different processes, including opening, reviewing, questioning, and negotiating Supplier/Seller Offers. Buyers can move Listings among different sub-sections to align with the status of their purchasing efforts.

“My Buys” is designed to provide ultimate organization, transparency, comprehensiveness and execution in the Buyer’s efforts to manage all of their content.

  1. Listings
  2. Offers
  3. Planned Purchases
  4. Purchase Orders
  5. Contract Performance
  6. Status (open or closed or in dispute)
  7. All associated financial commitments and opportunities associated with buying activities

Focusedbuyer.com facilitates immediate use of its purchasing business process by allowing Users (Buyers & Sellers / Suppliers) to Direct Listings, Offers, or Purchase Orders to their current, newly investigated, or just discovered supplier base, customer pool, or 'need to know' colleagues. 

Users can identify parties to which their work is to be emailed by visiting the buying and selling activity screens. The User enters the desired email address and clicks ADD. By doing so the User locks in the first recipient’s email address (not necessarily a FocusedBuyer® registrant) and brings up a box for entering the email of another addressee.

Clicking the ADD button also helps ensure your emails are sent to the intended recipient.

Should it be necessary for you to edit/revise a Listing, Offer, or PO and then notify a previous recipient of your original email(s), you are presented with the option to RESEND to ensure this new communication is sent. The RESEND check box is found next to each previously identified email address.

The Directed email and Resend functions will substantially improve and solidify your communications to your targeted audience.

Group Buying

FocusedBuyer.com facilitates a unique, cost-reducing buying opportunity by allowing Users to create a virtual, online Group Buying Team.

FocusedBuyer® can group individuals, businesses, or organizations by allowing Users to identify a specific buying activity of interest to them along with the important characteristics of such a proposed purchase. The process is enabled via the Group Buy Link found at the bottom of any screen.

FocusedBuyer® collects the individual information, aggregates interests by category on behalf of a potential Group Buying Team, and then communicates targeted opportunities and possible next steps to the interested Users. 

Users are then asked to confirm their final interest in and commitment to becoming a contracted member of the identified Group opportunity.

FocusedBuyer® or another identified person or entity can develop, issue, and manage a formal RFQ and a complete turnkey purchasing process for a selected 'buying activity' on behalf of a specific Group Buying Team.

Terms & Conditions and Rules & Procedures governing each group buying activity are created and accepted by the members of the specific Group Buying Team.

Upon completion of the group buying effort the Group Buying Team can be dissolved and no longer be active or collectively engaged. Or this team’s initiative can continue and develop into additional group buying opportunities.

 

Selling

Creating an Offer

Offer content may come from various sources and you develop it to win business via quotations/proposals that are competitive.  Your offer will be a reflection of your own Sales & Marketing experiences, your product(s) or service(s) capabilities match to a Listing’s requirements, direct input from business associates, and various other contributions and expertise.  In all cases you control the Offer content that is entered and its presentation on the site for Buyers to review your Offer, like your Offer, select your Offer and make a purchase from you.

A supplier or seller who receives a "Directed Listing" (from a Buyer) for which they may be interested in making an "Offer" can click "Make an Offer" even if they have questions and are unsure they will respond with an Offer. The system will assign a FocusedBuyer® Offer number (FBO#) and the Offer will be placed in the Draft Offers section of ‘My Offers’ for ongoing execution including reviews, updating, tracking and a possible future response to a Buyer’s Listing.

Note that a Buyer who has posted an RFQ/RFP Listing is not commercially, legally, or otherwise obligated to complete or execute a Purchase Order with any of the Suppliers or Sellers that responded to the Buyer’s Listing with Offers.  Additionally, a Buyer is also not obligated to provide any Offer feedback (commercial or otherwise) to Suppliers or Sellers.

If the Seller receives a PO and wants to compare it to their online Offer, they can click ‘View Offer’ at the top of the online PO document screen to do comparisons and confirmations.

If the Seller has specific questions, they will have the Buyer’s contact information on the PO to communicate with the Buyer.

While in the Offer creation process in draft mode or even after having submitted an actual Offer, the Seller can click ‘View Full Listing Details’ on the Offer page to reach a (+) icon in front of Send Buyer a Message to initiate direct (one-to-one) ‘within site’ communications.

Use one of the three search alternatives.

