A Live Quote is a branded, shareable quote page that a customer can open in a browser, review, accept, and pay for directly. Unlike a static PDF or a figure typed into an email, it is a live document: it can carry an expiry date, update if terms change, and record who opened it and when. It is the working unit of a quote-based sale, holding the line items, pricing, and terms in one place a buyer can act on.
How it works
You build the quote from a request or from scratch, set the products, quantities, and negotiated pricing, then send a link. The buyer opens the page, sees your branding and the exact terms, and clicks to accept. On Shopify, acceptance flows into native checkout, so the buyer pays through the same trusted payment and tax setup as the rest of your store, and the quote becomes a real order rather than a document you then have to re-key.
Why it matters
Static quotes go stale and leave you guessing. A Live Quote closes the loop: an expiry date creates urgency and protects your margins when costs move, and open, click, and conversion tracking tells you which quotes are being read and which are dead. For B2B sellers running many quotes at once, that visibility is the difference between chasing blindly and following up at the right moment. See the B2B quoting glossary for related terms like draft order and RFQ.
Example
A wholesale buyer requests pricing on 500 units. You send a Live Quote valid for 14 days at the agreed tier price. The buyer opens it twice, accepts on day three, and pays through checkout. You get a paid order and a record of the whole exchange, with no invoicing detour. Pricing tiers for sending quotes at volume are on the pricing page.