Work on a quote

To turn on quotes, set up statuses and choose who's emailed, see Set up quotes.

How a quote becomes an order

How a quote moves from request to order

Requested

The customer submits their cart as a quote and chooses a shipping method

Assigned

Your team is emailed; a Sales administrator assigns a sales agent, a status and an expiry date

Negotiated

The agent and customer edit the quote and exchange messages on its timeline

Confirmed

The customer, or the agent for them, clicks Confirm & Complete and places the order

Order

The order is Processing and follows your usual workflow until it ships

The quote's status decides what the customer can do at each stage, such as edit or complete it. On Shopify, a completed quote becomes a regular order, not a draft order.

If a limited user completes a quote, the order goes to their company's main user for approval first. Once it's approved, it reaches you as a normal order. See Approve orders from limited users.

Where to find quotes

Where	What you see
Email	A new quote email with the customer's details and the items, and a View requested quote button. Who gets it is set in Choose who is notified about quotes.
Your account on the storefront	Sales agents find quotes in Recent Activity, with All, Assigned to me and Placed by me tabs. The Status column tells quotes (such as "Quote Requested") apart from orders.
Orders (opens in your SparkLayer Dashboard in a new tab)	Quotes may also be listed here as Awaiting merchant, with their purchase ID, as there's no order in your store yet. To work on a quote, open it on the storefront. See Orders and Awaiting merchant.

Customers, or sales agents signed in on their behalf, request a quote from the cart: they click Request Quote instead of Checkout (sales agents see Submit Quote), choose a shipping method and click Submit Quote. No payment is taken. For each step of the quote checkout, see Submit a quote instead.

The quote then shows in the activity list in the customer's My Account. Its Summary shows when it was requested, its expiry date, the assigned sales agent and its status. The Order Lines, Timeline and Files tabs show the products, messages and attachments, and Download PDF downloads a copy.

Start a quote for a customer

Sales agents can build a quote for a customer: sign in as them with Order for a customer, add the products and submit the cart as a quote. The customer is emailed to review it.

Shopify only

Don't create a draft order for a B2B customer by hand in the Shopify admin instead: it uses your Shopify prices, not the customer's B2B prices. To order or quote at their prices, use Order for a customer.

What happens at each status

Status	Who acts next	What the customer sees and can do
Quote Requested (default)	You. A Sales administrator assigns the quote, and the sales agent reviews it, adjusting prices, quantities or shipping.	The quote in My Account, with this status. Confirm & Complete is disabled by design, so the order can't be placed until you've reviewed it. They can message you on the quote's timeline.
Awaiting Customer	The customer.	They review your changes, then click Confirm & Complete to place the order. They can also click Edit Quote if the status allows edits.
Statuses you add	Whoever you decide.	Whatever the status allows, with Allow customers to complete quote and Allow customers to make edits to quote.

Only sales agents assigned to a quote can change its status. To add statuses or change what each allows, see Set up quote statuses.

Review and assign a quote

Click View requested quote in the new quote email and sign in to your store. The quote opens in the customer's My Account.
As a Sales administrator, click the edit icon in the yellow box at the top of the quote and set:
- Assigned Sales Agent: who handles the quote
- Quote Status: one of your quote statuses
- Expiry Date: after this, the customer must start a new quote (if the status archives expired quotes)
Click Save. The assigned sales agent is emailed, and sees the quote when they next sign in.

Of your team, only the sales agent assigned to the quote can change it.

Edit a quote and send it back

Sales agents can edit a quote, and so can customers if its status allows.

Open the quote in My Account and click Edit Quote. It opens in the My Cart.
Make your changes. Customers can add or remove products and change quantities. Sales agents can also change line prices and shipping, add custom line items and custom shipping, and add out-of-stock (not on BigCommerce) or POA (price on application) products.
Continue through the checkout. Sales agents get an extra Quote Details step, with a banner naming the customer. There, they:
- Set the Quote Status, Expiry Date and Assigned Sales Agent
- Under Communications, choose Notify customer (emails the customer) or Save as internal note, with an optional message
Click Submit Revisions to Quote. The customer is notified to review the changes.

Changing prices and shipping needs the Change quoted prices and Change shipping permissions in the sales agent's role. You can't add discounts to a quote.

Message the customer about a quote

Each quote's Timeline tab in My Account keeps all messages between the customer and your sales team in one place. Messages are also sent by email.

Who	How they send a message
Sales agent	Choose Notify customer and click Send Email, or choose Save as internal note for a private note (in a yellow box, seen only by sales agents). Customers sign in to reply.
Customer	Types in the message box and clicks Send Message. The assigned sales agent is notified.

Each entry shows who sent it and when, for example "Seb Latch (Customer) sent a message". See Order timeline and messages.

Complete a quote

Once the quote is agreed, the customer or a sales agent turns it into an order.

Open the quote in My Account and click Confirm & Complete.
The checkout opens at Review & Pay, with a banner saying "You are completing a quote" and the quote's shipping method selected. Choose a payment method, and change anything else you need.
Tick the terms and conditions and click Complete Order.

The quote becomes a Processing order and follows your usual workflow until it ships. On Shopify, it's a regular order, not a draft.

If the quote is no longer needed, click Cancel and archive under the quote's buttons. This cancels it and stops any further changes.

Reference

Quote actions

Action	Customer	Sales agent
Edit Quote	Opens the quote in the cart to add or remove products and change quantities, if the status allows edits.	Opens the quote in the cart to also change line prices and shipping costs.
Confirm & Complete	Goes to checkout to place the order, if the status allows it. The shipping method is pre-selected and can be changed; they choose how to pay.	Completes the quote on the customer's behalf.
Cancel and archive	Cancels the quote and stops any further changes. Only use it when the quote is no longer needed.	The same.

Timeline activities

Activity	What's shown
Quote actions	When the quote was requested and updated
Customer messages	Messages from the customer
Sales agent messages	Messages from a sales agent
Internal notes	Private notes from a sales agent
Quote edits	Each edit, with a log of what changed

The emails sent at each step are listed in Email notifications.

Troubleshooting

FAQs

Who	Why
The customer, at Quote Requested	This is by design. You review the quote first, then move it to a status that lets the customer complete it, such as Awaiting Customer. See What happens at each status.
The customer, at another status	The status doesn't allow customers to complete quotes. Check its Allow customers to complete quote setting in quote statuses.
You or a sales agent	The agent's role doesn't have the Quotes permission they need, such as Edit quotes or Complete quotes, or the quote isn't assigned to them. Only the assigned sales agent can change a quote. Also check the quote's status allows the action.