How to Turn a Completed Seed Quotation into a Shop Floor Decision

A returned wholesale seed quotation settles availability and price, but it does not make the buying decision for you. This note treats the quotation as the starting point for a shop-floor decision: sorting each quoted line into order now, hold for the next cycle, or drop, and noting which open points belong in the conversation before supply terms are agreed separately.

Start from the quotation, not from the wish list

Compare the returned quotation against the enquiry you sent. Check that every line you asked about appears, that pack sizes and quantity tiers were confirmed rather than assumed, and that listed prices and any shipping charges are shown as final. Lines that changed between enquiry and quotation are the ones to examine first, because they carry the most risk for your shelf plan.

Separate confirmed lines from open lines

Mark each quoted line as confirmed, conditional, or missing. A line is conditional if availability, pack size, timing or documentation still needs clarification. Keep this distinction visible when you sort, so that a conditional line is not quietly promoted to order now just because the price looked acceptable.

Test each line against shelf and season reality

For every quoted variety, ask whether you have selling space for the pack size offered and whether the delivery timing fits the selling window you planned. A line that only works if it arrives earlier than indicated, or only if the pack is split, does not yet belong in the order-now group. The quotation shows what can be supplied; your own shop shows what can be sold.

Order now: confirmed, sellable, timely

Order now applies to lines where supply is confirmed, the pack size fits your space, the price and shipping charges are clear, and the timing matches your selling window. These are the lines you can defend to a colleague without further questions. Keep them together so the decision is easy to review before you commit.

Hold for the next cycle

Hold is for varieties that are sound in principle but premature in practice: the timing falls outside the current window, the pack size is larger than your current space justifies, or the price tier only becomes attractive at a quantity you cannot yet sell. Record the reason for each hold so that the next enquiry can pick these lines up deliberately rather than by memory.

Drop: remove lines you cannot justify

Drop lines where the quoted pack size cannot be sold in the planned window, where the timing has slipped past the season, where a needed document is unresolved, or where the line duplicates something already covered in your range. Dropping is a decision, not a failure; a smaller, clearer order is easier to manage than a padded one.

Treat availability as a planning input

A quotation reflects what was checked at the time it was issued. It is not a standing promise, and a catalogue listing is not confirmation that a variety can be supplied to every destination. For lines you plan to repeat across cycles, note when availability was confirmed so that reordering starts from an informed position rather than from an old assumption.

Keep import and documentation points open until clarified

If your destination applies its own import conditions, the quotation alone does not settle them. Before supply terms are agreed, confirm which documents your business needs and who is responsible for documents, customs clearance, duties and taxes. Lines that depend on an unresolved document question stay conditional and should not be moved into order now.

Check the shipping picture before committing

Shipping charges and delivery arrangements belong in the decision, not after it. Confirm the destination details you supplied were used, and check whether the quoted shipping charge changes the economics of a small order or favours grouping lines together. Requested delivery dates are not confirmed commitments, so do not build a launch date on an unconfirmed date.

Note what the quotation does not tell you

A quotation is a commercial offer, not an order, and not an agreement on supply terms. It may not answer questions about repeat supply, returns, or complaint handling. Write down these open points as you sort, because they belong in the discussion before terms are agreed, and a line's place in order now should depend on the answers where those points matter.

Questions to raise before agreeing terms

Bring a short list to the supplier: which lines are firm and which are conditional, what pack sizes are confirmed, whether shipping charges will change with order size, which documents are required for your destination, and how corrections or complaints about an agreed order are handled. Clear answers here convert a quotation into a decision you can act on with confidence.

Keep the record for the next enquiry

Store the sorted list with its three groups and the reasons for each hold or drop. This record becomes the starting point for the following cycle: holds are picked up deliberately, drops are not silently reintroduced, and order-now lines have a basis for repeat buying. A quotation handled this way turns into a repeatable routine rather than a one-off scramble.

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