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, and a Valid until date — how long the offer stands. Leave the date empty and the quote never expires.
4. Press Save as quote at the bottom of the cart.

Saving a quote needs the Sell and Manage quotes permissions; adding a discount needs the Apply discounts 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.

A row can also carry a badge:

• Valid until and the date — the quote has a validity date that hasn’t passed yet.
• Expired — the quote’s Valid until date has passed.
• Accepted — the customer accepted it online (see Customer acceptance).

Review, email, or print a quote

Opening a quote shows two tabs. Details has its summary (subtotal, any discount, VAT, total, the note, and who created it), its label, any Valid until, Expired or Accepted badge, and the line items. Activity lists every time it was emailed (see Did the email arrive?).

On any quote that hasn’t been discarded — including one you’ve already converted — 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.
• Copy accept link — on an open quote that hasn’t been converted, copies a link the customer can open to accept the quote online, so you can send it by text or any other way. See Customer acceptance.
• Duplicate as new quote — starts a new quote from this one. See Duplicate as new quote.
• Download PDF — opens the quote as a PDF to print or hand over.
• Print quote — prints the quote on your counter receipt printer, set up through a print agent (see Receipt printers & devices). Quote sent to the printer. confirms it printed; if it couldn’t print, the message says why.

Everything except Download PDF needs the Sell and Manage quotes permissions.

To change the items or discount on a quote that hasn’t been converted, press Edit quote next to Convert to sale — see Edit a quote.

Rename a quote or change its Valid until date

Press Rename under the quote number (it reads Add label if the quote has no label yet) — on the quote, or on its row in your quotes list. In the Edit details box you can change two things, then press Save:

• Quote label — the name you see in your quotes list. It isn’t printed on the quote. Clear it to remove the label.
• Valid until — the date the offer expires. Clear it and the quote never expires.

You can do this on any quote, whatever its status. It needs the Sell and Manage quotes permissions.

Did the email arrive?

Once a quote has been emailed, its Activity tab lists every send — when it went, the address it went to, who sent it, and what the customer’s mail system reported back. If a customer tells you the quote never turned up, that’s where to look: see Why a quote email didn’t arrive for what each delivery status means and what to do about it.

Customer acceptance

A customer can accept a quote online, without signing in to anything. There are two ways to get them the link:

• Email the quote. The email includes an Accept this quote online link.
• Press Copy accept link on the quote, then send the link however you like. Accept link copied to the clipboard. confirms it. Copying the link needs the Sell and Manage quotes permissions, and the quote doesn’t have to have been emailed first.

The link opens the quote for the customer to review. They can add their name, then press Accept this quote.

Accepting only tells you the customer wants to go ahead. It takes no payment and doesn’t convert the quote — you still ring it up with Convert to sale. When a customer accepts:

• the quote shows an Accepted badge, in your quotes list and on the quote, with the date and the customer’s name if they gave one;
• your team is notified, if their Accepted quotes notification is on (see Notifications).

A quote past its Valid until date can still be accepted. The customer is told its validity has passed, and it’s up to you to honour it or quote again.

Copy accept link only appears on an open quote that hasn’t been converted. If the quote was converted or discarded since you opened it, you’ll see “This quote was converted to a sale, so the customer can no longer accept it.” or “This quote is no longer open, so the customer can no longer accept it.” A customer who opens the link for a converted or discarded quote can’t accept it either.

Duplicate as new quote

To offer the customer something different while keeping the original quote as it is, open the quote and press Duplicate as new quote. This works on any quote that hasn’t been discarded, including one you’ve already converted.

1. The quote’s lines are copied onto New Sale, with the customer, notes and discounts.
2. Catalog lines are re-priced at today’s prices; custom lines keep the price you quoted.
3. Change what you need, then press Save as quote. This saves a new quote with its own number. The original is left as it was.

If some of the quote’s items have been removed from your catalog since, they’re left out, and a message lists them before you go to New Sale. If none of them are still available, you’ll see “None of this quote’s items are still available to duplicate.” If a sale is already in progress on New Sale, finish or clear it first — duplicating won’t overwrite it.

Duplicating needs the Sell and Manage quotes permissions.

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.

A quote the customer has accepted can’t be discarded — Discard quote isn’t shown on it. Convert it to a sale first, then cancel the order if you need to.

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.
• A quote stays open until you convert or discard it — even past its Valid until date. An Expired quote can still be converted; the badge only tells you the offer’s date has passed.
• 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.