Pretty cool in theory, one website covers most of your big distys for ordering. All that ease of use for free.

http://mysupplystream.com/

Ha, how is it I posted the same thread, almost identical title, at the same time? I'm curious out this site too. (It's only free for a trial period though, then $29 a month)

Would be great if it works. The amazon of ci distys.

Very interesting. Might be the thing my local distributors need to keep up with snap.

Interesting...

Wrap that up with some estimating and design tools and I would pay $30 a month.

great concept, I'm not sure about some of the selections available from what I've looked at so far.

 Interesting.
Found few, small issues already, just by browsing the site.
Things like Denon AVR4520CI, MSRP $999.
If you don't know the MSRP for product, don't guess.
Leave it blank like in the case of URC's DMS-AV, where it shows it as $0.

Hi Everyone,

My name is Kirk Chisholm. I'm the founder of SupplyStream. It's great that you started this thread, we really want the feedback. This system is all about the dealer. I'd be glad to answer any questions you may have. To get things going and address some of the initial comments though...

Our Mission
"Our mission is to build the world's most complete, intuitive and industry-specific product database. A place where resellers can find anything they may need for their business' and order online with ease."

Team
We are 10 full time staff comprised mostly of developers and data specialists. We have a full time employee (Kyle Roy) who's dedicated to interfacing with dealers. We are fully committed to making a go at this and are well funded. This is not a DB that was hacked together over a weekend and will soon be out of date. You will be able to meet us all at Cedia this year, we have a booth (close to Snap).

Cost
True the system will cost $29 a month after the 60 day free trial, however don't expect to have to pay anytime soon. While we are in beta and working things out, we can't in good conscience start charging you guys. The system you see right now is an initial release, we are constantly updating it and will be launching a much nicer and cleaner design within the next week.

Selection
We have worked very hard to seed the system with over 70,000 items, 850+ brands and 50+ distributors. We receive requests every day for new brands and suppliers so if there is something you need just log in and use the request form (in the brand/supplier filter). It will automatically create a ticket for us in the background and shoot it to our entire data team. We'll get your data (for free).

Pricing
"Mario", about the MSRP on the Denon receiver... That is flat out a mistake and we apologize. By the time you read this it should be updated to $2499 ([Link: mysupplystream.com]). The problem we are trying to tackle is a massive one. In a perfect world you would expect manufacturers to just send us all the current pricing. They are, but just not fast enough. So we took it upon ourselves to go out and manually enter MSRP pricing based on research. With so many items to check, some will fall between the cracks. Going forward we have made it quite easy for you guys to submit feedback for issues you see in real time. That function will be available on the new build.

Estimates
"GotGame", good thinking. We are working on that actually. You will be able to use the database to add items to a web-based proposal. It's going to take some time to complete it though, we have several other things we want to release first. It may have an additional cost (we havent decided yet) but it will be worth it. It's going to have some very cool features (hint: live notification when your client opens and starts viewing the proposal on the web)

Passport
Our big improvement coming out for Cedia is going to be our SupplyStream "Passport" and "Buy Instantly" program. We will certify you once as a legit industry dealer and then assign you a passport. This passport will give you access to see stock levels, shipping times and instantly buy new products from distributors with a credit card.

Thanks for checking us out guys. Open for questions...

Spent about an hour on the phone with Kirk today. He had messaged me wanting to talk since I had started a thread on the subject. It's always nice when companies actually care about what we think.

I will say that it sounds like they are on the right track for something great. If they are able to accomplish all that they are setting out to accomplish, then the site should be a great asset to all of us AV guys. I think the best advantage for me will be how much it will help my office manager order product, without having to constantly tell him where each item should come from. It seems like it will also make finding products to fit a particular need much easier. And as long as the distributors play along, it should make signing up for new vendors a breeze.

I guess time will tell. I am going to get setup and give it a try. As long as its in beta its free, so nothing to lose right?

So are you a dusty or do you aide in ordering for local disties ?

Hi longshot16, sorry for the delay. Looks like I forgot to subscribe to this one on my last post.

We are NOT a distributor. We are a tool that allows you to build a purchase order and send it to the distributors you currently order from. At our core though we are a marketing company that helps distributors reach dealers. Distributors sign up with us and load their product catalog.

Its been almost two years, any update on this service?

I stopped using BidMagic all together and use Supply Stream exclusively now. They still have some things to work out but they are constantly adding new features. I have done everything from a $1500 upgrade proposal up to $300k system in it. It saves a lot of time. Online help is almost instant in most cases. They really got the search engine down to where I rarely have to open up another browser to look something up. All we need now is for them to finish up the QB integration and give us a way to put in a Cover Sheet and our own Terms. Once we have that I'll give them 5 stars. Right now they get 3 stars +1 for effort. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them. We are a very small shop and any way I find to save time is worth paying for - Supply Stream is definitely worth using. You should be able to get a 30 day free trial if you ask for one and they will do an online tutorial with you that will show you how easy it is.

Thanks, @Sinistar. Quickbooks Integration with QB Online is about half-way done. We've finished the link to their API, now we're working on sending the data back and forth. Terms are also a high priority and will be coming very soon. Working for that 5 star rating! :)