Terms, Privacy and Review Policy

What Broker Buddy™ is

Broker Buddy™ is software for running truckload requests for proposal (RFPs). Shippers post RFPs, screen carriers and brokerages, collect sealed bids and award lanes. Carriers and brokerages keep a compliance profile, bid and build a reputation.

Broker Buddy™ is not a freight broker, freight forwarder or motor carrier. It does not arrange transportation, set rates, take possession of freight, tender loads or handle freight payments. Its role ends at the award. Dispatch, tendering, rates and payment are agreed directly between the shipper and the carrier.

Accounts

You need an account to use Broker Buddy™. You must give accurate information and keep it current. Carriers and brokerages verify their identity with a code sent to the phone number on their FMCSA record. You are responsible for activity under your account and your team members' accounts, and must tell us right away if you think an account was misused.

Brokerages and Shipper & Broker accounts

A brokerage account must have active FMCSA broker authority, a BMC-84 bond or equivalent financial security on file, and contingent cargo insurance, and is screened on those instead of fleet size and safety rating. A brokerage that bids arranges the transportation through its own carriers and is responsible for them under its own agreements.

A brokerage may host RFPs only for freight it has written authority to allocate. To do that it must upload proof, such as a signed transportation agreement or an allocation letter on the shipper's letterhead that names it, and state what freight the authority covers and when it ends. It must also identify a contact at the shipper who uses the shipper's company email address. Before hosting is turned on, Broker Buddy™ reviews the document, sends the shipper contact a link to confirm or deny the authority, and checks the contact's email domain or calls the shipper at a number we find independently. The account is then labeled Shipper & Broker. Authority ends on its stated end date unless renewed proof is confirmed the same way. The shipper is emailed each time an RFP is posted in its name and can stop it. The brokerage must tell us right away if the authority ends. If a shipper withdraws or doesn't confirm it, we pause hosting, notify bidders and may suspend the account. Misrepresenting allocation authority is a breach of these terms. [Indemnity for misrepresented authority, written by your attorney]

Carrier information and scores

Carrier profiles combine FMCSA records, compliance accounts the carrier connects, the insurance certificate and W-9 the carrier uploads, and reviews from shippers. Carriers and brokers are responsible for keeping their certificate current. Broker Buddy™ tracks the expiration date the carrier enters and emails reminders 30, 14, 7 and 1 day before it, but does not contact insurers or confirm coverage with them. Broker Buddy™ calculates an independent score from that information. Scores and alerts are information to help you decide. They are not a guarantee, certification or recommendation of any carrier or shipper. Each shipper remains responsible for its own carrier selection and compliance checks.

Company profiles for carriers, shippers and brokerages also show links to the company's website, LinkedIn page and Dun & Bradstreet profile (when it has a DUNS number) and, for public companies, its stock listing and SEC filings, along with headlines from public news sources that mention the company. Broker Buddy™ doesn't write or verify those headlines, and they don't affect any score. [Confirm licensing terms with the news data provider]

Sealed bids and confidentiality

Bids stay sealed until the shipper closes a round. Carriers must accept a confidentiality agreement before seeing an RFP's confidential package, and may use that information only to prepare their bid. Shippers may not share one carrier's rates with another.

Awards

An award notice is an offer from the shipper. A carrier accepts or declines each lane in Broker Buddy™. Any contract for transportation is between the shipper and carrier and is governed by their own agreement.

Fees

Carriers and brokerages join, keep a profile and are reviewed free. Taking part in an RFP you were invited to by the shipper or host is free for every round. Expressing interest in an RFP you found yourself takes one token, bought one RFP at a time ($25) or in Token Packs, at the prices shown before you pay. The token is held while the shipper decides. If the shipper selects you, the token is used. If you are not selected, are declined by the RFP's screening rules, withdraw before a decision, or the selection window closes without you, the token comes back to your balance (or the $25 hold is released). You can have at most 10 tokens on hold at one time. Tokens are valid for 12 months from purchase. Payments are not refundable. If you close your account or stop paying, your unused tokens stay on your account to use if you reopen it, and no refund is given for them. Shippers and Shipper & Broker accounts pay by subscription or per RFP to host, and Premium is an optional paid plan. Each account includes a set number of team seats; additional seats are sold in monthly packs. Reviewers added to a single RFP are free, can read that RFP and comment but not change it, and lose access 30 days after it is awarded. All prices are shown before you pay. Pilot partners use Broker Buddy™ free during the pilot. We email you 30 days and 7 days before any renewal with the exact price. You can cancel anytime in your account. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period. No refunds are given for subscriptions, single-RFP fees, seat packs, Premium or tokens, including when you cancel, close your account or stop paying. Your company profile, score and reviews stay published on Broker Buddy™ after your account closes or payment stops.

