Describe what your team needs to buy and how suppliers should quote it. Makeform turns the brief into an online RFQ form with supplier details, line-item pricing, lead times, requirements, attachments, and a clear submission deadline, ready to share from one link.
Route supplier quotes to Google Sheets, Slack, and Zapier.
Sample prompts for the RFQ builder
Choose a purchasing scenario, adapt its details, or send the prompt into the Makeform builder. Each structure is an example you can edit before publishing.
Prompt ready4 formats
Audience
Approved office-equipment suppliers
Format
Line-item quote with delivery and warranty details
Prompt size
445 chars
Brief qualitySends to builder
Example RFQ form structure
Line-item quote with delivery and warranty details
Prompt exampleEditable in builder
Supplier and quote contact details
Short answerFirst ask
2
Unit price and extended total by item
Number
3
Stock status and earliest delivery dates
Date & time
4
Proposed substitutions and specification sheets
File upload
5
Pricing confirmation
Signature
Suggested routing tags
Suggested
Invited suppliers
Quotes received
Clarification needed
Ask every supplier for prices in the same unit, currency, and tax basis. That small constraint prevents the hardest comparison work later.
Step 1
Define
scope, quantities, specifications, and deadline
Step 2
Invite
one consistent RFQ link for every supplier
Step 3
Collect
prices, lead times, exceptions, and files
Step 4
Compare
normalized responses ready for evaluation
Why use an online RFQ
Comparable quotes start with comparable questions.
Email threads let every supplier interpret the request differently. A structured RFQ form gives each bidder the same scope, captures costs in the same format, and keeps qualifications and exceptions next to the price they affect.
Normalize the commercial details
Separate unit cost, freight, tax, setup fees, discounts, and optional charges instead of asking for one total whose assumptions are impossible to see. Specify currency and whether prices include tax so procurement can compare like with like.
Make every requirement answerable
Turn specifications into explicit confirmations, quantity fields, dates, and exception notes. Suppliers can say what they meet, propose an alternative, and attach supporting detail without hiding important differences in a cover email.
Keep the intake trail together
Each response keeps its supplier contact, timestamp, pricing, lead time, attachments, and declarations in one submission. Route new quotes to the buyer and a shared sheet without copying values out of separate PDFs.
Built around the purchase
Adapt the RFQ form to what you are sourcing.
A commodity order, service contract, fabricated part, and event package need different evidence. Begin with the purchasing pattern that fits, then edit the form around your evaluation criteria.
Products and equipment
Collect manufacturer, model, unit price, quantity breaks, stock status, warranty, delivery cost, and approved alternatives. Use conditional follow-ups when a supplier proposes a substitution.
Recurring services
Ask for site-by-site fees, service frequency, staffing, response windows, included materials, mobilization timing, exclusions, and the named person responsible for delivery.
Technical and custom work
Reference drawings or specifications, capture compliance with each technical requirement without making certification claims, and request tooling, samples, milestones, assumptions, and deviations.
Projects and events
Compare package prices, crew or professional rates, schedules, travel, optional upgrades, cancellation terms, and deliverables while keeping the scope visible above every response field.
RFQ workflow
From purchasing brief to supplier-ready form.
Start with the commercial decision you need to make. Makeform creates the intake structure; your team supplies the current specifications, approved language, dates, and evaluation rules.
Tell the builder what you are buying, quantities, locations, mandatory specifications, response deadline, desired delivery date, and how you expect prices to be stated. Include the information suppliers need to quote without guessing.
02
Edit fields and instructions
Check the generated sections against the purchasing brief. Add required price components, clarify units and currency, upload specifications, and use conditional logic for substitutions, alternate packages, or service-specific questions.
03
Share one link with suppliers
Publish the form and send the same link and deadline to every invited supplier. Put clarification instructions and the current document revision in the form so respondents work from a consistent request.
04
Review structured submissions
Send each response to your Makeform inbox and a spreadsheet. Compare item prices, fees, delivery, validity, and exceptions, then apply your organization's evaluation and approval process outside the form.
Form vs email vs spreadsheet
Choose an intake method that preserves the quote details.
An RFQ is useful only when buyers can trace a number back to its assumptions. The form does not choose a supplier; it creates cleaner inputs for the team that evaluates them.
Approach
What happens
Best fit
ApproachUnstructured email request
What happensSuppliers reply in their own formats, while questions, revisions, and attachments spread across inbox threads.
Best fitA quick market check with one or two familiar vendors and very few variables.
ApproachShared spreadsheet template
What happensLine items compare well, but narrative qualifications, supporting files, mobile completion, and conditional follow-ups are awkward.
Best fitLarge price schedules where invited suppliers are comfortable editing a workbook.
Approach
Generated online RFQ form
What happensEvery supplier receives the same questions, required price structure, attachment slots, and deadline from a browser-ready link.
Best fitProduct, service, and project quotes that mix numbers with lead times, exceptions, and evidence.
Field guide
What a useful RFQ form should include.
The exact fields depend on the purchase, but these six sections give suppliers enough context to respond and give buyers enough structure to compare. Remove anything your evaluation will not use.
Request overview
Put the scope before the questions.
Open with the RFQ reference, buyer contact, issue date, response deadline, desired delivery or service period, and a plain-language summary of the need. Link or attach the current specification and identify its revision. Suppliers should understand what is in scope before they begin entering a price.
RFQ identifier, issuing organization, and procurement contact.
Submission deadline, time zone, delivery target, and quote-validity requirement.
Scope summary plus current drawings, schedules, or specifications.
Supplier profile
Know who is making the offer.
