Quotes

A quote is a saved draft of a sale. You price the job up — items, custom lines, discounts, a customer — but take no payment, and nothing comes off your stock or shows in your reports. The quote sits in your open quotes until you either turn it into a real sale or discard it. It’s built for made-to-order work: quote an engraving or a trophy job, hand the customer a printed or emailed quote, and ring it up (often on a deposit) once they say yes.

Quotes is switched on by the plan you’re on, or by Swann Software for your store. If you don’t see Sales → Quotes, it isn’t on your plan yet — contact Swann Software to add it.

Start a quote

There’s no separate quote builder — a quote is just a cart you save instead of charging. So you build it on New Sale:

1. Go to Sales → Quotes and press Start a quote (this opens New Sale with a reminder), or open New Sale directly.
2. Build the cart exactly as you would for a sale (Ring up a sale) — scan or search items, or ＋ Add custom line for an off-catalog job. Set quantities, notes, discounts, and attach a customer if you have one.
3. Optionally give it a Quote label (e.g. Smith trophy) so it’s easy to spot in your list.
4. Press Save as quote at the bottom of the cart.

Saving a quote needs the Sell permission; adding a discount needs the Apply discount permission, the same as on a normal sale.

Find your open quotes

Go to Sales → Quotes for your open, un-converted quotes, newest first. Each row shows the quote number, its label, when it was created, the item count, and the total. Open a row to review it, send it, convert it, or discard it.

Review, email, or print a quote

Opening a quote shows its summary (subtotal, any discount, VAT, total, the note, and who created it) and the line items. While a quote is still open you can:

• Email quote — sends the quote with a PDF attached. It defaults to the attached customer’s email; you can edit the address before sending.
• Download PDF — opens the quote as a PDF to print or hand over.

Convert a quote to a sale

When the customer goes ahead, open the quote and press Convert to sale. This rings the draft up as a real sale:

1. Catalog lines are re-priced at today’s prices; custom lines keep the price you quoted.
2. Choose a payment method — Cash (enter the cash tendered; change is worked out for you) or Card (recorded only, no change).
3. Optionally enter an email receipt address.
4. Press Convert to finish. You land on the completed sale.

A few things to know:

• Prices changed since you quoted? If a catalog item’s price has moved, the convert is stopped with a prices changed message instead of quietly charging a different amount — reopen the quote to check the new total before ringing it up.
• A free ($0) quote converts as a no-charge sale — no payment is taken.
• Once converted, the quote shows a link to its sale and can’t be converted again.

Convert on a deposit

If you take deposits, you don’t have to collect the full amount at conversion. In the convert screen choose Deposit instead of Full payment and enter a deposit amount (more than nothing, less than the total). The sale is saved as part-paid with the balance owing, and you collect the rest at pickup — see Deposits & balances. Taking a deposit needs the deposits feature on your plan.

Discard a quote

If the job falls through before you convert it, open the quote and press Discard quote, then confirm. The draft is cancelled and drops out of your open quotes. This can’t be undone, and a discarded quote can no longer be emailed, exported, or converted.

Good to know

• A quote takes no money and holds no stock — nothing happens to your till, inventory, or reports until you convert it to a sale.
• Quotes don’t expire — a draft stays open until you convert or discard it.
• Convert is the only way money changes hands — to charge for a quoted job, convert it (in full or on a deposit); there’s no “pay” button on the quote itself.