"Can you send me a price for 2-inch pipe?" is a perfectly normal request, and it will get you a price. It will not get you a price you can compare with the next one, because "2-inch pipe" is a dozen different products: galvanised or black, which wall thickness, which standard, in what length, threaded or plain. The supplier picks one, usually whichever they have most of, and quotes for that.
The fix is not a longer request. It is a complete one — and complete is usually six lines.
The six lines every RFQ needs
- What it is, named the way the trade names it. Use the technical name and, if there is one, the standard: "GI pipe, 2-inch, BS 1387 medium" rather than "metal pipe".
- The detail that changes the price. Size, grade, finish, colour, brand if you need one, "or equivalent" if you do not. If two variants of the product exist at different prices, say which.
- How many, and in what unit. "100 lengths of 6 metres", not "100". Say whether it is a one-off or a regular order.
- Where it has to arrive. The area and emirate, and whether you will collect or need delivery to site.
- When you need it. A date, or "from stock" if you cannot wait for an order to come in.
- What the price should include. Ask for the price per unit, with VAT stated, and delivery either included or quoted separately.
Two optional lines save a round of questions when they apply: a target price, if you have one and are happy to share it, and anything you will not accept — a brand, a country of origin, a used or refurbished item.
What a vague request costs
The cost is not that suppliers refuse to quote. It is that they quote for different things and you do not notice. The cheapest line on your comparison is very often the one quoted for the thinner wall, the smaller pack or the unit that is not the one you meant — and that only comes out when the goods arrive.
An RFQ is not finished when it says what you want. It is finished when it cannot be read as anything else.
Attach what you already have
The fastest complete RFQ is often a document you already own. A previous invoice or quote for the same item carries the description, the specification and the unit a supplier used last time — which is exactly the information a new supplier needs. A photo of the label, a datasheet or a drawing does the same job for anything technical.
Ask everyone the same thing
A complete RFQ only works if every supplier gets the same one. That is easy by email and surprisingly hard on the phone, where each call drifts a little: one supplier is asked about delivery, the next is not; one is given the quantity, the next is asked "how much each". The result is a comparison sheet in which no two rows were asked the same question.
How PurchoSmart builds the request
Our AI procurement platform starts every request with the product and quantity, then a short chat that asks for the missing lines one question at a time — in English, Hindi or Arabic — or reads them from an old invoice or quote you upload. The specification it ends up with is what the agent asks every supplier against, in the same order on every call: the price for your exact item and quantity rather than one it scales up, the unit it is quoted per, the currency, delivery and terms.
If a supplier prices a different size or variant, the agent asks again for yours and notes theirs only as a different item, so it does not end up in your comparison as if it were the same thing. To try it on something you buy, see the agent call a real supplier.