Can I see which suppliers are actually responding to requests before I connect them to my portal?

Yes, you can check the availability and responsiveness of suppliers before you fully integrate them. When you are setting up your portal and deciding which suppliers to connect, you can test the connection to see whether they are sending data through properly and whether the prices and inventory look reasonable for your market. This helps you avoid connecting to a supplier that might be slow, unreliable, or not a good fit for your customers.

The exact way this works depends on which suppliers you want to add and what plan you are on. Some suppliers are faster to connect than others, and some may take a day or two before data starts flowing through to your portal. You should be able to see real-time data from a test connection before you switch it on for your customers, so you are not guessing whether it will work well. If you notice that a supplier is sending old prices or has gaps in their inventory, you can decide not to use them, or you can investigate whether there is a problem with the connection itself.

Before you start testing suppliers, talk to your account manager about what options are available for your business and what the testing process looks like. They can walk you through how to check that a supplier is responding properly and what signs to look for that it is a good match for your portal.