Customer price levels in quotes: the right price for each account

Where account pricing goes wrong

Most merchants and wholesalers do not have one price. They have a list price, a few trade groups, and a set of accounts with their own negotiated terms. The rules live partly in the merchant system and partly in people's heads: "the Smiths get group B except on cable", "that contractor has a special on boilers until the end of the month".

When a quote is typed by hand, the risk is not the arithmetic. It is the wrong level: list price given to a good account, or an expired special given to everyone. The first loses the job; the second loses margin and is hard to take back once the customer has seen it.

The order of price levels

1. Customer price. A price you have agreed with this account for this product.
2. Customer group price. A price for the group the account belongs to, such as a trade band.
3. List price. Your general price for the product.

The first level that holds a valid price for the product is the one used. A customer price therefore wins over a group price even where the group price happens to be lower. That is deliberate: an agreed account price is an agreement, and the draft does not second guess it. If you want a group price to apply instead, the customer price is removed or allowed to expire in your price file.

"Valid" means the price is in date: each price can carry a valid from and a valid until date, and a price outside its dates is ignored. Inside each level, quantity breaks apply; how they work is on the quantity break pricing page.

A worked example

Take one product, a 100 m drum of 2.5mm twin and earth cable, with these entries in your price file. The figures are only an illustration:

• Account A is quoted £58.00, its own price.
• Account B, in trade band 2 with no price of its own, is quoted £61.50.
• A walk in customer with no group is quoted £72.00.
• In January, Account A's own price has expired, so Account A falls back to the group price if it is in trade band 2, otherwise to the list price.

Each draft line shows the price, the price entry it came from and the date it is valid until, so the reviewer checks the reason, not only the number.

Category discounts and surcharges

Many merchants run a discount on a whole category, such as 10% off fittings for a trade band, instead of listing a price for every product. A category discount set for the customer or the group applies to the list price only. It does not stack on top of a customer price or a group price, because those are already the negotiated figure.

Surcharges are never inferred. If your price file carries an explicit surcharge for a product, it is added to the line; if it does not, no surcharge appears.

When there is no clear price

• A tie. Two prices at the same level and the same quantity break for the same product. The line is blocked rather than picking one.
• No valid price. No price at any level, or every price is out of date. The line is blocked and shown as missing or expired.

A blocked line stays on the draft with its reason, and the draft cannot be approved until a person settles it. These are also the lines that turn up in the catalogue issues report from the pilot, which shows where your price file needs tidying.

What I need from you

Your catalogue, your customers with their groups, and your prices as XLSX, CSV or TSV exports from your merchant system, in pounds, dollars or euros. Each price row names the product, who it is for (an account, a group or everyone), the price, any quantity break, and the dates it is valid for. During the pilot, the columns of your export are mapped once and written down.

Pricing

Starter is £390 a month for up to 20 requests, and Team is £790 a month for 3 users and up to 200 requests, both with no setup fee. The full rollout is £1,290 a month for up to 500 requests and 10,000 line items, or £3,900 a month for up to 1,500 requests and 30,000 line items, plus £5,950 onboarding including the £1,490 paid pilot. How the paid pilot works ↗

Frequently asked questions