  1. General subject or word search
  2. Category drop-down search
  3. Unique Identifying Number quick search

If the Listing is a ‘Multiple Listing’ (identifying several items and/or services required), a Supplier or Seller reviews the Buyer’s requirements via the Listing’s online or attached spreadsheet. By clicking DOWNLOAD SPREADSHEET FILE the Supplier or Seller can:

  1. Review the requirements in detail
  2. Modify, update, and complete relevant data fields (spreadsheet cells) with Offer details on the downloaded spreadsheet. The spreadsheet is then saved by you (the Supplier or Seller) and is attached to your Offer via the Add File link in the Add Attachments subsection.
  3. If the Listing Summary identifies the Listing as an RFI (Request For Information) type listing and you have information and/or answers to share with the posting user, direct communications can be sent using the ‘within site’ correspondence feature. Click the (+) in front of Send Buyer a Message, enter your responding message and click Send.

The ‘within site’ correspondence feature is also used for Users’ (Buyers & Suppliers/Sellers) communication and interaction exchange(s) to:

  1. Clarify Listings and Offers
  2. Conduct online negotiations
  3. Discuss contract performance
  4. Resolve issues and disputes
  5. Address subjects of mutual interest/necessity

A Buyer may send a Listing to you through a Directed e-Mail asking for a response. You can respond with No Offer, Offer, or a Communication. A Buyer directed emailed Listing to you will most likely be the result of:

  1. Being a current member of the buyer’s supply base/chain
  2. A business referral from a colleague or reference publication
  3. A phone or e-Mail inquiry asking about your business capabilities
  4. Your strategic sales, marketing and advertising efforts 

Click Make an Offer:

Note, Buyers have the opportunity to ‘Filter Supplier Offers’.  All filters that Buyers select for their Listing are presented in the Listing’s Summary Details. The Buyer will most likely not consider offers from Suppliers or Sellers that do not comply with their posted filter requirements.  Be sure you are familiar with these filters before you make an offer. Your offer may be posted to the Listing, but may not clear the Buyer’s filtering review process.

On the presented Offer page, click Select an (Offer) Option. The drop down selection presents four options.  Choose the best option to present an offer to the Buyer’s Listing. The Offer Options are:

Accept Complete Listing as Posted

You fully accept the Buyer’s Listing Content, Pricing and Contract Terms & Conditions, etc. without issue or you accept all of the existing content but must add specific missing and necessary content to respond with a complete Offer.  No Buyer Listing content is changed.

In this alternative, the ‘content optional subsections’ include:

    1. Proposed Inclusions
    2. Added Value
    3. Ship From/Service From Information
    4. Comments
    5. Extended Expiration Date
    6. Specific Promise Date
    7. Pictures
    8. Attachments

Accept Listing with Specific Changes

The Buyer’s Listing is not complete or has errors involving commercial (price & terms), descriptive, and/or other definitive information, etc. Electing this Option allows you to enter information/modifications, etc. These changes may include any information necessary in order for the Buyer to understand the content of your Offer and ultimately be able to issue you a valid purchase order against your Offer.

In this alternative, two additional ‘content optional subsections’ are available:

    1. Necessary and important Exclusions
    2. Necessary and important Exceptions

Offering a Possible Alternative

None or just some of the Buyer’s Listing Information is within your capability and/or acceptable to you and thus you cannot supply or service the Listing exactly as it is prescribed and specified. Electing this option allows you to create an “Alternative Offer Response” that fully articulates what your Offer can provide in response to this Listing.

In this alternative, three more ‘content optional subsections’ are available:

    1. Alternate Product(s)
    2. Alternate Service(s)
    3. Combinations of both.

No Offer

Primarily used by Suppliers & Sellers receiving a Directed Listing where a courtesy response to the Buyer is appropriate.

In this alternative, only the comments ‘content optional subsection’ is available to send important, clarifying information about your ‘No Offer’ to the Buyer.

    1. Select one of the Four Option alternatives to save your choice. 
    2. Correctly enter the ‘Captcha’ word or phrase (this helps to prevent ‘Robo’ Offers and other intrusions).
    3. Click Continue and your Offer is saved in editable draft form and an Offer Number (FBO Number) has been assigned to it.
    4. On the second Offer Page the ‘content optional subsection’ fields appear for you to complete and to add information further describing, refining, and clarifying all aspects of your Offer that you plan to submit against a Buyer’s Listing.

