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| Help : FAQ |
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 Top 5 Questions |
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Q : What kind of service does Bidmain.com provide?
Bidmain provides the online Business-to-Government services. Using the web technology, Bidmain provides members with contracting information from the U.S. and Canadian government agencies. Furthermore, members receive contracting information either by Bidmain's daily e-mail report or by accessing its website.
Q : What is the main benefit of using Bidmain?
There are two main services Bidmain provides; contract opportunities and e-mail reports of bid leads.
First, contract opportunities contain bid notices, RFQ, RFP, and bidding opportunities from federal, state, and local government agencies from the U.S. and Canada. You can receive personalized bid notification emails or search them instantly on our website.
Furthermore, getting email notification of new bid opportunities that best match your product or service will save you a lot of time. This means that you don't have to waste your time looking for bid opportunities anymore.
With Bidmain, you will receive plenty of bids at your desktop everyday. Besides, with extra time available, you will be able to better prepare for bidding. Now, invest your time in selling and not searching! This will bring you more contracts won, in other words, more businesses and more profits.
Q : What agencies does Bidmain cover? What are the sources of Bidmain?
Bidmain covers all federal government agencies. This means we have contracting information from NASA, Department of Energy, Department of Defense, and many more.
As for state and local government agencies, Bidmain covers more than 50,000 government agencies which make Bidmain one of the largest B2G contracting information sources on the web. But, since there are so many local agencies that issue contracting information, it is possible that Bidmain does not provide the information from the agency you are dealing with. In that case, please write to our customer support team. Bidmain will add the source to its database and will provide the information through its email alert service and web service.
Q : Approximately how many government bids are available per day?
Usually, there are more than 3,000 new government bid opportunities available per day. Sometimes the number can go as high as 6,000 or as low as 1,500. But, usually more than 50,000 open bid opportunities are available at any given time.
Q : What kind of filtering options does Bidmain have? Will I only receive the information that matches my products or services?
The people at Bidmain understand that members prefer to receive one right piece of information than to receive a lot of information that is irrelevant to their business. That is why Bidmain offers several filtering options that help members to receive only relevant contracting information. Members can set up keywords, FSC categories and target business areas.
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| Opportunities |
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Q : Do you provide federal, state and local government opportunities? What are the sources of government opportunities?
Our Opportunities contain bid notices, RFQ, RFP, and contracting opportunities from federal, state, and local government agencies from the U.S. and Canada.
Q : Approximately how many government bids are available per day?
Usually, there are more than 3,000 new government bid opportunities available per day. Sometimes the number can go as high as 6,000 or as low as 1,500. But, usually more than 50,000 open bid opportunities are available at any given time.
Q : I know a website/agency that provides government contracting information. However, Bidmain does not seem to provide information from that website/agency.
If you give us the URL for the government agency or a specific bid you want us to update, we will do that within 48 hours of whenever you send it to Bidmain.
Q : I work for a government agency/public organization. Can my agency/organization post purchasing notice through Bidmain so that your members can read and respond?
Yes! If you give us the URL for the government agency you are working for, we will update it within 48 hours of whenever you send it to Bidmain.
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| E-Mail Report |
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Q : I did not receive today.
We send E-Mail Report on every business day. Please check with your email administrator if your email server is filtering out our emails as spam and request to get it delivered to you.
Also, please remember that you can always check our website to retrieve previous E-Mail Reports for up to 3 months.
Q : How does Bidmain email service work?
Bidmain's daily email contains bid information that match keywords, categories and target business areas of your choice. With Bidmain daily email service, you will be informed of new bid opportunities without searching through various websites.
Q : Can you only send me bids that are related to my products or services?
Bidmain offers three major filtering options: they are keyword, FSC (Federal Supply Code) category and target business area. When you register, you will be asked to set up all three options, and only bids that match all three options will be sent to you via email. For example, it is possible to receive only bids on "network equipment" in "[70] General Purpose Information Technology Equipment (including software)" category from the State of California.
Q : Please describe in detail the content of Bidmain.
Bidmain sends you the daily E-Mail Report on matching bids of your choice. In your daily e-mail report, there can be three main sections - bids that match with all three preference you set up, which are business category, keywords, and target area. Then the list of bids that match with two of the search options, which are keywords and target area. If there are not enough matching bids, we also give the list of bids that match with category and target area.
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| Subscription |
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Q : Does Bidmain offer a free trial? If so, how does the free trial work?
Bidmain offers a "1-week free trial" for those who would like to evaluate the service before becoming a full subscriber. Our "1-week free trial" allows full access to the Bidmain web service for one week. If you are satisfied with Bidmain service and decide to keep using it beyond the free trial period, your account will automatically be upgraded as a full member. If you feel that the service does not fit for your business, simply cancel during your free trial period and you will not be charged for anything. To cancel your subscription, please send an email with such request to our customer support team with your your ID. To sign up for a free trial, please fill out the secure online registration form.
Q : What should I do to continue use of Bidmain beyond the 1-week free trial period?
If you are satisfied with Bidmain's service and decide to keep using it beyond the free trial period, you do not have to do anything. Your free trial membership will be automatically changed into a full membership upon the termination of your free trial period if you don't request to cancel your subscription.
Q : I received the email, but the email was all broken and unreadable. What should I do?
The reason for broken email is because your email account does not support HTML email. First, you should check you current email account to see if it supports HTML email. If it does, please make sure that your email account is set up correctly to receive HTML emails. If your email account does not support HTML, you can receive Bidmain's daily E-Mail Report in text format.
