Notes for owners · Sales management
Quoting a buyer in another state: rate, freight, dispatch and documents
A quotation to a buyer in another state should answer four questions before the buyer asks them: the rate, who pays the freight, when it dispatches and which documents travel with it. A layout you can copy.
The GullySales team · Updated 17 Oct 2026 · 6 min read
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A dealer in another state reads your quotation for what it leaves out. If it says "freight extra" and "dispatch on confirmation", the dealer fills those blanks with guesses, and the guesses seldom favour you. That is how a unit loses an order it was cheaper on: the buyer priced the lorry alone. Answer four things on the page: the rate, who pays the freight to the buyer's door, when the goods leave, and which documents travel with them. Answer all four and the buyer can compare you fairly. Leave one out and the worst gets assumed.
Why a buyer in another state reads your quote differently
A local supplier delivers to the shop and bills the way the buyer is used to. If anything goes wrong, that supplier is a scooter ride away. You are a stranger with a lorry somewhere on a highway.
So the buyer reads your quote looking for the hidden cost. "Freight extra at actual" says nothing. Nor does "dispatch on confirmation". A low ex-factory rate can turn into the dearest offer once freight, unloading and a broken box are added, so the buyer pads every blank.
The tax line looks different too: an inter-state invoice carries IGST, not the CGST and SGST split a local supplier shows. What the buyer worries about after the order, the GSTIN on the invoice, the e-way bill and proof that the lorry left, is covered in serving buyers in several states from one office. This post covers the quotation.
The four questions, answered before the buyer asks
- The rate. Per unit, with the basis stated (per box, per kilo, per piece), the size or grade, the HSN code and the tax shown separately. Add the date the rate is valid until.
- The freight. Say who pays and to where. Ex-works means the buyer arranges the lorry. FOR destination means you pay and the price includes it. If freight is extra, give an estimate and name the transporter. Then say whether delivery is to the transporter's godown in the buyer's city or to the door, and who pays unloading at the other end.
- The dispatch. A date, or a number of working days from the advance reaching you. Transit time belongs to the transporter, so give it as the transporter's estimate, not your promise.
- The documents. Tax invoice, e-way bill where it applies, a copy of the lorry receipt, a packing list, and any test certificate or batch record your trade expects.
The quotation layout
This is the order the lines should appear in. The figures are illustrative, and the periods are left for you to fill from your own dispatch record.
| Line | Example wording (illustrative) | What it settles for the buyer |
|---|---|---|
| Item and basis | 600 x 600 mm glazed vitrified tile, premium grade, box of 4 (1.44 sq m) | The same thing is being compared |
| Rate before tax | ₹520 per box | The figure compared |
| Tax | IGST at the applicable rate, HSN code stated | The tax can be claimed back |
| Freight | Paid by us to the transporter's Hyderabad godown, included in the landed rate | No surprise at unloading |
| Landed rate | ₹610 per box at Hyderabad godown, before tax | The number the buyer actually pays |
| Delivery to door and unloading | Arranged by buyer | Who hires the tempo and the labour |
| Dispatch | A date written on the quote, counted from the day the advance reaches us | When to expect stock |
| Shade and batch | One shade and one batch per order, both on the packing list | No mixed lots on the shop floor |
| Breakage | Photographs at unloading, noted on the lorry receipt before signing, replaced in the next lot | What happens if boxes break |
| Payment | Advance on the first order, balance before dispatch | No argument later |
| Valid until | A date for the rate, and a nearer date for the freight | Which number expires first |
The landed rate is the row that wins or loses the order.
For example: a Morbi tile maker quoting a Hyderabad dealer
This is an invented case. A tile unit in Morbi that sells mostly to Gujarat and Rajasthan gets an enquiry from a dealer in Hyderabad for about ₹5 lakh of tiles. The sales executive sends the usual quote: rate per box ex-factory, "GST extra, freight extra at actual, dispatch on confirmation."
The dealer replies "too costly" and goes quiet. When the owner calls a week later, the problem is plain. The dealer had guessed freight at nearly double what the unit's transporter charges, added unloading and a breakage allowance, then compared the total with a Hyderabad distributor who delivers to the door. The dealer also remembered a trial order from another unit: a lorry that arrived "to pay", with two shades mixed in one load.
The second quotation followed the layout above. The unit got a Hyderabad rate from its transporter and folded it into a landed rate at the godown. Shade and batch went on the packing list, and the breakage rule went into the quote. The rate per box did not change by a rupee. This time the dealer read to the bottom and asked for a trial lorry of one shade, a fifth of the first enquiry. The full order did not come, and the unit still does not know whether it will.
When a landed price is the wrong quote
Some buyers have their own transporter or a contract rate on that route. Quote them ex-works and let them arrange it. Loading your freight into their price only makes you look dearer.
Freight also moves with diesel, the festival rush and the monsoon on certain routes. If it moves a lot, give freight a shorter validity than the rate, as in the table.
Small parcels sent by courier need a different layout, priced per kilo or per parcel. If the buyer is a household rather than a registered business, check the tax treatment with your CA.
Hold three recent quotes against the four questions
Pull out three quotations you recently sent to other states and check each against the four questions. Any blank is a guess the buyer made for you. Before quoting a state for the first time, read its page in our locations section; trade routes and buyer habits differ more than the map suggests. For what happens after the quote goes, see following up a quotation. If buyers in one state keep calling a fair rate "too costly", quotation and proposal follow-up is the related service, and you can tell us what you need.
