Overview

eStoreware Advanced Quotes adds a controlled commercial quotation process to nopCommerce. A quote can begin as a customer shopping-cart request or as an administrator-created record. Staff can assign the customer, add products, review requested prices, prepare an offer, send a secure link, generate a branded PDF, record approval, convert approved lines to the customer's cart, and retain the exact quote-to-order history.

Cart-based requests

Preserve products, quantities, requested prices, item notes, and overall instructions from the customer's cart.

Commercial controls

Manage quoted prices, requested prices, discounts, shipping, tax estimates, expiration, notes, and revisions.

Customer delivery

Use secure quote links, email templates, customer approval, store approval, printing, and branded PDFs.

Conversion and traceability

Preserve approved prices in the cart, link the final order, or create an optional reusable Quick Order Form.

Advanced Quotes workflow from shopping-cart request through pricing, approval, checkout, and Quick Order Forms — **Connected quote workflow.** Move one customer request through review, delivery, approval, checkout, final order linkage, and optional reusable ordering.

Install and configure the plugin

Install and activate eStoreware Core first.
Install eStoreware Advanced Quotes from nopCommerce Local plugins.
Restart or reload the application when prompted.
Open eStoreware → Licensing, activate the Advanced Quotes license, and validate it.
Open Advanced Quotes → Configuration, select the intended store, review the settings, and save.
Confirm Setup Status reports the message templates and expiration task as ready.
Assign the Advanced Quotes administrative permissions to the appropriate roles.

Fresh installations: Required tables and setup records should be created automatically. Use Repair Setup once when upgrading an older installation, recovering from an incomplete earlier installation, or when Setup Status reports a missing component.

nopCommerce Upload plugin or theme window with the Advanced Quotes package selected — **Upload the package.** Upload the compiled ZIP from Local plugins, then reload the plugin list and install Advanced Quotes.

Advanced Quotes dashboard displaying the license required notice — **License required.** The dashboard links directly to Core Licensing until the current domain has an active Advanced Quotes license.

Sanitized eStoreware Licensing page showing Advanced Quotes active — **Activate and validate.** Select Advanced Quotes, enter the supplied key, activate online, and confirm both the Core client and plugin status report Active. Example values are sanitized.

Important store settings

Setting	Purpose
Allow guest quote requests	Allows a guest to submit a cart request using a contact email.
Allow cart to quote	Displays the special-pricing request widget on the shopping cart.
Clear cart after quote request	Clears the original cart only after the request is saved successfully.
Allow customer approve / decline	Enables response actions on eligible secure customer quote pages.
Allow copy approved quote to customer cart	Enables approved quote lines to be copied to the assigned customer's cart.
Clear customer cart before copying quote	Controls whether existing cart contents are removed before quoted lines are added.
Allow convert to Quick Order Form	Enables optional conversion when the companion plugin is installed.
Default quote expiration days	Sets the initial expiration used for new and reopened quotes.

Advanced Quotes configuration with per-store settings and setup status — **Configuration and Setup Status.** Review customer access, cart behavior, approvals, email, printing, conversion, store product behavior, expiration, and supporting setup records.

Receive shopping-cart quote requests

The customer adds the required products and quantities to the shopping cart.
The customer expands the special-pricing panel.
They enter optional requested unit prices and item-specific notes.
They enter overall delivery, target-pricing, or purchasing instructions.
A guest supplies an email address; a registered customer can remain connected to My Quotes.
The customer selects Request Quote for This Cart.
The plugin saves the request and displays the confirmation page with its quote number and next steps.

Guest workflow: A guest can submit when allowed, but assign the request to the correct registered customer before using customer-specific cart conversion or long-term account access.

Shopping cart with Advanced Quotes requested pricing and notes — **Cart request.** The customer submits current products, quantities, requested unit prices, and notes without rebuilding the list.

Quote request received confirmation with quote number and review steps — **Immediate confirmation.** The customer sees the quote number, review process, expected response time, and relevant next links.

Find and manage quotes

Open Administration → Advanced Quotes. The dashboard separates all quotes, cart requests, pending cart requests, and approved quotes. Search by quote number, title, token, customer email, name, company, or ID, and filter by status or source.

Status	Typical meaning
Draft	The quote remains editable and has not been activated for customer review.
Sent	The customer-facing quote has been activated and delivered.
Store Approved	The store accepted the customer's requested prices; no additional customer approval is required.
Accepted / Declined	The customer recorded a response to the offer.
Expired	The expiration date passed and the expiration task updated the quote.
Converted	The quote was connected to a resulting order or completed conversion workflow.
Completed / Cancelled	The administrative workflow was finished or stopped.

Advanced Quotes dashboard with counts, search, filters, statuses, totals, and edit actions — **Quote administration.** Use dashboard totals, customer search, status and source filters, and the Edit action to manage each request.

Create a quote manually

Select Add new quote from the Advanced Quotes dashboard.
Choose the customer from the current store mapping.
Set the title, expiration, active state, quote-level discount, shipping estimate, tax estimate, and notes.
Save the quote to create its number and Draft record.
Search for products and add them one at a time.
Set quantities, quoted prices, requested prices when applicable, discounts, notes, and sort order, then save the selected lines.

