If it be either in PM or the thread that originated the quote or personal e mail, we need to get some of these people/companies posting their rfq's to communicate with us. Its just a matter of courtesy saying of saying "your quote is too high" or whatever it may be and "I have found some one else" or posting on their thread the price and when the job was awarded etc etc. Its just not nice to have some one sit down strategize all of the machining operations it would take to make a part, what tooling they will need to buy, what the prices of materials will be etc etc, all this while changing game plans a thousand times to try to get the best deal for the customer, and they don't even answer your e mails. Is that the epitome of courtesy ?

Seams that way.

__________________
Thanks,
Paul G
http://www.3dxhobbies.com
http://www.cnczone.com
http://www.rfqwork.com

should we make a list of not so serious RFQ posters.

Not a bad idea.

__________________
Thanks,
Paul G
http://www.3dxhobbies.com
http://www.cnczone.com
http://www.rfqwork.com

Or I can just start baning or start charging a fee to join?

__________________
Thanks,
Paul G
http://www.3dxhobbies.com
http://www.cnczone.com
http://www.rfqwork.com

too drastic. I prefer the public pillary approach myself. Serves two purposes, tells people approach with caution and gives offender a second chance.

OK, here is my take on this, my first thought is to agree with you and it is likely that personally I would reply with a confirmation of receiving the quote, but in reality these people are under no obligation to reply, they asked for a quote, we send one, that's it !

I know some of these people are inundated with quotes.

My pet peeve is no replies to personal questions, no drawings just some link to a picture on eBay or site, a reply with one long sentence with no periods, capitalizations or "Hi ken", thank you for your interest."
These do not even warrant a second look in my opinion.

That said, lets not be too critical, after all they are the ones thart are paying.

But common courtesy dictates a reply, especially if some one has gone through all the trouble of estimating or maybe even writing up a program. Maybe we should be so kind as to throw around meaningless quotes, make the parts, regret the prices, and say "OH I'm sorry that will be 5X more than what I quoted or you don't get the parts you orderd." Whose time is getting wasted then, is that a problem?
Man when I make stuff and all of a sudden I broke my last cutter or whatever I'm in constant communication with the customer even if I will make the due date. I also like to include photos showing progress. After all I don't know Joe and he doesn't know me, should he be sitting there anxiously and nervously twiddling his thumbs away waiting for these parts that might just save his behind?
All I can say is that a good client vendor relationship must have good communication.

"But common courtesy dictates a reply"

Does it really, perhaps not too them, I guess that is where we differ, not saying you are wrong because I feel you are correct but what I consider common courtesy may not be another's, in the scheme of things that can go wrong, it should not be a big deal when we do not get a reply. In actuality a no reply is a reply, they are not interested in our quote, so be it, I have no intentions of altering a quote because they feel it is too high any more then I expect them to say, that quote is too low add another 20 percent.

Maybe ask that they acknowledge receipt of the RFQ or if they have any questions or problems with it.

Ken

In my opinion, It's up to the buyer on what info. he would post reguarding the rfq. (after RFQ has been awarded) Who it went to for how much. All I ask is that the buyer post "job has been awarded" I see no reason to contact the buyer after I have made my quote. All questions should have been asked during the quoting process. The buyer owes us nothing more then RFQ is closed.

I would like to add one thing is the people/buyers who are just price shopping, Question is how do we know the difference from the real buyers and the shoppers.

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Don Cook