Most buying mistakes are not made at the negotiation stage. They are made earlier, when three suppliers send three quotations that look alike and nobody notices that they describe three slightly different things. The cheapest one wins, and a month later the office is dealing with a substitute brand, a short-count pack, or a delivery charge nobody mentioned.
This checklist is for administrators, procurement officers, and business owners who want to compare quotations properly and check a new supplier before placing a first order. It works for a school buying stationery, a hospital buying consumables, or a factory buying safety equipment.
Start by making the request comparable
A quotation can only be as comparable as the request that produced it. Send every supplier the same written specification, and include:
- The item, the brand, or the criteria for an approved equivalent (for example GSM and brightness for paper, or thickness and material for gloves).
- Pack size and total quantity.
- Delivery address, delivery date, and whether unloading is expected.
- Payment terms you can offer.
- How long you need the quoted price to stay valid.
When suppliers answer different questions, you end up comparing their assumptions rather than their prices.
Line the quotations up on the same basis
| What to compare | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Unit price | Convert everything to the same unit: per piece, per kg, per litre, per sheet. |
| Taxes | Check whether sales tax is included. A quotation that shows tax separately is not more expensive than one that includes it. Compare the final total. |
| Delivery | Free, charged, or charged by floor. Ask who unloads. |
| Payment terms | Advance, on delivery, or credit days. Credit has a real value. |
| Price validity | A rate that holds for seven days and one that holds for a quarter are different offers. |
| Lead time | How quickly stock arrives after the order. |
| Returns and warranty | What happens with damaged, wrong, or defective items. |
Put these in one spreadsheet, and add a final column for the total landed cost of the full quantity. That single number is what you are really comparing.
The traps that turn a cheap quotation into an expensive one
- Silent brand substitution. "Or equivalent" with no criteria means the supplier decides what equivalent is.
- Short-count packs. A 450-sheet ream or a 90-piece box priced against a 500-sheet or 100-piece one. Compare per unit, not per pack.
- Taxes added afterwards. Ask for the final payable amount in writing.
- Small-quantity prices. A rate quoted for a trial order rarely applies to the volume you will actually buy, and the reverse.
- A good sample and poor delivered stock. Check delivered goods against the sample or the specification, every time.
Verify a new supplier before the first order
Requirements differ by organisation, so follow your own procurement policy. As a reference point, published tender notices from Sindh government bodies commonly ask bidders to hold NTN and sales tax registration with the FBR, to not be blacklisted by any procuring agency, and to show relevant experience and turnover. Some notices also ask for registration with the Sindh Revenue Board for services, or professional tax registration. You can borrow that list as a starting point for private purchasing too.
- Tax registration. Ask for the NTN and sales tax numbers, and check the supplier's status on the FBR's Active Taxpayer List.
- Business registration. A company registration, a partnership deed, or proprietorship details, depending on how the business is set up.
- A real address. Somewhere you can visit or at least verify.
- Track record. Past purchase orders or references from clients of a similar size and type.
- Payment details. A bank account in the company's name. Payment requests to a personal account are a warning sign.
- Declaration. A written statement that the supplier has not been blacklisted, if your policy requires it.
Ask for samples and start with a trial order
For consumables, ask for a sample before committing, and place a modest first order before a large one. Two or three deliveries will show you more about a supplier than any presentation: whether they arrive on time, deliver what was quoted, and respond when something goes wrong.
Write the terms into the purchase order
- Item, brand, specification, and quantity exactly as agreed.
- Delivery date and place.
- Your right to inspect on delivery and reject items that do not match.
- How quickly replacements must arrive.
- Payment terms, and that payment follows inspection.
- The consequence of late delivery. Many institutional purchase orders apply a daily penalty for delay.
Keep a simple supplier scorecard
After each delivery, note five things: was it on time, was the quantity right, did the quality match the specification, was the invoice accurate, and how quickly did they respond to a query. After three or four deliveries the scorecard makes reordering decisions easy and takes the emotion out of them.
Keep the paper trail
Finance teams and auditors want to see how a price was chosen. Keep the quotations, the comparison sheet, the approval, the purchase order, the delivery note, and the invoice together. Many organisations require a minimum number of quotations above a certain value, so check your own policy.
BST PVT LTD gives itemised quotations with taxes and delivery shown separately, so they line up cleanly against others. Tell us what your organisation requires and we will confirm what we can provide with the quotation. For a worked example of how a monthly supply order is planned, see our office pantry checklist.