Manage supplier contacts and messages

Contacts is the supplier customer directory. It combines buyer people and organizations your team can work with, including relationships created through invitations, imports, RFPs, deals, and conversations.

Find a buyer or agency

Open Contacts and search by a person's name, company, or other available directory fields. Use filters to narrow a larger customer list.

Open a contact to confirm the person and buyer organization before starting a commercial conversation. Two people can have similar names, and a buyer may work across more than one organization.

If a known contact is missing, clear filters and confirm the active supplier workspace. Directory visibility follows the relationships and permissions available to that workspace.

Import contacts

Use contact import when your team has a structured CSV list. Map the columns, review validation results, and resolve duplicates or malformed rows before completing the import.

An import creates or connects directory records. It does not automatically send a message, invite every person to Tap, or publish a deal.

See Import contacts for file preparation and validation.

Invite a buyer

Use the buyer invitation flow when the person should join Tap and connect with your supplier organization. Review the email address and organization before sending.

Invitation status and the resulting relationship remain visible to the supplier team. If an invitation expires, send a fresh one rather than forwarding an old sign-in link.

See Invite agencies and buyers.

Start a conversation

Use the contact action to message the selected buyer. Conversation is appropriate for relationship context, inventory questions, and deal follow-up.

Keep record-specific discussion in the related RFP Exchange, deal, quote, or Order when possible. That preserves the commercial context and activity history for both teams.

A direct contact message is not an Avail submission, quote, or Order confirmation. Use the structured action when a commitment or revision must be recorded.

Create a deal for a contact

From an eligible contact, choose the deal action to begin a private supplier deal with the buyer relationship already in context. Confirm the intended recipient before adding inventory or commercial details.

The deal remains a private draft until it is reviewed and published. See Create, publish, and manage supplier deals.

Edit and verify relationship data

Update the fields your permissions allow, and preserve the buyer's actual organization and role. Do not replace a shared directory identity merely to change an internal note.

Treat verification cues as identity evidence, not proof that every commercial detail is current. Confirm sensitive delivery instructions, billing details, and commitments in the appropriate transaction record.

Privacy and recovery

Only add business contact information your organization is permitted to use. Do not place private credentials, payment card data, or sensitive personal notes in contact records or messages.

If a duplicate or incorrect relationship cannot be resolved through the available controls, record the affected people and organizations and contact support. Avoid creating extra placeholder contacts because they can fragment message and deal history.