A Supplier or Seller should ensure that every Offer they create and post to a Buyer’s Listing includes, at minimum:

  1. Pricing
  2. Delivery Promise and/or Lead Time to deliver
  3. Quality to be provided
  4. Key Services that can be expected

Other important considerations include:

  1. Any Exceptions to the Listing
  2. Legal Terms & Conditions
  3. Commercial Terms & Conditions
  4. Payment Method
  5. Terms of Payment
  6. Shipping Details
  7. Contact Details
  8. Any other (important to the Buyer) Value-Added features and services

For the multiple items/services Listing formats, where a comprehensive, line by line pricing detail breakdown worksheet is required by the Buyer, you must enter the data and information on the downloaded spreadsheet and attach it to your Offer. The Buyer may have already entered partial or complete commercial pricing details in this spreadsheet.  You can accept or change any or all of this information. Note however, that changes to spreadsheet data may not be accepted by the Buyer (unless originally missed or left blank by the Buyer when creating the spreadsheet) when you selected the “Accept Complete Listing as Posted” alternative.

In the first three Offer alternatives whether or not the Listing is for a single or for multiple items/services, you can click the (+) icon in front of Offer Price ‘content optional subsection’ and proceed to enter incremental pricing and commercial information that is specific to the Offer or an Offer line item or is intended to be a complete summary of pricing and commercial content covering the entire Offer. Use the Send Offer To ‘content optional subsection’ to share your Offer with colleagues or ‘approval’ personnel.

Focusedbuyer.com facilitates immediate use of its purchasing business process by allowing Users (Buyers & Sellers / Suppliers) to Direct Listings, Offers, or Purchase Orders to their current, newly investigated, or just discovered supplier base, customer pool, or 'need to know' colleagues.

Users can identify parties to which their work is to be emailed by visiting the buying and selling activity screens. The User simply fills in the desired email address and clicks ADD. By doing so the User locks in the recipient email address (not necessarily a FocusedBuyer® registrant) and brings up a box for entering the email of another addressee.

Clicking ADD is good practice to ensure your emails are sent to the intended recipient.

Should it be necessary for you to edit/revise a Listing, Offer, or PO and then notify a previous recipient of your original email(s), you will be presented with the option to RESEND the Offer to ensure this communication is delivered.  The RESEND check box is found next to each previously identified email address.

Using the Directed email function and the Resend function will substantially improve and solidify your communications to your targeted audience.

  1. Use the Diversity Business Designation ‘content optional subsection’ to confirm and/or certify your business diversity qualifications. Check the box or boxes applicable to you and enter known certification information.
  2. Once you, the Supplier/Seller, have entered your Offer content and information, into the Offer and its relevant subsections, click either:
    1. Save as Draft” to save the content entered for you to review or complete it at a later time.  The Offer transaction is placed into the Draft Offers subsection of your ‘My Offers’.
    2. Submit Offer” to send your Offer to the Buyer that owns the Listing.  The Offer transaction is now found in the Open Offers subsection of your ‘My Offers’.

 

Using the other (+) Icons

  1. The (+) in front of the “Added Value” field allows you to describe important information and consideration you want or need to Offer the Buyer.
  2. The (+) in front of “SHIP FROM/SERVICE FROM”allows you to further define this area.

    Note, it is very important for the Buyer to have a general geographic understanding of the Country, State, City, and Postal Code where you will be initiating and executing the business transaction and to where Payment most likely will be made.

  3. The (+) in front of “Comments”allows you to include additional information to communicate to the Buyer about your Offer.

    For example, if the Buyer did not specify the form of or terms of payment, the Supplier/Seller should Offer their specific proposal to cover these contractual details.The“Offer Expiration Date” subsection has a calendar feature to allow you to select a different, new expiration date to be assigned to your Offer. The Buyer’s ‘Listing’ defaults to a  requested Offer expiration date of 60 days beyond the original posted date of the Listing. This assumes 30 days to receive Supplier/Seller ‘Offers’ and 30 days to make the final purchasing decision(s) and to ‘Create the PO’.  Click to display the calendar and select your revised date.In this subsection, the Supplier/Seller is also presented with a field to enter a “PromisedDate”. This is a commitment to the Buyer as to when the product will be delivered or the service will be completed. Buyers always want this information for their evaluation process.

  4. The (+) in front of “Add Pictures” or “Add Attachments” subsections allows you to include pictures and attachments with your Offer.
  5. The (+) in front of “Exceptions”  subsection allows you to describe specific exceptions (other than pricing which should be documented in the pricing subsections) that you want or need to Offer the Buyer
  6. The (+) button in front of the “Alternate” subsection allows you to describe an alternative solution you want to Offer the Buyer.

 

Managing Your Offers

At the My Offers link, found above the navigation bar, you can review your offers posted in response to Buyers’ listings.

There are subsections covering all of your selling activities. The overall content of the subsections can be filtered by category and a Listing’s (if documented and released by the buyer) project name; project number; project account. The content of each subsection can be sorted by most of its column headers or via a drop down sorting feature.