Acceptable use

Don't impersonate another company or use another carrier's USDOT number, post false information, try to see sealed bids early, scrape the service, or use it to harass anyone. We may suspend or close accounts that break these rules, including look-alike accounts flagged by our identity checks.

Disclaimers and liability

Broker Buddy™ is provided as is. Data from public and third-party sources can be delayed or wrong. [Warranty disclaimer, limitation of liability and indemnity, written by your attorney]

Changes and contact

We will email you before material changes take effect. These terms are governed by the laws of [state]. Questions: [legal contact email].

What we collect

• Account information: names, work emails, phone numbers and team roles.
• Company information: for carriers, USDOT and MC numbers, authority, fleet size, safety and inspection data, insurance status and equipment types; for brokerages, MC and USDOT numbers, broker authority, bond and contingent cargo insurance status, and for Shipper & Broker accounts the proof of allocation authority and the shipper contact who confirms it; for shippers, company details, payment timeliness and credit grade.
• Purchase records: bids bought and used, and receipts. Card details are held by our payment provider, not by Broker Buddy™.
• RFP information: lanes, volumes, documents, questions, sealed bids, awards and acceptances.
• Reviews you give and receive.
• Usage and device information, such as notification settings and when you sign in.

Where it comes from

From you, from your company's team members, from FMCSA (including registration, authority and identity data from its Motus system, and public safety records), from third-party compliance and credit sources [name providers once contracted], and from accounts a carrier or broker chooses to connect, such as its compliance services, ELD provider and Carrier411 profile, and from documents it uploads, such as its certificate of insurance and W-9 (including its count of FreightGuard reports). Connected accounts are read-only and can be disconnected at any time. If you connect Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel (OneDrive or SharePoint), Broker Buddy™ only creates and updates the sheets you send to it and reads the files you choose to import; you can disconnect at any time, and sheets already created stay in your account. [Confirm data-access terms with FMCSA and Carrier411]

How we use it

To run RFPs, verify identities and allocation authority, process purchases, calculate scores, send the emails you choose and show alerts on the site while you're signed in, alert partners when key information changes, prevent fraud, provide support and improve the service.

Who sees what

• A carrier's or brokerage's profile and score are visible to shippers on Broker Buddy™. A shipper's or host's score is visible to bidders. Whether a Shipper & Broker's allocation authority is verified, and for which shipper, is shown to bidders; the proof document is seen only by Broker Buddy™.
• Sealed bids are visible only to the shipper or Shipper & Broker that ran the RFP, and only after the round closes. Other carriers never see them.
• When a partner's status or key information changes, shippers and carriers that work with that partner are notified.
• Service providers that send email, process payments, host data or supply compliance data, under contract.

We do not sell personal information.

Retention and security

Company profiles, scores and reviews stay published after an account closes, so the industry record stays complete; personal details of the people on the account can still be corrected or deleted on request. We keep RFP records and audit logs for [period] so shippers have an auditable record, and delete or anonymize other data when it's no longer needed. [Security measures]

Your choices and rights

You can change notification settings anytime, and ask to see, correct or delete your personal information at [privacy contact email]. [State privacy law disclosures, written by your attorney]

Who can review

Only a shipper and a carrier that are parties to an accepted lane can review each other. No one can review a company they haven't worked with through Broker Buddy™.

How reviews are collected

After a carrier accepts a lane, both sides have 14 days to rate each other in set categories and say whether they would work together again. Neither side sees the other's review until both are in or the window closes, so neither can retaliate. Reviews can't be edited after submission.

What's not allowed

Reviews must be about your own experience on that award. No reviews about events the reviewer caused, no personal attacks, no confidential rate information and no offers of payment for reviews.

Disputes

A company can dispute a review within 30 days with evidence. A disputed review stays visible but doesn't count toward the score until a moderator decides. Reviews are removed only when they break this policy. Both sides are told the outcome.

How the score works

The Broker Buddy™ score runs from 0 to 100: 40% compliance and 60% reviews. Compliance starts at 100 and drops for each open issue, such as lapsed insurance or a downgraded safety rating. Reviews start from a neutral score that moves as reviews come in. A shipper's performance scorecard for a carrier it works with (tender acceptance, on-time pickup and delivery, claims and communication) counts as one review for each period it covers, whether the shipper enters it on Broker Buddy™ or uploads its own scorecard report. Uploaded scores and letter grades are converted to 0 to 100. Only the 4 most recent periods from each shipper count. A carrier can dispute a scorecard within 30 days, and it doesn't count while the dispute is reviewed. Any critical issue, such as inactive authority or a contact mismatch, caps the score at 50 until it's resolved. Tiers: Excellent 85 and above, Good 70 to 84, Watch 55 to 69, At risk below 55. No one can pay to change a score.