Looking around our website is a great way to see the activity in the market. Whether that be location specific picked up prices, current grain for sale or our trade history. Transparency is one of our core values and as such all that information is made available. There may be some abbreviations or jargon that you are unfamiliar with. I’ll explain these below.
I’ll start with a common question regarding the types of offers. There are two types those being firm, and indication offers.
In the context of our offers: firm offers are those that are binding and good to go. The seller is saying that if what they are asking for is met, they are entering into a contract with the buyer. These are great for pricing targets and can actually help get the best price. Buyers certainly prefer bidding on a firm offer over an indication.
Indication bids on the other hand are used to indicate that the seller has this grain available to sell and that they would like to have the asking price and movement time frame that the offer outlines. If a buyer meets these conditions the seller still has to confirm that they would be good to go. While buyers prefer firm offers indication offers, they can be useful. We use them for seller’s who have not used Agfinity’s services before.
Next we will look at some common abbreviations, the first one being OS. The red OS before a commodity shows that this is off spec. This means that the listed grain is below the standard specifications outlined or has something different about it. Examples of this would be light, tough, heated, mixed or anything else that differs from the usual. If the grain is exceptionally heavy it is not marked as OS as this is reserved for negative qualities.
A green NC with a leaf stands for New Crop. This is grain that has yet to be harvested. We see many producers want to lock in pricing before hand for numerous reasons (such as risk reduction). Buyers be on the look out for this one, that barely $1.25 under the current market probably isn’t a steal of a deal but rather a producer listing some new crop in advance.
The last abbreviation present is FOB. This stands for “free on board”. FOB is an incoterm meaning that the buyer takes control of the product once it leaves the seller’s shipping point. On our site that means that the price listed is the price “at the bin”. This is the price that the producer will receive after freight has been taken care of.
There are three other rather self explanatory terms you will see on the live offers page, those being cancelled, traded and expired. Cancelled offers are offers that has been taken down and are no longer for sale. Expired offers have elapsed their shelf life and can no longer be bid on. Not to worry though, these offers can be refreshed by calling the producer and confirming they are wanting to still have it for sale. Lastly offers that are marked Traded, are offers that have been traded recently. Looking out for these are a great way to see where the market is at.
Hopefully this was of help, if you wanted any further explanations feel free to give us a call at 1-888-969-5552.