This page teaches a merchandiser how to present a finished quotation clearly and answer the questions a buyer usually asks first. This lesson mainly teaches people: how to hand a quotation to a buyer so it can act quickly, and how to answer first questions without reopening the whole costing. At work, a well-built quotation can still fail if it is a bare number, or if the merchandiser cannot answer obvious questions without recalculating everything.
Atlas Trading, a trading company that buys in its own name and resells to retailers across Europe, sends Delta Garments an enquiry combining a confirmed 15,000-piece Make to Order base quantity with an option for further Make to Stock top-up batches later, a hybrid arrangement typical of a trader serving several retail customers. Once Mona has built the costed price and set its terms, taught in lessons 1.2 and 1.3, she must present the finished quotation and be ready for its first questions: whether the fabric can be substituted, what MOQ applies to a top-up batch, and how the two parts fit on one timeline. This lesson teaches how to present clearly and answer confidently.
You need: lesson 1.3, setting a quotation's validity, MOQ and lead time, since this lesson presents a quotation already complete with price and terms.
By the end of this lesson you can:
Not covered here: reading the original enquiry (lesson 1.1); building the costed price (lesson 1.2); setting validity, MOQ and lead time (lesson 1.3); tracking many quotations across a full order book (lesson 1.5).
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Quotation presentation | The document or message that hands a finished quotation to the buyer, showing price, cost build-up, and terms together in one clear place. |
| First-round question | A question a buyer typically asks immediately after receiving a quotation, usually answerable from the quotation's own figures without recosting. |
| Fabric substitution | A buyer's request to replace the quoted fabric with a different one, which changes the fabric cost line and must be recosted, not just restated. |
| Top-up order | An additional Make to Stock quantity ordered after a base Make to Order quantity, often on the same approved specification. |
| Combined timeline | A single schedule showing how a hybrid order's MTO and MTS parts overlap or follow each other, rather than two separate, unrelated timelines. |
| Trading company | A buyer that purchases from factories in its own name and resells to retailers, rather than being the final retailer or brand itself. |
A finished quotation is only useful once it is presented in a way the buyer can act on without asking basic questions first. A clear presentation shows the FOB price, the cost build-up behind it, and the validity, MOQ and lead time terms, all in one place. A buyer who can already see the fabric line, the MOQ, and the lead time asks sharper, more useful questions, since the basic facts are already answered by the document itself.
| What can differ | The shapes you will meet | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Established export buyer, MTO order | Northline Apparel, already familiar with Delta Garments' quotation format from past orders, expects the same layout each time: cost build-up, validity, MOQ, lead time, in that order. | A familiar, consistent layout lets an established buyer check a new quotation quickly against past ones, spotting any real change immediately. |
| Domestic MTS buyer, repeat style | Cedar & Co.'s repeat stock quotation is presented more briefly, since the fabric and construction lines rarely change between orders of the same style, with attention placed on quantity and delivery date instead. | A shorter presentation suits a buyer who already trusts the underlying costing and only needs to confirm what is different this time. |
| Trading company, hybrid MTO plus MTS order | Atlas Trading's quotation must present two linked parts clearly: the confirmed MTO base quantity and the optional MTS top-up, each with its own MOQ, on one combined timeline showing how they overlap. | A trader reselling to several retailers needs to see both parts together to plan its own resale commitments; presenting them as two unrelated documents causes confusion. |
| New buyer, first-ever quotation | A brand-new buyer receiving its first-ever quotation from Delta Garments often needs a short covering note explaining terms an established buyer would already know, such as what a letter of credit or an MOQ means in practice. | Without this extra explanation, a first-time buyer may ask basic questions repeatedly rather than the specific questions that actually move the order forward. |
Atlas Trading's enquiry combines a confirmed 15,000-piece MTO base order, matching Order A's own fixed specification and FOB price of USD 3.20, with an option for MTS top-up batches of 2,000 pieces later in the season, reusing the same approved specification. Mona presents both parts in one document: the base order's full cost build-up and its 16-week lead time, and the top-up option's lower MOQ of 2,000 pieces and its shorter 9-week lead time, since the top-up reuses the already-approved pattern, the same reasoning applied to Cedar & Co.'s repeat stock order in lesson 1.3.
| Part of the order | Quantity | FOB price | Lead time |
|---|---|---|---|
| MTO base (confirmed) | 15,000 pieces | USD 3.20 | 16 weeks |
| MTS top-up (optional, per batch) | 2,000 pieces minimum | USD 3.20 | 9 weeks |
Atlas Trading can see immediately that a top-up batch ordered while the base order is already in production would arrive close behind it, since the top-up's shorter 9-week lead time can start once the base order's approvals stage has already cleared.
The worked numberIf Atlas Trading confirms a top-up batch in week 4 of the base order's own full timeline, running 16 weeks in total, the top-up's own separate lead time of 9 weeks is added from that point.
