Frequently Asked Questions

The 2.9% collateral system serves several critical functions:

• It ensures authentic demand signals by requiring financial commitment from buyers
• It provides suppliers with verified market data before making production/inventory decisions
• It creates trust in the marketplace by reducing cancellation risk
• It transforms the "wishlist problem" of traditional retail into financially-backed demand data

When your bid is accepted, the 2.9% deposit is applied toward your purchase. If the supplier declines your bid or you cancel before acceptance, your deposit is immediately returned to your account.

Traditional e-commerce operates on a "push-based" model where:

• Suppliers invest heavily in inventory upfront without knowing true demand
• Prices are fixed by manufacturers (MSRP)
• Consumers have limited ability to express their true willingness to pay
• $1.77 trillion is wasted on excess inventory and stockouts annually

Nexum's "pull-based" model flips this dynamic by:

• Eliminating upfront inventory risk for suppliers
• Creating transparent price discovery through bidding
• Aggregating consumer demand before production
• Ensuring economically viable order sizes with minimum thresholds

Most products on Nexum require at least 10 buyers to place bids before a supplier will consider fulfilling the aggregated order. This ensures:

• Economically viable order sizes for suppliers
• Better pricing for consumers through collective buying power
• Reduced per-unit costs through optimized production runs

For high-demand products, this threshold might be higher (50-100+ buyers). The threshold for each product is displayed on the product page.

Your bid remains active until one of these events occurs:

• A supplier accepts the bid and processes the order
• You cancel your bid before it's accepted
• The product is discontinued or removed by the supplier

There is no fixed time limit on bids, giving suppliers flexibility to evaluate demand before making decisions. You can cancel your bid at any time before acceptance and receive your full 2.9% deposit back.

Currently, you cannot modify a bid once it's placed. If you want to change your bid amount, you should:

1. Cancel your existing bid (your 2.9% collateral will be returned)
2. Place a new bid with your updated amount

This ensures transparency in the marketplace and maintains the integrity of demand signals.

Suppliers gain numerous advantages through our platform:

• Zero upfront inventory investment required
• Real-time demand data backed by financial commitments
• Margin analysis to optimize pricing decisions
• Reduced forecasting errors and excess inventory
• Ability to test market interest with minimal capital
• Direct connection to consumers without traditional retail markups

Our dashboard provides suppliers with comprehensive analytics including weighted average bid prices, total units demanded, and margin calculations.

Yes, Nexum takes security seriously. We use industry-standard encryption and never store your full credit card details on our servers. Our payment processing is handled by Stripe, a PCI-compliant payment processor trusted by millions of businesses worldwide.

For the 2.9% collateral deposit, funds are held securely in escrow until your bid is either accepted or declined/canceled. All refunds are processed automatically and immediately.

Once a supplier accepts your bid, a binding purchase agreement is created. At this point:

• Your 2.9% collateral is applied to the purchase
• You are charged the remaining balance (97.1% of your bid amount)
• The order proceeds to fulfillment

To avoid unwanted purchases, we recommend canceling any bids you no longer wish to fulfill before they are accepted by suppliers. You can manage all your active bids from your dashboard.

To become a supplier on Nexum:

1. Create an account and select the "Supplier" role during registration
2. Complete the supplier verification process including business details
3. Set up your payment method to receive funds
4. Start listing products on your supplier dashboard

We're currently prioritizing Nashville-based boutique retailers during our initial launch phase. If you're interested in becoming a supplier partner, please contact us at partners@nexum-marketplace.com.