Shippers accepting a rate quote online
How a shipper accepts a Logistics pack rate quote on a link with a typed name and ticked box, why sent quotes are revised, and the invoice it drafts.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Logistics businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
Launching soon. The Industry CRM add-on described in this article is launching soon. This article describes it as it will work at launch.
In freight, "yes" often arrives as a voice note. The shipper's logistics coordinator says "go ahead" on a call, or replies "ok" to an e-mail thread that by now contains three versions of the rate. The truck is booked, the load moves, and when the invoice arrives the shipper's finance team says the agreed rate was the earlier one, or that the coordinator had no authority to accept it, or that the quote had already expired.
A written, dated acceptance of a specific quote ends most of those arguments before they start. The Logistics & freight pack in Achekam's Industry CRM lets a shipper accept a rate quote online, records how and when they did it, and drafts the freight invoice from the accepted quote. This article walks through how that works and what you still have to get right yourself.
The rate quote and its validity date
In the Logistics pack, customers are Shippers, and a priced request starts life as a Spot quote request, priced lane by lane. The quote-to-booking workflow gets carriers' buy rates for each lane, asks for approval when the margin is below the business's rule, and sends the shipper a rate quote with a validity date.
The validity date is the first protection you have. Freight prices move with fuel, exchange rates and carrier capacity, so a rate that made sense on Monday may be a loss-maker a few weeks later. Choose validity periods that match how volatile the lane is, and make the date prominent on the quote.
A rate quote should also say plainly what is and is not included: collection, delivery, loading, border costs, insurance. The trade terms on the shipper's own sale often decide who pays for each stage. The US International Trade Administration's guide, Know Your Incoterms, explains each of the Incoterms 2020 rules and the tasks, costs and risks each one places on buyer and seller, which helps you word a quote so it matches the shipper's obligations.
Acceptance by name and ticked box
When the quote is sent, the shipper receives it on a link. To accept, they type their name and tick a box. That is the acceptance, and the pack keeps it together with the shipper's IP address and browser details.
Two practical points follow:
- Send the quote to the right person. The acceptance records who typed their name; it cannot tell you whether that person had authority to commit the shipper. Find out during onboarding who may accept quotes, and send quotes to them.
- Point them at the current version. If a quote has been revised, tell the shipper plainly which version is live, so nobody accepts an outdated rate.
Whether a typed name and a ticked box are enough for a particular contract is a legal question, and the answer can differ for South African, Nigerian and Kenyan law and for what your trading terms say. For everyday freight bookings, a clear acceptance of a specific, dated quote is far better evidence than a voice note. For anything unusual, ask your lawyer.
Revisions instead of edits
Once a quote has been sent, it is frozen. If the rate changes, the lane changes or the shipper asks for an extra drop, you do not edit the sent quote; you issue a revision.
That rule is what makes the acceptance worth having. Without it, the document a shipper accepted could be changed afterwards, and the acceptance would prove nothing. With it, every version the shipper ever saw is kept, and the acceptance is tied to one of them.
A revised quote, in words
A shipper asks for a rate to move machinery to a mine site. The forwarder sends a quote valid for a short period. Two days later the shipper adds a second drop-off point. The forwarder issues a revision with the new route and rate. The shipper accepts the revision, not the original. When the invoice is queried months later, the forwarder can show which version was accepted, by whom, and when.
The freight invoice drafted
Acceptance does more than record a "yes". When the shipper accepts, the pack drafts the invoice in receivables from the accepted quote, so the price the shipper agreed is the price that reaches the invoice, without retyping.
The invoice is drafted, not issued. The accounts team checks it against the actual load, adds anything that was agreed separately, and issues it when the load is delivered. Issuing the invoice at the moment of acceptance is possible, but it needs an administrator's recorded authority, because a document that posts to the ledger straight from a shipper's click should be a deliberate choice, not a default.
Your own prices
No starter item in any industry pack carries a price; the business sets its own. The quote your shipper accepts is therefore built from your carriers' buy rates and your margin rule, not from a figure supplied by Achekam. Keep the rate inputs current and the margin rule written down, as described in spot quotes with a margin approval rule. The wider record of how online acceptance is kept across every industry pack is covered in what an online quote acceptance records.
Before you send the first online quote
Confirm who at each shipper may accept quotes, set validity periods per type of lane, decide whether any invoices should issue on acceptance and who holds that authority, and brief the sales desk that a sent quote is never changed, only revised.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
