Find vendors

/find-vendors is a marketplace: a customer browses suppliers, compares what each offers and applies, or invites a supplier they already work with. /find-vendors/<id> shows one supplier. Data comes from GET /v1/supplier/find-vendors and GET /v1/supplier/find-vendors/<id>; the listing text is written through the Supplier listing API.

Who can use it#

• Customers (APPLICANT) in the customer workspace.
• Vendor-side users get a hand-off card instead, pointing to Invite customer and the applications list. The same URL does opposite jobs for the two sides, so it never redirects silently.

Gate and empty states#

When finder.apply is blocked (business details open, or required verification in review) the page shows the same notice as the dashboard: why, what is being checked, what you can still do (browse, save references, invite colleagues) and the one button that unblocks you. Applying itself waits on the gate; browsing does not. With no suppliers listed the panel says so and offers "Use a supplier's link"; a search with no match offers Clear search. Test hooks: vendor-card (with data-vendor-id), vendor-search, gate-notice.

What is listed#

Only suppliers that are active, approved, vendor-enabled and have a published application, sorted by name, at most 200. Pending, denied and suspended suppliers are not shown. Being listed on an external business-search result never authorizes an application.

Searching and comparing#

Everything below runs in the browser over the (at most 200) listed suppliers.

• Search matches the supplier name, category and tagline.
• The supplier page's apply box repeats the median decision time (last 12 months) when it is shown on the card.
• Category filters to one category. Payment terms keeps suppliers that have granted exactly that many days (Net 30, for example); the menu offers only terms some listed supplier has granted, and neither menu appears when there is nothing to choose from.
• Sort is by name (default) or Fastest decisions. Fastest puts suppliers with a published decision time first, shortest first; suppliers without one follow by name, so a new supplier is never hidden.
• My status keeps All vendors, Not applied, In progress (draft, submitted or in review) or Approved, by your own latest application to each supplier. A declined application matches none of the last three.
• The filters live in the page address (q, category, terms, sort, mine), so a shared link or a reload keeps them. Unknown or oversized values in the address are ignored.
• Clear search resets the search, the category, the payment terms and My status.

Each card shows the supplier's name, category and, when the supplier wrote one, its tagline, then fact chips. If you already applied to the supplier, the card shows the status of your latest application (and Your terms: Net N once approved) and View application replaces Apply, linking to that application. Otherwise it shows Apply. View details is always there.

Facts on a card#

The chips are computed from the supplier's own history, not typed by the supplier, and a fact that does not exist yet is not drawn:

• Net N / M lists the payment terms (days) the supplier has granted on approved applications, ascending, each once.
• Decides in ~N days is the median whole days from submission to decision over the last 12 months, at least 1. It appears only once the supplier has made at least 3 decisions in that window, so no single customer's application can be read from it.
• N references required is the minimum number of trade references on the supplier's published form, shown when it is above zero.

Supplier detail#

The apply box starts with How applying works: you fill in your business details (and references only when the supplier's form asks for them) at no cost, the supplier's credit team reviews it (with the usual decision time when it is known), and you follow the status on your application page.

The page subtitle is the supplier's tagline when it has one. An About section shows the same fact chips and the supplier's rich text, written by the supplier in the Application form Listing tab; it is hidden when there is neither text nor a fact. The text is rendered with a fixed set of elements (no images, no raw HTML), and its links open in a new tab. VendorLogic does not review it.

The page also shows the status of your own application with that supplier (shared status words) and what the supplier asks for (from its published form: business details, bank reference, principals, trade references and any extra questions) so a customer can prepare, and the status of their own application with that supplier. Apply continues at Customer applying.

Inviting a supplier#

The page reads: suppliers to apply to first. Invite a vendor and Find businesses nearby open dialogs; the nearby results then appear on the page, and Search again reopens the search. Inviting from a result opens the invitation dialog pre-filled.

Customers can invite a supplier that is not on VendorLogic. The invitation arrives as a link to /supplier-invitation/<token>; an invalid or expired link (410) shows an unavailable page.