What a quotation has to contain

A quotation you cannot act on is a number with no consequences attached. Seven fields turn it into something a buyer can approve internally, and six of them cost the factory nothing to state — which is why the ones that are missing are informative.

What a quotation must contain

Two further fields are not required but are worth asking for. The sample cost and whether it is credited against the order, because a factory that credits it is treating the sample as proof rather than as revenue. And the validity period, because resin and freight move, and a quote with no expiry is a quote that will be re-opened when you accept it.

What to ask before you compare anything

Four questions, and the answers decide whether a comparison is worth doing at all.

Is this price for the tooling you already own, or does it assume a new mould? What quantity does it apply to, and what happens to the unit price if we halve that? Which Incoterm is it, and which port? And has the hardware been quoted by part number or by description?

A quote that answers all four can be compared with another quote that answers all four. A quote that answers two of them is a starting position, and treating it as a price is how a buyer ends up negotiating against a number that was never real.

Where these numbers come from

The reference bands on this page are drawn from the listings sampled on this site, stated per sub-category with the unit and the quantity band the price applies to. They are a plausibility check, not a quotation: a band tells you whether a corrected quote sits in the normal range for that product, which is the question a buyer actually has before committing to a supplier.

Three things are deliberately not published. Binding prices, because a band is not an offer and a factory's price depends on the specification and the quantity in front of it. Invented market sizes, because a number nobody measured is worse than no number. And star ratings, because a score hides which dimension was weak — the verification records state what was checked and what failed instead.

Where a value is unknown, the record says so. That is a cost we accept: a band with a gap looks weaker than a band with an estimate in it, but an estimate is indistinguishable from a measurement once it is on a page.

What should be in a quotation you can act on?

Ask for these eight fields, in writing, and reject anything that omits them:

• Product and specification, with the parameter that drives cost identified
• Unit and quantity the price applies to
• Price basis, naming the port or the factory
• Tooling and plate costs, stated separately or explicitly included
• MOQ per colourway and per specification, not one global MOQ
• Lead time for a first order and for a repeat order
• Certification or testing included, and who pays for testing
• Validity period, and what triggers a re-quote

Where do these numbers come from?

The reference bands are aggregated at build time from the fishing tackle listings in our catalogue, and every row states its sample size and unit. We do not publish a price we cannot trace to a listing, and we do not average across different units — a per-piece price and a per-set price never enter the same row.

For supplier-level pricing with a confirmed basis, apply for a trade account or send us a specification.

What should every quotation contain?

• The unit: per piece, per set or per carton.
• The order quantity the price applies to.
• The basis: FOB with a named port, or EXW factory.
• The MOQ in pcs for that specification.
• The lead time in days for a repeat order, not a first order.
• The hardware named, if the product carries hooks or rings.

Where this sits in the process

This page is one topic out of the verification standard. The overview is China fishing tackle price benchmark.