Quotation and RFQ-Response Pages on a Changzhou Manufacturer's Website: How Should They Be Accepted?

Direct answer: A quotation and RFQ-response page cannot stop at "inquire for pricing." It should state the quotation fields (description, model, specification, pricing unit, quantity/MOQ, unit price, tax, freight, packaging, tooling/sample fees, lead time, payment, validity), the price basis and trade conditions, the legal nature of the quotation (offer or invitation to offer), validity and change rules, what the customer must provide, the approval and version process, and access/logging for online quotes and PDFs. Otherwise the customer receives a quotation with missing fields and inconsistent bases, and only after signing discovers that the unit price excludes freight, the validity has expired, or the discount was never approved.

This guide is for sales, quotation, finance, legal, procurement, IT, and website vendors at manufacturers in Changzhou and nearby industrial areas. It explains how to build and accept a quotation and RFQ-response page. Information is current to 2026-11-01. It is a review of public rules and project practice, not legal, tax, pricing, or contract advice; specific quotation terms, price nature, taxes, and contract effect depend on the applicable law, contract/order, and company policy.

How does the quotation page relate to the price page, payment-terms page, and contract/order?

The price page answers "roughly how much and on what basis"; the payment-terms page answers "when and how to pay"; the quotation page answers "how much for this order, what is included, how long it is valid, and how it is confirmed"; the contract/order answers "what the parties finally agreed." All four must align, and the quotation must not contradict the price page or payment terms.

Quotation information at manufacturers lives in Excel, sales email, ERP, and WeChat, while the website says only "price on request." After an inquiry, sales assembles a quotation by hand: some tax-inclusive, some exclusive, some with freight, some without, some "valid 7 days," some "valid indefinitely." Publishing fields, basis, and process lets customers ask in one language and gives internal quoting a single template.

This page map is editorial; general contract clauses are in Article 470 of the Civil Code.

Which fields should a quotation contain at minimum?

At minimum: quotation number and version, date and validity, customer and contact, currency and trade term, description/model/specification/material, quantity and MOQ, pricing unit, unit price and volume tiers, one-off fees (tooling, sampling, programming), packaging, freight, tax (inclusive or exclusive, rate), lead time, payment, warranty, basis (drawing/standard version), remarks, preparer, and approver.

Article 13 of the Price Law requires operators selling goods, purchasing goods, or providing services to mark prices clearly under the pricing authority's rules, stating the product name, origin, specification, grade, pricing unit, price, or the service items and fee standards; operators may not charge above the marked price or collect unmarked fees. The Provisions on Clearly Marked Prices and Prohibition of Price Fraud further require that where different transaction conditions lead to different prices, the conditions and corresponding prices be stated; goods should show name, price, and unit, services should show item, content, and price or pricing method; online sales should mark prices on the web page in text or images. A quotation is a one-to-one document, but the field logic is the same.

This list is editorial; clear-price requirements are in Article 13 of the Price Law and the Provisions on Clearly Marked Prices.

Do website prices, price lists, and quotations have the same legal nature?

No. Website prices, sent price lists, advertisements, and marketing are usually invitations to offer—inviting the customer to make an offer. A quotation to a specific customer that is definite (subject, quantity, price, term) and indicates the quoter will be bound by acceptance may be an offer. The test is whether the content is definite and whether it shows intent to be bound, not what the document is called.

Article 472 of the Civil Code defines an offer as a declaration of intent to conclude a contract that is definite and indicates the offeror will be bound upon acceptance. Article 473 lists auction announcements, tender announcements, prospectuses, bond offering documents, fund prospectuses, advertisements and marketing, and sent price lists as invitations to offer, while advertisements and marketing that meet the conditions of an offer constitute an offer. In practice, a "reference price list" on a website is usually an invitation; a quotation to a customer specifying model, quantity, unit price, lead time, and validity may be treated as an offer, and the contract is formed when the customer accepts.

This classification is editorial, not legal advice; offers and invitations are in Articles 471–473 of the Civil Code, and the determination depends on content, course of dealing, and judicial practice.

How should price components and trade conditions be written to avoid disputes?

State what the unit price includes and excludes: material, processing, surface treatment, packaging, inspection, tooling amortisation, freight, insurance, tax, installation, training, and spares. Different quantities, trade terms, and payment methods carry different prices; volume tiers need ranges and conditions, and discounts need approval and expiry.

Most quotation disputes come from "I thought it included that": the customer thought freight was included, sales thought not; the customer expected a 13% special VAT invoice, the quotation was tax-exclusive; the customer thought the tooling fee was refundable on order, the quotation never said so. Breaking out the components is more useful than adding "the quotation controls" to the contract, because the quotation itself must be internally consistent.

