Negotiating Abrasives Trades Online

With the advent of the Internet, searching for and finding just the right abrasive product became much easier, but the process of negotiating and closing a sale still had to be done in person. Is that still true? Or has software evolved that now facilitates the entire process of trading abrasives online?

Let's look at the processes involved: First there's discovery, searching for just the right product. Then there's approach and negotiation - meeting suppliers and working out a deal. After that comes the legal part of negotiations, with the preparation and signing of documents. Finally comes delivery and payment. 

Discovering Abrasives Products Online

B2B platforms are one of the best and quickest ways to search for abrasives products online, and iAbrasive.com is one of the best of those. Built into the site are several ways for a buyer to find what they're looking for:

• Browse for known companies.
• Browse through abrasives categories.
• Search using defined product specifications.
• Post a bulletin board request.

Each supplier's online store and the bulletin board provide communication links, including Skype and texting, so buyers and suppliers can introduce themselves and start the negotiation process.

Negotiating Trades Online

Face to face negotiation enables traders to see, hear, and feel the negotiating partner, providing cues that smooth the negotiation process. Negotiating via email, chat, or texting provides very few of those cues, but online video services like Skype do.

Skype is like a visual telephone call. The software works with your computer's camera to let negotiators speak face to face, even at a distance, as though they were actors in a movie. It shows facial expressions and gestures, even some of the background, and lets the buyer and seller hear each other's voices. It's a perfect negotiating tool, and is much cheaper than traveling to another country (though not as fun). Skype even records a video of the interaction for future reference and legal confirmation.

Legalizing Online Trades

Once an agreement is reached, it's time to make it legal. Here is where the lawyers come in, unless the abrasives supplier or buyer already has legal documents that can be revised to fit the current negotiation. Reliable, secure digital signature websites let you upload and edit legal documents. Such sites keep records of all changes made, and provide them to all parties for confirmation or further modification. 

Once a document is finalized, the site allows for a digital or manual (faxed or scanned) signature of each party to the agreement. All documents and changes are stored together with the final contract for future reference. Two such websites are Contractually (http://www.contractual.ly/) and ContractRoom (http://contractroom.com/).

Paying Online for Abrasives Products

The most secure, most widely used online B2C payment site is PayPal, but B2C financial transactions are not the same as B2B ones. Much more is needed, like flexibility, time tracking, factoring, supply chain payables, and the ability to renegotiate and/or apply changing quantity discounts. 

Adequate online B2B payment services are just starting to emerge. One such company is TraxPay (http://traxpay.com/commerce-networks/), whose back end software is designed specifically to serve B2B transactions. In addition to the above, it reduces the risk of working with new suppliers, includes strong security measures, and has the backing of leading financial institutions. 

All of these services can be used in conjunction with trading on iAbrasive.com, where abrasives suppliers and buyers find and connect with each other to trade abrasives in bulk online.