If it be either in PM or the thread that originated the quote or personal e mail, we need to get some of these people/companies posting their rfq's to communicate with us. Its just a matter of courtesy saying of saying "your quote is too high" or whatever it may be and "I have found some one else" or posting on their thread the price and when the job was awarded etc etc. Its just not nice to have some one sit down strategize all of the machining operations it would take to make a part, what tooling they will need to buy, what the prices of materials will be etc etc, all this while changing game plans a thousand times to try to get the best deal for the customer, and they don't even answer your e mails. Is that the epitome of courtesy :(?

Seams that way.

should we make a list of not so serious RFQ posters.

Not a bad idea.

Or I can just start baning or start charging a fee to join?

too drastic. I prefer the public pillary approach myself. Serves two purposes, tells people approach with caution and gives offender a second chance.

OK, here is my take on this, my first thought is to agree with you and it is likely that personally I would reply with a confirmation of receiving the quote, but in reality these people are under no obligation to reply, they asked for a quote, we send one, that's it !

I know some of these people are inundated with quotes.

My pet peeve is no replies to personal questions, no drawings just some link to a picture on eBay or site, a reply with one long sentence with no periods, capitalizations or "Hi ken", thank you for your interest."
These do not even warrant a second look in my opinion.

That said, lets not be too critical, after all they are the ones thart are paying.

But common courtesy dictates a reply, especially if some one has gone through all the trouble of estimating or maybe even writing up a program. Maybe we should be so kind as to throw around meaningless quotes, make the parts, regret the prices, and say "OH I'm sorry that will be 5X more than what I quoted or you don't get the parts you orderd." Whose time is getting wasted then, is that a problem?
Man when I make stuff and all of a sudden I broke my last cutter or whatever I'm in constant communication with the customer even if I will make the due date. I also like to include photos showing progress. After all I don't know Joe and he doesn't know me, should he be sitting there anxiously and nervously twiddling his thumbs away waiting for these parts that might just save his behind?
All I can say is that a good client vendor relationship must have good communication.

"But common courtesy dictates a reply"

Does it really, perhaps not too them, I guess that is where we differ, not saying you are wrong because I feel you are correct but what I consider common courtesy may not be another's, in the scheme of things that can go wrong, it should not be a big deal when we do not get a reply. In actuality a no reply is a reply, they are not interested in our quote, so be it, I have no intentions of altering a quote because they feel it is too high any more then I expect them to say, that quote is too low add another 20 percent.

Maybe ask that they acknowledge receipt of the RFQ or if they have any questions or problems with it.

Ken

Contemplating quoting on a few jobs, yet every time when I look at the threads I come to the conclusion it's a waste of time.

I like the idea of going to one place to get or post a job, which leaves more time to get the real work done!

What would facilitate this considerably is if there where a detailed form that must be completed for every job (kept in a database) and made available for each job. There should be some mandatory fields and every job must have a drawing.... Kind of a wizard to complete and the job only posted once a drawing file is uploaded and mandatory fields completed.

Before I quote I would like to know if there are any preferences such country of origin. Lets get real, articales crossing a border if you are in North America is not a big deal but there is some additional paperwork that not everybody is prepared to deal with. Shipping costs can be a big factor and affect delivery times so a ship too zip code should be mandatory. Price expectations should also be indicated as I don't even want to bother where I cannot compete. Similarly a feedback rating is important for both buyer and seller, similar to E-Bay (it's not prefect but it helps).

Every quote response should have a similar process. I sure would like to know the succesful bid price etc. and who all quoted. Non of this back door stuff.

It would be nice as a buyer or seller to have an account that keeps track of job activity. I have no problem with calculating into the price of a job a transaction fee such as a commission but listing and quoting should be free.

This process would also go a long way to alleviating the courtesy issue.

In my opinion, It's up to the buyer on what info. he would post reguarding the rfq. (after RFQ has been awarded) Who it went to for how much. All I ask is that the buyer post "job has been awarded" I see no reason to contact the buyer after I have made my quote. All questions should have been asked during the quoting process. The buyer owes us nothing more then RFQ is closed.

I would like to add one thing is the people/buyers who are just price shopping, Question is how do we know the difference from the real buyers and the shoppers.

It would be nice if this site had payed personell fishing work for us and we only had to pay when we get the job according to the value of the job.

Question is how do we know the difference from the real buyers and the shoppers.

Don,
I do not know that it is possible to do that. Many, are just shopping, so to speak, because they have an idea and need to know if it is feasible, cost wise. Most of these are asking for pricing on one prototype, personally I do not reply to these, not because they are not worthy but simply because experience shows that one off''s are a losing proposition. It seems that one cannot charge sufficiently for the time spent from start to shipping.

I have noticed that over time, these RFQ have been increasingly complete in regards to what is needed to offer a knowledgeable quote.

All in all this site is looking pretty professional, I will agree with Metalmog that a minimum required information form is needed, to save time for everyone.

Ken





.

So lets create something, maybe get a couple of guys (shops & buyers) together 3 to 4 come up with a rough draft put it out there let everyone see and listen to some input from everyone make some changes. see what happens?

