Your RFQ template should preserve that specification across every response. A blank price is deliberate here: you are preparing the buyer's request, not writing a supplier's quotation.
A notebook request with separate response fields
Original fictional example: RFQ N01, specification revision 1. No request has been sent and no supplier, price, or delivery commitment is known. The organizer supplies 40 individual notebooks, A5 size, 80 pages per notebook, ruled paper, no custom printing. Proposed delivery is November 6 to the workshop office; the address and requested response deadline need confirmation.
| Buyer requirement | Supplier response field | Clarification to request |
|---|---|---|
| 40 individual notebooks | Quantity and quoted unit | Does the response mean individual notebooks or packs? |
| A5, 80 pages, ruled | Offered specification | Does every detail match revision 1? |
| No custom printing | Included/excluded work | Is printing absent from the offered price? |
| Proposed November 6 delivery | Proposed delivery date and shipping charge separately | Can the supplier meet the requested date and confirmed location? |
| Price requested in USD | Unit price, extended item price, shipping, and other listed charges | What is included in each amount? |
Keep the final delivery address, response channel, deadline, and buyer contact as to confirm until the organizer supplies them. Do not send a request containing a placeholder that a supplier needs to fulfill it.
Preserve the unit when considering an alternative
An explicitly hypothetical alternative is five packs containing eight matching notebooks each: 5 × 8 = 40 individual notebooks. If alternatives are permitted, ask the supplier to identify pack size, total notebook count, specification differences, and price basis. Do not rewrite the buyer's quantity as 40 packs.
An offer for 100-page notebooks would be a specification difference even if the total count were correct. Record the difference and request the buyer's decision; a review page cannot approve it by labeling it “better.”
Give returned quotes the same comparison structure
Keep request ID and revision on the comparison sheet. For each actual response, record the offered item, unit, quantity, specification match or deviation, item price, shipping, proposed delivery, and unanswered questions. Missing shipping is not supplied, not zero. An unknown delivery date is not a confirmed match.
For a matching response priced per notebook, extended item price is 40 × supplied unit price. Compute it only when the price and unit are actually present. Keep a pack-priced alternative in its declared unit, with the pack-to-notebook count visible.
Copy a buyer-side request prompt
Draft a private-team RFQ in US English, not a supplier quotation.
Request ID and specification revision: [enter]
Buyer contact and response channel/deadline: [enter or TO CONFIRM]
Items, quantities, units, and exact specifications: [paste]
Requested delivery date/location: [paste confirmed/proposed details]
Currency and required response format: [enter]
Whether alternatives are permitted: [enter or TO CONFIRM]
Established purchasing approval process: [enter]
Separate buyer requirements from blank supplier response fields. Preserve
quantity/unit/specification/revision across all views. Request unit price,
extended item price, shipping, offered specification and delivery separately.
Mark missing buyer details TO CONFIRM before the request can be finalized.
Do not invent suppliers, prices, responses, approval, legal terms, or commitments.
Any alternative must identify changed specification and unit conversion;
it is hypothetical until actually offered and is not automatically approved.
Return the request in my required document/spreadsheet format and a blank
comparison structure. An optional HTML specification-review copy may show
requirements, response fields and clarification questions. It must not send
requests, rank invented quotes, accept offers, or process payments.
Have the buyer confirm the unit, specification revision, and missing delivery details before issuing the RFQ through the established process. When responses arrive, compare their actual contents against that same revision and ask about deviations before making a purchasing decision.
Optional: review the specification in NOS
NOS can save and display a prepared HTML review copy so the organizer can read the notebook specification beside the supplier response fields. Keep the issued request, correspondence, response format, and purchasing approvals in the established document or spreadsheet workflow.