Question 1

How do I share a document with someone outside TradeFlow OS?

Accepted Answer

You can generate a secure sharing link from any document's detail page. Recipients can view and download the document without needing a TradeFlow OS account.

Question 2

What does a FLAG result mean in sanctions screening?

Accepted Answer

A FLAG result indicates a high-confidence match against one or more sanctions lists. Do not proceed with the transaction until the match has been reviewed by your compliance team.

Question 3

Can I edit a document after saving it?

Accepted Answer

Yes, documents remain editable until signed or shared with a finalized status. Once signed, they become locked to preserve integrity.

Question 4

How do signing parties and roles work?

Accepted Answer

When you create a document you define its signing parties (role, name, and email) in the Parties step. When you share a document for signature you can lock the invitee to a specific party, so they sign only as their assigned role and no one else can sign in their place. Each invite is bound to the recipient email you enter.

Question 5

How do I require an access code to sign?

Accepted Answer

On any paid plan, open a document, go to the Shares tab, and turn on 'Require an access code to sign' under Signing security. Invited signers must then pass a one-time code emailed to them, or a fixed code you set and share with them out of band, before they can sign. You can also undo your own most recent signature from the document or share page if you signed by mistake.

Question 6

How is my TradeFlow Score calculated?

Accepted Answer

Your TradeFlow Score (0-100) is a composite of four components: Profile Completeness (25 pts), Business Verification (45 pts), Deal History (15 pts), and Peer Reviews (15 pts). Business Verification is all-or-nothing: you earn the full 45 points when your company passes verification, which confirms the company (registry, beneficial owners, and entity AML, sanctions and PEP screening) and screens its beneficial owners and key people the same way. Each trust signal is counted once. Your score is shown to other people once your account has a track record on TradeFlow for it to measure, meaning at least one completed deal or peer review; before that your profile shows your Business Verified status and the underlying facts instead, so a new account reads as new rather than as poorly rated. You always see your own score and its full breakdown either way.

Question 7

What is Business Verification, and what does it check?

Accepted Answer

Business Verification is one automated check, with no manual review, that confirms your company. It runs registry and existence checks, screens every ultimate beneficial owner, and runs entity AML, sanctions, and PEP screening against a licensed commercial dataset. No personal ID capture. It covers 220+ countries, verifies your own business (not a counterparty), and earns a Business Verified badge on your profile. To vet a counterparty, see Counterparty Due Diligence (CDD).

Question 8

How much does Business Verification cost?

Accepted Answer

Business Verification is included on every paid plan. On the Free plan it is a one-time 5.00 USD check. You verify your own business once, and a Business Verified badge then appears on your profile.

Question 9

What happens when I invite a counterparty?

Accepted Answer

They receive a secure invitation link and can join the deal room immediately if they already have an account, or sign up through a streamlined flow.

Question 10

Can I add a refinery, mine, or banker to a deal without notifying them?

Accepted Answer

Yes. In a deal, use Add Participant, give the party a title (refinery, mine, banker, another broker, and so on), and leave "Notify this participant" unchecked to add them quietly. Quiet participants are on the record and are auto-screened and watched by Sentinel, but are not emailed. You can notify them later with one click, which promotes them to a normal participant.

Question 11

How does the product and its due diligence work inside a deal?

Accepted Answer

Each deal has a Product tab for the goods being traded. Its Due Diligence follows the OECD 5-Step Framework with a pack matched to the commodity (LBMA gold, LPPM platinum and palladium, OECD 3TG, Kimberley diamonds, OECD-FAO cocoa and agriculture, EITI energy, and more). The mined or recycled sourcing filters which checks apply, and items only count as complete when backed by an attached document. The Chain of Custody records each custody event with evidence.

Question 12

Is the Screening tab in a deal the same as the Screening page?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The deal Screening tab auto-screens the deal counterparties against the sanctions engine, lets you re-screen or run Counterparty Due Diligence (CDD), and reads the same screening history and share log as the standalone Screening page, so there is one shared record.

