Responding to Bids

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Responding to Bids

How to handle carrier bids effectively — accept, reject, counter, or save bids for quoting. Plus how to hold carriers accountable when they don't perform.

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What is Responding to Bids?

When carriers bid on your freight, you have several options for how to respond. Your response time and approach directly impact carrier engagement — carriers track how quickly brokers respond and prioritize those who engage promptly.

What brokers use bid responses for:

Accept winning bids — Lock in the carrier and move to coordination.
Counter strategically — Negotiate toward your target rate.
Reject cleanly — Let carriers move on instead of leaving them hanging.
Save for quoting — Use carrier bids to price customer quotes without committing.

Your Options

Action	What Happens
Accept	You agree to the carrier's rate. You'll be connected via email to finalize details.
Reject	Decline the bid (carrier is notified so they can move on).
Counter	Propose a different rate — many carriers will meet you in the middle.
Use Bid	Save the bid for quoting purposes without committing.

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Screenshot Needed: Bid card showing Accept, Reject, Counter, and Use Bid action buttons.

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Best Practices

Respond Quickly

Respond within 1 hour when possible. Carriers track response times and prioritize brokers who engage quickly. The best capacity goes to brokers who act fast.

Don't Ghost Carriers

If you're not interested, reject the bid so carriers can move on. Leaving bids in limbo frustrates carriers and damages your reputation over time.

Use Counters Strategically

Many carriers will meet you in the middle. When countering, you can reference market data: "Market median for this lane is $X" — this gives carriers context for your counter.