This breakdown is editorial; different prices for different transaction conditions should state the conditions, per Articles 6, 7, and 8 of the Provisions on Clearly Marked Prices.

How should validity, withdrawal, revocation, and changes be handled?

State the validity period and its start (issue date or receipt date). An offer takes effect when it reaches the offeree; a withdrawal must arrive before or at the same time as the offer; an offer may be revoked before acceptance unless it states a fixed acceptance period or otherwise indicates it is irrevocable. Changes should be issued as a new version with the old one expressly void.

Article 474 provides that an offer takes effect per Article 137 (a non-dialogue declaration takes effect when it reaches the other party); Article 477 allows withdrawal if the notice arrives before or simultaneously with the offer; Article 476 allows revocation before acceptance, except where the offeror has set a fixed acceptance period or otherwise indicated irrevocability. In practice, "valid for 30 days" may itself set a fixed acceptance period, making the quotation irrevocable for 30 days; "this quotation is an invitation to offer, subject to a signed contract" reduces the risk of being treated as an offer but cannot defeat an acceptance already made.

Rules are in Articles 474, 476, and 477 of the Civil Code; whether a quotation is an offer and revocable depends on its content and course of dealing.

What should customers provide for an RFQ, and how should it flow internally?

Customers should provide: product/drawing number and version, quantity and annual usage, material and surface, critical tolerances, destination, trade term, target price, payment terms, packaging and certification requirements, and required delivery. Internal flow: inquiry registration → technical review → cost calculation → price approval → quotation output → follow-up and version control, each with a deadline and owner.

"Give me a price" can mean very different things: standard or custom, drawing or no drawing, tooling included or not, certification needed or not, delivered where. The website can provide an RFQ checklist so customers supply everything at once; internally, quotation numbers and approval flows control discounts and floor prices, preventing verbal promises and late discovery by finance.

This flow is editorial; tender quotations must also respond to the substantive requirements of the tender documents, per Article 27 of the Tendering and Bidding Law.

The quotation response can be estimated in hours: technical review 2 hours + cost calculation 3 hours + approval 1 hour = 6 hours, at RMB 150/hour about RMB 900 per quotation. These are illustrative assumptions, not a quotation for any company or product; actual hours and rates follow the company's costing.

How should online quotations, PDFs, and record-keeping be accepted?

Online quoting should require login, grant access by customer/project, show version and validity, generate watermarked PDFs, and log views and downloads; public pages must not show customer-specific prices, discounts, or unapproved prices. PDFs should trace the quotation number, version, approver, and generation time, and email sends should keep receipts.

A quotation is both a commercial document and pricing data. Publishing it in a public download folder, sharing via a personal cloud drive, or sending PDFs casually on WeChat leads to price leaks and version chaos. If the website offers online quoting or quotation downloads, it should at least answer who saw which version when, and whether it was downloaded; grant tiered access to dealers and customers so customer A cannot see customer B's prices.

Online quoting and record-keeping are editorial; access control, personal information, and trade-secret protection follow company policy and the law.

What should the page say, and how should it link?

Include the quotation field guide, price components and trade conditions, validity and change rules, an RFQ checklist, response times, an online-quote/PDF entry, and a privacy note; link to the price page, payment-terms page, sample/first-article page, export-documents page, and contact page. Do not publish customer-specific quotes, discount approval sheets, or unauthorised contract prices.

Make "quotations and inquiries" a page that answers the question on its own: tell customers what to prepare, show a redacted sample, explain what the price includes, how validity is counted, and how to confirm, and end with an inquiry entry. Sales can then send the link, and customers will not use "a price I saw online" to push down a custom quote.

These modules are editorial; specific fields, terms, and online permissions follow the contract, pricing policy, and company rules.

Go-live acceptance checklist

Ten checks: quotation fields, price components, tax and currency, trade terms and freight, validity and version, legal-nature statement, RFQ checklist and response time, approval and records, privacy and pricing data, and links/mobile. Each needs an owner, evidence, and review date.

Sales, quotation, finance, legal, procurement, IT, and the website vendor can share this list. The pass condition is not "the page has a quote button"; it is that the customer knows what to provide, what the price includes, how long it is valid, and how to confirm—and internally everyone knows who approves, which version is live, and who can see the pricing data.

This checklist is editorial; specific quotation, pricing, tax, contract, and pricing-data requirements follow the law, contract, and company policy.

Who should read this, who should not, and what decisions does it support?

