Messages, channels & reach credits
Messages (left nav) is where your business talks to the businesses you buy from and sell to. It holds three kinds of conversation in one place: direct messages, group chats, and channels — the trade town square that used to live under "Community."
Direct messages
- You message a business, not a person. A conversation is between your company and theirs, so anyone on your team who handles it sees the same thread — nothing gets stuck in one inbox.
- You still see who's speaking. Each message shows which teammate sent it (for example, "Jane · Skycity Grill"), so a shared inbox stays personal. Click the person's name to see their job title and role; click the company name or its logo to open its profile.
- Order & invoice chat. Every order and invoice has a "Message" link that opens (or continues) the right conversation, with that order set as context.
- A specific store. Some businesses have more than one location. When you message a multi-location business, DISTRYB asks "Which location?" so you reach the right store — e.g. Famous Wine & Spirits · Pershing. Messaging from an order picks the store that order ships to automatically.
Group chats
Start a group chat to pull several businesses into one room — a broker looping a brand and a buyer, say. From any group you can add more businesses, remove someone, or fork a new group to split off a side conversation without losing the original. Everyone added sees the room; a new member joins from that point forward.
Channels — the trade town square
Channels are platform-wide rooms every DISTRYB business can read. Post availability, what you're looking for, closeouts, and industry news.
- Public channels are open to all verified businesses.
- Industry channels are scoped to a role — retailers-only, distributors-only, producers-only, and the like — so a conversation for one tier isn't visible to the others. You only see the industry channels your business qualifies for.
- Verified businesses can post; every business can read. Reply to any post, react, and edit or delete your own. Report anything off — DISTRYB staff can remove posts or restrict repeat offenders.
- Posts are signed. A post is your company speaking, but the trade sees who wrote it — "Vanessa · GB Distillers Inc". Click the name to see that person's title and role. Set your own name under Account Settings.
Who you're talking to
- Business details. In any conversation, the Details button (or the logo or name at the top) opens that business's card: their logo, location, what they do, a short bio, the brands they own, and links to their trade profile, public profile, and store. Click the logo again to see it full size.
- Every hat they wear. A business can be more than one thing — a distiller that also owns brands shows as Distiller · Brand Owner, not just one.
- Your own name. Set it under Account Settings → Your name & title. It goes on every message you send *and* every channel post. If you haven't set one, DISTRYB falls back to your account name so your messages are never anonymous.
- Job titles are assigned by your business, not chosen. A title on a person card is a claim of authority to whoever is reading it — a rep shown as "CEO" misrepresents who a customer is negotiating with. So whoever manages your team sets titles, under Team; you'll see yours in Account Settings.
Rich messages & files
Format with bold, _italics_, lists, and links, and attach files — PDFs, spec sheets, images. Images are scanned before they post. Paste a link to another message you can both see and it unfurls as a quoted preview.
Threads & your Activity inbox
Reply in a thread to keep a side-conversation tidy under the message that started it. The Activity button (top of Messages) is your catch-up view:
- Threads — every conversation you've replied in *or started*, newest activity first.
- Mentions — recent @mentions and replies to you, each linking straight to the message.
Mentions, notifications & PLUG
- @mention a handle to notify that business or person; the notification names the conversation or store so you know where you were mentioned. Mentioning a business in a public channel is always free.
- @plug in any thread to ask PLUG for help. In a shared thread PLUG only handles how-to and navigation — it never reveals one business's private account details in a conversation another business can read.
Reach credits — starting new conversations
Replying to anyone, and messaging a business you already work with, is always free. What's metered is cold outreach — the first message to a business you've never dealt with:
- Each cold conversation spends one reach credit. Your plan includes a monthly allotment (unlimited on Growth and up), and you can top up.
- Refund on reply. If they write back, you get that credit returned — good outreach costs nothing; only ignored cold messages stay spent.
- Who viewed you. On Growth and up, see which businesses have viewed your profile — warm leads to reach out to. (Platform staff and admins browsing never show up as viewers.)
- Once two businesses have talked, they're partners — future messages between you are unmetered forever.
Message settings
Under Company Settings → Messaging you control:
- Who can message you — anyone, existing partners only, or no new messages.
- Block a specific business — they can't DM you, add you to a group, or request an intro.
- Channel notifications — every post, mentions only, or muted.
- Per-store staff — a teammate assigned to specific store(s) only sees those stores' conversations.