You also have the ability to:

My Offers is designed to provide ultimate organization, transparency, comprehensiveness, flexibility, and ‘status of execution’ for all of your Selling Efforts on FocusedBuyer.com. It is a professional platform for users to sell, manage sales content, and track timelines for Open Offers as well as Draft Offers. It also covers all sales commitments and obligations regarding Buyers’ Purchase Orders issued to you (open or closed or in dispute), as well as the financial impact and resulting outcomes of such Contracts.

 

Purchase Order

Creating a Purchase Order

Before you create your Purchase Order...

  1. Both Buyer and Supplier/Seller must be Registered Users and have completed the required ‘Account Profile’ information in the ‘Expand/Edit Your Profile’ section under ‘My Account’.
  2. Buyers must create a Listing (RFQ/RFP) either in Draft status or Open status in order to create and initiate a Purchase Order. The PO is a reflection of and dependent upon Listing content.

A Purchase Order can be initiated, created and launched to a Supplier/Seller in TWO WAYS

In the ‘My Buys’ Open Listings section, Listings (RFQs/RFPs) that have received one or multiple Offers from Suppliers/Sellers can be reviewed and compared. The Buyer then decides how to proceed with a selected offer:

  1. Accept as posted and Return to the Listing to update the listing’s content and information to reflect the agreed to information from the seller’s offer. On the second page of the Listing, select “I am ready to make a purchase Contract (PO)” and “Go to Purchase Order”. Your Purchase order is created as a Draft. You will receive a confirmation email.  Proceed to “My Buys” and the “Draft Purchase Orders” section. Select the relevant Draft PO and review before proceeding to “Finalize and Send PO”.  Check “I approve and authorize the above Purchase Order” and “Send Purchase Order via Electronic Transmission to Email address (Required)”.  Add the Name and Email address of the intended Supplier/Seller’s Contact or Order Entry person in the Seller Information Fields (Both are Required). Add any other Email addresses (within your company, at the Supplier/Seller and any relevant 3rd Party) to whom you want to receive a shared copy of the online PO document.  Click Submitand your Purchase Order is sent. The recipients are notified via a FocusedBuyer.com email that they have a Purchase Order waiting for them.

    Buyers are reminded that when you create a PO by choosing "Go to Purchase Order" your Purchase Order is created as a Draft. You will receive a confirmation email. Proceed to "My Buys" and the "Draft Purchase Orders" section. Select the relevant Draft PO and review before proceeding to "Finalize and Send Purchase Order via Electronic Transmission to your supplier’s or seller’s Email address." The PO file extracts all content from the Listing fields. The PO file also enters pertinent PO profile information from both Buyer and Supplier/Seller profiles. The buyer can also change the information manually on the PO screen.

  2. Accept by clicking the link shown on the Offer: Accept Offer and create Purchase Order. Your Purchase order is created as a Draft. You will receive a confirmation email.  Proceed to My Buys and the Draft Purchase Orders section. Select the relevant Draft PO and review before going to “Finalize and Send PO”.  Check “I approve and authorize the above Purchase Order” and “Send Purchase Order via Electronic Transmission to Email address (Required)”.  Add the Name and Email address of the intended Supplier/Seller’s Contact or Order Entry person in the Seller Information Fields (Both are Required). Add any other Email addresses (within your company, at the Supplier/Seller and any relevant 3rd Party) that you want to receive a shared copy of the online PO document. Click Submit and your Purchase Order is sent. The recipients are notified via a FocusedBuyer.com email that they have a Purchase Order waiting for them.

Many fields of information can be added to a Draft PO. These include but are not limited to:

Once the basic Listing content is entered, proceed to the second page of the Listing, select “I am ready to make a purchase Contract (PO)”, then “Go to Purchase Order” and click Submit. Your Purchase order is created as a Draft. You will receive a confirmation email.  Proceed to My Buys and the Draft Purchase Orders section. Select the relevant Draft PO and review before going to “Finalize and Send PO”.  Check “I approve and authorize the above Purchase Order” and “Send Purchase Order via Electronic Transmission to Email address (Required)”.  Add the Name and Email address of the intended Supplier/Seller Contact or Order Entry person in the Seller Information Fields (Both are Required).  Add other Email addresses (within your company, at the Supplier/Seller and any relevant 3rd Party) that you want to receive a copy of the online PO document. Click Submit and your Purchase Order is sent. The recipients are notified via a FocusedBuyer.com Email that they have a Purchase Order waiting for them.

In all PO creation alternatives, the Buyer always has the option available to print out the Full Purchase Order document and fax, scan and e-mail, or postal mail it to the Supplier/Seller. If the Supplier/Seller does not have an e-Mail address and/or a fax number, you can also notify them of the Purchase Order and PO Number by phone.

