Supplier pricing
Filo gets quotes from your suppliers and records every price.
Tell Filo which materials you need priced. It emails each supplier from your Gmail, reads the replies as they come in, follows up with anyone who doesn’t answer, and lines the quotes up so you can pick.
Ana’s Gmail inbox: replies from Northstar and Tall Pine read by Filo, a question from Apex answered, and her price requests in Sent.
Requests go out from your own email address.
Filo looks up which suppliers carry each material and writes one email to each, the way you write, with your spec sheets and quantities attached. You read it, change what you like, and send it.
The email sits in your Sent folder. The supplier sees an email from you and replies to you.
A price request Filo drafted in Ana’s Gmail to Northstar, asking for ascorbic acid and zinc citrate prices with MOQ and lead time; drafted by Filo, sent by Ana.
Filo reads replies in any format.
Filo watches your inbox for replies to its requests. A price in the email, a PDF or a spreadsheet is recorded as a quote, with its price breaks, MOQ, lead time and how long it’s good for. A decline or an out-of-office is recorded as what it is.
Every quote links back to the email it came from, so anyone can check it.
Northstar’s quote as Filo recorded it from the PDF: ascorbic acid $14.20/kg, $12.90 at 250 kg, MOQ 25 kg, two weeks, valid 30 days, linked to Dana’s email.
One week of supplier pricing with Filo.
Ana is pricing a multivitamin for a customer. She needs ascorbic acid, zinc citrate, a bottle and a cap.
- Monday
Ana sends three price requests.
Filo drafted one email per supplier, with the specs and quantities. Ana read them and sent them from her Gmail.
- Tuesday
Apex asks a question.
Apex wants to know if the order is one-time or ongoing. Filo shows Ana the question with an answer drafted.
- Wednesday
Northstar and Tall Pine reply.
One price is in a PDF, the other in the email. Filo records both quotes and links each to its email.
- Thursday
Apex prices the ascorbic acid.
All three quotes are in. Apex still hasn’t priced the bottle and cap, so Filo drafts a follow-up for Friday.
- Friday
Ana picks Northstar.
Filo writes the price to her price list, with a note saying which email it came from.
Compare quotes side by side, then pick one.
Filo lines up every quote for a material at the quantities you asked for, with MOQ and lead time beside the price. It tells you which one it would pick and why. You make the choice.
Three suppliers’ quotes for ascorbic acid side by side, with price at 50 and 250 kg, MOQ and lead time; Northstar is picked.
A chat with Filo: Apex is cheapest at 250 kg but needs a 250 kg order and four weeks; Northstar is 3% more and ships in two, so Filo would pick Northstar. Ana says Northstar, and Filo writes it to her price list.
Filo follows up so you don’t have to keep track.
When a supplier hasn’t answered in the days you’d normally wait, Filo drafts a follow-up for you to send. It stops as soon as they reply. Each chat shows who you’re still waiting on, and for how long.
A follow-up Filo drafted to Apex: no reply in three days on the bottle and cap, waiting for Ana to send it on Friday.
The price you pick goes into your price list.
Filo writes the price where you keep prices: a Google Sheet, Fiddle, or Filo itself. The old price stays in the record’s history, and the note says which email the new one came from.
See where Filo keeps your records →Ana’s price list after the pick: ascorbic acid USP from Northstar at $14.20 a kilo, quoted Oct 21, with a note that it came from Dana’s email and was picked by Ana.
Questions buyers ask
- Will suppliers know an AI wrote the email?
- The email comes from your address, written the way you write, and you send it. Suppliers reply to you, as they always have.
- Does Filo ever email a supplier on its own?
- No. Every email Filo writes is a draft until a person sends it.
- Do you support Outlook?
- Gmail today. Microsoft 365 is coming next.
- What if a supplier asks a question?
- Filo shows you the question with a drafted answer. You change it if you need to, and send it.
Finding new suppliers on the web, and asking for COAs and spec sheets before a first order.