Selling Critical Materials to Verified Buyers: A Seller's Guide
Sellers — producers, processors, traders and brokers with material to place
By the StrategicRawMaterial team · · 9 min read
If you hold critical materials, finding a buyer is rarely the hard part. Finding the right buyer is: a verified company that will commit to your terms, without you having to reveal your position, your stock or your pricing to the whole market first.
StrategicRawMaterial gives sellers a direct route to verified buyers. You list material once, it is independently verified, and verified buyers compete for it in a sealed auction, with your company name hidden until the moment a deal is made. When a match happens, the contract is already in place.
This guide explains how to join, how material verification works, what it costs, and how an Offer becomes a settled deal.
In short: Joining is free. The only fee on the platform is the material verification fee of USD 100 per started metric ton, paid when you list. There is no commission on your sales. Your identity stays hidden until you are matched.
Why sell on StrategicRawMaterial
- Only verified buyers. Every company on the platform has passed a KYC/KYB check before it can bid. No time lost on counterparties who cannot close.
- Verified material sells on its merits. Independent verification gives buyers the confidence to bid on your terms, not discount for uncertainty.
- Anonymous until match. Buyers see your material, grade, volume, lead time and price, but not your company. Your market position stays private.
- Sealed, rules-based auctions. Buyers cannot see each other's bids, and the winner is chosen by transparent scoring, not negotiation.
- No commission. You pay for verification once per listing. The value of the deal is yours.
Step 1: Join the marketplace
StrategicRawMaterial is a closed marketplace. Every company is reviewed before it joins, which is exactly why buyers trust the Offers they see.
1. Request access. Select Request access on our homepage and provide your company legal name, country of incorporation, registration number, your name, role, business email and the materials you trade.
2. Application review. Our team reviews your application. You receive a confirmation email as soon as you submit, and an invitation email once you are approved.
3. Activate your account. Follow the invitation link, set your password and sign in. You can browse the marketplace right away, including buyers' open Requests, which is a useful view of current demand.
Step 2: Verify your identity
Before you can list material, we complete a KYC/KYB check through our identity partner, Entrust: your identity, your company's corporate documents, and sanctions and PEP screening.
Select Verify identity in the header (or open Profile) and choose Request verification. Once it clears, your account receives the Verified Identity badge, posting is unlocked, and you start on the Starter seller pathway.
Step 3: Know your seller pathway
Your seller pathway determines the scale you can trade at. It grows automatically with every sale that settles.
| Seller pathway | How you reach it | Active Offers and quotes | Volume per posting | Shortest lead time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | Identity verified | 1 | up to 1,000 kg | 60 days |
| Verified Partner | 1 settled sale | 2 | up to 10,000 kg | 30 days |
| Premier Partner | 5 settled sales | 5 | up to 50,000 kg | 14 days |
The posting form applies these limits for you and shows how many of your active slots are in use (for example, Active postings 1 / 2). Your Profile shows how many settled sales you need for the next level, and you are notified by email and in the app when you reach it.
Starting small is by design. Your first sale builds a verifiable track record, and buyers can see your number of settled deals once you are matched.
Step 4: Post your first Offer
Open Post Offer / Request, choose Offer, and describe your material:
- Material and grade (purity)
- Volume in kilograms
- Lead time: how soon you can deliver
- Location the material ships from
- Asking price: your floor. Bids below it are not accepted.
When you submit, you confirm the Offer terms and consent to material verification. You are then taken to the payment page for the verification fee.
The verification fee
The fee is USD 100 per started metric ton of the volume you post. It is charged once per listing and is the only fee on the platform.
| Posted volume | Started metric tons | Verification fee |
|---|---|---|
| 400 kg | 1 | USD 100 |
| 1,000 kg | 1 | USD 100 |
| 2,500 kg | 3 | USD 300 |
| 10,000 kg | 10 | USD 1,000 |
You can pay immediately or later from Billing → Verification fees, which also shows the status of each verification. Until the fee is paid, you can still withdraw the Offer free of charge. Once it is paid, verification begins and the Offer is committed.
Step 5: Material verification
Verification is carried out by our independent partner, TracePass, before your material is shown to any buyer. Depending on the material and its origin, the audit can cover:
- Facility documentation and video inspection
- Laboratory assay confirming the stated grade
- Certificate of origin and chain of custody
- Customs and regulatory compliance checks
When verification completes, your Offer goes live automatically, and your account earns the Material Verified badge. There is no further approval step.
This is the core of the marketplace's value to you: a buyer bidding on your Offer is not bidding on a claim. They are bidding on verified material, and they price it accordingly.
Step 6: Live, anonymous and sealed
Once live, your Offer appears on the marketplace's Offers tab with its commercial terms and without your company name or location.
Buyers place sealed bids, each stating a price, volume, committed lead time and delivery location. You see how many bids your Offer has received and nothing more. Neither you nor any buyer can see individual bids. This keeps the auction clean: buyers bid their best terms, and nobody can adjust their position against incoming offers.
You do not need to review, accept or reject bids. The auction does that work.
Step 7: Evaluation, match and contract
When the auction closes, every bid is scored by the same transparent rules, weighing price most heavily, alongside volume, lead time and location. The highest-scoring bid wins, and the result is recorded on a tamper-evident auction ledger.
The deal then opens in your deal workspace as Matched & Contracted:
- You and the buyer, and only the two of you, see each other's company name, contact email, contact phone and profile summary.
- The contract is generated automatically from the terms both parties agreed to, naming buyer and seller.
Delivery and payment run directly between you and the buyer, under the contract. StrategicRawMaterial takes no commission and does not sit in your payment flow. When delivery and payment are confirmed, the deal is marked Settled and counts toward your seller pathway.
Quoting on a buyer's Request
You do not have to wait for buyers to find you. On the marketplace's Requests tab you can see what verified buyers are looking for: material, grade, volume, lead time and their maximum price.
To respond, submit a quote. The process mirrors an Offer: you confirm terms, pay the verification fee for the quoted volume, and your material is verified by TracePass before your quote stands. Quotes are sealed and scored in exactly the same way.
Your verification is never wasted. If your quote does not win, it is automatically converted into a live Offer on the marketplace, with no second verification fee, so your verified material stays in front of buyers.
Frequently asked questions
- Will buyers or competitors know my company is selling?
- No. Before a match, your Offer shows only its commercial terms. Your identity is revealed solely to the buyer you are matched with.
- Can I withdraw an Offer?
- Yes, until the verification fee is paid. After that, verification is under way and the Offer stays committed to the market.
- Do I have to accept or negotiate bids?
- No. Bids are evaluated automatically when the auction closes, and the highest-scoring bid wins. You set your terms once, in your Offer.
- Is there a commission on sales?
- No. The verification fee of USD 100 per started metric ton is the only fee on the platform.
- How do I list more than 1,000 kg?
- Settle your first sale. Your seller pathway moves to Verified Partner automatically, raising your limit to 10,000 kg per posting and two active postings.
Put your material in front of verified buyers
Request access from our homepage. Once your company is verified, your first Offer can be live as soon as its material verification completes.