Focusedbuyer.com facilitates immediate use of its purchasing business process by allowing Users (Buyers & Sellers / Suppliers) to Direct Listings, Offers, or Purchase Orders to their current, newly investigated, or just discovered supplier base, customer pool, or 'need to know' colleagues. 

Users can identify parties to which their work is to be emailed by visiting the buying and selling activity screens. The User simply fills in the desired email address and clicks ADD. By doing so the User locks in the recipient email address (not necessarily a FocusedBuyer® registrant) and brings up a box for entering the email of another addressee. 

Clicking ADD is good practice to ensure your emails are sent to the intended recipient.

Should it be necessary for you to edit/revise a Listing, Offer, or PO and then notify a previous recipient of your original email(s), you will be presented with the option to RESEND the PO to ensure this communication is delivered.  The RESEND check box is found next to each previously identified email address.

Using the Directed email function and the Resend function will substantially improve and solidify your communications to your targeted audience.

 

Reordering a Purchase and Blanket Order Releases

A few alternatives are available for a Buyer to choose from to initiate the process of reordering a previous purchase order contract. Transaction speed, tracking, and flexibility to reorder an exact duplicate Purchase or variations of what was previously ordered are extremely important to Buyers.

  1. You can issue a Revision, a Supplement or a Blanket Order Release to any PO still Under Contract or to any Closed Contract.  In ‘Listings under Contract’ in My Buys, choose a Contract and open it by clicking View/Edit.  Proceed to enter a tracking number/letter into the PO revision field and place specific instructional content into the PO Revision Reasons/History field. Make any needed changes to the other content such as quantity, etc. Proceed to click submit to send the updated PO to the original supplier/seller.  In ‘Closed Contracts’ in My Buys, you select a Contract and first click Reopen and then proceed as previously outlined. To share the updated PO with someone, check the Resendbox to again send it to a previous email addressee or add, if required, new recipient(s) email addresses.

    Note you can also find and view/edit a specific PO document to revise or supplement or issue a release to by entering a known PO number into the Quick Search process. 

  2. You can launch a previous Listingwith a new Listing Number being assigned to it and then proceed with the basic FocusedBuyer® buying process to place a new Purchase Order carrying a new PO number.
    • In My Buys, you can launch a new Listing from a previous Listing from within each of the subsections: Draft Listings; Draft Purchase Orders; Listings under Contract; and Closed Contracts.  Choose the specific line item of interest and proceed to click its Reorder link.  A new Listing (containing all of the previous Listing’s content) but with a new Listing number will be presented to you to use its content as is or to modify its content as desired or necessary.  In this Reorder instance, you also have the capability to modify the Listing Title (recommended but not required). Your next decision is to choose to issue the new Listing as an open RFI/RFQ/RFP to obtain new Offers or to take the Listing directly to a new draft PO and then to an issued PO.  In either case, you proceed with the basic FocusedBuyer® buying process.

      Note there is no Reorder link in the Open Listings; Inactive Listings; or Resolution Center subsections.  However, in the ‘Inactive Listings’ subsection you can click its  Make Active link and proceed to locate the Listing in the Draft Listings subsection. Then use the Listing’s Reorder link as outlined above.

    • In Buy Now, you can launch a new Listing from a previous Listing by clicking the ‘Create Listing’ link in the Reorder a Listing subsection. You can then choose from one of the following:

  3. Use the Category Drop Down feature (alpha sequenced) to find your specific Category of interest.  Click on the Category and search through the ‘specific to the Category’ Listings returned. These will be all of the Listings you ever created using this Category to classify them.  They can be searched in order of date created and can be viewed in summary form.  Once you have selected your specific Listing of interest, click the Reorder link and proceed as outlined in (II) a) above.

  4. Use the General Search feature to find your specific Listing of interest.

  5. Enter a specific Listing’s Number (FB# or FBL#) and that Listing is returned to you. Review it in summary form and/or click the Reorder link to proceed as outlined in (II) a) above.

OR

Enter a Listing’s Title and any Listing with a Title having similar content or the exact matching content is returned to you.  They can be searched in order of date created and can be viewed in summary form.  Once you have selected your specific Listing of interest, click the Reorder link and proceed as outlined in (II) a) above.

Note, if in any of your searching efforts you receive the message “this is not an Active Listing”, your next step is to go to your  ‘Inactive Listings’ subsection within My Buys and locate the Listing, make it active, find it in Draft Listings, click the Reorder link and proceed as outlined in (II) a) above.

