--- title: "Build and send a proposal" description: "Build a priced answer to a quote request in the proposal editor, send it, and track every send as a numbered version." url: "https://www.quotway.com/docs/negotiation/proposals-and-versions" type: "documentation" category: "negotiation" updated: "2026-10-15" locale: "en" source: "QuotWay - B2B Quote & Negotiation App for Shopify" --- # Build and send a proposal **Read time:** 5 minutes. **Last updated:** October 15, 2026 **Who it's for:** Merchants responding to a quote request with a priced offer, and anyone who needs to read the version history of a negotiation. A proposal is your priced answer to a quote request - the heart of how QuotWay turns a request into a deal. You build it in the proposal editor, set prices line by line, add notes and an expiry, then send it to the buyer. Every send is saved as a numbered version, so the whole negotiation reads as a clear sequence instead of a guessing game. ## What is a proposal? A proposal is the merchant's priced offer on a quote. When a buyer requests a quote, the quote arrives in your QuotWay inbox with the lines the buyer asked about. You reply by building a proposal: confirming quantities, setting unit prices, applying any discount, and adding shipping. When you send it, the buyer can do one of three things - **Accept**, **Decline**, or **Counter**. A counter starts another round, and that round is captured as a new version. On the Professional plan and above the buyer answers *per line* rather than for the whole proposal, so one submission can accept some lines, decline others and leave the rest open - see [Accept part of a quote](/docs/negotiation/partial-acceptance). Proposals are available on every plan, including the free Lite plan. ## How do I build a proposal? You build a proposal in the proposal editor, opened from any open quote. 1. Open the quote from your QuotWay inbox. 2. Select **Prepare proposal** (the button reads **Continue** or **Manage** once you've started, depending on where the quote is). 3. Review the line items the buyer requested. Each line has a quantity and a unit price you can edit. 4. Set the **unit price** per line. Apply a discount if you want one - see [Floor price and discounts](./floor-price-and-discounts.md). If you've set a price floor, any line priced below it - counting its share of any whole-quote discount - shows a **Below floor** warning, and sending it takes an explicit **"Send below floor anyway"** confirmation (recorded in the quote's Activity). The floor safeguard works on every plan. 5. Add a **shipping** amount - or fetch live rates for the buyer's address - and mark custom lines as requiring shipping or taxable where it applies. See [Shipping on a proposal](./shipping-on-a-proposal.md). 6. Add **internal notes** for your team (the buyer never sees these) and any **buyer-facing terms** that should appear on the proposal. 7. The editor autosaves as you work, so you won't lose edits before you send. You can also add lines the buyer didn't request - for example, a setup fee or a free sample - as custom lines alongside catalog products. ## Can I set payment terms on a proposal? Yes - on any quote, on every plan. The proposal editor has a **Payment terms** dropdown for wholesale/DTC quotes and B2B company quotes alike: **Due on receipt**, **Due on fulfillment**, **Net 30/60/90**, and the other payment terms your store has in Shopify. You don't need Shopify B2B or Companies for it. The first time, the editor shows an **Enable payment terms** button. One click asks your store to let QuotWay read and set payment terms - an optional permission that gives no access to Company data. Staff who can edit settings see the button. If the permission is later removed, the convert screen shows **Re-enable payment terms**. The buyer sees the terms on the proposal, in their customer account, in the buyer portal, and on the PDFs. When you convert the accepted quote, the Shopify draft order is created with those terms - the same as switching on "Payment due later" on a draft order by hand. ## Can a proposal require a deposit? Yes - on Shopify Plus stores, from the Professional plan. The **Deposit** field sits next to payment terms in the proposal editor: enter a percentage (1-99%) and QuotWay shows a live estimate of what's due at checkout vs. the balance. The deposit is part of the versioned commercial record, carries across counter rounds, and rides the draft order at conversion so Shopify checkout collects it. You can also set a shop-wide default in **Settings → General** (apply above an order value, or on quotes with custom items). On non-Plus stores the field doesn't appear. A deposit combines with payment terms - for example, "50% down, balance Net 30". ## How does proposal expiry work? Every quote gets an expiry automatically, and you can override it per quote. **The shop-wide default** is in **Settings → General → default quote expiry days** - any value from 1 to 365, and it ships at **14**. It's applied when a request arrives, so a quote in your inbox already carries a date before you've priced it. **The per-quote override** is the date picker in the proposal editor. Set whatever the deal needs; a date in the past is rejected rather than sent. **A reminder before it lapses.** Set **remind N days before expiry** (0 to 90, ships at 3) and the buyer gets one reminder per quote ahead of the date. Available from the Starter plan. Expiry is useful when your pricing depends on stock, a seasonal rate, or an exchange rate - it gives the buyer a clear deadline to accept or counter before the numbers may change. **What expiry enforces.** Once a quote expires it's a terminal state: the buyer portal moves it into history, and accept, counter and decline are no longer offered. An acceptance arriving for an expired quote is rejected. Expiry is applied by a daily sweep rather than to the minute, so a quote lapses on its date rather than at a precise clock time. An expired proposal doesn't delete anything: the version stays in the history. An expired quote can't be re-sent. Duplicate it to carry the deal forward with every price reset, then re-quote. ## What happens when I send? When you select **Send proposal**, QuotWay does three things: - Saves the proposal as a numbered, immutable **version** - the first send is version 1. - Moves the quote's status to **PROPOSAL_SENT**. - Emails the buyer a link to review it. The email mentions the buyer by name and links to the proposal; it never puts prices in the email body. See [Messaging with buyers](./messaging-with-buyers.md) for why. From there the buyer reviews the proposal in their Shopify customer account or the hosted buyer portal, and accepts, declines, or counters. ## What are versioned snapshots? Each time a proposal or counter is sent, QuotWay captures it as a **version** - a complete snapshot of the offer at that moment. Versions are immutable: once sent, a version is never edited in place. A change always creates a new version. This is what makes the negotiation auditable. Whether you sent the first proposal, the buyer countered, or you countered back, you always have an exact record of what was offered at every step - and what was finally agreed. ## How do I read the version timeline? The quote's **version timeline** lists every round in order: version 1 (your first proposal), then each counter and re-proposal that followed. Each version shows who sent it, when, its total and message, and what changed from the one before. Between versions, QuotWay shows a **diff** - which lines changed, by how much, and where the total landed. The diff means you don't have to compare two screens by eye: changed lines and totals are highlighted so you can see what moved between rounds. When a quote is finally accepted, the accepted lines are recorded with their prices and quantities, plus a hash of them, so "what did we settle on?" always has one answer. ## Related articles - [Counter-offers and buyer prices](./counter-offers-and-buyer-prices.md) - what happens when a buyer counters your proposal. - [Immutable quote versions](/blog/immutable-quote-versions) - the engineering design behind versions, for developers and agencies. - [Floor price and discounts](./floor-price-and-discounts.md) - set unit prices, discounts, and a minimum you won't go below. - [Convert a quote to a draft order](../converting-to-orders/convert-a-quote-to-a-draft-order.md) - turn an accepted proposal into a Shopify draft order.