A Quote Cart for Products That Have No Fixed Price

Call for pricing, eight times

A distributor's product pages describe each item in detail, then end with the same line: call for pricing. A maintenance manager with eight parts to replace now has eight calls to make.

Many write an email instead and leave out a model number or a quantity. Others send the same list to two competitors whose sites made it easier, and wait to see who answers first.

These buyers are not browsing idly. They have a job waiting and a list in hand.

The prices cannot go online, for good reasons. The way of asking for them can still work as smoothly as an order.

Why the price stays off the page

Manufacturers and distributors often cannot show one price. It depends on quantity, the customer's account, the exact specification, freight to the delivery point, and sometimes on what a supplier lets dealers advertise.

Prices on imported goods also move with the exchange rate. A figure posted in the spring may be wrong by the fall, and nobody remembers to change it.

Call for pricing is honest about all this. Its weakness is that it turns one buying decision into a string of separate conversations.

How a quote cart works

A quote cart borrows the steps of a shopping cart. Each product page has a quantity box and an add to quote button where the price would be.

The buyer browses, adds items, adjusts quantities and reviews the list, exactly as they would before paying. At the end, a short form takes the place of the checkout.

One request arrives with every product, model number and quantity in a consistent format, and the buyer gets a copy by email. Nobody retypes a list from a phone message.

What to ask alongside the list

The form at the end should ask only for what changes the price or the answer:

• Name, company and phone, for questions about the request.
• The delivery postal code, since freight is part of the price.
• The date needed, which decides between stock and special order.
• Application details where they matter, in a short notes box.
• Whether substitutes are acceptable if an item is out of stock.
• An attachment, such as a drawing or a photo of a nameplate.

Everything else can wait for the conversation the quote starts. A form that demands a full company profile before giving a price loses buyers at the last step.

How quickly the quote comes back

Buyers who send a quote request are usually comparing. The supplier who replies first with a clear, complete quote often sets the price the others are measured against.

Send an automatic acknowledgement at once, listing the items and saying when the quote will arrive, such as by the end of the next business day. Then meet that time.

Give requests one owner, with a backup for holidays. A request left in a shared inbox over a long weekend is easy to answer late.

A worked example

A pump repair shop in an Okanagan industrial park rebuilds irrigation, sump and process pumps for orchards, wineries and food plants, and sells new pumps, seal kits and parts from several makers.

Its site listed a few hundred products, each ending with a request to call. Orchard managers and plant maintenance staff phoned about one part at a time, or emailed lists with model numbers missing.

The counter staff spent much of each morning confirming what had been asked for before anyone could price it.

The shop added a quote cart. Each product has a quantity box and an add to quote button, and the form asks for the delivery postal code, the date needed, the liquid pumped and the power supply.

An acknowledgement lists the items and promises a quote by the end of the next business day, and one inside salesperson owns every request. Lists now arrive complete, so pricing can start at once.

The quote as the next step

The quote should mirror the request: the same items in the same order, with prices, lead times, freight and how long the prices hold.

Make accepting it simple, by reply or with a reference number to give on the phone. A buyer who has to start again to order may not bother.

Follow up two or three days later if nothing comes back. A short question about timing often reveals a change in the job rather than a lost order.

What the requests show

Quote requests are a record of what buyers want. Over a few months they show which products are asked about most, which are requested together, and which quotes became orders.

That record helps decide which prices could go online after all, and which product pages need better information because buyers keep asking the same questions.

Quotes that never became orders deserve a look too. Several lost on the same product often point to a lead time or a freight charge worth checking.

Testing it as a buyer

Before launch, someone outside sales should build a list of six items on a phone and send it. Every awkward step they meet, a buyer will meet too.

Check that the acknowledgement arrives, that the request reaches the right person, and that the list is readable in the inbox it lands in, including a junk mail folder.

The counter-case

Where prices can be shown, show them. Standard items at fixed prices belong in an ordinary cart, and a quote step only slows those buyers down.

Custom work with no catalogue, such as one-off fabrication or a full system design, fits a plain enquiry form better than a cart. There are no products to add.

But for a catalogue of real products whose price depends on the buyer, a quote cart turns a series of calls into one complete request.

Setting up the quote cart

1. Add a quantity box and an add to quote button to each product.
2. Let buyers review and change the list before sending.
3. Ask only what changes the price or the answer.
4. Acknowledge each request at once, listing the items.
5. State when the quote will arrive, and meet it.
6. Give requests one owner and a backup.
7. Review the requests every few months.

Step five is what holds the buyer's interest. A buyer who knows the quote arrives tomorrow can wait for it; one who hears nothing starts phoning someone else.

For products whose price depends only on quantity, an ordinary cart can show the tiers, as set out in price breaks at ten and fifty that the cart cannot show.

Frequently asked questions

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