Add Quote page with customer, title, expiration, totals, and notes — **Manual quote setup.** Start with the customer and quote-level commercial details.

Advanced Quote product search, item editor, and quote history — **Add products and pricing.** Product search, selected-row editing, and history keep the manually created offer organized.

Add products and prepare quoted pricing

Add a product

Open the quote and locate Add Products.
Search by product name, SKU, manufacturer number, GTIN, or product ID.
Select the correct product and add it to the quote.
Edit the commercial fields after the product appears under Quote Items.

Edit quote items

Field	Use
Quantity	The quantity included in the quotation and line-total calculation.
Quoted Unit Price	The actual unit price offered by the store.
Customer Requested Price	The target unit price submitted by the customer.
Line Discount	The line-level discount applied to the quoted item.
Customer-facing Item Notes	Information that may appear on the customer quote and PDF.
Private Admin Notes	Internal information that should remain hidden from the customer.
Sort	Controls the order in which products appear.

Use each row's Apply requested price action to approve one requested value. Use Apply All Requested Prices when the store is accepting all eligible prices originally proposed by the customer. Check the appropriate rows and use Save Selected or Delete Selected for bulk management.

Save before conversion: Confirm every quote item has a valid quoted unit price and save changes before sending, creating a PDF, copying to cart, or converting to a Quick Order Form.

Advanced Quote item editor with quoted price, requested price, notes, selection, save, and delete controls — **Quote item editor.** Edit the quote after the product is added and manage selected rows together.

Advanced Quote with requested-price approval and quote utilities — **Requested-price approval.** Apply negotiated values, verify the approved state, and continue into the customer-cart workflow.

Create revisions and preserve history

Use Create Revision after a quote has been sent, accepted, or otherwise needs to remain historically intact. The plugin creates a new editable version such as R2 or R3, retains the prior quote as an unchanged commercial record, and returns the new revision to Draft.

Open the quote that needs new pricing or terms.
Select Create Revision.
Confirm the new quote number and revision value.
Edit the new Draft rather than changing the prior version.
Review all products, prices, notes, totals, expiration, and customer assignment.
Send the new revision when it is ready for customer review.

Advanced Quote revision two shown as a new Draft — **Editable revision.** Revision two is separate from the original and can be reviewed before sending.

Quote history recording creation of revision two — **Revision history.** The dated event records which quote was used to create the new revision.

Send the quote and generate a branded PDF

Send or resend

Save all quote and item changes.
Confirm the customer email, expiration, products, prices, totals, and customer-facing notes.
Select Send Quote to activate the secure public link and queue the customer message.
Use Resend only when the current quote should be delivered again without creating a revision.
Test the secure link while signed out when validating a public customer workflow.

Download branded PDF

The PDF uses the active store's identity and can include the store logo, quote title, number, revision, dates, products, SKU and manufacturer numbers, quantities, unit prices, discounts, line totals, quote totals, notes, terms, and page footer. Transparent logos are placed on white before rendering so transparent areas do not appear black.

Advanced Quote utilities with PDF, revision, cart, and Quick Order actions — **Quote Utilities.** Related actions are grouped with short explanations so staff can select the correct workflow.

Branded PDF. Provide a customer-ready commercial document with structured items and totals.

Sanitized Advanced Quotes customer email with quote details and secure review link — **Customer delivery email.** The message provides the commercial summary, secure review action, fallback link, and store identity. Example customer and URL values are sanitized.

Use customer approval or store approval

Customer approval or decline

An eligible sent quote can display Approve and Decline controls when customer responses are enabled. The customer can add an optional approval note or decline reason, and the response is stored with the quote.

Store approval of requested prices

If the store accepts all prices originally submitted by the customer, use Apply All Requested Prices. The quote enters the store-approved workflow, history records the changes, and the customer can be notified that no additional approval is required.

Counteroffers: If the store changes the requested pricing or terms, send the prepared quote or a new revision for customer review instead of using the direct store-approved path.

Public customer quote with approval note, decline reason, approve, and decline controls — **Customer decision.** Eligible sent quotes present clear Approve and Decline actions with optional feedback.

Customer quote center showing requested pricing approved by the store — **Store-approved quote.** The customer sees the approved status, expiration, items, negotiated prices, totals, and PDF action.

Keep quotes available under My Account

Registered customers can open My Account → My Quotes to review quote numbers, titles, statuses, totals, expiration dates, and the latest available customer action. The My Quotes menu entry remains highlighted while the customer is in the quote center.

Enable Show in customer account for the store.
Assign the quote to the correct registered customer.
Ask the customer to sign in and open My Quotes.
Use View Quote to open the secure quote experience.
For a guest request, assign it to the matching registered customer before expecting it to appear in that account.

Customer My Account page with My Quotes highlighted and an accepted quote listed — **My Quotes account center.** The highlighted navigation item helps registered customers return to active and historical quotations.

