Many new eCommerce sellers often expect quick and enthusiastic responses from suppliers when they sent out their requests for quotations (RFQs). Ideally, it will be an instant match and all the suppliers you reach out to will be fighting to get your business.

Yet most of the time, suppliers are not as cooperative as you think. You can hardly blame them for this though: suppliers are also busy business owners, and they have to deal with their own stakeholders and settle other business matters that are more crucial to them. This means they may not be as responsive as you will like them to be. So before you start chafing at them, you may want to adjust your expectations to save yourself from the frustration of not getting immediate responses.

In this post, I will list out some realistic expectations every eCommerce business owner should have when sending out their RFQs. I will also list out some tell-tale signs of a good supplier reply so that you can choose the correct suppliers to work with for your business. And the first up is this –

Expectation 1: Response time of 3 days to 1 week

As a rough gauge, eCommerce sellers can expect to wait for around 3 days to 1 week before suppliers start replying to their RFQs. This is because suppliers need time to figure out whether they can deliver the goods that you need within your time frame and budget. And when they reply, most of them will avoid giving you a direct ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ straight away because they are probably still evaluating whether your offer is worth it for their business. So do anticipate some amount of back-and-forth communication, before you can close a deal. Generally, you can estimate the whole process of confirming a deal to take around between 5 days to 1 week, including the initial wait time and the follow-up communication – especially if you are talking about a large order.

And mind you, if you are really desperate for suppliers’ replies and keep on urging them, it will only stress suppliers out. In the end, they may just decide to break off this possible collaboration altogether. After all, just like you can reach out to other suppliers, they can accept offers from other sellers. So be mindful of your attitude and stay in their good books if you really want to get the deal from them!

Expectation 2: No reply at all

When you send out your RFQs to suppliers, you shouldn’t expect to receive replies from all of them.  

In fact, there is research showing that on average, only 2 out of every 10 suppliers/manufacturers reply to RFQs from eCommerce sellers whom they have never worked with before. The reason behind this is simple: some suppliers and manufacturers are just not interested in working with you. They will rather deal dozens of their goods per month with established clients like Walmart, Targus, Kroger, etc. To them, your offer will probably be like a negligible fraction of their business dealings, so they won’t be interested in dealing with small guys like you.

Other than that, some suppliers may be hesitant to reply to you if you have never worked with them before. This is because they won’t know if you are a reliable and good business partner just from your RFQ. Such suppliers will normally reply only to eCommerce sellers whom they are familiar with, or sellers whom their friends recommend to them. In this case, what you can do is to move on to contact other suppliers, and stop agonizing about the fact that these suppliers ignore you. And do improve on how you craft your RFQ – use proper language, state your order amounts and products clearly, and be polite in your requests. Having a professional RFQ will definitely put you in a better position when trying to clinch deals with suppliers!

Expectation 3: Negotiate on pricing

When suppliers do reply to you, they may propose other pricing terms. Do understand that this is totally normal. After all, sending out RFQs is not just about asking suppliers for quotations, it is also about negotiations. From my experience, 8 out of 10 suppliers may propose to you higher prices than you expect. Another common negotiation tactic suppliers like to use includes pushing you to order in bulk: they will say that they can give you a better price should you decide to buy in amounts of 500. 1000 or even 2000 units from them. While these suggestions may seem tempting, do take into consideration your own business’ finances and don’t agree to them out of pressure! Always remember that you have the choice to work with other suppliers, and you should be the one to make the decision for your business. Be firm (but not arrogant) when dealing with suppliers!

Expectation 4: Disagreement on other collaboration terms 

Other than pricing, suppliers may not be agreeable to the other collaboration terms you have stated in your RFQ. For example, they may point out to you that your listed delivery schedule is not realistic, the design for your product is faulty, the materials you requested to manufacture your products with are not usable, etc. In this case, you can ask them to provide suggestions based on their past experiences of dealing with sellers in your niche. Meanwhile, do your due diligence and check if their suggestions are feasible. It will show your suppliers that you know your stuff and are serious about your transactions with them.

Expectation 5: Communication problems

Finally, new sellers will also have to take note of the possible communication problems that may arise when reaching out to suppliers.  After all, many sellers often source products from suppliers who come from a different country from where they belong. Language barriers, cultural misunderstandings, and different business practices are hence unavoidable obstacles in your communication process. In order to prevent such problems from cropping up, I will suggest you use simple and concise language when drafting your RFQs. Take time to explain in detail what you are looking for. If words are not clear enough, you can provide suppliers with images, photos, and illustrations of your desired product. That should help to bring about smoother communication.

So, after understanding what you should expect from suppliers when trying to reach out to them, now it’s your turn to pick your potential working partners from their replies. Below is a brief summary of what a typical “good reply” or a “bad reply” from suppliers looks like:



You will notice that these points tie in closely with the list of expectations I mentioned earlier. And that is normal, because a good supplier reply will fulfil your best expectations of them, while a supplier who is only half-hearted when interacting with you will exhibit the opposite. Ultimately, the question to ask yourself when choosing suppliers is this: do you feel comfortable working with them? If your answer is a ‘yes’ despite some less than desired reactions from the suppliers, then go ahead. What I provide here is just a rough guide for you to gauge the suppliers’ compatibility with your business, but there are no hard rules to follow here.

All in all, engaging suppliers is a process that will become easier when you have more experience. You will know what to expect from the suppliers better as you work your way through your business.

And if you like to know more, stay tuned! I will see you in my next post.