Since the base order delivers in week 16, the top-up arrives 3 weeks ahead of the base order if confirmed this early.
A common mistake is answering a buyer's fabric-substitution question, such as Atlas Trading asking whether a heavier 200 GSM fabric could be used instead of the quoted 180 GSM, with a quickly guessed price adjustment instead of a properly recosted fabric line. A fabric change is not a first-round question answerable from the existing quotation; it changes the fabric weight, the fabric cost per kilogram, and potentially the marker efficiency, all of which need recalculating properly.
This mistake costs real money when it goes unnoticed. A guessed price adjustment that underestimates the true cost of a heavier fabric locks the factory into a quotation it cannot actually deliver at that price once production begins, forcing an uncomfortable renegotiation with a buyer who has already confirmed the order based on the guessed figure. Telling Atlas Trading plainly that a fabric substitution needs one working day to recost properly costs nothing and protects the factory from a quotation it cannot honour.
Presenting a quotation means more than sending a price. The buyer needs to see the price, what it is built from, and the terms around it, all together, so its first questions can often be answered straight from the document. Some questions, like asking about the minimum order quantity or the delivery date, can be answered immediately from what is already written down. Other questions, like asking to change the fabric, actually change the price and need to be properly recalculated, not guessed on the spot. A buyer combining a confirmed order with an option for more later, such as a trading company, needs to see both parts on one timeline, so it can see how they fit together.
During the call presenting the quotation, Atlas Trading's buyer asks whether the fabric can be changed from the quoted 180 GSM to a heavier 200 GSM, for a firmer-feeling T-shirt some of its European retail customers have requested, and asks for a revised price before the meeting ends.
Should Mona give Atlas Trading a quick estimated price for the 200 GSM fabric now, or tell them it needs proper recosting first? Decide before opening the answer.
She should tell Atlas Trading it needs proper recosting first, and commit to a specific time it will be ready, rather than giving a guessed number now. A fabric-weight change alters both the fabric consumption per piece and the fabric price per kilogram, two figures Mona has not yet confirmed.
First, a guessed price risks being wrong in either direction: too low locks the factory into a loss once the real 200 GSM cost is known, too high risks losing the order to a competitor who quotes accurately.
Second, Mona can tell Atlas Trading clearly that a fabric substitution needs one working day to price properly, and offer a specific time the revised quotation will be ready, which protects the factory's numbers without leaving Atlas Trading without an answer.
If Mona guessed the 200 GSM fabric line at USD 1.15 per piece, unchanged from the 180 GSM figure, but the true cost of the heavier fabric turns out to be USD 1.30 per piece once properly priced, the difference is USD 0.15 per piece.
Across a 15,000-piece base order, that underquote would cost Delta Garments:
Taking one working day to recost the fabric line properly costs nothing beyond the short delay Atlas Trading is asked to accept, and protects Delta Garments from a USD 2,250 loss on the base order alone, before any top-up batches are even considered.
Open the course workbook's Presentation Log sheet. For each presented quotation, record the buyer's first-round questions, mark which were answered directly from the document and which needed recosting, and note the time promised for any recosted answer.
Download the full working sheet, with Atlas Trading's hybrid quotation already filled in, from the link on this course's page.
1. What should a complete quotation presentation show, beyond the price itself?
2. A buyer asks to substitute a heavier fabric than quoted. What is the correct response?
3. A hybrid order combines a confirmed MTO base quantity with an optional MTS top-up. How should the two parts be presented?
| EN | AR | FR | TR | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quotation presentation | عرض تقديم عرض السعر | Présentation du devis | Teklif sunumu | The document or message that hands a finished quotation to the buyer, showing price, cost build-up, and terms together in one clear place. |
| First-round question | سؤال الجولة الأولى | Question de première série | İlk tur sorusu | A question a buyer typically asks immediately after receiving a quotation, usually answerable from the quotation's own figures without recosting. |
| Fabric substitution | استبدال القماش | Substitution du tissu | Kumaş değişikliği | A buyer's request to replace the quoted fabric with a different one, which changes the fabric cost line and must be recosted, not just restated. |
| Top-up order | طلبية تعزيزية | Commande de réassort | Takviye siparişi | An additional Make to Stock quantity ordered after a base Make to Order quantity, often on the same approved specification. |
| Combined timeline | جدول زمني مشترك | Calendrier combiné | Birleşik zaman çizelgesi | A single schedule showing how a hybrid order's MTO and MTS parts overlap or follow each other, rather than two separate, unrelated timelines. |
| Trading company | شركة تجارية | Société de négoce | Ticaret şirketi | A buyer that purchases from factories in its own name and resells to retailers, rather than being the final retailer or brand itself. |
You now know how to present a quotation and handle its first questions. The final lesson brings the whole course together in one tracking sheet covering every enquiry from first message to accepted quotation. Back to the course map