FeedPail auction and listing service connects customers to feed resources
FeedPail.com was launched in April 2012 with the goal of connecting feed ingredient suppliers with the producers looking for feed options for their animals.
“It started as a listing service for feed ingredient suppliers of all types,” explains Ryan Cooney, owner of FeedPail. “Now, we actually have two services in places – a supplier listing and reverse auction service.”
Beginning a business
“Today in the market, there are different changes that people are going through,” says Cooney, “but there isn’t a centralized market that people can get information and prices for feed ingredients.”
Cooney notes that FeedPail strives to help producers address that challenge.
“We talk about matching,” he explains. “We want to find the right seller for the right buyer.”
FeedPail notes that the site can help producers source a wide variety of feed ingredients for producers.
“Feedpail.com has reverse auctions and supplier listing for distillers’ grains, soybean meal, byproduct feeds, corn co-products, amino acids and other livestock feeds,” the site says.
Feed lists
FeedPail serves to make it easier for buyers to find bulk feed ingredients for their operations and has two different aspects.
The supplier listing aspect of the site allows suppliers to list bulk feedstuffs that are available for sale, as well as pricing and availability.
On the supplier listing site, producers are able to search for bulk feeds. Searches can be narrowed by product desired and even the region they are available. The service spans the entire U.S.
The service, which started as simply a list of available feedstuffs, evolved into a reverse auction service that also allowed buyers to list what they are looking for.
“In the listing section, producers can look at available feedstuffs and follow up on obtaining them,” says Cooney. “The other option is to list in the reverse auction.”
Reverse auction
In the reverse auction, buyers list a product they are looking for, and suppliers bid on the product if they have it available.
“The auction is a reverse auction because the prices go down as suppliers place bids,” he explains. “If a producers gets an acceptable bid at the end of the auction, they can choose to contact that supplier.”
FeedPail charges $50 to the buyer in order to obtain contact information, but Cooney notes that the fee is not paid until after the auction is over and an acceptable price is received.
On paying the fee, the producer is locked into the auction price.
To view listings or place a listing in the reverse auction, producers must register for a FeedPail account. Joining the FeedPail website is free of charge for users.
Moving forward
“The supplier listing is more active than the reverse auction service,” comments Cooney. “We continue to make updates and new iterations of the website to add features that customers are looking for and also changing formats to make it more useable to suppliers.”
In the first year, he mentions a number of improvements and four versions of the site that have optimized the function of the site.
“The site has really changed based on the amount of information we make available to both sides,” says Cooney, who notes the additional information is important for decision making. “We are trying to make it easier for producers to buy bulk ingredients and to get good prices.”
In asking what information the producer needs before contacting suppliers and what information suppliers need before bidding in the reverse auction, Cooney has further developed the service to best fit consumer needs. He has also utilized user-input to improve the site’s function.
The site currently has several thousand users and is continually expanding.
Cooney also mentions that they have begun to expand the web-based sales platform has begun to expand to other industries.
“The concept of facilitating the physical cash trading of commodities has lots of opportunities for expansion in the future,” he notes.
He has also recently launched a site called ePigFlow, which is an online market for weaner pigs, feeder pigs and swine facilities.
“There are lots of possibilities for the future,” Cooney says, “but we are doing things one step at a time.”
“We look at the markets where people are spending a lot of time and extra energy, and maybe even incurring extra costs,” Cooney comments. “Those are the markets that we see the most opportunities and where it makes the most sense to work in.”
Learn more or search FeedPail’s listings at feedpail.com.
Saige Albert is managing editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at saige@wylr.net.
