How materiq works

What materiq is

materiq is a UK-only B2B platform where approved food manufacturers and ingredient suppliers trade surplus materials, cover urgent shortfalls, and run competitive tenders — all between verified businesses.

materiq is a facilitator, not a merchant. Contracts for the sale of goods are made directly between buyer and seller; materiq never takes possession of goods or handles payment for them.

The three modules

• VeriStock — a verified surplus exchange. Sellers list surplus food-grade materials; approved buyers browse and express interest.
• SpotBuy — an urgent shortfall board. Buyers post time-limited requests; suppliers respond with offers.
• TenderLink — competitive tenders. Buyers invite their linked suppliers to bid blind on planned volume, with live price ranking.

Your journey after registering

Every company is manually reviewed before trading — we verify your Companies House registration and, for sellers, your GFSI certification. Approval typically takes 1–2 working days.

While your company is pending you can complete your profile and upload certification documents. Once approved, the modules matching your role (buyer, seller, or both) unlock automatically.

The founding period

During the founding period all platform fees are waived — posting listings, requests, and tenders is free. The standard fee schedule is published on the Pricing page and will only apply after the founding period ends, with notice.

Why we verify your company

Trust is the whole point of materiq. Every counterparty you meet on the platform has been through the same checks you have, which is what makes trading surplus between strangers viable in a food-safety-regulated industry.

What we ask for and why

• Companies House number — we check your registration against the official Companies House record to confirm the legal entity exists and is active.
• Registered address and contact details — released to a counterparty only when a deal is agreed (interest or response accepted, or tender awarded), never before.
• Sites — listings and dispatch happen from specific locations. Site-level detail (address, GFSI certification of that site) is what a buyer’s QA team needs for supplier approval.
• Role (buyer / seller / both) — controls which modules you see and what checks apply. Sellers face additional GFSI requirements because buyers rely on their certification.
• Industry sectors and material categories — used to match you with relevant listings and requests.

Manual approval and amendments

A member of the materiq team reviews every registration — typically within 1–2 working days. If key company details change later (name, registration number, role, contact details), your company returns to pending while we re-verify. Site changes are re-approved the same way.

What GFSI certification is

GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative) recognises food-safety certification schemes such as BRCGS, FSSC 22000, IFS, and SQF. Almost every UK food manufacturer’s supplier-approval procedure requires suppliers to hold a GFSI-recognised certificate for the site that manufactures or dispatches the material.

Why we require it from sellers

When a buyer’s Technical or QA team assesses a purchase from materiq, the first question is always: is the site certified? Requiring GFSI certification from selling sites means buyers can route materiq purchases through their existing supplier-approval procedure rather than an exception process.

This is also why we ask for certificate details per site, not just per company — certification is site-specific.

How verification works

• Upload your certificate (PDF or image, max 10 MB) with the scheme, certificate number, grade, and validity dates.
• The materiq team cross-checks the document and marks it Verified — this shows on your trust profile.
• We flag certificates approaching expiry (60 days) so you can upload the renewal before it lapses.
• Documents are stored privately and shared only with the materiq verification team — never exposed publicly.

How a listing works

• A seller lists surplus material with full detail: quantity, price, best-before date, storage conditions, lot codes, and documentation availability.
• Every listing is reviewed by the materiq team before it goes live — buyers only ever see reviewed listings.
• Approved buyers browse and express interest, optionally with a message. The seller’s identity stays hidden at this stage.
• The seller accepts or declines each interest. On acceptance, both parties’ contact details are shared (in-app and by email) and you conclude the deal directly.

Why we ask for CoA, specification, and lot codes

A Certificate of Analysis and a technical specification are mandatory for every listing because no buyer’s QA team can release surplus material into production without them. Lot codes and best-before dates give full traceability — essential if a recall or quality investigation ever touches the batch.

You can attach the CoA and specification when creating the listing. Attached documents are visible to buyers only after you accept their interest.

Identity protection

Sellers are anonymous on the browse board, and buyers are anonymous to sellers until an interest is accepted. This prevents off-platform approaches and protects commercially sensitive information about your surplus position.

Listing statuses

• Pending review — submitted, awaiting materiq review.
• Active — live and visible to approved buyers.
• Sold / Withdrawn — closed by you.

How it works

• A buyer posts an urgent request: material, quantity, needed-by date, delivery region, and optionally a target price.
• The request appears on the live board with a countdown — requests expire automatically (default 48 hours) because urgency is the point.
• Suppliers respond with price, available quantity, and earliest delivery.
• The buyer accepts the best response — contact details are exchanged and the supply is arranged directly.

Why the expiry window

SpotBuy is for production-critical shortfalls — a short-shipped ingredient with a line booked for Monday. The expiry keeps the board honest: everything you see is genuinely current, and suppliers know a response is worth making quickly.

Tips

• A target price is optional — leaving it open often gets more responses.
• Specification notes matter: grade, allergen status, and pack format help suppliers respond accurately first time.
• Mark the request fulfilled once supply is agreed so suppliers stop responding.

How a tender runs

• The buyer creates a tender: material, volume, contract period, an optional benchmark price range, and a bid window.
• Invitations go to suppliers from the buyer’s linked-supplier list — each invited supplier gets an email and in-app notification.
• Suppliers accept the invitation (and the benchmark terms), then submit bids during the window.
• Bidding is blind: no supplier sees another’s price. Each supplier sees only their own live rank (#1, #2…), which they can improve by rebidding until the window closes.
• The buyer awards to one supplier, or splits the award across several by percentage if split awards were enabled.

Why blind bidding with rank

Blind bids protect every supplier’s pricing confidentiality; the live rank still gives them the competitive signal they need to sharpen their offer. Buyers get genuine price tension without exposing anyone’s numbers.

Tender details and bids are confidential — the terms prohibit sharing one bidder’s pricing with another during a live tender.

After the award

Winning suppliers are notified and contact details are exchanged with the buyer. Supply contracts are then agreed directly between the parties — materiq is not a party to the contract.

What supplier links are

A supplier link is a mutual connection between a buyer and a supplier on materiq — your platform equivalent of an approved supplier list entry. Tenders can only be sent to suppliers you are linked with.

How linking works

• Invite a supplier by email. If they’re already on materiq they review and accept in-app; if not, they’re invited to register and the link activates automatically once their company is approved.
• Either side can end a link at any time.
• Linking does not replace your own supplier-approval procedure — it identifies who you tender to; your QA obligations remain yours.

Notifications

• In-app notifications cover interest, responses, tender invitations, bids, and awards. The sidebar badge shows your unread count.
• Notification Settings let you switch categories off, or receive a daily/weekly email digest instead of individual alerts.
• Connection emails (when contact details are exchanged) are always sent — they are part of the deal record.

Billing

During the founding period no platform fees are charged and your billing history will be empty. When standard fees apply (after notice), each fee will appear here with a downloadable receipt. materiq never handles payment for goods — only platform fees.