You’re an agribusiness using our platform to better connect with your community of producers. Here are some of the questions we see most often from users like you. If you have any suggestions on information we should add, please reach out at marketplace@barchart.com

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Getting Started

What is Marketplace?

Marketplace is your very own private network that connects your farmers with your agribusiness. We provide your producers with beautiful mobile apps and a complementary desktop experience that is fully branded to you. You can read more about the product here.

How can I get started using Marketplace to grow my business?

It’s as simple as connecting with us at marketplace@barchart.com. We can get you up and running with your own branded portal in as little as a day.

• I use cmdty Match (fka Grain Offer System) - Wow this is going to be easy! Since you’re already on cmdty Match your Marketplace solution is ready to go. Just reach out to us at marketplace@barchart.com and we’ll get to work delivering your users with a mobile app that allows them to interact with you wherever they go. We’ll also need to get you setup with a couple of cmdtyView Pro accounts so you can chat with your producers and manage offers all in the same screen you use for pricing and analysis.

• I use Barchart for Grain Bid Management - You’re the best! Thanks for being a customer and working with us to deliver the absolute best products. We can take those bids and pull them into a super cool app in no time whatsoever. Let’s get you setup with a cmdtyView Pro account and show you how easy it is to manage your offer book and relationships in one piece of software. Your desktop is looking better already

• I have no relationship with Barchart - Let’s get started! Our product experts will guide you through our onboarding process which will include getting you setup with our Bid Management System, a couple of cmdtyView Pro accounts, and access to the slickest app out there for interacting with your producers. Even the best relationships need to start somewhere. Let us demonstrate our commitment to growing your business with better tools that bring you unquestionable value.

• I’m a cmdtyView Pro user - Let’s get’em cowboy! You’ve already got the best grain trading software on the planet on your desktop - why not give your producers the same quality tools? Drop us a line and we’ll get you setup with a branded mobile app and Grain Bid Management today. You’re going to be amazed at how easy and cost-effective our solution is. Giddy-up!

• I use cmdty Match, love my cmdtyView Pro, and rely on you for Bid Management - Wow! You already have all the tools you need to start today. You’re going to be shocked how quickly we’ll be able to get you going and if you’re nice we might even buy you lunch.

How does Marketplace relate to other products in the cmdty product line?

Marketplace is designed to seamlessly integrate with all of the other offerings in the cmdty product line. Basically, the producer facing Marketplace apps communicate with the cmdtyView Pro real-time software that you’re using today through Chat and Offer functionality that both the producer and your merchandisers can use. The bids running through your existing bid management relationship are automatically pulled into the product, and if you’re using cmdty Match (formerly the Grain Offer System) everything is already in place for you to get started immediately. We keep it simple so you can focus on what matters most - your relationships!

What’s the best way to use the product?

Schedule a demo with our awesome product team at marketplace@barchart.com and we’ll show you the ins and outs of the platform. We’ll show you how to use cmdtyView Pro to work up custom offers to your producers, chat with them in real-time, and then execute your hedge after you close a deal. On top of that, we can seamlessly integrate the Marketplace product into your website to drive producer acquisition, engagement, and loyalty. They won’t want to take their grain anywhere else.

How quickly can I get Marketplace setup for my elevator?

If I said you could be setup within a day, would you believe me? It’s true. While it will take a little bit of time to get your app listed on the App Store, we can get everything else ready to go. Reach out to our dedicated Ag team based across Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Illinois to get started with a local rep.

How much does it cost?

Let’s just say you’re not going to find a better value to market your business anywhere else. We can provide you with a Branded App, Bid Management, Chat, Push Notifications, Offer Management, and access to two (2) cmdtyView Pro accounts for less than the monthly payment on an F150. We find it hard to believe too.

I have an idea for a new feature in the product. How can you work to get that implemented?

We want to make sure all of our users are equipped with the tools they need. If you have a great idea for a new feature, or there is data you want to see, just shoot us a note at marketplace@barchart.com

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User Setup and Approval

What does the producer onboarding process look like?

The Marketplace solution is completely self-help and your producers can start registering for the service as soon as it’s live. They just need to enter their name, email, and mobile phone number and they will be able to register for the app either on iOS or Android.

What can a user do after they register for the app?

Producers can use can feature in your Marketplace app other than “Offers” just by registering on their own and confirming their email. Accessing grain accounting data like Contracts and Scale tickets will require your users to confirm their mobile number.

What about making offers? What needs to be done there?

Your merchandiser team will simply need to set the producer account as “approved” to make offers. You’ll get an email upon user registration that prompts you to approve the user to make offers which can be done by clicking “approve” in the email. This link in the email is valid for 7 days. If for some reason you aren’t able to approve the user within that 7 day period, then at any time, you can manage the ability for a Farmer to make an offer in the Farmer panel of Match. Farmers will be considered Pending until you’ve given them explicit approval to make offers. We’ve built out a set of best practices in our Quickstart Guide for Agribusinesses so give it a look today.

