WooCommerce request a quote — a B2B workflow guide
When a quote workflow makes sense
Not every store needs quotes. They earn their place when the price is not a fixed number on a shelf:
- B2B and wholesale, where price depends on volume or account terms.
- Made-to-order or customised products, where the spec changes the price.
- High-value items where a conversation precedes a purchase.
For standard consumer products, fixed prices and a normal checkout are simpler and convert better. Many stores want both — fixed prices on most items, a quote request on a few — which is why gating matters.
How the quote-to-order flow should work
A clean workflow has four moments:
- The customer requests a quote, usually from the product or cart, providing what they want and any details.
- You review and respond with a price, ideally with an expiry so old quotes do not linger.
- The customer accepts, and the quote becomes a normal order they can pay through your usual checkout.
- The order flows through the same fulfilment as everything else.
The detail that separates a good implementation from a bolted-on one is order statuses. If a quote uses real WooCommerce order statuses, it shows up in your orders list, reporting and integrations like any other order. If it lives in a parallel system, you end up reconciling two sets of records.
Gating: quotes for some, prices for others
Per-product and per-category gating lets you keep a consumer storefront and a B2B quote path in the same store — fixed prices on the catalogue, a quote request on the wholesale range. That is usually more practical than running two stores.
Useful extras
A quote workflow benefits from expiry (quotes that lapse after a set time), reminder emails (so a pending quote is not forgotten), and clear statuses the customer can see.
How Asteris Cart helps
The Quote Mode module is a manual-quote workflow built on real WooCommerce order statuses, with cron-based expiry, reminder emails and per-product or per-category gating. It is a Pro-tier module [tier per file 04 — subject to the pricing ruling]. See the module → · See pricing →
FAQ
When should I use a quote workflow instead of fixed prices? When price depends on volume, customisation or negotiation — typically B2B, wholesale or made-to-order.
How does a quote-to-order flow work? The customer requests a quote, you price it, and the agreed quote converts into a payable order — ideally using real order statuses.
Can I show quotes for some products and prices for others? Yes — gate by product or category.