Note the Quick Search process returns specific content you are looking for but does not facilitate the FocusedBuyer® Reorder process. No Reorder links are available in any of its alternatives.

Blanket Purchase Orders are an important ‘transaction buying process’ capability for reordering efforts.  They streamline ongoing PO contract requirements between Buyers and Supplier/Sellers.  Blanket Orders are developed and issued using any one of the previously defined PO creation processes.  Blanket Order Releases are then launched as follows.

 

Using the other (+) Icons

If you want or need to expand, change, upgrade or further define and manage your Purchase Order’s content, click the (+) icon in front of any of the subsections shown on the Draft PO page.  Information, data and details already in these areas has been populated from content you previously had entered into your original Listing. The following content areas can be managed:

 

Managing Contracts and Contract Performance

Once a Purchase Order has been issued, it must be acknowledged by the Supplier/Seller. The Buyer’s acceptance of this acknowledgement forms a valid commercial and legal contract between the Buying and Selling Individuals, Parties, Companies, Businesses, etc.

This Supplier/Seller and Buyer Acknowledgment as well as other required ‘in process’ and ‘post process’ Contract activities are executed using the “Online Contract Performance Checklist”, “Status screens”, and content sections.

The Contract Performance page is Mutually Executed by Buyers & Suppliers/Sellers through sequential updating in accordance with the timeline of the contract(s) and Party responsibilities. These updates may include current status information and uploaded attachments of completed activities for the benefit of the Contracting Parties.

The contract performance page can be accessed by Buyers by searching for and opening a specific Purchase Order found within their Listings Under Contract; Closed Contracts; or Resolution Center subsections found within their ‘My Buys’.

Likewise, the contract performance page can be accessed by Suppliers/Sellers by searching for and opening a specific Purchase Order found within their Offers Under Contract; Closed Contracts; or Resolution Center subsections found within their ‘My Offers’.   

Buyers can also manage the overall status and many other aspects of the Purchase Order Contract using options in the ‘Listings under Contract’ section of ‘My Buys’. This includes the option to move the PO Contract line item to the ‘Closed Contracts’ section or into the ‘Resolution Center’.

The Contract Performance process and activity required is comprised of three separate sections designed to “focus in on” specific types of interaction(s) between Buyers and Suppliers/Sellers that can occur during the life-cycle of a Contract.

Engagement, including:

Disengagement, including:

Performance Ratings, including:

In addition to entering information according to the Contract responsibilities for each content section, the Buyer and/or Supplier/Seller have the ability to upload all actual documents relevant to each activity.  This facilitates a one place repository for all Contract Performance proof(s) of action and compliance.

The Contract Performance process was designed to minimize unwanted, unnecessary and unwarranted Contracting Party Dispute(s) and Disengagement(s).

Note that contract performance information once entered by a Supplier/Seller can not be deleted or altered by them or by a Buyer. And the same rule and process applies to Buyers.  However, both parties can add updates to previously entered information to clarify or correct the content and performance results.

Through the simplified Performance Ratings feedback gathered on each Contracted Party by the other party, the Contract Performance process assists to document current/historical backgrounds & trends. These cover many elements of customer satisfaction related to the Buyers and Suppliers/Sellers commercial performance and results, including:

 

Payment

Select a Payment Option for Contract Settlements

Selection of payment details and requirements is an essential process for the ultimate success of a Purchase Order Contract between a Buyer and a Supplier/Seller. This process includes:

Security covering Payment Transaction(s), their Financial Content, and Commercial Accounts require Buyers, Suppliers/Sellers and Advertisers be registered (have an FBL Number), have completed commercial account information, and have agreed to the Terms of Service & Use (TSU).

“Executing a Contract” and “Making a Payment” between parties to a PO Transaction or between any of the parties and FocusedBuyer LLC and PreciousPayment LLC occurs over secured (https) web page(s).

Make a choice of payment method (defined in your Buyer Listing or Draft PO) to determine how to execute and ensure financial settlement. The Supplier/Seller can also suggest one or more acceptable financial settlement alternatives (defined in their Offer to the Buyer) to promote as much payment flexibility and assurance as possible.

Payment & Terms

Review various payment alternatives for method, terms and timing. Although the presented information is fairly representative of current alternatives, it is not suggested to be necessarily complete. Your payment process decision is only limited by your imagination. Be aware, the safety, security and commercial protection that you receive is strictly limited to what is available with each particular payment option in accordance with its own fine print and legalize. FocusedBuyer.com and its Parent Companies are not in anyway connected to, responsible for, or commercially, legally or financially liable to you for commercial issues, problems, fraud, or illegalities originating from your Payment and Term selection(s) and executions.

