Why this is not a marketplace
Bizily is software and a network, never a merchant: requests go only to the suppliers a buyer names, a distributor's own requests stay private to that distributor, and the transaction always stays between buyer and seller.
The rules
Most software that connects buyers and sellers eventually competes with one side of the market. We wrote the routing rules down instead, and enforced them in the database rather than in a promise.
- Buyer-directed
- A request goes to the suppliers the buyer names, on the network or by e-mail. There is no broadcast to a category.
- Inbound stays private
- Requests a distributor receives from its own customers are visible to that distributor alone and never used to route anything.
- Discovery is per line
- Only a line the buyer marks as open can reach other suppliers, and only ones who list the category, with the buyer approving each candidate.
- Distributor-first
- A distributor can sponsor buyer workspaces for its customers; the platform never suggests alternatives to a sponsored buyer.
- People approve
- Every send, price and write is a proposal a person accepts. No model sends anything.
- Everything ledgered
- Each routing decision records the scope, the candidates, who approved it and why. Analytics are aggregate-only and consent-gated.
How it differs
A procurement marketplace routes your request to itself and earns on the order. A sourcing agent that works for buyers alone broadcasts demand and negotiates against sellers. Both make sense on their own terms; neither is something a distributor can safely put its customer list into.
The model we borrowed is the commerce platform one: the seller owns the customer, the storefront and the price, and the platform earns from the tools. That is why a distributor can put its own buyers on this network without handing over the relationship.
What we do earn from
The supplier console is free. The back office is a subscription with AI usage billed per model call and shown in the ledger. Manufacturers list for free and pay only if they want their data curated. Nothing in that list gets better when an order moves from one distributor to another, which is the point.
Questions
- Are you a marketplace?
- No. We never sell, never hold stock and are never merchant of record. Purchase orders, invoices, delivery, warranties, returns, disputes, import and regulatory registrations stay with the distributor.
- Do you take a percentage of orders?
- No. Revenue is software subscription plus AI usage from the seller side. We have no incentive to steer an order, because we do not earn from it.
- Will my customers be exposed to my competitors?
- No. Requests are buyer-directed: a buyer's list goes only to the suppliers that buyer names. Requests a distributor receives from its own customers are that distributor's data and are never used to route work elsewhere.
- When does a request reach a supplier the buyer did not name?
- Only when the buyer marks a single line as open to sourcing, because their own suppliers cannot fill it. The agent then proposes candidates from suppliers who list that category and the buyer approves each one before anything is sent.
- Can a distributor bring its own customers?
- Yes, and it is the intended shape. A distributor can give its customers a buyer workspace with itself as the default supplier. The platform never suggests alternatives to that buyer unless the buyer opens a line.
- Do agents negotiate with each other?
- No. A buyer can instruct one structured request for better terms on a line, and a person approves it on both sides. There are no automated haggling loops.