How to Request a Quote by Email: Give the Supplier What They Need

Request a quote by email by telling the supplier what you need, the quantity and the delivery requirement, then asking for the price details you need to make a decision. Give the requested quote-response date separately from the date you need the goods. Make your current purpose clear: collecting prices is different from asking the supplier to begin work.

“How much would some booklets cost?” leaves the supplier to guess the quantity and specification. A useful enquiry brings those facts together so the supplier can quote or identify what still needs clarification.

This lesson uses an original fictional printing task. You will write the first request, then revise it when the manager wants to compare two quantities.

Describe the same task you want priced

Start with the product or service and the details that affect this request. For a print job, the page count, size, colour, finishing and quantity can help describe the work. Use the information you have confirmed; do not fill gaps with invented specifications.

Central Oregon Community College’s purchasing guidance identifies product attributes, quantities, delivery needs and the time for receiving quotations as information to establish before contacting suppliers. It also calls for shipping information and quote validity. Those communication principles are useful here; the college’s purchasing rules are specific to its own process.

Give the delivery location at the level you can confirm. If the supplier needs a full address or another detail to calculate a charge, invite that question. Do not present an incomplete location or an unchecked file as though the supplier has already assessed it.

Ask for prices and availability separately

Decide what you need to learn from the answer. A total alone may not show whether delivery is included. Ask for relevant components to be identified, along with the total, rather than assuming what a figure covers.

The British Council’s email-enquiries lesson distinguishes information questions from yes/no questions. A quote request often needs both: price details and confirmation of whether a delivery requirement is feasible.

Keep each date attached to its purpose. The supplier may be able to prepare a quote before confirming a production slot. Equally, a requested delivery date is something to assess, not evidence that the supplier has booked the work.

If you are waiting for an internal decision, say so. Avoid “Please go ahead” when you only want a price. Once you have the necessary information, an approval request can explain the proposed purchase to the person who decides.

Practice: ask Oak Print for a booklet quote

You are Asha, coordinating a staff workshop for Northline Studio. You can request prices, but the purchase has not been approved. You are writing to the sales team at fictional Oak Print.

Use these facts:

Detail	Confirmed requirement or current status
Quantity	24 copies
Booklet	12 pages, A5, printed double-sided in black and white, stapled
File	The 12-page print-ready PDF is not attached; it can be provided if an order is approved
Delivery location	The studio office in Leeds LS1; a full address can be supplied if needed for the delivery charge
Booklets needed	By 16 October 2026; supplier availability is unconfirmed
Quote requested	By 8 October 2026, so the manager can review the costs

Ask for the printing price, delivery charge and any applicable tax separately, plus the total and how long the quote remains valid. Ask whether the delivery requirement is feasible. No price, discount or delivery promise is known, and no order has been placed.

Write your email before reading the model. Include the specification without pretending that the PDF is attached. You have not been given a paper stock or a full delivery address; do not invent either.

Here is one possible answer:

Subject: Quote request — 24 A5 workshop booklets

Hello Oak Print sales team,

I’m arranging a staff workshop for Northline Studio. Could you provide a quote for 24 copies of a 12-page A5 booklet, printed double-sided in black and white and stapled?

We can provide the print-ready PDF if the order is approved. Please let me know if you need any further specifications to prepare the quote.

Please show the printing price, delivery charge and any applicable tax separately, along with the total and how long the quote remains valid. Delivery would be to our office in Leeds LS1; I can provide the full address if you need it to calculate the charge.

We need the booklets by 16 October 2026. Could you confirm whether that is feasible? Would you be able to send the quote by 8 October 2026 so our manager can review the costs?

We are requesting pricing at this stage and have not placed an order.

Best regards, Asha

The opening gives Oak Print a defined quantity and booklet specification. The next paragraph accurately describes the file’s availability and leaves room for a necessary question. It does not claim the supplier has reviewed the PDF or that every production detail is settled.

The cost request makes the desired breakdown explicit. “Any applicable tax” asks the supplier to identify the relevant charge without the writer inventing a rate. The full address is available if needed; Leeds LS1 is not presented as a complete address.

Finally, the two dates serve different purposes: 8 October for the quote, 16 October for the booklets. Both are requests to the supplier. The closing explains the current stage without promising a purchase if the quote arrives.

Change the request: compare 24 copies and 40 copies

Before sending the email, the manager asks you to obtain prices for 24 copies and 40 copies as alternatives. Neither quantity has been selected. The booklet specification, file status, location and both requested dates remain unchanged.

Revise your email so the supplier can give you two comparable options. Ask for a breakdown and total for each, and check whether each quantity can meet the delivery requirement. Update the subject as well as the body.

One possible revised request is:

Subject: Quote options — 24 or 40 A5 workshop booklets

Hello Oak Print sales team,

I’m arranging a staff workshop for Northline Studio. Could you quote separately for 24 copies and 40 copies of a 12-page A5 booklet, printed double-sided in black and white and stapled? These are alternative quantities; we have not selected one or placed an order.

We can provide the print-ready PDF if an order is approved. Please let me know if you need further specifications to prepare the quotes.

For each option, please show the printing price, delivery charge, any applicable tax and total, and state how long the quote remains valid. Delivery would be to our office in Leeds LS1; I can provide the full address if needed.

Please confirm whether each option could be delivered by 16 October 2026. Would you be able to send both quotes by 8 October 2026 so our manager can compare the costs?

Best regards, Asha

“Separately” and “for each option” connect the requested information to each quantity. This is not an order for 64 copies or an instruction to switch to 40. The supplier is being asked to price two possible versions of the same job.

Do not calculate the second total by multiplying the first quote yourself or assume the delivery charge is unchanged. Ask the supplier for both options so the manager can compare the information actually supplied.

Check what the supplier can answer

Read the request once as the supplier. Can you identify the specification, quantity or alternatives, location, required delivery date and requested quote date? Is it clear which prices and confirmations the reply should contain?

Then check the status: a needed date is not a confirmed slot, an available PDF is not an attachment, and a request for prices is not approval to start. If the returned quote leaves something unclear, ask a focused clarification question before relying on an assumption.

For more workplace situations to write through, try the professional email writing exercises.

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