Question 13

How does my Counterparties directory get built?

Accepted Answer

Your Counterparties list is built automatically from people you have engaged with: deal participants in shared deals, and recipients of document or passport shares with sign or edit permission. You do not add counterparties manually. Each one is a real member profile, so you can view their TradeFlow Score, verification, and compliance status, and screen them against global sanctions lists on demand.

Question 14

What is Smart Match?

Accepted Answer

Smart Match scores your Marketplace listings against other users' listings to surface compatible trading partners. It factors in commodity type, delivery location, and target regions. Only matches above 55% compatibility are shown, with a maximum of 6 at a time.

Question 15

How do I connect with another trader on the Marketplace?

Accepted Answer

From the Marketplace, browse listings or review your Smart Match results. Click any listing to view details and send a connection request with an introductory message. Connecting is free and unlimited. Once accepted, you can message each other directly.

Question 16

How do I upgrade my plan?

Accepted Answer

Navigate to Settings > Billing to view available plans and upgrade. Upgrades take effect immediately.

Question 17

Is my data secure?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Your data is encrypted at rest (AES-256) and in transit (TLS 1.3), and hosted on Supabase and Vercel, which are SOC 2 Type II certified. Document contents are additionally encrypted at the application layer under a key held outside the database, and staff have no routine access to your document or deal contents.

Question 18

Can I export documents as PDF?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Every document can be downloaded as a professionally formatted PDF from the document detail page.

Question 19

Does TradeFlow OS read the documents I upload?

Accepted Answer

Yes. When you upload a file to a deal or a passport, TradeFlow reads it with optical character recognition (OCR) to power advisory checks: it flags expiring certificates, quantities that disagree with your deal terms, duplicate or unreadable files, and it suggests the document type. You can also search inside your uploaded documents. This reading runs entirely on our own servers. The extracted text is encrypted at rest and is never sent to any AI provider or other external partner.

Question 20

How is my data protected?

Accepted Answer

All data is encrypted at rest (AES-256) and in transit (TLS 1.3). Infrastructure runs on Supabase and Vercel, both SOC 2 Type II certified. Document contents are encrypted at the application layer under a key held outside the database, so infrastructure access alone cannot read them. Staff have no routine access to your document or deal contents; the rare break-glass exception is logged to an append-only audit trail and always disclosed to you.

Question 21

Is TradeFlow OS GDPR compliant?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We comply with GDPR, provide clear legal bases for all data processing, and support data subject rights including access, rectification, erasure, and portability.

Question 22

Where is my data stored?

Accepted Answer

Your data is stored on Supabase infrastructure in the United States. EU users are covered by Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs).

Question 23

Can I export or delete my data?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Go to Settings > Data & Privacy to export all your data as JSON or permanently delete your account.

Question 24

What happens to my data if I cancel my account?

Accepted Answer

All personal data is permanently removed within 30 days. Some data may be retained longer where required by law.

Question 25

Does TradeFlow OS support two-factor authentication?

Accepted Answer

Yes. You can enable TOTP-based two-factor authentication, with backup codes and trusted devices, under Settings > Security. Login and signup are also protected by Cloudflare Turnstile bot mitigation.

Question 26

Do you share my data with third parties?

Accepted Answer

We never sell your data. We share data with the service providers that operate TradeFlow OS: Supabase (database and authentication), Resend (email), Stripe (payments), Didit (Business Verification and AML and sanctions screening), Vercel (hosting and cookieless analytics), a third-party AI provider that powers our AI features and receives the prompts and document content you submit to them, Mapbox (address autocomplete and provenance maps), and Google Analytics (only if you grant analytics consent).

Question 27

Is the text read from my uploaded documents sent to an AI provider?

Accepted Answer

No. Document reading (OCR) is self-hosted: the text extracted from your uploads is processed only on our own infrastructure, encrypted at rest, and never shared with any LLM or external partner. It powers advisory checks and document search only. This is separate from the optional AI drafting features, which receive only the specific content you choose to submit to them.