I clicked "Approve" or "Deny" for a farmer that requested the ability to make offers through the Marketplace platform, but the action that I chose didn't work correctly.

Links in the emails are valid for seven (7) days. If clicking the link doesn’t result in an approval, your link has most likely expired. When this is the case, simply go into the Farmer component of Marketplace Pro or cmdtyView Pro and set the farmer status to as approved. If you have any issues please email us at marketplace@barchart.com.

What’s the best way ensure my producers know about Marketplace and start using it?

If a tree falls in the woods, will anyone hear it? Nope, so make sure you tell your producers all about the new Marketplace solution you’ve just deployed over text, email, and your website. We’re pretty good at this whole marketing thing, so please reach out to us at marketplace@barchart.com for help. You can also use our free Quickstart Guide for Agribusinesses to hit the ground running. The registration process is easy for producers once they are aware of what to do. We can get content on your website within a day.

I already use cmdty Match (fka the Grain Offer System), and my producers have Match logins that they use. How are you going to get them onto our Marketplace system?

Let’s talk. Reach out to us at marketplace@barchart.com to discuss. Generally, the easiest way for users to get setup is to create accounts on their own - it’s super easy and painless. If you want to do a migration onto the platform, we can totally help with that too.

Do users who aren’t approved counted against my user count?

Not a chance! Only users that are approved for making offers will count against your user levels.  

I previously used a different system (a Portal perhaps, wink wink) and want to migrate my users. Can you help?

Sure. Provide us an export of your users and we’ll import them into our system. In order for your users to successfully login we’ll want to remove any spaces from their user names - which we can do using the SUBSTITUTE function in Excel, and then we’ll want to ensure they have a unique email. We can help, so just let us know.

General Information Display

Some of my bids are missing or appear to be grouped in with other commodities. Why?

We group bids in the Cash Bids section based on the “commodity_display_name” in our system, which is something we configure for all of your commodities. This generally creates a better user experience, but sometimes we might be grouping things together that you’d rather see broken apart. Just let us know and we can help get you sorted.

Can you support custom delivery period names like new crop / old crop?

We currently support this on our hosted websites and are considering adding this to the app. If this is something you’d like please drop us a line at marketplace@barchart.com and we’ll work to get it prioritized.

Where can I add information about my company for my growers?

Right on the main menu of the app, we have an icon for “My Elevator.” This is the place that you want to add all the information that you want your growers to know. Please make use of the notes section and post details like updated hours. We would also encourage you to use “Elevator Alerts” to broadcast information about your company. These go out as push notifications to your app users and are highly effective at engagement.

Can I link to things like patron portals in the app?

Sure thing. Simply log into the admin system and go to Account → Account Details. Under this you’ll find a section for cmdty Marketplace that allows you to add “External Links.” Simply put the display text in the “Label” column and add the relevant URL to the “URL” column. Within minutes your custom link will now display under “My Elevator” in the mobile app.

Making Offers

Can users submit offers to us before they are explicitly approved?

No way! We want to make sure that our elevator partners aren’t being sent offers that aren’t relevant or related to relationships that you have with your producers. If a producers hasn’t yet been approved by you, they will be presented with a notification in app that tells them that they “cannot make an offer until you have been approved by the elevator.” If you see something to the contrary then please drop us a line marketplace@barchart.com

I approved a user, but they say that they can’t make an offer. What gives?

This can happen as we check for the user’s status every 60 seconds. So it’s possible that after you approved the user they attempted to place an offer almost immediately. Please ask them to try again and everything should work. Should this issue persist or you believe it’s something different, then our friendly support team at marketplace@barchart.com can get you squared away.

Can I send counter-offers to producers?

Both merchandisers and producers can the chat feature within the system to negotiate in real-time. At this time though, after offer creation, offer details can only be rejected, acknowledged, or accepted by the merchandiser, or cancelled by the producer. We’re working on the ability to edit offer details and finding ways to get this in a subsequent release.

ERP Integrations / Grain Accounting

What ERP systems are you currently integrated with?

You can view our current integrations here. We’re always looking to find new ways to serve our clients, so if you don’t see your ERP listed there is a good chance we’re currently working through an integration with them. Just reach out to cmdty@barchart.com and we’ll let you know where we sit with your provider.

Are there any fees from my ERP provider that I should be aware of?

Good question. Each provider operates under a different commercial model, so it’s best to reach out to your account representative there. Where we’re aware of fees from your ERP we’ve provided an overview below.

• AgTrax - Depending on your current subscription there may be an API access fee that is due to support an integration into your Marketplace app

• Agris / Cultura - Agris is available across a number of different packages (Grain, Retail, Agribusiness). Within each of these packages you can subscribe to Standard, Advanced, or Elite. Read API access is typically included within Advanced, and Read/Write is typically included with Elite.

• AgVantage - Please refer to your account representative

• Agvance - Please refer to your account representative

• Beyond - Please refer to your account representative

• iRely - iRely users will need to be on the i21 system instead of the legacy Origin / Summit system. At a minimum the i21 deployment will need to be v21.1 in order to support iRely’s REST API

• Oakland - Please refer to your account representative

• Vertical Systems - Please refer to your account representative

Is there anything technical about my ERP system that I need to be aware of?

