Shopify B2B quote request RFQ: when a price list is the wrong tool

A contractor wants “the same fittings, different mix, a price for this school job”. You already published a quantity-break table. That table is the wrong object. Shopify B2B quote request RFQ is the Growth module for a price that does not exist yet. Checked 7 November 2026: OO - EU B2B & Wholesale listing, Quote requests, What is included, Shopify Help Draft orders. If Growth’s card or the docs line “use a price list when the price is already fixed” moves, re-read those sources before you promise RFQ on Starter.

How to build the form (fields, theme block, review) is the earlier quote-request post. This one is the fork: RFQ versus bulk form versus price list.

Shopify will let you type a draft. It will not host an RFQ page

Draft orders start with you: add lines, tweak prices, send an invoice link. Plus has B2B catalogs; Basic/Grow/Advanced cap at 3 active catalogs per B2B market (company price lists). None of that is: the buyer submits company, project and SKUs, you review in the app, then send discount or shipping back.

Until shops pick the module they usually:

Turn every project email into a draft. Three accounts survive. The fourth arrives on WhatsApp with half the SKUs. No address check.

Drop everything on a bulk form “because we already pay Growth”. Quote-request docs, verbatim: *Use it for project orders and custom pricing. Use a price list or volume pricing when the price is already fixed.* A bulk form displays a rate. An RFQ asks for one.

Stay on Starter and expect RFQ to appear. Listing 7 Nov 2026: RFQ is Growth. Starter has lists, volume, VIES, login to see prices. It does not have the quote module.

Growth is a bundle. RFQ is one card in Order management

Listing (7 Nov 2026): Built for Shopify, 5.0 from 34 reviews. Free $0: 1 custom pricing rule, 1 registration form, development stores uncapped. Starter $22/month (or $220/year): unlimited custom + volume, company blocks, registration, EU tax exemption, tax display, login to see prices. Growth $37/month (or $370/year): + bulk forms, draft checkout, repeat order, Quote request (RFQ), AI Formulas for quotes, order limits, wholesale cart. 14-day trial on Starter/Growth. USD.

Docs: RFQ, order limits and wholesale cart live under Order management. Bulk forms live under B2B pricing. Dropping a theme block without turning the module on does nothing.

The listing prints AI Formulas for quotes as its own Growth bullet next to RFQ. The quote-requests article (checked 7 Nov) covers the form, theme block, optional Flow email, and review with discount/shipping — not a separate AI builder. Name the listing line. Do not invent an OPC-style formula assistant until those docs exist.

Five setup steps — none of them is a CSV price import

From the docs:

1. Apps → B2B & Wholesale → Order management.

2. Turn Quote Request (RFQ) on. Without Growth you hit a plan gate, not a silent Starter fallback.

3. Create a form: company, project, notes; products or collections; design.

4. Add the quote-request theme block to a page template. Finish setup on the card, or the theme editor, then save. Changing theme keeps app config; you still re-add the block.

5. Optional: import the Shopify Flow template that emails staff. Set the address, enable the workflow. The app can download the Flow file.

Review lives under quote requests in the app. Open items, adjust the quote, add discount or shipping, send it back. Address checks can block, warn-and-allow, or stay silent — that is a quote-request setting.

That is not a draft you typed. The buyer starts. You price.

A PO field on cart is wholesale cart extra fields, also Growth, a different module. Do not cram it into the RFQ form because “it is also B2B”.

Worked example: fittings, project versus restock

Wholesaler “Lumen Grid”. Dealer net already lives in Custom Pricing (Starter would have been enough). School projects need a one-off mix and a one-off break.

1. Install OO - EU B2B & Wholesale. Listing Growth $37/month (7 Nov 2026). Free/Starter keep RFQ off.

2. Leave Custom Pricing for dealers with a known net. Use volume if the break already exists.

3. Order management → RFQ on. Form on `/pages/project-quote`. Fields: school, week, notes. Lighting collection.

4. Theme block on that page. Flow to buying@lumengrid.example.

5. First request: 40 downlights, 12 emergency fittings, July install. In the app: 8 % off, flat shipping, send back. No bulk form — the price did not exist.

A dealer who reorders the same 12 SKUs: repeat order, not RFQ. RFQ on restocks is inbox noise.

Shopify’s 3-catalog cap on non-Plus is not a reason to turn RFQ on. Custom Pricing does not spend those slots. RFQ is for an *unknown* project price, not a Plus-catalog workaround.

Ship it without quoting the whole catalog

Open See plans. No Growth, no RFQ module. With Growth: enable, form, theme block, one test dealer. Price already on a list? Do not park an RFQ “just in case”. Docs: price list or volume when the rate is fixed.

Login-to-see-prices on Starter hides nets; it does not write a quote. A Growth bulk form is an order grid. RFQ is a request. Three buttons, one listing.

Prices on 7 Nov 2026 were $22 / $37, not the old $8.95 in positioning.md. Development stores: listing says no caps on Free — that is not permission to promise RFQ on production Free.

Bottom line

For Lumen Grid I would put RFQ on the project page only, keep dealers on the list, and restock via repeat — not one Growth form for everything. Shopify B2B quote request RFQ is Growth, for a price that does not exist yet. Native drafts start with you. A price list starts checkout. Listing 7 Nov 2026: Free / Starter $22 / Growth $37. Docs: skip RFQ once rates are fixed. If either source moves, this advice is wrong.

Turn the module on from the OO - EU B2B & Wholesale listing and run one school project before you hang the whole catalog behind a quote button.