How ShipsBay works: from catalogue search to quote, tender and award
ShipsBay is a quote-first marine supply catalogue. You browse IMPA-coded products and build an RFQ cart without an account; sending needs a signed-in, verified customer or supplier account. Staff then prepare a quote that you accept or reject online. There is no checkout, and tenders are a premium feature.
Is ShipsBay a shop with a checkout?
No. ShipsBay is a quote-first catalogue: there is no cart checkout and no online order payment. You find products, put them on a request for quotation (RFQ), and ShipsBay answers with a quote. A price appears on a product page only if that page states one; otherwise you ask for it through an RFQ.
The products are listed under IMPA codes, so you can search by code, by name or by category. See what an IMPA code is if the numbering is new to you.
Do I need an account to browse and build an RFQ?
You do not need an account to browse the catalogue or to fill the RFQ cart. You need one to send it. Sending requires a signed-in account with a confirmed e-mail address, registered as a customer or a supplier. Guests and members who have not confirmed their e-mail are asked to sign in or confirm first, and the cart is kept for them. Staff accounts cannot send an RFQ.
You can search the catalogue and add items to the RFQ cart first, and create the account when you are ready to send.
What do I enter in an RFQ?
You enter the items and how you want them delivered. In the cart, each line has a quantity and can carry a note and files. You can also add items that are not in the catalogue as manual lines.
- Delivery by sea (to a vessel). This is preselected. It asks for a vessel (chosen or typed) and a port; the IMO number and ETA are optional.
- Delivery by land. It asks for an address line, a city and a country, with the postal code optional. A verified customer can keep up to 10 saved addresses.
- Pricing basis. You choose either one price per line or one price for the whole list.
- Files. Each line takes at most 3 files and one RFQ at most 10 files in total, each up to 10 MB, 90 MB together. Images and PDF, Word, Excel, CSV and text documents are accepted. Staff can download them; they are not public.
If you would rather send a list you already have, use the RFQ document page and send it as a file, without a cart. For the content of a good request, read how to prepare a ship stores RFQ.
What happens after I send an RFQ?
Staff price your request as a quote revision, send it to you, and you see it on your RFQ page in your account. The quote revision is the only source of a quote: what is e-mailed to you and what you see online are both built from it.
On your RFQ page you can open a quote that staff have sent and accept or reject it, as long as the request is still open and the quote has not passed its validity date. Draft revisions are never shown to you. A later revision starts from the previous one, so the history stays visible. You can also download your RFQ as a PDF from your account.
Can I publish my RFQ as a tender?
Yes, if your account has an active premium plan; this is a premium feature, and an ordinary RFQ does not need one. A customer with premium can send a submitted RFQ as a buying tender.
- Review first. A new tender waits for staff review. Suppliers see nothing until staff approve it; an edit sends it back to review.
- Approved suppliers bid. Only suppliers with an approved profile, who have accepted the tender confidentiality terms, can see and bid on it. Bids can be line by line.
- Sealed until the deadline. The buyer cannot read the bids while the tender is open. After the deadline, or when the buyer closes it, the bids are listed for the buyer.
- Default time. The bidding time is 3 days by default, counted from approval; the buyer can choose a different duration.
- The buyer awards. The buyer chooses the winning bid. The site records the award; it does not handle payment.
Premium also includes sales tenders for surplus or scrap material and fleet tracking. Plans, the price and how online payment for premium works are described on the Premium page; premium can also be granted by ShipsBay staff. Premium is sold to businesses only.
What can a supplier do on ShipsBay?
A supplier account can send RFQs like a customer and can respond to tenders once its supplier profile is approved by staff. A supplier can also prepare a priced quote for its own customer: add items, enter unit prices, currency, validity and VAT, save it, download the PDF, and, with an approved profile, e-mail it to the customer. That quote is the supplier's own document, not a ShipsBay offer.
Next step
Search the catalogue for the items you need, or send your list as a document RFQ.
Need these items quoted?
Add items to the RFQ cart and send one request for quotation for price, availability, lead time and port delivery. There is no checkout.
More guides
General information for buyers. Always confirm the specification, certification and regulatory requirements for your vessel with the manufacturer, your classification society or your flag administration before ordering.