To get RFQs from AI buying agents, make your website readable and reachable: state your capabilities, materials, regions and certifications as HTML text in the words buyers use, and publish a plain-text email address on a page a crawler can fetch. Agents search the open web, match sites against a buyer's brief, and send a request for quote to the address they find. On referral-based procurement networks there is no directory to apply to; the RFQ itself is the invitation.
Why There Is No Application
Open marketplaces fill up with directory spam, and buyers stop trusting them. Referral-only networks avoid this by letting only buyers add suppliers: a buyer either adds a company they already work with, or their agent finds a company whose site matches a brief and sends it a request. Either way, the supplier's route in is being chosen by a buyer, not by paying for placement. That keeps the network vetted, and it means the supplier's only lever is being findable.
How to Be Findable
- Publish a plain-text email address on a page that loads without JavaScript, and repeat it in your Organization schema. Agents drop suppliers they cannot reach.
- Write capabilities in buyer vocabulary as HTML text: processes, materials, tolerance standards, certifications with number and scope, regions served. PDFs and images are not read.
- Make pages fetchable: server-rendered or prerendered, no login wall, no blanket block on AI crawlers in robots.txt.
- Keep the record current: recent dates, valid certifications, consistent company name and address across your site and any listings.
- Answer fast when the first request lands. Discovery gets you the RFQ; response speed and completeness win it.
The full checklist, with five-minute tests for each item, is in the guide to how to be found by AI buying agents.
What Happens After the First RFQ
The request arrives by email. You reply by email; no portal or software is required, though a portal link is usually included for suppliers who want a history of requests in one place. Suppliers triage incoming requests on the buyer's clarity and volume before quoting (Production Machining), and buyers' agents now triage suppliers the same way on readability and reachability. Once you are on a buyer's list, winning is about the quote itself; see how to improve your quote win rate and why suppliers lose quotes.
How Buyer24 Helps
Supplier membership on Buyer24 is by buyer referral. A buyer on the network adds you, or their Supplier Agent finds your site and the Procurement Agent sends you an RFQ; that first request is your invitation, and quoting is free. Suppliers without a public-facing contact are dropped before an RFQ is drafted, so a readable site with a plain-text email is the whole entry ticket. For suppliers →
FAQ
Can I sign up as a supplier without a buyer referral?
On referral-only networks, no. A buyer adds you, or a buyer's agent finds and contacts you. This is what keeps the network free of directory spam and is why being on it signals that real buyers chose to work with you.
Does it cost anything to receive and answer RFQs?
On Buyer24, receiving RFQs, quoting, and claiming the optional supplier portal are free. There is no placement fee, because there is no placement to buy.
How do I get a buyer I already work with to add me?
Point them to the network. Buyers join free and can add existing suppliers in minutes. The moment they send you an RFQ through it, your invitation is live and you reply exactly as you would to any customer email.
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