RFQ software that gets every vendor's quote in one format

Twelve items, four vendors, five formats

A maintenance indent comes in for twelve items: bearings, V-belts, a few fasteners. The buyer copies the list into an email, sends it to four vendors and starts calling. One vendor replies in a PDF, one types rates into the email body, one sends a photo of a letterhead. The fourth quotes seven of the twelve items and leaves out the GST.

By the time the rates are in one sheet, two days have gone and nobody is sure which vendor was never asked.

The enquiry starts from the indent

The buyer picks the indents to buy and the enquiry is built from them: items, quantities, units and the user's notes. Add a drawing or a spec sheet and every vendor gets it with the enquiry. One enquiry carries up to 28 items.

See how indents are raised and approved in indent management.

Vendors who supplied it before, first

The vendor list is ordered for these items. Vendors who supplied them in the last year come first, the most used at the top. Up to ten suggested vendors are starred, last-year suppliers first. After them come vendors who supplied the items earlier, quoted for them or were sent an enquiry for them.

Vendors you have tagged to an item, an item group or a brand are marked M for mandatory and placed at the top, so a regular supplier is not forgotten when someone else sends the enquiry.

Each vendor row shows how many enquiries it has been sent and how many quotations it returned. Filter the list by item group, brand or state when you need a vendor near the plant.

One link, one form, every line

Each vendor gets an email with a link to their own quote form. It opens in the browser, with no login. For every line they fill:

• Make
• Rate and discount
• GST rate and HSN code
• Remarks, and an alternative offer if they have one

Then the terms, once for the whole quote: price basis, packing and forwarding, freight, delivery time, payment terms and how long the quote is valid. They can attach their own quotation or catalogue. An item they cannot supply is marked as regret, so a blank line is never a guess.

A vendor who revises a quote cannot raise a rate they already gave. The form stops them and asks them to call the buyer.

Reminders without phone calls

When a vendor has not replied, the buyer picks the vendors to remind and sends a reminder with a short note. The note is filled in already and can be changed, and a file can go with it. The email carries the same quote link, and the count of reminders sent stays against each vendor.

If a vendor still sends a quote by email or on paper, the buyer enters it against the enquiry. It joins the same comparison.

Negotiate on the same enquiry

Once quotes are in, the buyer can send a target rate per line back to a vendor. The vendor gets it by email and re-quotes from a link in that email. Every round is kept against the enquiry, so the first quote and the final rate are both on record.

Then compare

The quotes are already in one format, so the comparative statement needs no sheet built by hand. Ranking, last purchase rate and turning the winning quote into a PO are covered on quotation comparison.

What it does not do

• It does not find new vendors for you. Suggestions come from your own vendor list and your own purchase and enquiry history.
• It does not chase on its own. An enquiry has no automatic closing date, and reminders go when the buyer sends them.
• It does not choose the vendor. It puts every quote in one format; the buyer and the approver decide.
• It does not take more than 28 items in one enquiry. Split a long list into two.

Start with the basics

New to the term? Read what an RFQ is. To send an enquiry for your own items to your own vendors, book a demo.