FocusedBuyer.com has developed a commercial contract issuance and settlement process: Precious®Payment. It was designed for the specific purpose of helping to assist Buyers and Suppliers/Sellers to avoid the risks of:

To initiate or receive and execute a Purchase Order Contract and/or a Payment Settlement (using Precious®Payment), buyers and suppliers/sellers must be registered users AND have completed the required fields:

Standard financial account information for each and every Precious®Payment transaction between buyers and suppliers/sellers is accomplished by completing and authorizing a Precious®Payment money transfer form found at the Precious®Payment or Precious®Gateway Links.

To take advantage of Precious®Payment’s safe and secure online buying and selling assistance, you must create a Purchase Order Contract on FocusedBuyer.com and select Precious®Payment as your method/type of payment along with the payment trigger terms and the specific payment timing schedule.

If the Precious®Payment commercial settlement is agreed to by both parties, the Buyer’s payment funds will be, based on the terms of payment and event timing, electronically debited (via a small, Buyer funded, fee-based ACH) from the Buyer’s account to the Precious®Payment escrow account.  The funds are held in this account until the PO Contract is completed to the satisfaction of both the Buying and Selling parties. While in this account and within Contract adherence, the payment is unavailable to the Buyer and the Supplier/Seller. When the Buyer indicates that the item/product or service has been received in accordance with the PO Contract by communicating “OK to Release Funds” via FocusedBuyer.com’s online payment ‘transaction communication template’ form found in the Precious®Gateway, the payment is electronically transferred to the Precious®Payment settlement account. From this settlement account it will be electronically moved (via a small, Supplier/Seller funded, fee-based ACH) to the designated Supplier/Seller account.

Since the timing of the PO Contract financial settlement is crucial to all parties involved, the Buyer is committed to a ‘Time is of the Essence’ schedule, unless agreed otherwise by the involved parties. Upon receipt (verifiable through shipping, transport or Buyer signature documents) the Buyer must promptly accept, reject, or place a contract’s issue(s) into the resolution center process.

The Buyer’s failure to execute this FocusedBuyer.com notification requirement might set in motion the process to electronically release the escrowed funds to the Supplier/Seller in accordance with the PO Contract payment terms and timing.

Any Supplier/Seller failure to perform to the Terms and Conditions of the PO Contract will allow for Buyer actions to modify or cancel the PO Contract. The Supplier/Seller is also committed to a ‘Time is of the Essence’ schedule, unless agreed otherwise by the involved parties (verified by electronic or paper trail documents) to promptly reject contract issue(s) or product returns and place them into the resolution center process.

Failure by the Supplier/Seller to execute action requirements might set in motion the process to electronically release the escrowed funds and credit them back to the Buyer’s account.

All communications and notifications impacting the release of funds in either a debit or credit mode to either of the parties occurs online (including uploading of important documents) through FocusedBuyer.com’s online payment ‘transaction communication template’ form.

FocusedBuyer.com and Precious®Payment initiates payment action(s) to commercially settle the PO Contract based on precise Buyer instructions transmitted via the online payment ‘transaction communication template’ form.  This includes any two-party negotiation results outcome from the resolution center process (that both parties confirm and the Buyer executes) or in strict accordance with a “resolution center action” of a mandatory, final, and binding arbitration ruling handed down by a “Net-Arb” arbitrator (see the TSU for specific details).

FocusedBuyer.com and Precious®Payment will warehouse data (up to the free 2GB maximum per user of occupied server space) all Listings, Offers, PO Contracts, Contract Performance and Commercial Payment & Settlement Information for a period of three (3) years minimum. We will warehouse additional data for the same (3) year time frame provided incremental server storage space has been contracted with us. We will also warehouse the data (2GB free and incrementally paid for server space) for longer periods of time basis a mutually negotiated, fee-based contract. 

FocusedBuyer® offers fee-based options to provide you with a separate data flat file or an online mapped download.  Any or all of your transaction data and information can be transmitted to your business or personal financial software package (you provide us the field mapping). Flat files are sent to your designee (a contracted accountant, an employee or another named individual or entity).

It is not a requirement to create a PO using FocusedBuyer.com or to select Precious®Payment. Each FocusedBuyer® software transaction process (Listings, Offers, POs and Payments) can be used independently.

However, it is a well established and beneficial practice for Buyers and Suppliers/Sellers to Purchase & Trade by means of a fully executed Purchase Order Contract with well defined commercial and legal Terms & Conditions that include some form of ProtectedPayment ™.  “Buyer Beware” and “Supplier/Seller Beware” concerns are still prevalent in today’s commerce and e-commerce world. Buyers especially should insist on and initiate a Purchase Order with their own crafted commercial and legal Terms & Conditions which will become an executed Contract upon Acceptance, under the Buyer’s Acceptance rules, by the Supplier/Seller.