To change the email format, please visit "My Bidmain" to change the email type from HTML to TEXT (If you are not logged in to Bidmain at this time, you will be asked to log in first). Another solution would be to get an email account that supports HTML. Most major web-based email services support HTML. For example, both Yahoo! Mail(mail.yahoo.com) and Hotmail(www.hotmail.com) support HTML. They are free and easy to use, so we recommend you open an email account with either one of them. * For AOL users, if you are using AOL version 6.0 or higher, you should have no problem receiving Bidmain's daily email. But if your AOL version is lower than 6.0, please update your AOL to the latest version. Also, please make sure that you have turned on the option to receive HTML email.
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| Billing and Security |
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Q : Is it safe to use credit cards to pay for my Bidmain subscription?
We guarantee that using a credit card to pay for Bidmain is 100% safe. Bidmain uses Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) software from VeriSign that is the industry standard and among the best software available today for secure online commerce transactions. It encrypts all of your personal information, including credit card number, name, and address, so that it cannot be read as the information travels over the Internet. For more information on our security solution, please visit www.verisign.com.
Q : I need a receipt for my Bidmain subscription. How do I get it?
Bidmain issues an online receipt for accounting use. To acquire an online receipt, please go to "My Bidmain" page and locate "Receipts" menu. (If you are not logged in to Bidmain at this time, you will be asked to sign in first.)
Q : I am in the middle of my Bidmain subscription and I would like to cancel. Do I receive refund of my subscription fee?
No. If you subscribe to Bidmain service semi-annually or annually and decide to cancel during the subscription period, the remaining portion of the subscription fee will NOT be refunded. We leave your membership fully active until the upcoming due date of your account.
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| Troubleshooting |
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Q : I cannot log in to Bidmain with my ID and password. Please help.
This may happen if your Bidmain membership is expired or cancelled. Please write to our customer support team to solve this problem.
Q : Why am I seeing a blank page when I try to sign in?
This is because you are trying to log in when you are already logged on.
Q : I did not receive Bidmain's daily email report today.
You can log in to our website and click "E-Mail Report" page to see all your past and today's email reports. If you are not logged in at this time, you will be asked to sign in first.
Q : I received the email, but the email was all broken and unreadable. What should I do?
The reason for broken email is because your email account does not support HTML email. Or, maybe it is because you have set up your email option to receive only TEXT email. First, you should check you current email account if it supports HTML email. If it does, please make sure that your email account is set up correctly to receive HTML emails. If your email account does not support HTML, you can receive Bidmain's daily email report in TEXT format. To change Bidmain's email format, please visit "My Bidmain" page, and change email type from HTML to TEXT. If you are not logged in to Bidmain at this time, you will be asked to log in first. Another solution would be to get an email account that supports HTML. Most major web-based email services support HTML. For example, both Yahoo! Mail(mail.yahoo.com) and Hotmail(www.hotmail.com) support HTML. They are free and easy to use, so we recommend you to open an email account with either one of them. * For AOL users, if you are using AOL version 6.0 or higher, you should have no problem receiving Bidmain's daily email report. But if your AOL version is lower than 6.0, please update your AOL to the latest version. Also, please make sure that you have turned on the option to receive HTML email.
Q : I am a Bidmain's full member and on a monthly subscription plan. Does my subscription renew automatically? Or do I have to request for my subscription renewal each month?
For members who subscribe to Bidmain on a monthly basis, the subscription renewal occurs automatically every month. This means that your membership will continue to renew until you request a cancellation. Also, the monthly subscription fee will be charged to your credit card automatically.
Q : How do I enable Javascript?
Bidmain.com requires that JavaScripts be enabled for your browser. This is done through your browser properties page. Information on how to do this in most Internet browsers is provided below. If your browser is not listed please visit the site of the company that provides your particular browser and search for "enable javascript".
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.x
1. On the menu bar click on "Tools" then "Internet Options."
2. From Internet Options, select the "Security" tab.
3. Click Custom Level.
4. Scroll down to "Scripting," make sure "Active Scripting" is set to Enable.
5. Click "OK."
6. Click "Yes" or "OK" when asked, "Are sure you wish to change the security settings for this zone."
7. Click "OK" on the Internet Properties window.
8. Close all open Internet Explorer windows and then relaunch Internet Explorer.
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.x
1. On the menu bar click on "Tools" then "Internet Options."
2. Click on the "Security" tab.
3. Click "Custom Level" button.
4. Scroll down to "Scripting," section.
5. Set "Active Scripting" to "Enable."
6. Click "OK" on the Internet Properties window.
7. Close all open Internet Explorer windows and then relaunch Internet Explorer.
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.x
1. On the menu bar click on "View" then "Internet Options."
2. Click on the "Advanced" tab.
3. Scroll down to "Scripting," section.
4. Set "Active Scripting" to "Enable."
5. Click "OK."
6. Click "Yes" or "OK"
7. Click "OK" on the Internet Properties window.
8. Close all open Internet Explorer windows and then relaunch Internet Explorer.
Netscape Communicator 4.x
1. Select "Preferences" from the Edit menu.
2. Find the "Enable JavaScript" section in the "Advanced" category.
3. Select "Enable JavaScript ".
4. Click "OK."
5. Close all open Netscape windows and then relaunch Netscape.
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| Others |
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Q : What is your privacy policy?
To find out how your information is protected, please read our "Privacy Policy" at the bottom of page.
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Top 5 Questions