We encourage among our users the highest levels of moral and ethical conduct.
Like in the business world, good behavior among participants is very important for a successful auction. The quality of communication between Shippers and Carriers can impact greatly on the success or otherwise of e-sourcing. To this end, our users are encouraged to read and abide by the following Code of Conduct.
Code of Conduct for Shippers
This section covers ethical rules that a shipper should always adhere to achieve a successful auction.
- The Shipper will communicate and consistently adhere to the auction rules as outlined in the request fields, and terms and conditions.
- The Shipper will hold all carrier information in confidence and shall not disclose it to third parties.
- The Shipper will only invite qualified carriers. In no way will the shipper perform “phantom bidding” inviting a carrier in an attempt to drive bidding activity and price reductions.
- The Shipper will communicate timely, accurate information regarding the business equally to all carriers. This includes any changes or corrections to requirements, specifications and timelines. The initial auction posting and any changes should also provide carriers with adequate time for review.
- The Shipper intends to award the business and will not use the auction as a price discovery mission.
- The Shipper will award the business based on quotes (bids) submitted in the online auction.
- The Shipper shall not participate in offline, after-the-auction negotiations. All bids must be submitted during the auction so that other carriers are given the opportunity to respond. Exception is made for payments negotiation with carriers.
- The Shipper will communicate the award decision within the timeframe specified in the request fields.
- When using escrow payments, the Shipper will remit every payment to the Carrier according to the agreement they established following the auction award.
Code of Conduct for Carriers
This section covers ethical rules that carriers must adhere to in order to truly benefit from an auction.
- The Carrier, by participating in any sourcing project, constitutes acceptance of all referenced and required terms and conditions.
- The Carrier, whenever holding an asset-based status (e.g. trucking companies, shipping lines, airlines), will not use its dominant market position to engage in unfair competition with non-asset-based carriers (e.g. freight forwarders, NVOCCs).
- The Carrier will hold all information about the buying company in confidence and shall not disclose it to third parties.
- The Carrier will participate in an auction only if qualified to supply the specified goods and services.
- All bids submitted in an auction are legally valid quotes without qualification; therefore, Carriers should only submit bids they can support. Exceptions are made for honest, data entry errors. Any errors submitted during an auction should be corrected as quickly as possible, by means of a new bid, in order to prevent disruption of the auction.
- The Carrier will communicate to the Shipper in a timely, accurate manner. This includes any discrepancies or inaccuracies the carrier may find in the request fields and timeline.
- The Carrier intends to provide goods and/or services and will not use the auction as a fact-finding project, or to collect market intelligence.
- The Carrier will only submit bids through the online auction. Interested carriers should not sabotage the auction process by submitting bids via email, instant messaging, fax, post, orally, or any other channel.
Users may sign and send us a Code of Conduct confirming they abide by these guidelines. They will be entitled to display prominently a special badge on their public profile.
You may download a printable version of the Code of Conduct
