A working method for buying teams: define one specification, collect quotations in one structure, normalise the commercial basis, compare price with terms and risk — and record the decision.
The most common error in furniture quote comparison is not arithmetic. It is comparing numbers that were never answers to the same question.
A factory quotes what it understands you want. If the drawing leaves the frame timber, foam grade, fabric weight or drawer runners open, each factory will resolve the ambiguity in its own favour — and the cheapest interpretation will usually win the comparison for the wrong reason. Before any RFQ goes out, pin down construction, materials, finish, hardware and packaging in one document. The furniture manufacturing RFQ template lists the minimum a factory needs to price accurately.
Ask every factory to answer in the same structure: unit price by quantity tier, Incoterm with named place, packaging inclusion, MOQ, tooling treatment, payment terms, lead time and validity. Factories will still deviate — that is expected — but a common structure makes the deviations visible instead of buried in prose.
Now the discipline that decides everything: bring the quotes onto one basis before comparing a single number. Align the Incoterm and named place; assign excluded packaging its real cost; put every price on the same quantity tier; state tooling the same way in every offer; and note where payment terms shift the effective cost. The full method is covered in the quote normalization guide, and the Incoterm step alone is worth its own attention — see FOB vs EXW.
| Factory | As quoted | Basis issue | On one basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | €149.00 | EXW · packaging excluded | €158.00 |
| B | €162.00 | 30% deposit terms | €164.00 |
| C | €181.00 | Tooling amortised in rate | €176.00 |
Illustrative figures. Note what happened: the ranking survived here, but the spread narrowed — and on another product the order reverses. Until the basis is aligned, a price is only a claim.
On one basis, price becomes comparable — but it is still only one column. Read it against MOQ commitment, lead time, payment exposure, sample quality and the factory's fit for the construction. A quotation two euros higher with half the MOQ and proven capability in the construction is often the stronger commercial offer.
Close the comparison with a short written record: the basis used, the market interval, the position of each offer, and why the chosen path won. The record is what turns this comparison into leverage at the next negotiation — and it is what a benchmark from RFQ Ready delivers as standard.
Run this method yourself when the quotes are few and the stakes are ordinary. Bring in an independent quote comparison when the decision is large enough to defend to others: fresh quotations against one controlled specification, normalisation done by a party with no stake in which factory wins, and a market interval rather than a private spreadsheet.
Or start directly: send the product brief