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Statuses & Workflow
Every quote request moves through a defined lifecycle. Two of the statuses belong to the customer alone.
The statuses
| Status | Set by | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| New | automatic | Request just submitted |
| In Progress | vendor / admin | Vendor is working on the quote |
| Quoted | vendor / admin | A quote amount has been sent to the customer |
| Accepted | customer | Customer accepted the quote |
| Rejected | customer | Customer declined the quote |
| Completed | vendor / admin | The deal was finalized (after acceptance) |
| Cancelled | vendor / admin | Request withdrawn — vendors must give a reason |
Accepted and Rejected never appear in a vendor's status dropdown — they're set only by the customer's decision (admins can correct records).
The reference number
Every request carries a short reference such as QR-7K3M9P — on the customer's dashboard, the vendor's dashboard, the admin list, and in every email. It's what a customer quotes when they get in touch, and the admin search box finds a request by it.
References are random rather than sequential on purpose: a running number tells anyone holding two of them how many requests your platform has handled. The prefix is configurable in Settings → General.
Quoting
Setting a request to Quoted is what triggers the quote email to the customer. By default a quote amount is required first ("Require Quote Amount for Quoted Status" setting): selecting Quoted opens the amount field, and saving the amount completes the status change in one motion. The amount is free text ("150 EUR incl. delivery"), so it works with any currency and pricing style. An optional quote note sits alongside it for conditions that don't belong in the amount itself — "Delivery included, mornings only" — and shows in the quote-ready email and on the customer dashboard.
Proposing a substitute
When a requested item isn't available, rejecting the whole request is rarely what the vendor wants. On the request view, each item offers Mark unavailable / propose replacement (until the customer has decided): the vendor marks the item unavailable and can pick a replacement from their own published items.
The customer sees both sides everywhere the request appears — "you asked for A — we can offer B instead" — on their dashboard and in the quote email. Accepting the quote is their agreement to the swap; the original request stays on record throughout, so nothing is ever silently rewritten. The vendor can undo it with Available again at any point before the decision.
The customer's decision
The quote email contains Accept and Decline buttons — secure one-click links that work even for customers without an account. Logged-in customers can also decide from their dashboard. Either way the decision is recorded with a timestamp, shown on every view, and the vendor and admin are notified.
After the decision
With Lock Status After Customer Decision enabled (the default):
- An Accepted request can only be moved to Completed by the vendor — no quiet cancelling of an accepted deal.
- A Rejected request can't be changed by the vendor at all.
- Admins are never restricted.
Putting an accepted request in a calendar
Once a request is accepted, an Add to calendar button appears on the partner's dashboard and on the customer's. It downloads a standard calendar file that opens in Apple Calendar, Outlook, Google Calendar and anything else — no account with any of them required, and nothing about the request travels through a third party.
The entry is an all-day one spanning your form's date fields, because these forms capture pick-up and return dates: putting the booking at an invented time would suggest an agreement nobody made. It carries the items, the quote amount, the partner's note and the customer's contact details. A request whose form has no dates doesn't show the button.
Cancelling
Vendors must always provide a reason when cancelling; it's stored, emailed to the customer and admin, and shown on the customer's dashboard ("Cancelled by the vendor. Reason: …").
Whether vendors may cancel a request after quoting is your call — the "Allow Vendors to Cancel After Quoting" setting is on by default (so vendors can withdraw a quote the customer never answers), and switching it off makes a sent quote final.