Eight Reasons an Overseas Buyer Ignores Your Quote

What makes a foreign buyer discard a Vietnamese fabricator's quotation for a machine base, and what a winning quote contains that a losing one leaves out.

A machine builder in Germany or the United States sends the same drawing to three shops. One quote wins. Very often the two that lose were competitive on price and lost for reasons that had nothing to do with money.

This is written for fabricators in Vietnam quoting export work. It is the buyer’s side of the table, described plainly.

1. The reply was slow and silent

The buyer sent a drawing and heard nothing for eight days. By the time your quote arrives they have already had two conversations with shops who answered on day one.

Acknowledge within one business day even when the quote will take a week. Confirm you received the files, say when the number will come, and ask your two most important questions immediately. That single email changes how the buyer reads everything that follows.

2. The quote answered a different specification

The drawing said ISO 13920 class B and the quote priced class C. The drawing asked for furnace stress relief and the quote assumed vibratory. The drawing called for a dimensional report and the quote included a visual check.

A buyer cannot compare three quotes that each priced a different job. When yours is the one that quietly assumed less, you look either careless or cheap in a way that will cost them later.

Write what you assumed. A quote that says “priced to ISO 13920 class B, furnace stress relief with chart, full dimensional report included” is a quote the buyer can put next to the others. See the standards index for what each one governs.

3. Exclusions were hidden

The price looked good. Then came crating, then inland haulage, then the inspection report, then a variation because the machined area was larger than assumed.

Buyers remember this. One surprise invoice costs you every future order from that customer, which on machine bases is usually a repeat business.

State exclusions plainly and early. A quote with a clear exclusions list reads as professional, not as expensive.

4. Capability was described in adjectives

“We have advanced equipment and skilled engineers” tells a buyer nothing. Every shop says it.

What they need to know:

• Crane capacity, and therefore the maximum piece weight you can handle.
• Machining envelope: table size and travels, with the machine model.
• Whether stress relief is in-house, and the furnace’s internal dimensions.
• What inspection equipment you own, and what you subcontract.
• Welding qualifications held, to which standard.

“10 t overhead crane, floor-type borer with 4000 x 2000 mm table, in-house stress relief furnace to 6 m, welders qualified to ISO 9606-1, ISO 3834-2 certified” is a sentence that wins work. It is also checkable, which is exactly why it is persuasive.

5. The drawing was misread and nobody asked

A Western engineering drawing carries information in places a shop used to domestic work may not look: the geometric control frames, the datum references, the general tolerance note in the title block, the welding symbols.

If the drawing says flatness 0.03 mm on pad A to datum B, that is not the same as “flat”. If it cites ISO 2768-mK, that is a general tolerance class covering every dimension not individually toleranced.

Misreading these produces a quote that is wrong in both directions: too cheap because you missed a requirement, or too expensive because you applied the tightest number on the page to the whole part.

Ask. A buyer would far rather answer three intelligent questions than receive a confident quote for the wrong job. Questions also demonstrate you read the drawing, which most of your competition did not.

6. No inspection or documents were offered

Machine bases go into machines that are sold with an accuracy specification. The buyer must be able to show their own customer that the base met its numbers.

A quote that includes a dimensional report, material certificates to EN 10204 3.1 and a stress relief chart is worth more than a cheaper quote without them, because the cheaper one leaves the buyer with a problem they will have to solve later at their own cost.

Offer the documents explicitly and price them as a line. See what an inspection and test plan contains.

7. Packing was an afterthought

A four-tonne base arriving with a rusted machined face, no lifting points marked, and timber that fails an ISPM 15 check at the destination port is a disaster that is entirely yours.

Quote the crate: bolted steel skid, machined faces oiled and covered, lifting points and centre of gravity marked, heat-treated timber marked to ISPM 15. Send photographs before the crate closes. This costs very little and it is one of the strongest trust signals available to an exporter.

8. The English was ambiguous where it mattered

Nobody expects perfect English and no buyer has ever rejected a quote over grammar. They do reject quotes where the commercial terms are unclear.

The lines that must be unambiguous:

• The price, the currency and what it covers.
• The Incoterm and named place: EXW your works, FOB which port, DAP which address.
• Lead time, and whether it starts from order or from drawing approval.
• Payment terms.
• Validity period of the quote.
• Exclusions.

Keep those six short and flat. Write the technical discussion however you like; make the commercial block unmistakable.

What a winning quote looks like

1. Acknowledged within one business day, with questions.
2. Priced against the buyer’s stated standards, with the assumptions written out.
3. Capability given in numbers: crane, table, furnace, qualifications.
4. Inspection and documents offered as priced lines.
5. Packing specified, not assumed.
6. Commercial terms in six unambiguous lines.
7. Exclusions stated before the buyer finds them.

None of that is about being cheap. Most of it costs an hour of attention and it is the difference between a shop that gets one export order and one that gets a programme.

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If you build heavy weldments or castings in Vietnam and want enquiries like these, register your shop. You see the part, the weight and the destination before you decide whether to take the lead.

Common questions

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