DTN Exchange pricing has the flexibility to accommodate all types of pricing models—from flat pricing to complex differential formulations. You can tie a prompt pricing strategy to your posted prices. You can replicate proprietary pricing formulas and tie them to real-time Globex or NYMEX tick averages – effectively locking in your profit margin. Whether prices rise or fall, you can rest assured that your pricing will remain competitive – and profitable.

Or, if you prefer, you can create a flat price that doesn’t track with the index, but which can be changed throughout the day as needed.

Buyers see offers only on the products and prices available at the terminals where they are authorized to load.

Prompt Offers represent a Seller’s offer to partner Buyers on currently available products at a currently published price. Buyers can place a market order or submit a bid on a prompt offer to obtain the product that they need now. Forward Offers represent a Seller’s offer to partner Buyers on products that will be available on specified months, for up to 12 months out. Buyers can place a market order or submit a bid on a forward offer to obtain the product that they expect to need in the future.

For Prompt Offers, you’ll start with the Group Pricing screen to set up base pricing for each product class at all terminals in a terminal group. The prices you set through Group Pricing becomes the basis for your prompt offers:

1. First, you’ll select a terminal group and product class.

2. Next you’ll select a market base, such as Globex, and the trading month you want.

3. If the product class contains related products, you can select the one you want to serve as the basis product and define a cash differential, margin, and adjustment to create a group price for the basis product. All related products will use that group price as their base price, with an additional differential applied as desired.

4. If you want to factor in costs for transportation or additives, you can use the Tariff/Additive Costs screen. These are applied by product class on a terminal by terminal basis.

5. If you want to add price adjustments on a product by product and terminal by terminal basis, you can use the Special Pricing screen.

6. Finally, to activate the offer, you’ll go to the Inventory screen.

If you have subscribed to the posted prices service, you can use the Posted Market Pricing screen to set up pricing for Prompt Offers.

Forward Offers can be set up through the Forward Offers screen.

If you want to extend a discount related to quantity breaks, you can use the Quantity Discount screen to set these up on a product class basis.

The Market Base screen displays current prices for a selected market base. You can also use this screen to add a user-defined market base.

Q:  How can I see a summary of all my active offers?

The Market Summary screen provides a quick glance at your prompt offers and what is happening within your buyer market. To view your forward offers, you will need to check the Forward Offers screen.

Upload Pricing overview

You can use the Upload Pricing screen to import special and forward price data into Exchange through a predefined comma-separated value (.csv) template.

Troubleshoot Price Uploads

To run an error report that details all price adjustment line item errors, select the report you want and click Go.

Upload Pricing tasks

Upload Special Pricing

Location:  Seller  >  Pricing  >  Upload Pricing

You can upload special costs and special prices through the Upload Pricing screen. The upload file must be a .csv spreadsheet based on the Special Pricing template available within Exchange. The Terminal and Product Name must exactly match those used within the DTN Exchange, only the values of the Special Cost and Special Pricing can be entered and uploaded.

1. On the Upload Pricing page, select the Special Price/Cost tab.

2. Click Export. A window appears prompting you to open a .csv file.

3. Save and open the .csv file.

4. Enter the Special Cost and Special Pricing amounts in the appropriate rows and columns of the spreadsheet.

  Do NOT alter the order of the rows or columns, nor add any new rows or columns to the spreadsheet. Only enter values in the appropriate locations in the Special Cost and Special Pricing columns.

5. Save the spreadsheet as a .csv file on your computer.

6. In DTN Exchange, click the Browse button to select the file you saved to be uploaded.

7. Click Upload.

If all items successfully load, a success message appears in the Results section of the page.

If errors occurred, see Troubleshoot Special Price Uploads on the Upload Pricing overview page in the Help Center.

Upload Forward Pricing for a Terminal Group

Location:  Seller  >  Pricing  >  Upload Pricing

You can upload Forward Prices for Terminal Groups through the Upload Pricing screen. The upload file must be a .csv spreadsheet based on the Forward Pricing template available within Exchange. The Terminal and Product Name must exactly match those used within the DTN Exchange, only the values of the Forward Pricing can be entered and uploaded.

1. On the Upload Pricing page, select the Forward Misc TG tab.

2. Click Export. A window appears prompting you to open a .csv file.

3. Save and open the .csv file.

4. Enter the Forward Pricing amounts in the appropriate rows and columns of the spreadsheet for the next year.

  Do NOT alter the order of the rows or columns, nor add any new rows or columns to the spreadsheet. Only enter values in the appropriate locations in the monthly columns.

