Quotations
Write a priced offer to a school or trade party, share it, and turn an accepted one into an order or a counter sale.
/accounts/quotationsA quotation is a priced offer. It belongs to no firm, puts nothing in the books and takes no books off the shelf. Quotations lists every quotation written by the desk or the field. When the party accepts, a school's quotation becomes an order and a trade party's becomes a counter sale.
Reps write quotations too, from Quotations in the field portal, and theirs appear on this list. The difference is price: a rep quotes the catalogue's prices with a discount, and only the desk can type a rate of its own.
Write a quotation
Start it
Open Quotations and select New quotation.
Say who it is for
Under Quoted to, choose the Party, a school or a trade party. Set the Date. Add Valid until if the offer has an end date. It cannot be earlier than the quotation's date.
Add the books
Set the Additional discount %, GST % and Freight (₹) for the whole offer. The additional discount is added to every title's own discount, as on an order. Then select Add a title for each book:
- Qty: the copies offered.
- Rate: leave it empty for the catalogue price, or type another to quote off-list.
- Disc %: this title's own discount. Leave it empty for none, so the title takes only the additional discount.
The Subtotal, Base discount, Additional discount, Freight, GST and Total add up as you go. A quotation is one offer, so it is totalled in one piece even when it has both firms' titles, and it is not rounded to the rupee.
Save it
Add Notes on the quotation if you need them, and select Save quotation. The quotation opens with its number. Every quotation is numbered from one series shared by both firms, which you set under Setup → Numbering.
Send it to the party
A quotation's page has the same buttons as any accounts document:
- PDF and Print open the quotation's PDF.
- Email sends it as an attachment to the address you type. Only the desk sees it.
- WhatsApp opens WhatsApp with a link to the PDF, addressed to the party's phone when it is a 10-digit mobile number. The link opens without signing in, for 30 days.
The PDF is headed Quotation and carries the Valid until date when there is one.
When the party accepts
Open the quotation. What you can do depends on who it was for:
| The quotation is for | Button | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| A school | Accepted — raise order | A draft order is created in your name for the school, with the quotation's titles, copies and each title's own discount, and the quotation's additional discount as the order's. The order is priced from the catalogue, as every order is, so a rate typed on the quotation does not carry over. It opens so you can check it, attach the dealer's order, and submit it for approval. A quotation with any book past the discount cap (40% unless an administrator has changed it) is refused here, because no order can go past that. |
| A school or a trade party | Accepted — bill as counter sale | New counter sale opens, filled in from the quotation: the party, GST, freight, titles, copies and rates. An invoice has no additional discount, so each title's discount is its own and the additional one added together. Issuing the invoice marks the quotation converted. |
The quotation then shows CONVERTED. Its page says "Accepted", and links to the order it became or says it was billed as a counter sale.
A trade party's quotation cannot become an order, because an order is for a school. Bill it as a counter sale instead.
When the offer is off
| Button | Use it when | The quotation becomes |
|---|---|---|
| Party declined | The party said no. A note on why helps whoever quotes them next. | DECLINED |
| Cancel quotation | You are taking the offer back, for example after a wrong price or a title going out of print. | CANCELLED |
Both ask for an optional Note, and both leave the quotation on the list, closed. The desk can close any quotation. A rep can close only the ones they wrote.
Statuses
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| OPEN | Offered and waiting for the party's answer. If its Valid until date has passed, the list adds "lapsed" beside it. |
| CONVERTED | Accepted, and turned into an order or a counter sale. |
| DECLINED | The party said no. |
| CANCELLED | We withdrew the offer. |
A lapsed quotation can still be accepted. Its page warns that the offer lapsed, so check the prices with the party first.
Find a quotation
The list shows each quotation's Date, Quotation no., Party, Total, Status and who Created by. Choose All quotations, Open, Converted, Declined or Cancelled, or search. The Showing box does not change this list, because quotations belong to no firm.
Good to know
- The Accountant reads every quotation and can open, print and share its PDF, but cannot write, convert or close one. Warehouse staff cannot write quotations either.
- Quotations post nothing. The books change only when the order is dispatched or the counter sale is issued.
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