You quote a buyer in Jakarta $580/MT CIF for hot-rolled coil on Monday. By Thursday, ocean freight jumps 8% and steel billet ticks up 2%. Your customer accepts Friday. You now eat the difference — or reopen negotiations. The problem isn’t the market. It’s that your quote was static the moment you sent it.
Live FOB/CIF pricing with a validity window solves exactly this: your quote locks margin for a configurable period (default 7 days) and auto-refreshes whenever steel billet, ocean freight, insurance, or port fees change. You never quote blind, never lose money on delayed orders, and stop manually re-pricing during weekly cost swings.
How does the automatic price refresh work when steel billet or freight rates change?
The system tracks four cost components — steel billet, ocean freight, insurance, and port fees — as separate live data feeds. Every time any single component changes, the platform recalculates your quote’s FOB or CIF total and updates it instantly.
- Steel billet: Pulled from daily exchange-based benchmarks (e.g., S&P Global Platts HRC China export index as of Q1 2025).
- Ocean freight: Feeds from spot container freight indexes covering major routes: China-Southeast Asia, China-Middle East, China-East Africa.
- Insurance and port fees: Data from underwriter indexes and published port authority schedules.
When, for example, the Shanghai-to-Surabaya container freight rate drops 5% on day 3, your existing CIF quote to the Indonesian buyer automatically reflects the lower freight cost. You do not re-click, re-type, or re-send.
What is the default validity window, and can I change it?
The default window is 7 calendar days. Every quote carries a visible countdown — your buyer sees “Valid for 6 days 14 hours.” When the countdown hits zero, the quote expires and a fresh quote must be generated.
You can configure validity per customer, per product line, or per market:
| Scenario | Recommended Window | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Stable bulk commodity (rebar) | 14 days | Low weekly volatility |
| Volatile HRC / billet | 5 days | Prices shift 3-5% weekly |
| First-time buyer / new market | 3 days | Limit exposure to unfamiliar risk |
| Pre-approved strategic partner | 30 days | Locked price, higher trust |
What happens when the validity window expires for a pending quote?
The quote becomes unresponsive — buyer cannot accept it. The system displays a clear “Quote Expired” status. You must issue a fresh quote using the current cost components.
This removes a common pain point: buyers who sit on a quote for two weeks, trying to time the market, then accept when raw material prices have moved against you. They now have a hard deadline. A procurement manager at a steel service center in Ho Chi Minh City reported in late 2024 that expiry countdowns cut their average quote-to-accept time from 18 days to 9 days, without any manual follow-up calls.
How does the platform handle cost components that go down during the validity window?
Your quote auto-updates downward too. This is not a one-way hedge.
- If freight drops 5% during a CIF quote’s validity: The total landed cost decreases, and your buyer sees the lower number. You remain competitive.
- If billet jumps 3% and freight holds: The quote adjusts upward but stays within the validity window until it expires or is accepted.
The asymmetry that competitors worry about works in your favor: downward updates win deals, upward updates protect margin. Both happen without your manual intervention.
What happens if I issue a quote and multiple cost components change at different times?
The platform recalculates on every single component change, not on a batch schedule. Refresh is real-time.
Example timeline:
| Day | Event | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Quote sent: $580 CIF Jakarta | Steel billet: $420, Freight: $110 |
| 2 | Freight down 4% | Total drops to $575 |
| 4 | Billet up 3% | Total rises to $581 |
| 6 | Insurance up 2% | Total rises to $583 |
| 7 | Expiry | Quote expires at $583 |
The buyer sees four price changes across the validity period. They know exactly what each component did. No hidden moves.
How does the countdown timer create urgency without pushiness?
The buyer sees the timer directly on the quote — a countdown that reads “4 days 7 hours remaining.” This is not hidden in fine print. According to a 2024 survey from the China Machinery Import and Export Chamber, trades using visible expiry timers saw a 22% faster close rate on cross-border CIF quotes compared to those without.
You get pressure without needing to send a “following up” email. The timer does the nudging.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the auto-update apply to both FOB and CIF quotes?
Yes. The system tracks the relevant components for each incoterm. FOB quotes exclude freight and insurance but still track the base material and port fees. CIF quotes track all four components.
Can I see the history of price changes on a single quote?
Yes. Each quote has an audit trail showing every component change and the resulting total update, timestamped. You can share this with your buyer to demonstrate cost transparency.
What if my buyer keeps waiting until expiry to re-request?
They can request a new quote at any time. The new quote begins a fresh validity window. Over multiple cycles, the countdown builds a habit of quicker decisions. Some procurement teams schedule weekly quote reviews specifically around the expiry window.
Does this work for DAP or DDP quotes?
As of the 2025 release, the platform also supports DAP and DDP quotes by adding customs clearance and inland logistics as trackable cost components. The auto-refresh and validity window logic is identical.
How do I configure the validity window per customer?
In the quote template settings, under “Validity Terms,” you set a default (7 days) and then override per customer or per quote. The buyer sees the exact expiry date and countdown on their end.
Stop quoting static numbers in a weekly-moving market. Get a quote that moves with the market and a deadline that moves the buyer. See how live FOB/CIF pricing works on AutoGlobal AI.
