Ask a supplier for a document, such as a certificate of insurance

A request emails one supplier contact a private link to their request page, listing the requirements you chose. The contact confirms a code sent to their email address, then uploads the documents or replies.

How do I prepare a request?

1. Open the supplier

   On Suppliers, open the supplier and choose Prepare request. It appears once the supplier has a current requirement, and the confirmation of an assignment offers it too. The dialog Request documents opens.

2. Choose the recipient

   Pick the contact under Recipient. With no contact yet, the field links to the supplier's Contacts tab to add one. A contact marked “reason needed” has no recorded reason you can email them: an Owner, Admin or Manager can fill in Reason you can email this contact and choose Save reason without losing the request.

3. Choose the requirements

   Tick the requirements to include under Requirements. A requirement that can't be requested now, for example because a document is waiting for review, shows the reason and can't be ticked.

4. Write the message

   Edit Message to the supplier, from 8 to 2,000 characters. Use plain text with no web or email addresses: suppliers open requests only through Vendarity's secure link.

5. Review the request

   Choose Review request. Nothing is sent yet.

6. Send it or save it

   In Review and send, check the recipient, each requirement with its site and response due date (and its version, once the requirement has more than one), when it will send, and the message. Choose Send request to queue it, Save as draft to send it later, or Edit request to go back.

Choosing Send request is the confirmation. Vendarity saves the request and opens its page, where you can follow its delivery. Under What happens next, the page says when the email is planned to go out, that the contact gets a private link that works for 7 days, that what they send waits in Review for your team, and whether automatic reminders will follow it up.

When does the email go out?

Requests go out on weekdays, 9 am to 5 pm in the contact's timezone, or your workspace's timezone when the contact has none. The review step shows the exact time.

• Each contact receives at most one request or reminder email in 24 hours, and eight in any 30 days.
• Each workspace has a daily limit on request emails: 25 on the trial and 500 on Core and Growth. A request past it waits for the next day.
• The reason you can email the contact, the documents on file and the limits are checked again just before sending.

What does my supplier receive?

One email, sent by Vendarity for your business. It contains:

• A subject that names your business, how many documents you need and the response due date, such as “Harbour Group Pty Ltd is asking for 2 documents (due 30 Nov 2026)” (example, fictional data).
• A first line that says your business uses Vendarity to collect documents, and that the supplier needs no account or password and pays nothing.
• Your message, then each requirement with its site, if one is set, and its response due date.
• An Open your requests button. The link works for 7 days, and the supplier confirms a code sent to the same address before anything opens, unless they asked Vendarity to remember the browser they use.
• How to pause these emails, a link to help for suppliers, and a line for anyone who wasn't expecting the email to report it.

When replying by email is set up for Vendarity, the email also tells the supplier they can reply with the documents attached. Emailed files appear under Email replies on Review, where a reviewer chooses the requirement each one is for.

An automatic reminder looks the same, with the same subject. Its message is fixed: “This request was sent automatically about the documents below and their due dates. Questions? Open the request and choose Ask a question on that item.”

Will the supplier hear what we decide?

Not when you accept a document. When an Owner or Admin requests changes, Vendarity can email the reason to the supplier's primary contact, and an Owner, Admin or Manager can email a shared message the same way (see Review a document and accept it or request changes). Otherwise the supplier sees the result on their request page while their link works. To ask them for a new document, send a new request, or let automatic reminders ask again if they're on.

What can stop a send?

When something stops a send, the review step explains it and offers only Save as draft. The draft is kept, and you can send it from its page once the reason is resolved:

• Supplier email is off for the workspace, or isn't set up.
• Reminders are paused for this supplier.
• Supplier emails from your workspace are paused while Vendarity reviews a report or delivery problems. See Check that request emails were delivered.
• The contact paused request emails. Only they can resume them; choose another contact.

Delivery doesn't mean the supplier opened the email, sent a document or had it accepted.