Add an approved quote to cart and link the final order

Advanced Quotes supports both customer self-service and an administrator-assisted cart conversion. In either route, the quote must be accepted or store approved and associated with the customer who will complete checkout.

Route	When to use it	Action
Customer self-service	The registered customer opens an accepted or store-approved quote.	Select Add Approved Quote to Cart on the customer quote page.
Administrator assisted	Staff need to prepare the assigned customer's cart.	Select Copy to Customer Cart from Quote Utilities.

Confirm the quote is accepted or store approved.
Confirm it is assigned to the correct registered customer.
Save every item and verify the quoted unit prices.
Use the customer or administrator cart action described above.
Inspect the assigned customer's cart.
Confirm each cart line uses the negotiated price rather than the current catalog price.
Complete the standard nopCommerce checkout.
Return to the quote and confirm its Converted status and ConvertedToOrder history event.

Cart ownership matters: The quote, cart, and checkout must belong to the same assigned customer. Assign a guest request to the correct registered customer before copying it.

Accepted customer quote with Add Approved Quote to Cart action — **Customer self-service.** An approved quote can be added directly to the signed-in customer's cart.

Shopping cart displaying an approved Advanced Quote price and checkout action — **Price-preserved cart.** The negotiated unit price remains in the cart while normal shipping and checkout continue.

Shopping cart displaying the unit price approved in Advanced Quotes — **Administrator-assisted cart.** Quote Utilities can populate the assigned customer's cart while preserving the offer.

nopCommerce order confirmation after checkout from an Advanced Quote — **Normal checkout.** The customer receives the standard nopCommerce order confirmation and order number.

Advanced Quote history with ConvertedToOrder event and linked order number — **Final order linkage.** The exact quote revision is marked Converted and history stores the resulting order number and order ID.

Convert an eligible quote to a Quick Order Form

Quick Order Forms is optional and is not required for the core quotation workflow. When installed and enabled, an eligible quote can become a reusable customer ordering form with the quoted products and negotiated selling prices.

Install, activate, and configure eStoreware Quick Order Forms.
Enable Allow convert to Quick Order Form for the store.
Assign the quote to the correct customer.
Move the quote into an eligible sent or accepted state.
Select Convert to Quick Order Form.
Review the created form's customer, title, active status, public sharing, and instructions.
Verify every converted item, selling-price override, reference, quantity, and sort order.
Test the customer and public ordering experience as appropriate.

Quick Order Form created from an Advanced Quote — **Converted form.** The customer, quote reference, activity, active state, and public sharing remain manageable.

Quick Order Form item retaining Advanced Quote product and selling price — **Converted items.** Review selling-price overrides, source references, quantity controls, status, and display order.

Customer Quick Order Forms list containing a converted quote — **Customer form list.** The converted quote becomes available for managed repeat ordering.

Public Quick Order Form generated from an Advanced Quote — **Reusable ordering.** Customers can adjust quantities and add selected quoted products to the cart.

Troubleshooting

A required Advanced Quotes table is missing

Confirm the installed files are from the current plugin package.
Open Configuration and run Repair Setup once.
Restart the nopCommerce application.
Review the system log for the exact missing object and any migration failure.
Do not manually create only one table unless its complete current schema is known.

The public quote link is disabled

Confirm public quote links are enabled for the selected store.
Save the quote and confirm it is not still an unactivated Draft.
Send the quote or complete the appropriate store-approval workflow.
Test the newest public link after a revision or security-sensitive change.

The requested price did not update the quote

Confirm the requested-price field contains a valid decimal value.
Use Apply requested price for the correct line or Apply All Requested Prices for the eligible quote.
Select and save the changed item.
Reload the quote and verify the quoted unit price and line total.

The copied cart uses the catalog price

Confirm the quote item has a saved quoted unit price.
Confirm the quote is eligible and assigned to the same registered customer.
Confirm the current plugin version includes cart-price overrides.
When upgrading an older installation, run Repair Setup once.
Remove older cart lines and copy the approved quote again before retesting.

The store logo is missing from the PDF

Confirm the active store has a valid logo configured.
Confirm the application can access the logo file.
Verify the quote is using the expected store context.
Clear cache and regenerate the PDF after changing the logo.

The quote did not link to the final order

Confirm checkout used the cart populated by Add Approved Quote to Cart or Copy to Customer Cart.
Confirm the same assigned customer completed checkout.
Confirm the Advanced Quotes order-placement integration is registered and the current application was restarted after deployment.
Review Quote History and the system log for the order-placement event.

The quote did not expire

Confirm the expiration date has passed in UTC.
Confirm the expiration scheduled task is installed and enabled.
Confirm the quote status is eligible for automatic expiration.
Run the task manually and review its Last Success and error information.

Testing recommendation: Before production release, test one registered request, one guest request, one store-approved requested-price flow, one counteroffer, one revision, one PDF, one cart conversion, one completed checkout with order linkage, and one optional Quick Order Form conversion.

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Advanced Quotes Plugin Documentation

Manage the complete quote lifecycle in nopCommerce.