Supplier Matching System

NowToPrint's matching system delegates candidate eligibility and deterministic ranking to the canonical @nowtoprint/marketplace/manufacturing policy. It produces explainable, manual-first supplier recommendation evidence for each RFQ. It does not auto-award work or start public-scale supplier routing automation.

Production Evidence in Quote Comparison

The quote comparison screen also shows Master Data production-fit evidence for each quote. Quotes directly matched to an inventory lot or supplier source appear in the production-ready filter; catalog-context-only quotes remain informational. Source trust and freshness are evaluated against one server-owned decision time when the screen opens, so the result does not drift while the page is open.

These signals do not alter the price or supplier rating and never award an order automatically. The buyer makes the final decision; quote acceptance revalidates the compared RFQ, quote and Master Data snapshot.

Capacity-Aware Shortlisting

A production capability says what a printer can manufacture; a capacity snapshot says whether it can manufacture the requested quantity during a specific time window. NowToPrint treats these as separate evidence.

Before a supplier reaches the manual shortlist, the policy checks capability fit, supplier recommendation, capacity expiry, already reserved capacity, currency, delivery region, price ceiling and lead-time ceiling. Eligible candidates are ordered deterministically by intelligence evidence, price, lead time and supplier identifier. The policy never awards a supplier.

The decision is fail-closed. A supplier without a durable capability, capacity, commercial and delivery-region snapshot is not placed in the shortlist. Missing buyer currency or delivery-region constraints produce an input-incomplete manual review result; the system does not invent a currency, price or capacity value.

Split fulfilment and material or producer substitutions always create a manual hold. Operations must review production, delivery, artwork scaling, commercial terms and buyer re-approval before continuing.

Matching Flow

Decision and ranking order

The policy first rejects failed hard constraints and records every stable reason code. Remaining candidates are ranked by intelligence score, then minor-unit amount, then business-day lead time, then code-point supplier id. The response includes the policy version, rank factors, capacity observation window and net available quantity so an operator can reproduce the decision.

Operational Score Gate

The operational supplier score comes from @nowtoprint/marketplace/suppliers, not from the web UI. A low score blocks public recommendation. A supplier with no history or recent quality/refund evidence stays in manual review and can appear only with explicit review context. Raw verification documents, internal score inputs, and private evidence hashes are not exposed in matching responses.

Notification System

Notification Priority

Decision state	Priority	Notification
Shortlist for manual review	High	Priority review or notification candidate
No eligible candidate	Hold	No supplier notification is sent
60-79	Medium	Standard review queue
40-59	Low	Optional digest or manual outreach
0-39	None	Not recommended for public notification

Supplier Visibility

For suppliers to see RFQs:

Requirement	Required
Enterprise Plan	Yes
Supplier Pack active	Yes
Profile complete	Yes
Category match	Yes
City match	Optional

Category Specialist Signal

A category specialist signal can help operations interpret a supplier profile, but it does not guarantee extra visibility and cannot override the operational score gate.

Criterion	Requirement
Category focus	Strong recent quote or order history in that category
Acceptance quality	Healthy accepted-quote and completion pattern
Operational score	Clear or explicitly reviewed package-owned score signal
Manual review	Required when history is thin or quality/refund evidence is recent

The matching surface should treat this as supporting context for manual review, not as a deterministic ranking multiplier.

FAQ

Why can't I see some RFQs?

• They may not match your category profile
• Your city filter may be too restrictive
• They may be below your minimum order value

How can I improve my matching score?

• Complete your profile fully
• Respond quickly (your average response time matters)
• Maintain high customer satisfaction
• Become a category specialist

Can I serve all of Turkey?

Yes, you can tick the "All of Turkey" option in your profile settings.