david,
If you place bids for products in direct trading you don't know what quality you will receive, so be careful what you wish for.
Make sure your world market has sufficient demand to absorb the products you import from direct trading. Large product dumps that turn markets green are not well received by the community.
The forum has a trade section. At one time it was very active with offers and requests. Instead of placing a bid you may be better off posting a request there.