Alerts & Notifications
How alerts and notifications work in Buyer24 — notification types, delivery configuration, the alerts page, and email grouping.
Overview
Buyer24 keeps you informed about important events in your procurement workflow through in-app notifications and optional email alerts. You control which notifications you receive and how.
Notification Types
| Notification | Who receives it | When it triggers |
|---|---|---|
| New quote received | The RFQ owner | AI detects a quote in a supplier reply |
| New message | The RFQ owner | A supplier sends any reply (quote or non-quote) |
| Quote comparison ready | The RFQ owner | AI finishes generating a comparison report |
| Deadline approaching — 48h | The RFQ owner | An RFQ's deadline is 48 hours away |
| Deadline approaching — 24h | The RFQ owner | An RFQ's deadline is 24 hours away |
| Deadline passed | The RFQ owner and their manager | An RFQ's deadline passed with no archive/close action |
| Budget overrun | The RFQ owner and their manager | A received quote exceeds the RFQ's budget |
| RFQ status changed | Relevant team members | An RFQ you're involved with changes status |
| Team activity (manager only) | Procurement Managers | Summary of team RFQ activity |
Note: Some alerts come from the AI itself. When the autopilot needs a human decision — for example, an RFQ it can't safely send on its own — it raises an urgent to-do and clears it automatically once you respond. The daily digest email is configured separately from these event notifications.
Configuring Your Notifications
- Go to Profile → Notifications
- Toggle individual notification types on or off
- For each notification, choose the delivery method
Delivery methods:
- In-app only — Shows as a badge/bell in the Buyer24 interface
- Email — Also sends an email to your registered address
- Both — In-app and email
Changes save automatically.
Tip: Enable email notifications for New quote received and Deadline approaching at minimum — these are the most time-sensitive events.
In-App Notifications
In-app notifications appear as a badge on the bell icon in the top navigation bar. Click the bell to see a list of recent notifications.
Each notification shows:
- What happened (e.g., "Supplier ABC sent a quote")
- Which RFQ it's for
- When it happened
Click any notification to go directly to the relevant RFQ or quote.
The Alerts Page
The Alerts page (accessible from the sidebar) shows your full notification history — all alerts you've received, including ones you've already dismissed.
Use it to:
- Review past events you may have missed
- Find a specific notification you remember receiving
- Check the timeline of activity on your RFQs
You can filter the Alerts page by:
- Notification type (quote, message, deadline, etc.)
- Date range
- RFQ (filter to one specific request)
Manager Notifications
Procurement Managers receive the same notifications as buyers for their own RFQs, plus:
- Budget overrun — Alerts for any buyer's RFQ that received a quote over budget
- Overdue RFQ — When any team member's deadline passes without the request being archived
- Team activity summary — A daily or weekly digest of all organization activity (configurable)
To configure manager-specific notifications, go to Profile → Notifications and look for the Manager section. See the Manager's Guide for how these alerts fit into day-to-day oversight.
Email Notification Format
Email notifications are concise and include:
- What happened (e.g., "New quote from Supplier X")
- A link to the relevant RFQ
- Key details (supplier name, quote total if applicable)
All notification emails include an Unsubscribe link to opt out of that notification type without logging into the app.
Notification Frequency
To avoid notification overload, Buyer24 groups related notifications when multiple events happen in quick succession:
- If 3 suppliers all reply within 5 minutes, you receive one notification: "3 new supplier replies on [RFQ Name]" rather than 3 separate alerts.
For deadline notifications, you receive one per deadline milestone (48h and 24h), regardless of how many supplier threads are open on the RFQ.
Turning Off All Notifications
If you need to silence all notifications temporarily:
- Go to Profile → Notifications
- Toggle off all notification types, or set all delivery methods to "None"
You can re-enable them at any time.
Note: Turning off notifications doesn't affect the Alerts page — all events are still recorded there, even if you're not notified in real time.