PURCHASING OFFICE EQUIPMENT. QUOTATIONS
VOCABULARY.
Difference between quotation and budget.
Budget: Finance and Account.
An account of profitable future income (money coming in) and expenditure (money going out) during a
stated period, usually a year, used as a guide in making financial arrangements.
Quotation: Commerce.
A statement of the current price and the conditions upon which a supplier is willing to sell, or upon which
services may be performed.
Estimate: synonym for quotation, a statement of probable cost of supplying certain stated goods or services,
made in hope of getting an order
Gross price / Net price.- Prices+ other costs and charges (delivery, transport, insurance, taxes/ VAT), prices
which include all these extra costs are known as GROSS PRICES. Those which exclude them are known as
NET PRICES
Different terms of payment
Giro.- The postal cheque system is run by the Post Office and allows customers to send payments to anyone
whether they have a Giro account or not.
Cheque.- You must have a current account or certain types of saving accounts to pay by cheque. Cheques can
be open, to pay cash, or closed (crossed), to be paid into an account.
COD
Cash On Delivery
Collect On Delivery
Bank transfer.- Act of moving money from a bank account to another account. To make a bank transfer
Credit period: The time period a creditor extends credit to a customer. At the end of the credit period, the
customer of the business is expected to have met all financial obligations in exchange for the goods or services
which were obtained on credit. (Credit period:60 days)
L/C Letter Of Credit. Banking and Commerce
A letter from one party usually a bank, to another party, usually also a bank, by which a third party, usually a
customer named in the letter, is given the right to obtain the money, credit or goods he may need, up to a state
value, for which the writer of the letter takes responsibility. This method of payment can be used internally but it
is more common in overseas transactions
Bill of exchange. (letra de cambio): usually drawn in a set of two or three parts numbered “ First of Exchange”,
“Second of Exchange”, etc., all of which bear the same wording except that each mention the other1(s).
Payment is made on presentation of any one of these parts.
FOB Free On Board (named port of shipment e.g where the goods are leaving from)
The seller’s price includes all charges and risks up to the point where the seller delivers the goods on board the
ship named by the buyer at the named port of shipment. From that point all charges and risks have to be borne
by the buyer
C&F Cost and Freight (named port of destination e.g the port the goods are going to)
Freight: The carrying of goods especially by water, in USA also by air or road.
CIF Cost Insurance and Freight (named port of destination)
1.- REQUEST FOR QUOTATION.
Useful sentences
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We would be grateful if you could send me …
Could you please send me….?
Please quote your best prices for the following items/articles
We have received your catalogue and would like you to send me the following information:
Please quote …. (specify items)…
Please send me a quotation for .... (specify items)
Your quotation of .....(specify items)..... would be appreciate.
State delivery dates and payment terms.
Please note that the delivery date must be no later than 3rd November.
In general we are interested in express delivery.
We would like you to pay by credit card, cheque, bank transfer
We require delivery within two weeks of order.
Do you make a discount for large quantities?
Please send us full details of your prices, payment terms and earliest delivery dates.
We would like to have the information by the end of the week.
We expect to place a large order if your prices are competitive
We are looking forward to receive this information
2.- QUOTATION E-MAILS.Remember to state details of:
Description of articles/ Quantity
Prices / Price per unit/ Total price
Discounts
Delivery dates
Terms of payment
Period of time for which the quotation is valid
Taxes included or not.(VAT)
Opening sentences
 Thank you for your enquiry regarding pricing information. Here is our quote.
 With reference to your inquiry of September 20th, we quote these prices/ the following prices.
 Thank you for your enquiry of July 10th. The prices of the articles you are interested in are as follows:
 With reference to your inquiry of July 10th and as requested, we quote the following prices for the
articles you are interested in:
 VAT is included in the prices stated
 VAT is not included.....
About prices
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The prices quoted above are provisional since we may be compelled by increased costs of raw material
to increase our prices to customers. I will inform you immediately if it happens.
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We can offer you a price of $6.29 per item, firm 21 days, after which the price will be subject to an
increase of 5%.
About delivery. We can send / supply articles immediately from stock
 Allow at least two weeks for delivery.
 We regret that we cannot supply .(specify items)..... as they are out of stock
 As there is a heavy demand at this time of year for ....(specify items)....... you will have to allow at least
six weeks for delivery.
 ......and we are pleased to say that we can deliver by December 1st.
 Goods will reach you within the time you specified.
 We have the materials in stock and will send them immediately we receive your order.
About discounts.-
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Because we haven’t had the pleasure of doing business with you before, we would like to make you a
special offer.
If you confirm the order within five days, we will give you a discount of 15% on the order.
We allow 5% discount for orders over..(specify number of unit)..... units
We allow 5% further discount for payment within 30 days
We allow 10% discount for payment in cash
he net price of this model is ₤7.50 less 10% discount for quantities up to 100 and 15% discount for
quantities over 100.
About the period of time for which the quotation is valid. Our prices are valid for 30 days
 We maintain these prices only for 30 days.
Closing sentences:
 We look forward to receiving your order
 We will be pleased to receive your order
 We hope you will find our prices and terms attractive.