Settings → Vendors is your account's own vendor list: the parts counters, dealers, rental yards and shops you buy from, and the contacts at each one who get your quote requests and purchase orders.
An RFQ that goes to last year's parts manager reaches nobody. The vendor list keeps, for each vendor, the right people, the channel each one answers on, and the services the vendor provides. Sourcing then picks from it, so every request reaches a person who will answer.
Who can edit it. Account admins, and the people your account lets manage customers and vendors, can add and edit vendors and contacts. Every edit is recorded in Account activity. Other people use the list in sourcing but do not change it.
Open Settings → Vendors ("Manage vendors and their contacts"). Each row is one vendor, with its services and contacts. The Active and Deactivated tabs split current vendors from old ones. Filter your vendors... searches the list, and the service filter narrows it to the vendors tagged for one kind of work.
Accounts connected to an ERP or maintenance system that receives your POs show one more field: that system's vendor number or code.
Edits save as you make them; each field shows Saved, or "Not saved, try again".
A vendor's contacts are the people who get your requests. Click Add contact:
A vendor with no contact shows "No contact yet — add one". It cannot get a quote request or a PO until it has one. When you add vendors in bulk, Gearflow asks you to add their contacts ("No contact is added — you choose who to reach at this vendor.").
Changing a contact's email asks first: "If changed, replies may not link to past conversations".
Who sees it. Account admins, on paid accounts.
Click Import CSV and load your vendor list. Download the template from the import dialog first. The import shows a report for each row.
Deactivate vendor hides a vendor from sourcing and keeps its history. "You can reactivate them later if needed." Reactivate vendor brings it back. Delete vendor removes it; "This action cannot be undone."
A free account cannot add its own vendors ("Free accounts cannot add their own vendors. Upgrade to add vendors; the Gearflow supplier network stays open."). It buys from the Gearflow supplier network instead.
Who sees it. Account admins, on accounts where Gearflow has turned on the vendor directory.
Gearflow keeps a directory of parts dealers and their branches. Add vendors from the directory finds a company and adds it, with its details filled in ("Filled from the directory"). For each vendor already on your list that is not linked to the directory, Gearflow suggests a directory company to link it to.
A directory vendor you send a quote request to is added to your own vendor list, with the email you used ("Sending adds this vendor and email to your vendors.").
Some accounts get only branch locations: they can link a vendor to its directory company and tag each contact with the branch it works at, without the rest of the directory.