We’ve already established that communication matters more or is at least as important as the price you quote. So while the bid amount is not always the deciding factor, knowing the ins-and-outs of submitting a bid does play a significant role in winning a shipment. In this lesson, we will cover the following key points regarding placing a bid:

• Step #1: Placing your bid
• Step #2: Editing and retracting your bid

Placing your bid

After establishing communication with a shipper and securing all the information you need to create a quote, it’s time to place your first bid on CitizenShipper. You can learn more about how to do this in the video tutorial below:

If you followed the steps above and you haven't placed any bids before reading this lesson, you likely opted to start your ID verification and background screening process. We perform these checks to ensure the safety of all of our marketplace participants and for this purpose, we use two of the industry's leading tools - Stripe and Checkr, and we don't hold your sensitive personal information in our system.

To learn more about how to complete these steps, please checkout our lesson on account verifications.

Editing and retracting your bid

Now that you've learned how to place bids, it is also important to know how to edit or retract them in case there are new costs you need to include in the quote or you are no longer interested in a shipment.

To edit your quote, simply revisit the shipment listing, scroll down to the box where you originally placed your bid, type in a new amount you wish to quote, and click on the "Update bid" button:

As you can see in the photo above, this is the same place where you can also retract your bid in case you are no longer interested in a specific shipment. It is helpful to retract bids so that email and SMS notifications are not triggered on shipments you aren’t considering. When you retract shipments you aren’t interested in, you will only receive notifications on the shipments you are actively bidding on. This keeps your email and SMS queues clear and uncluttered, helping you stay focused on the bid notifications that matter to you. To retract your bid, simply click on the "Retract" button as shown below:

And that wraps us this lesson! Now that you've learned how to send messages and place bids, the next chapter will focus on techniques for accurately pricing your shipments and "sealing the deal" with the customer!

Since you've successfully passed through 42% of our curriculum, please don't hesitate to let us know what you think about our guide so far in the comments below.

Powered by CitizenShipper - Premier Dog and Cat Shipping Platform