Collecting submissions

Suppliers submit either by typing into an online grid or by filling in a generated Excel workbook and uploading it. Both are generated from the same field definitions and validated by the same code, so neither path can accept something the other would refuse.

Two paths, one form

Suppliers choose their path each time they submit, and can mix them: three items online today, a workbook of twenty tomorrow. Items append; a second upload never replaces the first unless the supplier explicitly asks it to.

The online grid

Everything is on one screen.

1. A bar at the top: the supplier tag, the submission type, and the input method, all as chips. Brokers pick which tag they are submitting for; a single-brand contact has one tag already chosen.
2. A grid, one row per item, with a numbered first column. Add 4 rows extends it; each row has a remove control.
3. Submit once, for every row.

Required fields carry an asterisk and help text sits under the column heading. Every row becomes an individually tracked item with its own reference ID, its own status, and its own history.

The Excel round trip

1. Download the template

   Generated live from the campaign's current form, so it is never out of date. Row 1 is the title, row 2 is the help text for each column, row 3 is the headers, and the header row is frozen.

2. Fill it in offline

   Required columns are marked with an asterisk. Dropdown and multi-select columns are real Excel dropdowns. Date columns with an allowed window state that window in the help row.

3. Upload it

   .xlsx only, up to 10 MB by default. Workbook uploads are scanned for malware before parsing, synchronously, because the file is opened in the same request.

4. Every row becomes an item

   Validated individually against the same field definitions the online form uses, and given its own reference ID.

When a row is rejected

Validation is per row and per field. The upload reports what failed, on which row, and why, with the field label rather than its key. The messages are the same ones the online form produces.

What the parser tolerates

• Currency written as $3.49 or 1,250.
• Dates as 2026-10-05 or 10/5/2026.
• Yes as Yes, Y, True, 1 or X.
• Dropdown values in the wrong case.
• Reordered, hidden or inserted columns.
• Completely blank rows, which are dropped.

What it refuses

• Text in a number column.
• A date outside the allowed window.
• A dropdown value not on the list, however close.
• A blank in a required column.
• A file that is not .xlsx.
• A file above the size limit.

A line sent twice

A submission adds to what is already there rather than replacing it, which is what makes a second upload safe. It also means a workbook sent twice leaves the same line in the campaign twice, and until the buyer reaches review nobody notices.

After a submission lands, the supplier is told about any line that repeats one they already sent, by reference: Q4PROMO-ACME-007 repeats Q4PROMO-ACME-003. Two lines repeat when every required field holds the same value. It is a warning, not a refusal: a supplier who means to send the same promotion twice can, and they see it while the workbook is still open rather than a week later in somebody else's queue.

Buyers see the same thing in the Received table, and can filter to it. See Received.

Attachments

Files are attached to an item after it exists, on the item screen, against a file field the form defines. They are never in the workbook, and a file field can never be required. See Intake forms and field types.

Editing and withdrawing

While the campaign is open, a supplier owns their items:

• Edit any field on any of their items, as often as they like.
• Attach and remove files.
• Withdraw an item. It stays on the record struck through as Withdrawn, so a buyer can see it existed.
• Submit more items at any time.

After the close, editing needs an edit access grant from you, scoped to one item or one submission. Suppliers can request one with a button on the closed campaign. See Suppliers, tags and access.

Watching it arrive

Items arriving before the close are Submitted and still the supplier's to change. Nothing is yours to decide until the campaign closes; see Received.