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How to Send a Quotation / Estimate

Price-and-tax-aware quote to a prospect.

5 min read Updated Jun 2026   How-To

Purpose

Build a quotation (estimate) for a prospective buyer that picks rates and tax from your masters but does not move stock or money. Quotations have their own status flow (Sent → Accepted → Lost → Converted) and can be converted to a sales order or sales invoice in one click when the customer agrees.

Before you begin

  • Customer or prospect contact details (name, mobile, email, GSTIN if available).
  • Items / SKUs the prospect is asking about.
  • Valid-until date — mandatory if you want quotations to auto-lapse.
  • Discount policy decided.

Steps

  1. Start → Purchase & Sales → Transactions → Quotation / Estimate.
  2. Pick the customer, or create a prospect on the fly with at least a name and mobile.
  3. Add items in the grid — quantity, rate (defaults from rate standard), discount, tax.
  4. Set the Valid Until date in the header.
  5. Add a free-text notes block — payment terms, delivery lead-time, validity reiterated.
  6. Click Save & Send. The quotation gets a Q-number and a PDF is generated.
  7. Click Email (or WhatsApp if integrated) to deliver to the prospect.
  8. When the customer agrees, open the quotation and click Convert to Sales Order or Convert to Invoice — the new document is pre-filled.

What success looks like

  • A quotation PDF is in the prospect's inbox with your terms and validity.
  • Quotation Register lists the new quote with status Sent.
  • No stock moves and no journal posts — quotations are non-financial documents.
  • On conversion, the linked sales order / invoice shows the quotation number for traceability.

Troubleshooting

"Rate not found" on a line.
Item has no rate in the customer's rate standard. Either price it manually or add it to the rate standard.
Validity defaults to today and lapses immediately.
Voucher series for Quotation does not have a default validity period. Set it via File Management → Voucher Series.
Convert button missing.
Quotation status is Lost or Expired. Either change the status to Accepted or duplicate the quotation as a new one.

Tips

  • Always set Valid Until — otherwise quotations linger forever and skew the pipeline.
  • Run Quotation Aging weekly — quotes older than the validity should be chased or marked Lost.
  • Warning. Editing a quotation after Conversion is allowed but does not retro-update the linked invoice — if the price changed, credit-note the invoice and re-issue.