What does “responding to an RFQ” mean in wholesale practice?
An RFQ on the seller’s side is a customer’s request for quotation: a list of items (sometimes descriptive, sometimes with indexes) plus lead time, delivery and terms. “Responding” does not mean replying “thanks, we’ll quote” — it means sending a commercial offer with prices, availability and validity.
In a technical wholesaler that reply usually means: matching descriptions to the catalog, picking substitutes, applying the group discount, checking stock and — for “on request” items — a quick price request to the manufacturer. The fewer of these steps you do by hand, the more often the offer goes out the same day.
How to read the request before you start pricing?
The first mistake is quoting “by eye” without checking what the customer really needs. Before you open the catalog, extract from the RFQ:
- Items and parameters — DN/PN, material, standard, manufacturer index; mark ambiguous lines.
- Quantities and units — without them you can’t apply volume discount or delivery cost.
- Lead time — “urgent” vs “within a month” changes availability and RFQ priority to suppliers.
- Delivery and payment — they affect cost and offer terms.
- Context — project, stock replenishment or repeat order (different discount, different validity).
How to match items without losing time on follow-ups?
When the customer gave an index — matching is easy. When they described a “90° elbow dia 50 stainless”, you must turn that into a specific catalog item. This is where time is lost: manual Excel search, asking about PN or material, waiting for a reply.
Good practice: price unambiguous lines first and mark unclear ones in the draft as “to confirm” with a proposed substitute. Don’t block the whole offer for one uncertain item — send what you can, with a clear note. Customers prefer a partial, fast offer over three days of silence.
How to close price, availability and validity?
A complete RFQ reply includes the unit price (after group discount), availability status, lead time for to-order items and offer validity. With volatile prices (e.g. steel) a shorter validity protects margin; with stable assortment you can give 14–30 days.
OferIQ shortens this cycle: a request from email or form becomes a draft offer with matched items and calculated prices, and “on request” items run in a supplier RFQ loop. The rep approves and sends — instead of writing the RFQ up from scratch. More on the product page (/en/product/) and in the spreadsheet comparison (/en/compare/oferiq-vs-excel/).