Requests for quotations from Middle East/India

C

Caveat

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Does anyone else get these by email?

Often convoluted, only vaguely relevant to our business. In the past I have been loathe to ignore them for fear of losing a potential customer but they can be time consuming to address and have always amounted to nothing.

I'm starting to think I should just ignore these - especially as the details often reveal a very sketchy knowledge of what we do....but maybe this is a translation problem.

Do people generally treat these seriously?
 
Personally I haven't received any, but I suppose it depends on what type of business you are in. I am in Graphic/Web Design and I wouldn't entertain a quote request from outside Ireland. Well, I might if it was the UK, but in this climate when everyone is upping sticks to outsource to Middle East/India I would be suspicious of anyone coming in the opposite direction looking for a bargain.

But then again it all depends on the business you are in and how specialist it is. Maybe they can't get a good service in their own area?
 
Did it occur to you that some of these RFQ's may be sent out specifically to help the originator to formulate a response to RFQ's they have received.?
 
mathepac said:
Did it occur to you that some of these RFQ's may be sent out specifically to help the originator to formulate a response to RFQ's they have received.?
Click to expand...

Yes, it is a good point and it's certainly possible. I try to give as little away as possible and initially try to be circumspect when discussing suggested modifications/customisation etc - but this isn't always easy.

Our manufacturing business covers both fairly common place and highly specialised products and we also get into prototyping - although this aspect is not advertised. Some of our products are certainly available at a cheaper price ( but lower quality) in the regions I mention, but some are almost certainly not available - the enquiries tend towards these, which lends an air of authenticity to the enquiry I guess.

Difficult to know - just often seems like I'm wasting a lot of time.
 

What sort of products do you make?
 
Purple said:
What sort of products do you make?
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Sorry, rather not get into that - no offence. I realise this might make it difficult to get useful advice though.

Ah I dunno, maybe the enquiries are innocent/genuine but they just don't like our prices? Could be as simple as that I suppose.

I guess I was half expecting a response along the lines of "This is a classic scam because of xyz etc". Tortuous sales enquiries are just par for the course sometimes.

Thanks anyway!
 
If its of any help, I get loads of these. I just ignore them, they're just yet more spam.
especially as the details often reveal a very sketchy knowledge of what we do....but maybe this is a translation problem.
Click to expand...
That's the giveaway.
" I have just visited your website <sitename> and I am interested in your products. Do you ship to blah, blah.... "

I also get loads of spam from companies wanting us to outsource work to them. (and cheap alternatives to American medications, breast enlargement, erectafix, URGENT ACTION NEEDED, 80% Discount watchstore, and on, and on, and on....)
 
leghorn said:
" I have just visited your website <sitename> and I am interested in your products. Do you ship to blah, blah.... "
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Thanks leghorn

- yes, we get these too - I usually say "thanks for your enquiry...which specific model...BTW, payment is required in advance.." end of communication.

But what I'm talking about is a bit different.

There is a lot of detail in the specification and whilst it clearly doesn't refer to a standard product, it's usually something we could do with a bit of research/modification/consultation etc.
 
A quick phone call would sort it out, only take a few minutes and no need to do any work for it
 
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