5. Save the spreadsheet as a .csv file on your computer.

6. In DTN Exchange, click the Browse button to select the file you saved to be uploaded.

7. Click Upload.

If all items successfully load, a success message appears in the Results section of the page.

If errors occurred, see Troubleshoot Special Price Uploads on the Upload Pricing overview page in the Help Center.

Upload Forward Pricing for a Terminal

Location:  Seller  >  Pricing  >  Upload Pricing

You can upload Forward Prices for a Terminal through the Upload Pricing screen. The upload file must be a .csv spreadsheet based on the Forward Pricing template available within Exchange. The Terminal and Product Name must exactly match those used within the DTN Exchange, only the values of the Forward Pricing can be entered and uploaded.

1. On the Upload Pricing page, select the Forward Misc Term tab.

2. Click Export. A window appears prompting you to open a .csv file.

3. Save and open the .csv file.

4. Enter the Forward Pricing amounts in the appropriate rows and columns of the spreadsheet for the next year.

NOTE:  Do NOT alter the order of the rows or columns, nor add any new rows or columns to the spreadsheet. Only enter values in the appropriate locations in the monthly columns.

5. Save the spreadsheet as a .csv file on your computer.

6. In DTN Exchange, click the Browse button to select the file you saved to be uploaded.

7. Click Upload.

If all items successfully load, a success message appears in the Results section of the page.

If errors occurred, see Troubleshoot Special Price Uploads on the Upload Pricing overview page in the Help Center.

Market Base overview

You can use the Market Base screen to view current prices for Globex and NYMEX. You can also use the screen to set up and manage your own, user-defined market bases. When you create a prompt or forward offer, you can tie your pricing to a selected market base.

When market base changes, the change is instantly reflected in all prompt and forward offer prices tied to that market base.

If you use Posted Prices as your market base, you can set these on prompt offers only. This set up is through the Posted Market Pricing screen.

Market Base interface

Here are the different fields on the Market Base page:

Market Base tasks

View Market Base Prices

Location:  Seller  >  Pricing  >  MarketBase

1. From the Market Base page, use the Market Name drop-down menu to select the market you want.

2. Current prices for each month display below.

Add a User-Defined Market Base

Location:  Seller  >  Pricing  >  MarketBase

1. From the Market Base page, click New. A Market Base Setup screen opens.

2. Enter a Market Base name in the Market Acct field.

3. Click Save.

Add Base Pricing to a User-Defined Market Base

Location:  Seller  >  Pricing  >  MarketBase

1. From the Market Base screen, use the Market Name drop-down menu to select your new user-defined market base.

2. The screen displays month by month base pricing for the selected market.

3. Find the Product Class to which you want to add base pricing.

4. Enter a Prompt Month market base price to be used for prompt offers. Offers that are set for this market base will not change when the NYMEX changes. Instead, they will continue to be based on the Prompt Month price entered here.

5. For a Forward Offer, enter the market base price for each of the available months.

6. Click Update.

You can update these numbers at any time.

Delete a User-Defined Market Base

Location:  Seller  >  Pricing  >  MarketBase

1. Use the Market Name drop-down menu to select the one you want to delete.

2. Click Delete MarketBase. A confirmation message appears.

3. Click OK to complete the deletion.

Group Pricing overview

Group Pricing is where you build prompt offers that can be extended to your authorized partner buyers through the DTN Exchange. Forward offers can be built through the Forward Offers screen. Prices based on posted prices can be built through the Posted Market Pricing screen.

With Group Pricing, you’ll build prompt pricing rules that are based on a market (Globex, NYMEX, or a user-defined market) and applied to a basis product within a product class. The price is associated to a terminal group so that you can quickly apply pricing to each terminal within the group.

For prompt offers, you’ll start with the Group Pricing screen to set up base pricing for each product class at all terminals in a terminal group. The prices you set through Group Pricing will become the basis for your prompt offers.

1. First, you’ll select a terminal group and product class.

2. Next you’ll select a market base, such as Globex, and the trading month you want.

3. If the product class contains related products, you can select the one you want to serve as the basis product and define a cash differential, margin, and adjustment to create a group price for the basis product. All related products will use that group price as their base price, with an additional differential applied as desired.

4. If you want to factor in costs for transportation or additives, you can use the Tariff/Additive Costs page. These are applied by product class on a terminal by terminal basis.

5. If you want to add price adjustments on a product by product and terminal by terminal basis, you can use the Special Pricing page.