It suits manufacturers in Changzhou and nearby areas with custom parts, non-standard equipment, molds, engineering projects, or export business, where quotations are frequent and bases easily diverge. It does not suit a one-price standard-product seller with no inquiry process, or a team that wants "price on request" to avoid stating any basis.

Read it if you are in sales, quotation, finance, legal, procurement, IT, or a website vendor; you are building a quotation template, RFQ form, online quoting, price approval, or quotation version control; or you need to decide what a quotation contains, how validity is set, whether it is an offer, who approves discounts, and who sees the PDF. Skip it if prices are verbal and contracts are fixed afterwards; your website, quotation, and contract each say something different; or you want one page to replace pricing law, contract law, or counsel. It supports self-review of quotation fields, price components, trade conditions, validity and changes, the RFQ checklist, approval and records, and page acceptance.

Lingyi Information is a website development and enterprise AI project provider, not a law firm, accounting firm, or pricing authority. This article is not a substitute for legal, tax, pricing, or contract advice. Changzhou projects are delivered remotely or on site as confirmed per project; Lingyi is one candidate, does not claim a local office or team, and does not promise quotation outcomes, deals, or inquiries.

FAQ

If the website lists a price, must we sell at that price when a customer orders?

Not necessarily. Website prices and price lists are usually invitations to offer, and the specific transaction follows the quotation/contract; but the marked price must be true and accurate, and you may not charge above it or collect unmarked fees. If the listing is definite and indicates it binds upon acceptance, it may be treated as an offer—so state "reference price; quotation controls."

What does "valid for 30 days" on a quotation do?

It may also set a fixed acceptance period, making the offer irrevocable during that period. For the seller, that means no free change of mind for 30 days; for the buyer, it is a price they can rely on. Match the wording to actual delivery capability—do not write "valid indefinitely" to look professional.

Should the quotation say "subject to the final contract"?

It can show that the quotation is not the final contract and reduce the risk of being treated as an offer; but if the content is already definite and the customer has accepted, that sentence alone may not prevent contract formation. Better to state validity, conditions, confirmation method, and the contract-signing process clearly.

How should tax-inclusive vs. tax-exclusive be stated?

State "inclusive/exclusive + rate or levy rate + invoice type," not just "tax included." Rates vary with taxpayer status, goods/services, and policy, so hard-coding a number invites error; the quotation can say "at the rate applicable at invoicing" and give the current basis.

What if a customer uses a competitor's quote to push the price down?

First check comparability: drawing version, material, tolerance, quantity, destination, trade term, payment, warranty, and testing. The more complete the quotation fields, the more "low total price" can be shown to cover a different scope. Do not publish customer-specific discounts or floor prices on the website.

Is online quoting safe?

Yes, with login, customer/project permissions, version and validity display, watermarked PDFs, view/download logs, and automatic expiry. Public links, personal cloud drives, and casually sent WeChat PDFs invite price leaks and version chaos.

One-sentence takeaway

A Changzhou manufacturer's quotation and RFQ-response page should not stop at "price on request." It should turn quotation fields, price components, trade conditions, validity and versions, offer/invitation status, the RFQ checklist, approval and records, and pricing-data access into a verifiable checklist—so customers know what to provide, what the price includes, how long it is valid, and how to confirm.

Method and limitations

This is a review of public rules and project practice, not a compliance certification or legal opinion on any company, quotation, price, tax, or contract. No undisclosed customer quotations, discounts, contract prices, or cost data were used. Quotation fields, price components, process times, and the hour example (6 hours × RMB 150 ≈ RMB 900 per quotation) are editorial suggestions or assumptions, not quotations or deal commitments. Actual quotation terms, price nature, taxes, contract effect, and pricing-data protection depend on the law, contract/order, company pricing and finance policies, and professional advice.

Sources and scope

Information is current to 2026-11-01. The following are public official/primary pages; their scope, version, and wording control.

1. Civil Code of the PRC, contract book: Supreme People's Court. Article 470 (contract clauses), Articles 471–473 (offer and invitation), 474 (effectiveness), 476 (revocation), 477 (withdrawal).
2. Price Law of the PRC: State Administration for Market Regulation. Article 13 (clear price marking), Article 42 (liability).
3. Provisions on Clearly Marked Prices and Prohibition of Price Fraud: gov.cn. Article 6 (conditions and corresponding prices), Article 7 (what to display), Article 8 (no unmarked fees), Article 13 (online marking).
4. Tendering and Bidding Law of the PRC: State Administration for Market Regulation. Article 27 (bid documents responding to substantive requirements).

After a quote is confirmed, how orders and statements appear in the portal matters; see the customer portal order and reconciliation acceptance checklist.