How Do You Use Wool Online?
Buying On Wool Online
Purchasing wool on Wool Online system is available exclusively to New Zealand-registered wool exporting companies. On application, Wool Online Ltd provides appropriate Buyers with secure login details to be able to make bids and purchase Lots.
Selling On Wool Online
Independent New Zealand Wool Merchants and Brokers either independently use the Wool Online platform or work in conjunction with Wool Connextions Ltd to list their wool for sale as part of their (WCL) weekly sales.
The partnership with Wool Connextions provides export buyers with the secure knowledge that the wool is valued by an independent and highly experienced industry member.
Can Growers Use Wool Online Directly?
Growers cannot list and sell their wool on the platform themselves. If you're interested in having your wool listed on Wool Online, contact us and we'll direct you to the appropriate affiliated Merchant or Broker who will be able to help.
Many growers also like to check in on the online sales to see how their Lots have performed. Growers can view their wool selling via a YouTube live stream on the day of the sale, or can view the stream video subsequently as they have time.
How Does The Technology Work?
In 1995 Golden Micro Solutions Ltd released the first version of 'Fleece', a new and sophisticated computer program to enable Wool Merchants to handle all aspects of their Purchasing, Sales and Stock Management processes. Since then almost all of New Zealand's major independent Wool Merchants have used the software to efficiently run their operations.
In 2008-2009, in conjunction with Wool Connextions Ltd, Golden Micro Solutions Ltd expanded the existing Fleece software in order to develop and release the new Wool Online trading platform. The Wool Online functionality remains an integrated part of the Fleece software, ensuring that as technological developments require the maintenance and upgrading of Fleece, the underlying Wool Online technology also gets upgraded.
A significant aspect of both Fleece and Wool Online, is that the software strictly adheres to the standards laid down by the Australasian Wool Industry EDP* User Group (WIEDPUG), for the digital transmisison of data among industry companies. This means that Wool Online is capable of efficiently transfering data to and from Brokers and Buyers who use other industry software (e.g. Talman) and/or with other ancilliary wool industry companies such as the New Zealand Wool Testing Authority. Wool Online Ltd director Janet Udy is a current (and long time) New Zealand WIEDPUG Observer Representative, and so Wool Online is in a good position to help shape the state of Electronic Data Interchange within the Australasian industry in years to come. * Electronic Data Processing
The server computer that the Wool Online software runs on is physically sited in a secure co-location facility on the West Coast of the United States, while Wool Online Ltd maintains an emergency backup server within New Zealand. This redundant dual-location implementation of the hardware and software ensures that should it become necessary, it is relatively straight forward to continue to operate Wool Online, despite any adverse local conditions, either in the USA or New Zealand.
