--- title: "OpenSpindle Marketplace -- Matched Work for CNC Shops" description: "Fill idle machine capacity with vetted, matched custom fabrication jobs from OpenSpindle buyers. Opt in or out per project with zero exclusivity requirements." canonical: https://openspindle.com/features/marketplace --- # Steady Work Without Selling Fill downtime with vetted RFQs that match your machines and skills so you spend time cutting parts, not chasing leads. *Note: Marketplace is coming soon. Book a demo to get on the early access list.* ## Why Getting Good Work In the Door Is So Hard Digital sourcing networks help CNC and job shops find matched work, but they are rarely built specifically for the jobs you handle. - **Pipeline stays feast or famine:** Most shops depend on word of mouth, inconsistent marketing, or expensive agencies to bring in RFQs, which makes the work pipeline unpredictable. - **Bad leads burn hours:** Generic lead gen sends low quality or off-spec work that does not fit your machines, materials, or tolerances, which wastes quoting time. - **Sales steals shop time:** Building a steady lead engine is a full-time job, and every hour spent on sales is an hour not spent running the shop. "We tried a lead service and spent three weeks quoting jobs we couldn't even run on our machines. Complete waste of time." -- Shop owner, 7-person CNC shop ## Marketplace in 30 Seconds From capability profile to matched RFQs, the marketplace does the sourcing for you. 1. **Tell us your capabilities:** Define your machines, materials, volumes, industries, and schedule so the marketplace knows what work fits your shop. 2. **We source and vet RFQs:** OpenSpindle aggregates project requests from buyers and filters out jobs that do not match your capabilities or quality standards. 3. **You see only relevant work:** Get a queue of RFQs that match your profile, with drawings, timelines, and budget ready for you to quote. 4. **Fill your downtime:** Use the marketplace to top off your schedule when you have idle capacity, instead of spinning up marketing campaigns. ## What This Will Get You - **More of the right RFQs:** Leads are filtered by capability so you do not waste time quoting misfit work. - **Use downtime profitably:** Turn idle machines and gaps between big projects into revenue without hiring sales staff. - **No marketing overhead:** OpenSpindle does the sourcing so you can focus on quoting and production instead of SEO, ads, or cold outreach. ## Everything Planned Core functions and shop workflows designed to bring you matched work. - **Shop capability profile:** Machines, materials, tolerances, industries, and preferred job sizes. - **RFQ feed:** List of matching jobs with specs, files, due dates, and buyer info. - **Quoting workflow:** Send quotes using your existing OpenSpindle cost library and templates. - **Scheduling hints:** See how a potential job fits into your current load before you accept. **Shop workflows covered:** - Filling a slow week on a CNC router with extra cabinet or panel work. - Taking on compatible jobs between large casework or trim projects. - Testing new industries or job types with lower risk by only seeing projects that match your gear. ## Works With Marketplace connects seamlessly to the rest of your OpenSpindle workflow. - [CRM](https://openspindle.com/features/crm.md): Accepted marketplace RFQs flow into your lead and customer history. - [Invoicing and Cost Library](https://openspindle.com/features/invoicing.md): Reuse your cost data to quote marketplace work quickly. - [Project Management](https://openspindle.com/features/projects.md): Slot marketplace jobs into your schedule with clear time and profit tracking. ## Want First Access to Marketplace RFQs? Book a demo to get on the early access list when Marketplace launches. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is the OpenSpindle Marketplace? The OpenSpindle Marketplace is a capability-matched RFQ network that routes vetted job requests directly to shops whose machines, materials, and skills match the buyer's requirements. It is designed to help shops fill downtime and build a more predictable work pipeline without running paid advertising, hiring sales staff, or spending time on low-quality leads that do not fit their operation. ### How will OpenSpindle choose which RFQs to send my shop? You define a capability profile that includes your machines, materials, tolerances, industries, and preferred job sizes. The marketplace routes only RFQs that match those capabilities so you see relevant work. A shop with a 5-axis CNC and experience in aluminum aerospace parts will see different work than a millwork shop with a flatbed router running sheet goods. ### Will I have to pay for marketing or advertising to receive RFQs through the Marketplace? No. The marketplace is designed to bring qualified RFQs directly into your OpenSpindle account without requiring you to run separate marketing campaigns, pay for leads, or maintain a sales funnel. The sourcing happens on the OpenSpindle side. Your job is to review the matched RFQs, decide which ones to quote, and respond using the tools already in your account. ### Can I control how much Marketplace work I take on? Yes. You see a queue of matched RFQs and decide which ones to quote based on your current capacity, schedule, and interest. There is no obligation to quote every RFQ that appears. The marketplace is built to complement your core customer base rather than overwhelm your shop, so you quote what fits and pass on what does not. ### How does Marketplace RFQ quoting work in OpenSpindle? Marketplace RFQs arrive with drawings, specifications, required timelines, and buyer information. You quote them using your existing OpenSpindle cost library and templates, the same tools you use for your core customers. There is no separate quoting system to learn and no manual re-entry of your rates. A marketplace job quotes the same way as any other job in your account. ### What happens after a Marketplace job is accepted? Accepted marketplace jobs flow into the CRM as a new customer record and can be converted into a project in the project management module. The shop's full production workflow, scheduling, time tracking, and invoicing applies to marketplace jobs the same way it applies to jobs from core customers. There is no separate process for marketplace work. ### How does the Marketplace help during slow periods? When your schedule has open machine time or a large project ends and the next one has not started, the marketplace gives you a queue of vetted work to quote rather than requiring you to scramble for new customers on short notice. The goal is to turn idle capacity into revenue without the lag time that comes from traditional sales and marketing cycles. ### Will the Marketplace send me work that does not fit my machines or materials? The capability matching is designed to prevent misfit work from reaching your queue. You define what your shop can and wants to produce, and the marketplace filters against those parameters before routing an RFQ. The goal is to eliminate the time wasted quoting jobs that are wrong for your operation from the start. ### Can I use the Marketplace to test new industries or job types? Yes. If you want to explore whether your equipment and skills translate to a new market segment, you can update your capability profile to include that category and see what kinds of RFQs match. Quoting a few jobs before committing to marketing in that space is a lower-risk way to learn whether the work is profitable and repeatable for your shop. ### When will the OpenSpindle Marketplace be available? The OpenSpindle Marketplace is live. List your shop and set up your capability profile now to start receiving matched RFQs. Submit your project at openspindle.com/quote to get matched with vetted local shops. Book a demo to learn about the current timeline and how to position your shop to take advantage of it from day one.