6. Finally, to activate the offer, you’ll go to the Inventory screen.

Group Pricing allows you to set up pricing for a basis product then apply a differential adjustment to its associated differential products.

You can set the following price adjustment fields for a basis product:

• Cash Differential – This is traditionally the differential that exists at any given time between the commodity’s cash (or spot price) and the futures price. But you can set your own cash differential, as desired.

• Profit Margin – This is the mark-up that allows you to set how much profit you would like to obtain on each gallon of product sold. Whether the market goes up or down, you can be sure you will make the amount of money you need and want to make in order to remain profitable.

• Miscellaneous Adjustment – You can use this adjustment to increase or decrease the price for any miscellaneous costs or needs. This is often used to account for shrink.

Differential Products

Below each basis product are its related differential products. You can change the basis product to one of the differential products by clicking the radio button to the left of the Differential Product field and clicking Save.

For Differential Products you can enter the following:

• Product Differential – Allows you to adjust the basis product price for costs associated with a different class or grade of product.

The DTN Exchange adds these differentials from the price index to obtain the group price for each product.

Besides using your posted prices at the market base, Posted Market Pricing lets you create a unique market base at each terminal. With Group pricing, you create a single market base that is available at all terminals within a terminal group for the selected product class.

Expected Values for Group Pricing

If you enter an amount outside the ranged of expected values, a warning message appears.

Tolerance values are as follows:

• Cash Diff: Absolute value less than 0.3

• Margin: Absolute value less than 0.2

• Miscellaneous Adjustment: Absolute value less than 0.2

• Differential: Absolute value less than 0.25

Group Pricing tasks

  The Group Pricing screen refreshes only when the page is opened. That is, the Last Price is not automatically updated.

Group Pricing tasks

View Group Pricing

Location:  Seller  >  Pricing  >  Group Pricing

  The Group Pricing screen does not refresh when the page is opened, which means that the Last Price is not automatically updated. Instead, the Last Price is the tick from the time as noted in the Time field.

1. From the Group Pricing page, use the drop-down menus to select what you want for Terminal Group, Product Class, Market, Root Contract, and Trading Month.

2. Last Price and Time updates to reflect the most recent price for the selected criteria. Time displays the date, time and time zone when the Last Price became active.

3. Basis displays your basis products and their corresponding cash differentials, margins, adjustments, and group prices.

4. Differential Products associated to a basis product are also displayed with corresponding differentials, netback prices, and special prices.

Change the Basis Product

Location:  Seller  >  Pricing  >  Group Pricing

1. After settings your filters, find the Basis Product to apply the pricing differentials and adjustments.

2. Select the DBP radio button by differential product you want.

3. Click Save. The selected differential product becomes the Basis product.

Add Group Pricing

Location:  Seller  >  Pricing  >  Group Pricing

Once you click the Save button, your pricing will be entered into the system with a status of “Inactive.”  That gives you time to review your pricing and correct any errors before it is seen by any buyers. To activate pricing, go to the Inventory screen.

1. Select a Terminal Group. The first Product Class for that terminal displays, as well as the default basis products and differential products for the product class.

2. Select a Market base for the product class. The system enters the applicable Root Contract. The system also updates the Last Price and Time.

NOTE:  This is the market price for the product class at the time of selection. Last Price is NOT a real-time value.

3. Select the Trading Month you want. The system defaults to Nearby.

4. For the Basis Product, enter a Cash Differential, Margin, and Miscellaneous Adjustment. The system calculates the Group Price for the Basis Product.

NOTE  If you enter an amount outside the range of expected values, a warning message appears.

5. For the Differential Product, add a Differential, if desired. The system calculates the Differential Netback Price.

6. Click Save.

7. Repeat Step 5 to add differential pricing to additional differential products.

8. Repeat Steps 2-7 to add pricing to all the product classes at the selected terminal group.

Add Differential Product Pricing

Location:  Seller  >  Pricing  >  Group Pricing

1. Enter the desired differential amount in the Differential field.

2. Click Save. The system calculates the DBP Group Price for the differential product.

Change Global Group Price

Location:  Seller  >  Pricing  >  Group Pricing

You can specify global changes for the cash differential, margin and miscellaneous adjustment. When you click Set All and Save, the change is applied to all basis products currently displayed on the Group Pricing screen.