Good question. Each provider offers a different array of how they allow connections to their data. Below are some initial Starting Guides by ERP Provider. Contact cmdty@barchart.com if you have any questions or want further documentation.

• AgTrax

• Agris / Cultura - Agris - Document Below

• AgVantage

• Agvance

• Vertical Systems

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What field in the Admin system is used to link data to our ERP provider?

We key off “Mobile Phone” which can be found under Users → Contact Information within the Admin system.

I’m seeing farmer sync errors that appear to be adding a “1” to the front of their phone number. Is that an issue?

Not at all. The format of the phone number does not matter, it just needs to be the same phone number. We just normalize it and add a “+1” to the front of the number in our systems. The bottom line is that if you are having farmer sync issues it’s likely because the number they entered into the app just doesn’t match the “Mobile Phone” number in your accounting system.

My users have multiple account numbers, can they see that information from all of their accounts in the app?

Yup. How the backend is setup is a little different depending on the ERP provider, so we’ll want to make sure this is working as expected as you get onboarded.

How come instead of “Corn” my producers see “C” or some other commodity abbreviation in their app?

This is because your Marketplace app takes the default commodity code used by your grain accounting system. Don’t worry, you can easily change this on your side or work with our support team to resolve. In the Admin system simply navigate to Cash Bids → Commodities and you’ll see a field for “Accounting ID”. If nothing is set here, then we just use the default characters provided by your accounting provider. If you’d like to display the commodity “Name” used in the rest of your app, simply enter the code used by your accounting provider for that commodity and bam your app will be styling in no time.

How come instead of “Cedar Rapids” my producers see “1” or some other location abbreviation in their app?

See above . This is because your Marketplace app takes the default location code used by your grain accounting system. In the Admin system simply navigate to Cash Bids → Locations and then select a location. Directly under “Name” you’ll see a field for “Accounting ID”. If nothing is set here, then we just use the default characters provided by your accounting provider. For example, if your location “Cedar Rapids” is configured as location “1” in your accounting system, then you would just put the character “1” in the “Accounting ID” field and it will immediately map the name to your app.

How do I make sure that the “Moisture” displays properly in my Scale Tickets pages?

Because of the way that moisture and other comments on delivered grain differ by accounting provider and elevator these may need to be configured in order to properly be read by your app. Just go into Cash Bids → Commodities and then select an individual commodity. Ad a “Custom Setting” for moisture and enter the code that is used in your accounting system. Note that our support team will happily assist in getting this setup for you.

Chat / Direct Messages

How do we set our producers so that they can chat with us?

Once a producer registers on the site, their chat panels will automatically populate with the names of merchandisers you have listed under your elevator. The producers don’t need to take any steps! Each of your merchandisers will need to have a cmdtyView Pro and a Match account in order to receive chat messages from their producer relationships. Please reach out to marketplace@barchart.com if you need to get setup with an additional cmdtyView Pro or would like to get your Match account linked.

My cmdtyView Pro is linked to my Match account, but my producers tell me that they are unable to chat with me in the system. What’s up?

This can happen if certain steps aren’t taken when linking your Match account to your cmdtyView Pro account. Please reach out to marketplace@barchart.com with your login information for accounts and we’ll get it sorted right away.

Will any other elevators on Marketplace have access to my Producers?

Not a chance. All of the producers that are registered to your Marketplace instance are your users. What is happening behind the scenes is that any producer registering with your system is being added to a “room” which is just a channel between two or more users of the chat system. Only your merchandisers can communicate with your producers, and producers cannot communicate with each other. Of course, your merchandisers can communicate over chat since they are cmdtyView Pro users - who all have access to our chat network.

Can a user that isn't approved for offers by the Elevator chat with merchandisers that are linked to that elevator?

Yes. We allow this as producers may want to send a message to their merchandiser partner to ensure that the approval process is completed. We’re always listening to our users, so if this is a feature you’d like to see us change, let us know and we’ll work with the rest of our elevator partners to establish a workflow that works for everyone.

Alerting / Push Notifications

I currently use your text-based alerting service for broadcasting messages out to my producer network. Is that a part of Marketplace?

Indeed it is. For any users that have downloaded your mobile app you can broadcast the same alerts that you were previously only able to send through mass text messaging. Just create a mobile alert and ensure your users are part of of the applicable alert group - and away you go. There is no additional configuration required, nor do you need to create different alerts for mobile push notifications vs. text. It just works.

Why would I want to use a push notification instead of a text message?

Quite simply, it’s a better user experience and pulls your producers into your app. If you blast users with a text alert, there is no call-to-action that converts your end user into a closed deal for you. It’s information only. By using a push notification, you can lead your producers directly into your Marketplace app and encourage them to complete a particular action. The messaging is the same, but the outcomes are better, so what is there to lose? Contact us at marketplace@barchart.com today to start using push notifications for broadcast alerts.