FocusedBuyer.com, regardless of choice of payment settlement, provides the Buyer a professional, safe and secure online process to help facilitate, structure, issue, and achieve a valuable and legally acceptable Purchase Order Contract.

 

Services

FOCUSEDBUYER® Fee-Based Services

FocusedBuyer.com provides comprehensive and leading-edge fee-based Services to our Buyers, Suppliers/Sellers and Precious®Payment and Advertising customers.

After an introductory six (6) month trial period, small business Suppliers/Sellers and everyday Consumer Sellers will be charged (through the Registration and Account Profile process) a yearly subscription fee for up to 2GB of server space. This annual fee of less than $100 is based upon the size of a company and whether you are an individual consumer Seller. (Reference the FAQs for more information) 

Large companies and corporations are fee-quoted on a project by project basis taking into consideration commercial issues, such as:

(note the ‘Corporation’ feature, providing oversight and management of all or specifically designated Buyers’ and Sellers’ activities and actions in the commerce, trading and payment processes)

The Precious®Payment ACH flat fee charges are the same for Buyers and Suppliers/Sellers but vary with the total amount of any given ACH transaction (Reference the FAQs for more information).

Information on Fee Based Services and their latest pricing, including type of service, the service process and the individual flat fee charges can be made available by sending an e-Mail identifying your specific interest(s) to services@FocusedBuyer.com.

The following is a sample list of Services that can be provided.

 

Other Services

BUYERS

SUPPLIERS/SELLERS

ADVERTISERS

 

Advertising

Advertising on FocusedBuyer.com

FocusedBuyer.com provides the opportunity for companies, organizations, and entities to get their product, service or brand message(s) to real Buyers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year.

All of these Buyers have identified in one place (FocusedBuyer.com) exactly what they need or want to buy, rent, lease, find or find out.  And, they are planning an actual purchase but have not yet made their actual Purchase decision or placed a Purchase Order.

You can take advantage of our e-Commerce platform to immediately reach these highly qualified sales leads.  

Advertising is available via an ‘a la carte’ menu and can be explored for type of advertising, available sizes, placement process and the cost to advertise by sending an e-Mail identifying your interest to advertise@FocusedBuyer.com

 

Resolution Center

Entering the Resolution Center

The Resolution Center on the Contract Performance page(s) can be initiated either from the “Engagement” or from the “Disengagement” section(s) of these pages.

For Dispute Resolution, the Buying and Selling individuals or the personnel that were primary to the formation of the Purchase Order Contract shall first attempt to resolve disputes in good faith. This is to be accomplished in a ‘Time is of the Essence’ fashion. A schedule of 10 calendar days or less from the date of first notification is suggested.

Should good faith attempts fail, a mandatory mediation process is the required next effort.  Either party may initiate this process by written or valid electronic request to the other party. The mediation request must include a description of the unresolved dispute.  Mediation must be represented and accomplished by executive management of both parties and accomplished in a ‘Time is of the Essence’ fashion. A schedule of 10 calendar days or less from the date of first notification of mediation request is suggested.

Should good faith efforts and/or mandatory mediation not occur or fail to resolve the conflict within the prescribed time-frame, all unresolved disputes, controversies, claims, or contract breaches shall be decided and settled in final and binding Arbitration via Net-ARB, an Internet Arbitration Company, at www.net-arb.com. Final and binding Arbitration will be governed in accordance with net-ARB’s Arbitration Agreement and rules found at www.net-arb.com. Parties to the Purchase Order Contract, as a result of the Contract and of their prior acceptance of the FocusedBuyer.com Terms of Use, have individually, mutually and voluntarily pre-agreed to the following:

Buyers and Suppliers/Sellers retain and reserve the right to proceed to satisfy the Purchase Order Contract requirements and shall not be, prohibited from obtaining in court, Purchase Order performance or provisional relief to perform in parallel to the Contract, prior to or during the Arbitration process.

When Buyers and Suppliers/Sellers agree to the TSU at Registration, they also accept that all of the incurred costs (including Arbitration costs), to correct and perform Purchase Order requirements regarding enforcement of any PO Contract, are paid by the ‘Losing Arbitrating Party’.  All decisions and outcomes are completely and ultimately subject to the net-ARB Arbitrator’s mandatory, final and binding arbitration finding(s) and ruling(s).  (Reference the Web Site’s TSU and FAQs for more information).

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