1. Select the desired filters.

2. In the Global Changes pane, enter an amount for any or all of the following:

3. Cash Differential

4. Margin

5. Misc Adjustment

3. For each amount, click the corresponding Set All button.

4. Click Save.

View Special Pricing from Group screen

Location:  Seller  >  Pricing  >  Group Pricing

If the Special Price column of the Differential Products pane has a click here link, you can click it to view special pricing for the differential product.

1. Select click here in the Special Price column.

2. The Special Pricing screen opens.

Special Pricing overview

You can use the Special Pricing screen to attach a special price and/or special cost to a specific product at a specific terminal on prompt offers only. The special price or cost can be any adjustment that you would like to make.

Special pricing on forward offers can be set up through the Forward Offers screen. Special pricing for posted prices can be set up through the Posted Market Pricing screen.

Troubleshoot Special Price Uploads

To run an error report that details all price adjustment line item errors, select the report you want and click Go.

Special Pricing interface

Here are the fields on the Special Pricing page:

Special Pricing tasks

Add a Special Price or Special Cost

Location:  Seller  >  Pricing  >  Special Pricing

1. From the Special Pricing page, select the Terminal Group, Terminal, Product Class, and/or Product to which you want to add special pricing.

2. Click the Special Price and/or Special Cost field.

3. Enter the dollar amount you want up to 4 decimal places. You can use a plus or minus sign before the amount to indicate whether the special price/cost should be added to or subtracted from the price.

4. Click Save.

Upload Special Pricing

Location:  Seller  >  Pricing  >  Special Pricing

You can upload special costs and special prices through the Upload Special Pricing screen. The upload file must be an Excel spreadsheet where the Terminal and Product Name exactly match those used within the DTN Exchange. The spreadsheet should also specify a value for the Special Cost and the Special Price.

1. Click Upload.

2. Use Browse to select the file to be uploaded.

3. Click Upload.

If all items successfully load, a success message displays in the Results section of the page.

If errors occurred, see Troubleshoot Special Price Uploads on the Special Pricing overview page.

Change a Special Price or Special Cost

Location:  Seller  >  Pricing  >  Special Pricing

1. Select the Terminal Group, Terminal, Product Class, and/or Product you want.

2. Use the Show drop-down menu you want to select what you want displayed: special pricing, special cost, or all.

3. Click the Special Price and/or Special Cost field.

4. Change the dollar amount as needed.

5. Click Save.

To clear Special Prices, click the Clear All link in the Special Price or Special Cost column.

Export Special Pricing data

Location:  Seller  >  Pricing  >  Special Pricing

1. Select the Terminal Group, Terminal, Product Class, and/or Product you want.

2. Use the Show drop-down menu you want to select what you want displayed: special pricing, special cost, or all.

3. Click Export.

4. Follow the screen directions to complete the file export to an Excel worksheet.

Tariff and Additive Costs overview

You can use the Tariff/Additive Costs screen to adjust both your prompt and forward offers for tariff rates, which include the cost of transporting the product to the terminal where it is to be lifted by the buyer, and the cost of any additives. Tariff and additive costs can be entered for each product class on a per terminal basis. Entered adjustments are applied to all offers for products in the product class at the specified terminal.

IMPORTANT! After updating values on this screen, go to the Group Pricing screen and save all your offers. This ensures these charges are correctly applied to your offers.

Tariff and additive costs for posted prices can be set up through the Posted Market Pricing screen.

Tariff and Additive Costs interface

Here are the fields on the Tariff/Additive Costs interface:

Tariff and Additive Costs tasks

Add Tariff Rate and/or Additive Costs

Location:  Seller  >  Pricing  >  Tariff/Addt Costs

NOTE: Before adding Tariff Rates, you must authorize products at a Terminal before setting up costs through the Products at Terminal page.

1. From the Tariff/Additive Costs page, find the Terminal you want. The product classes available at the selected terminal display below.

2. In the Tariff/Exchange Rate field, enter the dollar rate per gallon you want for the tariff.

3. In the Additive Costs field, enter the dollar rate per gallon you want for additive costs.

4. Click Save.

5. Go to the Group Pricing screen.

6. Select the Terminal Group to which the terminal belongs.

7. Click Save to add tariff and additive costs to your offers that involve the corresponding terminal and product class.

Change Tariff Rate and/or Additive Costs

Location:  Seller  >  Pricing  >  Tariff/Addt Costs

1. Find the Terminal you want. The product classes available at the selected terminal display below.

2. In the Tariff/Exchange Rate field, change the dollar rate per gallon you want for the tariff.

3. In the Additive Costs field, change the dollar rate per gallon you want for additive costs.

4. Click Save.

5. Go to the Group Pricing screen.

6. Select the Terminal Group to which the terminal belongs.

7. Click Save to add your tariff and additive cost changes to your offers that involve the corresponding terminal and product class.

