Technically yes, and most teams should not allow it at first. Sending is the point where work stops being reversible and lands in front of a supplier, so the sensible default is ask-before-send until the template and the supplier list have been right for several weeks.
Why Sending Is the Line
Everything before it can be undone quietly. A bad draft is deleted, a wrong supplier record is corrected, a messy comparison is rebuilt. A sent request cannot be recalled, and it shapes how a supplier judges you.
That matters more than it sounds. Shops triage incoming requests on clarity, volume and relationship, and decline the ones that are not worth estimating hours. An agent sending unclear or duplicate requests does not just waste a cycle, it lowers your response rate on the next one.
A Safe Sequence
- Research and drafting only. Fully reversible, nothing external.
- Ask before send. The agent prepares everything and pauses at the outbound step.
- Open the gate for known suppliers, on an approved template, once drafts have been consistently correct.
- Keep new suppliers gated. A first impression is not reversible.
- Keep the award human, at every level of autonomy.
Thresholds Worth Setting
- A spend threshold above which every request routes to a person regardless of the agent's conclusion.
- An exception rate that suspends autonomy pending review if the agent is being flagged too often.
- A rule that any release of drawings, specifications or price lists requires human approval.
How Buyer24 Helps
Buyer24 lets you set the level explicitly: full autopilot, ask-before-send, or manual review on each step, with the same structured request going to every supplier once it is approved. Get started →
FAQ
What is the risk of fully automated RFQ sending?
The realistic risks are volume without judgment: duplicate requests, requests to suppliers who cannot serve the part, and packages missing information the supplier needs. Each one lowers response quality, and the damage shows up as silence rather than as an error message.
Can an agent answer supplier questions automatically?
Answering clarifications from the original brief is usually safe, since the information was already approved. Anything requiring a new commitment on price, quantity or lead time should go to a person.
How long should I stay on ask-before-send?
Until the drafts stop needing edits. In practice that is a few weeks of regular use, and the signal to move on is a low edit rate rather than a calendar date.
People also search for: