Rate suppliers after an award
After a contract is fulfilled, mark it complete and leave a performance rating -- which feeds the supplier's Trust Score and shapes how the whole network evaluates them.
What you'll learn
- Understand why the rating cycle starts with Mark as Completed, not automatically
- Navigate to the Ratings tab and leave a performance rating
- See how your rating feeds the supplier's Trust Score
- Understand the bidirectional nature of ratings -- the supplier rates you too
When you awarded the contract, you set an expected completion date. Once that date passes, VEXORS prompts you to close the loop: mark the contract complete and leave a rating for the supplier's performance. That rating goes directly into their Trust Score.
Trust Score is only as reliable as the ratings behind it. Every honest rating you leave helps the next buyer make a better decision about that supplier. Every rating the supplier leaves about you helps the next supplier decide whether your requests are worth bidding on.
Why this matters
Trust Score is not a vanity number. When a buyer sees a Trust Score of 88 versus 52 on two otherwise comparable bids, that difference is built from the experiences of real buyers who ran real transactions. Your rating after this contract contributes to that signal. The more buyers rate accurately and promptly, the more useful the network's signals become for everyone.
How the rating cycle works
Ratings are not triggered automatically at the expected completion date. The cycle starts when you mark the contract complete. This design is intentional: delivery sometimes runs slightly late, or you need a few days to inspect what was delivered before you can rate it fairly. You control when the rating window opens.
| Who does what | When |
|---|---|
| Buyer marks contract complete | After delivery is received and accepted. This opens the rating window for both sides. |
| Buyer rates the supplier | Immediately after marking complete, from the Ratings tab on the request. |
| Supplier rates the buyer | At the same time, from their side of the transaction. They rate your company, not an individual. |
| Scores update | Both Trust Scores update once both ratings are submitted, or after the rating window closes. |
Leaving a rating, step by step
Go to the Ratings tab on your awarded request
Open the request and select the Ratings tab. Before the expected completion date, you will see the contract status showing when delivery is expected. After the expected completion date passes, you will see a prompt to mark the contract complete.
If the contract was fulfilled before the expected date, you do not need to wait -- you can mark it complete at any point after the award is confirmed.
Mark the contract as completed
Select Mark as Completed. A confirmation dialog asks you to confirm that the contract has been fulfilled. Once confirmed, the rating window opens for both you and the supplier simultaneously.
The Ratings tab now shows the rating form. Leave a star rating (1 to 5) and an optional comment describing your experience. Your comment can cover delivery reliability, product or service quality, communication, and whether you would work with this supplier again.
Select Submit Rating. Your rating is submitted.
Neither you nor the supplier can see each other's rating until both sides have submitted (or until the rating window closes). This prevents the first rating from influencing the second.
The supplier's rating of you
At the same time as you rate the supplier, they receive a prompt on their side to rate your company as a buyer. They rate your company, not you personally.
Their rating of you contributes to your company's Trust Score, just as your rating of them contributes to theirs. Buyers with high Trust Scores attract stronger bids because suppliers are more confident in the transaction experience.
The rating they leave is not shown to you until the rating window closes on both sides.
What ratings affect
Your rating of the supplier affects their Trust Score directly. The more transactions a supplier has been rated in, and the more consistently positive those ratings are, the higher their Trust Score climbs.
Trust Score appears in three places you will recognise from your own sourcing:
- On supplier profiles in Discover, next to their company name.
- On each bid in the Bids tab, as a badge beside the supplier's name.
- In AI Scoring results, as an input to how suppliers are evaluated.
A supplier with a Trust Score of 88 earned it through positive buyer experiences across the network. A score of 52 is a signal that something went wrong with enough frequency to pull the average down. Your accurate rating moves both of those numbers in the right direction.
Using Chat to coordinate after the award
After the award is confirmed, the Chat tab on the request opens for direct communication with the winning supplier. Use it to confirm next steps, share delivery instructions, or agree on a start date. The full chat history stays tied to the request, alongside the bid and the award record.
Honest ratings benefit your future sourcing too
The more accurately buyers rate suppliers across the network, the more reliable Trust Score becomes as a signal. When you next review bids and see a Trust Score difference between two otherwise comparable suppliers, that difference is built on ratings like the one you just submitted.
What good looks like
- Rate based on actual performance: delivery on time, quality of goods or services, responsiveness to issues. Do not adjust your rating based on price -- you already evaluated that before the award.
- Rate promptly after marking complete. Delayed ratings give a less accurate picture of the supplier's current performance.
- A 3-star rating with a specific, factual comment is more useful than a 5-star rating with no comment. The comment tells the next buyer what the star count cannot.
- If delivery was late or quality was below expectations, say so in the comment. Protecting a supplier from accurate negative feedback does not serve the network or the next buyer who considers them.
- Mark the contract complete even if the transaction was imperfect. An unrated transaction is invisible to the Trust Score network.
Next steps
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