Sourcing
Sourcing
Sourcing is the desk where buyers' enquiries become quotations. The desk's mailbox is read every couple of minutes. Each new email asking for goods becomes an enquiry with its buyer, lines, quantities, target price, deadline and destination. Anything the email did not give is marked "not given" rather than guessed. Nothing is read by a model when nothing new has arrived, and newsletters are skipped.
In the sidebar under Commerce → Sourcing.
Every email to a supplier or a buyer is approved on a card before it goes.
Enquiries
Every enquiry with its state: new, requesting quotes, quotes in, chosen, quoted, won, lost or dropped. Open one to see the original email and its files, the requests sent, the quotes that came back, the comparison, the quotation and its history.
The usual path:
- Fix or fill in the enquiry. If must-haves are missing, ask the buyer.
- Pick suppliers from the shortlist. Each one says why it is there.
- Prepare requests. Each goes in Chinese and English with your purchase sheet filled in.
- Send them by email, on the supplier's chat, or mark one as sent by hand (for WeChat).
- Replies are read back into quotes. Anything unsure is marked "check". Reminders go to suppliers who have not answered.
- Compare quotes like for like, in one currency, landed at the buyer's quantity.
- Choose a quote, make a quotation with your margin (the buyer never sees it) and send it.
- Close the enquiry as won, lost or dropped. A won quotation can become Supplier orders.
You can also type in an enquiry yourself, from a call, a chat or a trade fair.
An enquiry or quote that names a protected brand or a replica term shows a warning with the risks. Whether to go on is yours, and your decision is kept with your name and the time.
Suppliers
Who can be asked for a quote, by email or by hand on WeChat, with how fast and how completely each answers. Add one by hand or from a 1688 or Alibaba.com listing. A supplier who was ever asked is archived instead of removed.
Find suppliers
Start from an enquiry line. You see what matters about the product, then a search plan for 1688 and Alibaba.com with its cost shown first and a hard limit on calls. It runs only after you say yes. Each offer is labelled exact, close or alternative with what differs, priced at the quantity and landed, with the seller's trust in words, and picks with their reasons. The offers you choose go on the desk as candidates and listed prices. This uses Marketplace.
Settings
The desk owner and mailbox, margin, rounding and letterhead, the comparison's weights, reminders, your purchase and quotation sheets, and the freight and duty table.
Who can do what
| Permission | What it lets you do |
|---|---|
sourcing:read | See the sourcing desk. |
sourcing:write | Work enquiries, suppliers, requests, quotes and quotations. |
sourcing:manage | Change the desk's settings, templates and freight table. |
What happens on its own
| Job | When | What it does |
|---|---|---|
poll | Every minute | Reads the desk's mailbox for new mail. |
process | Every minute | Turns new mail into enquiries, and supplier replies into quotes. |
reminders | Every 15 minutes | Reminds suppliers who have not answered a request. |
findings | Every minute | Moves along supplier searches you said yes to. |
supplierBackfill | Every day at 03:23 | Links each desk supplier to its supplier in Bills. |
Needs
No other module is required. Finding suppliers needs Marketplace and a data service account. Won quotations go on to Supplier orders.
What agents can do
Read (read-only): sourcing.enquiries, sourcing.enquiry, sourcing.suppliers, sourcing.shortlist, sourcing.compare, sourcing.finding.
Enquiries and buyers: sourcing.createEnquiry, sourcing.updateEnquiry, sourcing.setState, sourcing.updateBuyer, sourcing.checkInbox.
Suppliers: sourcing.addSupplier, sourcing.supplierFromListing, sourcing.saveSupplier, sourcing.updateSupplier, sourcing.removeSupplier (destructive), sourcing.linkSuppliers.
Requests and quotes: sourcing.prepareRequests, sourcing.updateRequest, sourcing.cancelRequest (destructive), sourcing.markSentByHand, sourcing.recordQuote, sourcing.updateQuote, sourcing.choose.
Quotations: sourcing.makeQuotation, sourcing.updateQuotation.
Find suppliers: sourcing.findSuppliers (plans only), sourcing.runFinding (priced calls, only after a person said yes), sourcing.addOffer.
Sending (outside acts): sourcing.sendRequests, sourcing.sendQuotation and sourcing.askBuyer always ask a person on a card. sourcing.sendReminder asks on a card unless the owner allowed reminders to go by themselves.