If you need to know the difference bteween the buyers and the shoppers. Here is my take Honesty is the best policy :eek: . If some one was to say that they are just thinking of making something and they need to get an idea of the price, say so. If I were to quote and everyone was to quote, that is still good advertising in the event that this "shopper" migt need to buy something. This is just another opportunity to be friendly and get good press.

I suggest that "RFQWork.com" sets up a "Sister Site" where "Buyers" must post the " POSTED" -VS- "AWARDED" RATIO and "WHOM THE JOB WAS AWARDED TO" ( no need to tell us what it went for, unless the buyer decides on his own to post it )

This will allow us "SUPPLIERS / SHOPS" to look and kind of see, or @ least in our own minds decide if the Buyer is simply a "PRICE SHOPPER" -OR- a "LEGITIMATE BUYER" ( one that does award his jobs to this "COMMUNITY")

Thanks

From:Jim Gannon
Gannon Welding
Blacksburg, SC

I've engaged several websites regarding RFQ's in 35 years at the trade and the story remains the same---everyone's looking for the price--not the quality. A lot of the clients I had went "overseas" with 35 to 40 percent rejection rates that they deemed "acceptable" due to pricing!!

It's my contention that the buyer should be paying for the service--not the contractor. The lines of communication should be open at all times to ensure that everyone is on the same "page of music". All bidding should be open, results posted so that every "prospector" can figure out where he went wrong and how NOT to make the same mistake twice.

I currently run a "cash and carry" shop--I quote everything in writing first-- no baloney.

MFG.Quote is an extremely expensive way to learn how NOT to use the net for bidding. If RFQ.Work keeps on track maybe America will get back there too.

Deleted....................

Big time, I agree with the guy from SC. When we are constantly bringing our price down to get that client, we shouldn't be expected to pay for such a wonderful service. Last job that I got of the net I barely had enough to pay for labor, forget about broken cutters. If I was to continue working at that rate I wouldn't be able to afford coolant, way oil and other shop necessities. This ends up being for the clients benefit, they should have to pay.

Ok I agree but here is my summary on this whole thread.
YES PLEASE make a form they can download and fill out with minimum information and a drawing needed or no drawing but that they need some one to make the drawing.

Secondly - place each RFQ as a new thread that can have a note or blinky that can be checked as "awarded" and then move the thread into a sub foldr called "archived" this way we can and they can reference that good information.

Thirdly - this is a QUOTE process guys it is up to the person/company quoting to make sure all overhead is added into the quote and that they dont go lower in their quote than what is needed to run the shop.

Fouth - The rating system is a must but it must be attached to an address that matches the quote destination or people will simply make a new account each time and the star ratings will not matter.

Fifth - Do not make this a pay site for either parties that is what will make it so huge like cnczone.com and charge the advertisers instead.

Lastly - I will shaddup here and wait for more on this thread or ideas? :)

James Lee

I like coogrrr ideas, and to expand on that

Drawings do not have to be done in CAD, they can be hand drawn and just scanned in or similar. It has to have enough info to describe the part.

I would still prefer to see an item flaged - Shopping or RFQ.

As a designer, there many times where I would just like a ballpark price to access which process/technology/supplier to use for example. Once I get serious it will change soon enough to a RFQ.

As a producer - I have no problem estimating what a job will cost based on my experience and shop capabilities. The amount of work involved in this type of reply is vastly less than a detailed RFQ. (I really don't want to waste my time on something that has very little probability of happening). I am not advocating ignoring shoppers, lets just deal with it for what it is.

Ultimately if we turn ideas into reality, we all win. We need to find the best suited method for both sides of the fence. One of the best values for me that a site like this brings to the table is the diversity of people and technologies all in one place.

Many great ideas started on the back of a matchbox, lets not kill them.

Ok so this is only a suggeston not the end all be all of documents....

I think that we could offer this to a client to fill in the information.

I have included both an editable PDF format and an older Excel format choose either or print it and write it in by hand...

Uploading this with drawings and we are set!

Coog

I think we are moving in the right direction.

Fields that could be included that come to mind are

RFQ - Closing date
delivery date

Ughhh, I pressed the send at the wrong time !!!

Also a reference number or two for both parties.
Extended RFQ price excluding shipping and taxes.
A section that inventories the documents that are part of the RfQ.
Perhaps a couple of check boxes for type of machining required, such as Lathe, Mill, Grind, EDM, Laser, Waterjet, Plasma, Special, Other. would be handy.

I think of this sheet as a one pager quick reference cover sheet, that pulls everything together. Basically a sheet that can be passed around from Buyer to seller. Sprinkle a couple of links too it all over the web server and the job is done. No RFQ would be complete without one of these.

If I could save a copy of this on my local machine and have stuff already filled out, would help a lot (or taken from my profile on the server).

One of the big benifits - it becomes electronically searchable. I was hoping the web site creators would run with this a bit with some of these fields.

The two file types are good for me. Generally I like Excel, because I can modify it a little if required. I also like the security features that comes with Adobe pdf etc.