Export Quotation: How to Write a Professional Offer

How to write an export quotation that wins orders and protects you: the 13 elements, validity, Incoterm and named place, payment terms, lead time, tolerances.

A buyer abroad usually compares three to six offers for the same product. Most will look alike on price. What makes yours stand out is that it is complete, clear and safe: the buyer knows exactly what will arrive, where, when and under which payment terms, and you know exactly what you have committed to. A vague quotation, by contrast, invites disputes once the price of freight or raw material moves.

This lesson walks you through the elements of a professional export quotation, the legal weight of an offer, how to set its validity, lead time and tolerances, and how to follow up. A complete sample for Deglet Nour dates shipped from Algeria to Indonesia shows how it all fits together.

Quotation, offer, proforma: what is the difference?

The proforma invoice lesson explains the proforma in detail; the contract that follows is covered in the international sales contract.

Is your quotation legally binding?

Whether an offer binds you depends on the law that governs it and on its wording. The CISG, which applies in many international sales (see the CISG and choice of law), illustrates the general logic:

• A proposal is an offer if it is addressed to specific persons, describes the goods and fixes, or provides a way to fix, the quantity and the price.
• An offer that states a fixed time for acceptance is generally irrevocable until that time. If the buyer accepts in time, the contract is concluded on your terms, even if your costs have risen.
• A reply that "accepts" but changes the price, payment, quality, quantity, delivery, liability or dispute settlement is a counter-offer, not an acceptance.

The 13 elements of an export quotation

A complete sample quotation

Notice what the sample does: it names the exact port, says who pays destination charges under CFR, links the lead time to the advance, limits the freight risk, and asks the buyer to confirm the document requirements before the contract rather than after shipment.

How long should your quotation be valid?

Set the validity according to what moves your costs.

• Freight: carriers often quote rates valid for a few weeks; surcharges can change at shorter notice.
• Raw materials and commodities: steel, plastics, edible oils and grains can move several percent in a week.
• Exchange rates: if your costs are in DZD and your price in USD, a long validity is an open currency position (see currency risk).
• Seasonal products: availability of a crop or a catch may end before the buyer decides.

A practical rule: 7 to 15 days for volatile goods, 30 days for stable manufactured goods, always with a date, a time and a time zone.

Tolerances, payment terms and lead time

Tolerances: quantity, weight and quality

Bulk and agricultural goods rarely load to the exact kilogram. State:

• the quantity tolerance (for example 5% or 10% more or less) and whose option it is;
• the invoicing basis: net or gross weight, weight at loading or at discharge;
• the quality tolerance: moisture, size grading, defects, referring to a specification sheet.

If payment is by letter of credit, align the quotation with UCP 600 article 30: "about" or "approximately" allows 10% more or less on what it qualifies; and when the quantity is not stated in packing units or individual items, a 5% quantity tolerance is allowed provided the total drawn does not exceed the credit amount. When you sell in cartons, that 5% does not apply, so ask for an explicit tolerance in the credit.

Payment terms and lead time: be precise

"Payment by LC" or "delivery 3 weeks" are invitations to argue. Write the method, the percentage, the trigger and the charges: "irrevocable letter of credit, payable at sight at the counters of an Algerian bank, confirmed, all charges outside Algeria for the buyer's account". The options and their risks are compared in international payment methods.

For lead time, use a trigger and a latest date: "shipment within 21 days of receipt of the advance and approval of the label artwork, latest 30 April 2026". If the buyer pays late, your date moves with it.

After you send it: follow up and track

1. Confirm receipt within 48 hours and ask whether anything needs clarifying.
2. Follow up three to five days before the validity expires.
3. If the buyer counters, answer in writing and restate all the terms, not just the new price.
4. Record the result: won, lost (with the reason: price, lead time, terms, competitor), or expired.

Your quotation conversion rate, by market and by product, tells you whether your price, your terms or your targeting needs work.

Common quotation mistakes

• An Incoterm without a precise place, or with a country only ("CIF Indonesia").
• No validity, or a validity with no date or time zone.
• A fixed shipment date that ignores late payment or late artwork.
• No tolerance on bulk or agricultural quantities.
• Forgetting who pays destination charges under C rules.
• Copying the buyer's specification without checking that you can meet it.
• Changing only the price in a revised offer and leaving older terms in conflicting emails.

Putting it into practice

On Incoforms, you can generate a proforma invoice and then the sales contract directly from the shipment, so the goods, quantities, Incoterm, payment terms and validity stay consistent across documents. The document designer lets you lay out your quotation and proforma with your own branding and standard conditions.