Posted Market Pricing overview

The Posted Market Pricing screen enables you to tie a prompt pricing strategy to your posted prices. You can use the screen to make adjustments to the posted price in much the same way you use the Special Pricing screen to adjust prices tied to other market bases. That is, you can add a cash differential, profit margin, and miscellaneous adjustment to the posted price. You can also adjust for special prices, special costs, tariffs, and additives. The adjusted posted price can be assigned to a selected terminal group, terminal, product class, and/or product.

NOTE:  Posted Market Pricing is an add-on subscription service.

The benefits of tying your DTN Exchange to your posted prices is that a posted price market base gives you another option for your online pricing strategy. Rather than having your price move with the markets, you can put in an adjustment to your posted price, which already reflects your inventory and competitive position at a terminal. You can then simply change your online adjustment throughout the day to reflect changing market conditions, competitor prices, and actual sales volumes. It also gives you an easy option to make your online price available to buyers at all times without being impacted by overnight NYMEX trading. When your buyers always see an online price available to them through the DTN Exchange, they will come to trust the DTN Exchange as the preferred method of transacting business with you. And you will be assured that your prices on the DTN Exchange are tied to posted prices that have already been set to give you a competitive edge.

If you need to move inventory at a specific terminal, you could discount the posted price at that terminal. Conversely, if the market is down, you could tighten control of product by adjusting the posted price upward.

Posted Market Pricing is different than Group Pricing. Using your posted prices as the market base lets you create a unique market base at each terminal and for each product. Group Pricing, on the other hand, lets you create a single market base (NYMEX, Globex, or custom market base) that is available at all terminals within the selected terminal group and for all products within the selected product class.

Your unbranded, unadjusted posted prices are received by DTN FastRacks and automatically posted to the DTN Exchange. The DTN Exchange checks for new posted prices every 15 minutes.

Posted Market Pricing interface

Here are the different fields on the Posted Market Pricing page:

Add a Posted Market Base

Location:  Seller  >  Pricing  >  Posted Market Pricing

1. From the Posted Market Pricing page, click the Market Base tab.

2. Select POSTED from the Market drop-down.

3. Click the Posted Price Type you want. Options are:

4. Currently in Effect: Uses posted prices that are currently in effect.

5. Latest Available: Uses the most recently transmitted posted prices, which may or may not be in effect at the current time.

4. Click Save.

5. To set cash differentials and other adjustments for the posted price based offer, click the Prompt Pricing tab and follow the directions to Change Posted Market Pricing below.

View Posted Market Pricing

Location:  Seller  >  Pricing  >  Posted Market Pricing

1. Click the Prompt Pricing tab.

2. Select the Terminal Groups, Terminals, Products Class, and/or Products you want.

3. Select the Status type you want. Options are Active, Suspended, or Inactive.

4. Click Go. Posted price offers for the selected criteria appear below.

Change the Posted Price type

Location:  Seller  >  Pricing  >  Posted Market Pricing

1. From the Market Base tab, select the Market.

2. Select the Terminal Group and Product Class you want.

3. Select the Posted Price Type you want.

4. Currently in Effect — Uses posted prices that are currently in effect.

5. Latest Available — Uses the most recently transmitted posted prices, which may or may not be in effect at the current time.

4. Click Save.

Change the Posted Price pricing

Location:  Seller  >  Pricing  >  Posted Market Pricing

1. Select the Prompt Pricing tab.

2. Select your filters to find the offers you want to change.

• To change Group Level Adjustments:  Click Adj in the Group Level Adjustments column. Enter the desired change. Click Save. The DTN Exchange automatically calculates the Product Differential based on your changes.

• To change the Base product for a product sub-class: Select Bas. Click Set as Base Product for the product you want as your new base. The DTN Exchange automatically calculates the Product Differential based on your changes.

• To change Special Price and Special Cost Adjustments: Click the selection box next to the Special Price and Special Cost columns. Enter a Special Price and/or Special Cost adjustment. Click Save.

• To change Tariff/Exchange Rate and Additive Costs: Click the Edit button next to the Tariff/Exchange Rate and Additive Costs you want to change. Enter the changes you want. Click Save. The DTN Exchange automatically calculates a new Location Differential and Offer Price based on your changes.

NOTE:  Tariff/Exchange Rates and Additive Costs will apply to all products in the product class at the selected terminal.