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Do you support component search?
Currently we are focused on helping designers, engineers and suppliers find custom manufacturing services.
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Can I use SupplierSource to find suppliers anywhere in the world?
Yes, we accept international listings. Please add your own company listing to help add even more choices.
Check out this blog post for some searching tips that work both internationally and on a local level – Hello World!.
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What is the best way to search for Suppliers?
The great thing about our search is that you can search the way you like:
- Start by choosing a service:
- Either enter a service into the search box, or select a service from the category list:
- You can refine your search using location, services, materials, industries, production volumes and certifications in the left column of the search page. (note: only items that match supplier profiles are shown)
- Start by specifying a location:
- Enter keywords into the search box, and type your location (zip/postal codes or a city/state combination work the best) into the location box.
- You can refine your search using location, services, materials, industries, production volumes and certifications in the left column of the search page. (note: only items that match supplier profiles are shown)
Start with a company name:
- Enter as much as you know and then use a wildcard character (*) to find the rest (e.g., benson mach).
General tips:
- Use the ‘Search options’ window at the bottom of the left hand column to search within the results you already have
- Use a wildcard character (*) to do less typing
- Change your sort order in the upper left from ‘Relevance’ to ‘Name’ or the reverse
- Use the Show drop-down in the upper right to increase/decrease the number of listings you see on a page
- Search terms are not case sensitive
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How do I get my company listed as a supplier?
Simply register to create a user account and check the ‘I want my company profile listed in the SupplierSource directory’ box on the registration page.
Once you can sign in as a user, you can then create your company’s profile. When you sign in, your company name should appear in the correct box of the ‘Summary and Contact Info’ page. Then use the Profile Wizard at the top to help you through the process.
We review all suppliers the first time they submit their profiles to help keep out the nonsense, but after that you can edit without our interference. All users may flag content as ‘inappropriate’ and that triggers a check and removal of anything that is in fact inappropriate.
If you have strong feelings or reasons for flagging a particular piece of content, please contact us at support and we’ll work with you to resolve the situation.
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How much does it cost to list my company as a supplier?
It is free. Later, we will introduce ways for suppliers to enhance their listings and presence within the directory. The details will be posted on the SupplierSource website.
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How do I invite my own suppliers to join SupplierSource so that I can do a review?
At the bottom of each page, in the ‘Things to do’ column, you can click on Invite a supplier.
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How do I provide a review of a supplier?
Each supplier has a ‘review’ link directly on their profile. Click this link and the review form should launch automatically. You will need to have a free users account to provide a review. Please, be assured that by default only your name will appear on the review – not your company’s name. However, you can include your company name, if you wish, in your comment.
If the supplier that you wish to review is not listed, please invite them to create a SupplierSource listing by going to the bottom of the page and clicking on Invite a supplier.
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Can I edit my own profile?
Yes. After the initial approval process, you can edit, change or add information – like new photos of recently completed projects, new videos, or timely promotional information. When you add new services, you can change your listing to match. If you earn a new certification, be sure to add it.
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How can I see what all of my ‘Specialty’ and ‘Capability’ choices are?
Click on the ‘Categories’ tab at the top of the page. This will show you all available choices. If you have new choices to suggest, please send them to info.
You can also just start typing in the box and relevant choices will appear below the box as you type. Since a search is taking place as you type, sometimes it will take a moment to show the correct results. Once choices appear, you may have to scroll up or down in the list to find the best choice. Sometimes even removing a letter from your text will get you closer to your best choices.
Right now there is no way to see all of your material choices in a list, but the same methods also work for finding them.
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Are there any special tips for selecting ‘Capabilities’?
Yes!
The ‘Capabilities’ page has a couple tricky bits to be aware of:
- FIRST – BE SURE TO SAVE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE BEFORE GOING TO ANOTHER PAGE! This is the only page that doesn’t warn you if you try to go to another page without saving. This can be VERY annoying if you’ve just put in a lot of information. A fix is on the way.
- SECONDLY – To add Specialties and Capabilities (and Materials farther down on the page) just start typing in the box and let the search catch up with you to offer suggested services. The Categories tab at the top of the page lists all possible choices (but selecting them on that page does not fill them in on your Capabilities page). You can select up to 3 services as a Specialty and 8 as Capabilities. When you reach the limit the choice goes away.
- If you click on the “x” next to a service in your list to the left, it will then allow another choice to be made. You must delete a Specialty or Capability in order to change it from one to the other.
- You can rearrange your lists to put the services in the order you want. Just click and drag the service as needed.
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Can I change the order of my ‘Specialties’, ‘Capabilities’ and ‘Materials’?
Yes, just click on the one you want to move and drag it to a different spot in the list.
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Why do I keep getting error messages when I put my company description in?
The field is limited to 1000 characters (including spaces). If you use Microsoft Word (for example) as your editor, you can select your description and then use ‘Tools>Word Count’ to find out how much you need to remove.
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How do I embed YouTube videos in my profile?
You can embed YouTube videos (appropriate ones, obviously) in your “Description” on the “Summary and Contact” page. You can also embed them on the ‘Facilities’ page in the ‘Manufacturing equipment’, ‘Testing equipment’ and ‘Inspection equipment’ sections.
To do this your videos must be available on YouTube. Once you’ve located your video on their site click on the “Embed” text box over to the right in the gray ‘About This Video’ box. Copy that text and paste it into one of your profile fields mentioned above.
- IMPORTANT!!! After pasting in the YouTube copy, you must edit it in two places to resize it. If you don’t, your video will be too big and overlap your other information and look awful. The width must be changed to 300 and the height to 255 at the beginning and the end of the YouTube copy. Make sure you save after that.
You should check to make sure that it appears the way you want it to and make adjustments to the text around your videos as needed. Your videos should now be part of your profile when anyone views it at SupplierSource.
If you have any problems, contact us at support.
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How do you ensure that SupplierSource suppliers are valid?
We use several industry databases as well as contact with each supplier to confirm that the supplier is a valid business offering the services listed. Each profile is carefully reviewed before publication.
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What happens when I ‘Report this profile’ or ‘Flag as inappropriate’ a portfolio image?
Flagging an image or profile notifies support to review that content. Flagging it does not remove it from public view.
The flagged items area is checked by tech support several times a day. The images and profiles are checked carefully and if the flag is justified, they are removed from public view while we check with the profile or image owner to determine what appropriate next steps are. Only one profile has had to be removed to date and we appreciate that a user brought it to our attention.
If you flag something and have strong feelings about it, please email us directly at support so that we can communicate with you directly. The flags by themselves are anonymous.
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May I suggest a FAQ question?
Of course, please do! Send it to us at info and thank you.
