Reverse auction or tender? How a live freight bid works.

Most companies get a price for transport in one of three ways: quotations by phone, a tender, or a live bid. All three ask more than one transporter, but they work very differently. Here is how they compare, how a live freight bid runs, and the rules that keep it fair.

By Saeed Amin, founder of Rivo · 27 October 2026

Three ways to get a price

Quotations by phone or WhatsApp. Quick, but the prices are rarely on the same basis, there is no record of who said what and when, and transporters can learn each other’s prices.
A tender. Each transporter sends one sealed price by a deadline, and the prices are opened together. It is fair and on the record, but it takes days or weeks, and nobody can improve a price once it is in.
A reverse auction. The transporters bid against each other for a set time, and each can lower its bid while the time runs. The price moves down rather than up, which is why it is called a reverse auction.

When a tender still fits

A tender suits work where price is not the only question: a contract for a year of loads, for example, where you also judge the trucks, the insurance, the papers and the references. Once the transporters are approved and the job is the same for all of them, only the price is left to settle — and a live bid settles it in minutes. Many companies use a tender to choose and approve their transporters, then a live bid for each load. For routes with a fixed price, see contract freight rates.

How a live freight bid runs

You post the load once: the route, the goods, the weight, the number and type of trucks, and the date.
It goes to the transporters you choose, at the same moment, with the same details.
Bidding stays open for a number of minutes you set.
Each transporter bids a price per truck, and can lower it while bidding is open, within the rules.
Each transporter sees whether its own bid is the lowest, never another’s amount.
A bid in the last few minutes moves the closing time a little later, so nobody wins by waiting for the last second.
When the time is up, you award the load — usually to the lowest bid, otherwise with the reason on record.
The transporter accepts, and gives the details of each truck.

The rules that keep it fair

Only the transporters you invite see the load and bid.
Every transporter gets the same details at the same time.
Amounts stay private: a transporter learns only where its own bid stands.
A first bid must be a round number, each new bid must be lower by at least a set amount, and each transporter gets a set number of bids. This stops a bid from beating another by one rupee, and stops bids that never end.
Late bids extend the closing time, a set number of times.
An award that is not the lowest bid, or that is made before bidding closes, carries its reason.

How a live bid works in Rivo

In Rivo, bidding is one step in the life of a load. You choose who is asked: single transporters, a group of them, or every transporter connected to your company. Only they see the inquiry. You set how many minutes bidding stays open, within the shortest and longest your company allows, and it closes by itself on time.

Your administrator sets the rules: the round number a first bid must be a multiple of, how much lower each new bid must be, how many bids each transporter gets, and the late-bid extension. Unless your administrator changes it, a bid in the last 5 minutes moves the closing time to 5 minutes after it, up to 3 times. Before a bid is sent, the transporter checks it on one screen — the price per truck, the total, and the amount in words — and confirms it.

A transporter sees its own price in green, “Lowest so far”, or in red, “Not the lowest”. Two equal bids are both red. It never sees a rank, another transporter’s price, or who else was asked. You can also set a target price that transporters never see; they see only whether they have beaten it.

Your team watches the bidding live: every transporter invited, each bid and its time to the second, and the lowest marked. You can extend bidding — the extra minutes run from the moment you extend — or open it again after it has closed. When you award anything other than the lowest bid, or award early, Rivo asks for the reason from a fixed list. The transporters are told what happened, never why.

The transporter accepts the award or declines it with a reason. If it declines, the other bids still stand and you can award one of them. Once it accepts, each truck becomes its own record with a gate code, and the load runs on in Rivo: the truck details, the gate, the documents, delivery, and a bill built from the awarded price.

Sea freight works the same way, with freight forwarders quoting sailings: the price per container, the shipping line, the sailing and arrival dates, and how long the quote holds. Loads sold by weight are bid as a rate per tonne or per kg. You pay for each truck or container you post, with credits; loads on a contract use none, and transporters pay nothing. See what it costs.

Rivo has no sealed tenders and no scoring of documents, and it is not an open load board: only the transporters you invite see your loads. It does not award a load by itself, or split one load between transporters: a person on your team awards each one.