You can use ChatGPT, or any general-purpose AI chat, for the writing. It drafts a clear Request for Quote (RFQ), suggests what to ask suppliers and compares quotes you paste back in. Getting the quotes is a different job: sending the RFQ to several suppliers, collecting replies that arrive over days, reminding the ones who go quiet, answering their questions and keeping the quotes comparable. A chat leaves that work with you. Software built for RFQs runs it.
Where the Work Is
Writing the RFQ is the short part. A typical request goes to five or more suppliers, and the replies arrive on different days in different formats: a PDF, a spreadsheet, a price in the body of an email, a question about the spec. Some suppliers answer only after a reminder. Each reply has to be matched to its RFQ, checked for price, lead time and minimum order quantity (MOQ), and kept where the quotes can be compared like for like. That coordination is where buyer hours go, and it happens in an inbox, not in a chat window.
How It Works: A Chat Next to an RFQ Platform
| Step | General-purpose AI chat | RFQ platform such as Buyer24 |
|---|---|---|
| Draft the RFQ | From what you type | From what you type, a spreadsheet, a drawing or a photo |
| Find suppliers | Can suggest names; contacting them is up to you | Matches suppliers in its network and researches new ones with a reachable email |
| Send | You copy the text into an email for each supplier | Sends to every supplier from one draft |
| Collect replies | You watch your inbox | Each supplier's replies land on their own thread under the RFQ |
| Read quotes | Works on what you paste in | Reads PDFs, spreadsheets and email bodies as they arrive, with OCR and translation |
| Follow up | You remember who to chase | With RFQ Autopilot (paid plans), reminds suppliers who haven't answered and answers their questions from the RFQ |
| Compare | A one-off answer in the chat | A side-by-side comparison kept inside the RFQ |
| Record | The chat history | Every message and quote, per RFQ and per supplier |
The two are not exclusive. Many buyers think a spec through in a chat, then hand the RFQ to a platform to send and track. The chat is good at words; the platform holds the state of every supplier conversation, which a single chat thread does not.
How Buyer24 Helps
On the Start page, describe what you need in plain words or attach the list, and Buyer24 drafts the RFQ. When you send it, it goes to matching suppliers in the Buyer24 network, to new suppliers it researches and to any you name. Replies and quotes collect in a free workspace, one thread per supplier, and line up side by side. With RFQ Autopilot, on paid plans, Buyer24 also reminds suppliers who haven't answered, replies to their questions from your RFQ and suggests a winner for your approval. See pricing for what each plan includes.
FAQ
Can ChatGPT send RFQs to suppliers for me?
In an ordinary chat, no. It writes the email, but sending it to each supplier and tracking who answered stays with you, because the chat works inside one conversation rather than in your mailbox over the weeks an RFQ runs.
Can I paste supplier quotes into ChatGPT to compare them?
Yes, and for two or three quotes it can work. Check that every figure carried over correctly, since a chat summarizes what it reads, and redo the comparison when a revised quote arrives. A platform that collects the quotes keeps the comparison on the RFQ, next to the original documents.
Can I use Buyer24 from Claude or another AI client?
Yes, on Pro and above. The MCP connector lets you work with your Buyer24 RFQs, suppliers and quotes from Claude and other AI clients that support MCP.
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