Capture the legal or trading name used on the quote, the respondent's contact details, service locations, and the person authorized by the supplier to answer follow-up questions. Ask only for qualifications that matter to this purchase, rather than turning every RFQ into a complete onboarding exercise.
Company name, address, website, and quote contact.
Coverage area, relevant capabilities, and capacity for the requested dates.
Supplier or vendor ID when the organization already has one.
Requirements response
Make specifications easy to confirm or qualify.
Break mandatory requirements into individual choices instead of asking whether the supplier can meet the entire brief. Give respondents a clear way to mark met, not met, or proposed alternative, followed by an explanation and file upload where necessary. That exposes deviations before commercial review.
One response per technical, service, delivery, or packaging requirement.
Conditional explanation for exceptions and proposed substitutions.
Attachments for model sheets, work plans, drawings, or schedules.
Pricing schedule
Separate the total into comparable parts.
State the currency, unit of measure, quantities, and whether values include tax. Capture unit and extended prices for each requested line, then separate freight, setup, tooling, travel, discounts, and optional items. A computed grand total is helpful only after those components are visible.
Unit price, requested quantity, extended price, and quantity breaks.
Taxes, delivery, setup, recurring fees, and one-time charges shown separately.
Optional alternatives clearly labeled so they do not distort the base offer.
Commercial terms
Capture timing and assumptions beside price.
The lowest number may depend on a long lead time, minimum volume, unusual payment schedule, or narrow validity window. Ask suppliers to state those conditions in structured fields. Include a space for exclusions and assumptions so reviewers do not treat a qualified offer as equivalent to an unconditional one.
Production or mobilization lead time and earliest delivery date.
Quote expiration, payment terms, minimum order, and warranty details.
Exclusions, dependencies, escalation rules, and other commercial assumptions.
Declaration & submission
End with a complete response check.
Use acknowledgments for the deadline, currency, document revision, and completeness of the supplier's entries. Provide a final upload for the supplier's formal quotation when your process needs one. A typed name, checkbox, or signature can record who submitted; your organization decides how that record is used.
Confirmation that required fields and attachments have been reviewed.
Respondent name, role, date, and acknowledgment or signature field.
Formal quote upload plus a copy of the submitted response for the supplier.
Related tools
Build the surrounding sourcing workflow.
Use a focused form for the next step, from vendor intake and formal proposals to quote review and purchase orders. These destinations are existing Makeform tools.
Practical answers for procurement and operations teams replacing supplier email threads with structured quote intake.
What is an RFQ form?
An RFQ form is a structured request suppliers complete to provide pricing and the commercial details behind it. The buyer describes the goods or services, quantities, specifications, delivery needs, and deadline. Suppliers then enter line-item prices, fees, lead times, validity, payment terms, exceptions, and attachments in consistent fields. It is most useful when the requirement is defined well enough for suppliers to quote on a comparable basis.
What is the difference between an RFQ, RFP, and RFI?
An RFQ focuses on price and related commercial terms for a clearly specified need. An RFP asks suppliers to propose an approach or solution and usually requires deeper evaluation of methodology, people, and deliverables. An RFI gathers market information before the buyer has finalized the requirement. Organizations use these labels differently, so explain the requested response and evaluation process in the form rather than relying on the acronym alone.
What fields should an RFQ form include?
Include the RFQ reference, buyer contact, scope, response deadline, specifications, supplier identity, line-item prices, currency, tax basis, other fees, quantity discounts, lead time, delivery date, quote validity, payment terms, warranty where relevant, assumptions, exclusions, and proposed alternatives. Add file uploads for formal quotations or technical documents. Every field should support either supplier clarification or the buyer's comparison and approval work.
How do I make supplier prices easier to compare?
Give every supplier the same item names, units, quantities, currency, and tax instructions. Use separate number fields for unit price, extended price, freight, setup, recurring fees, and optional costs. Ask for quantity breaks in predetermined bands and keep alternatives outside the base quote. Also capture lead time, validity, minimum order, and assumptions because two identical totals may represent very different offers.
Can suppliers upload a formal quote and technical files?
Yes. Add file-upload fields for a formal quotation, specification sheet, drawing, delivery schedule, work plan, or other relevant material. Label what belongs in each upload and state accepted submission instructions in the form. Keep key comparison values in structured fields as well; if all prices exist only inside supplier PDFs, the purchasing team still has to transcribe them before evaluation.
Can I use conditional logic for different supplier responses?
Yes. Show an explanation and attachment field only when a supplier marks a requirement as not met or proposes an alternative. You can also reveal service-specific questions based on the quoted category, request site pricing only for selected locations, or ask for tooling details only when tooling charges apply. Conditional paths keep the main form manageable without losing the detail needed for exceptions.
Is the RFQ form generator free?
Yes. Makeform provides unlimited free forms and responses, so you can generate, edit, publish, and collect supplier submissions without a response cap. The paid tier removes the Makeform badge. Review the generated first draft, insert your actual specifications and purchasing instructions, and test calculations and conditional paths before sharing the RFQ with suppliers.
Where do completed supplier quotes go?
Responses arrive in your Makeform inbox with the supplier's answers and uploaded files. You can also route submission data to Google Sheets, notify a purchasing channel in Slack, or connect other workflow tools through Zapier. Decide who may review the responses, keep evaluation criteria consistent, and follow your organization's procurement, retention, confidentiality, and approval procedures.
Replace scattered quote emails with one supplier-ready request.
Generate an RFQ form that makes every supplier response easier to compare.
Unlimited free forms and responsesStructured pricing and lead timesEditable fields, logic, and uploads
