This helps buyers locate the kind and quality of product they need before they physically inspect the material, as buyers of high-quality veneer logs usually do. TheEquator also allows sellers to post photographs, maps, and other documents but does not yet provide facilities for creating a contract online. Late last year, TheEquator added a stumpage listing service to the site. Once buyers find timber or timberland they want to bid on, they contact the owner and negotiate deals on their own. ForestOne, which has so far focused on sales in Wisconsin but is working on covering other states, lets timber sellers post a Timber Prospectus on the site.
Buyers can view the prospectus and make bids online.
Forest One charges the seller a fee of one percent of the highest bid for a sealed bid or an English auction on its site. Jim Carlson, owner of Oakwood Forestry Consulting in Sauk City, Wisconsin, says Forest One lets him more easily reach a larger number of potential buyers than he can by traditional means such as fax and mail. Carlson says trading timber on the Internet is an evolving phenomenon that's worth watching. We're on the tip of a iceberg. But it's a good thing for forestry.