Guide · Test cases
Unit of measure, pack size and part number errors in RFQs: test cases
Most wrong quotes are not wrong prices. They are the right price for the wrong quantity — three cartons read as three pieces — or a confident match on a number that differs by one digit. This page collects the cases that cause them, what a careful rule should do with each one, and how Quotrail handles them. Use it as a checklist to test any quoting workflow, including your own manual one.
Updated September 28, 2026
Why these errors survive a manual check
They look right. “1.000” looks like a thousand to a German reader and like one to an American. “100 pcs” looks like a quantity until you remember the article is sold in bags of 100. A part number with a leading zero looks like a different article. None of this needs clever software to catch — it needs the same rule applied to every line, and the result shown to a person instead of silently corrected.
Quantities, units and packs
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| Customer writes | The trap | What Quotrail does | Reviewer checks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 cartons — article sold per piece, 12 per carton | Quoting 3 pieces | Converts 3 × 12 = 36 pieces and shows the calculation on the line | That the carton size in your master data is current |
| 100 pcs — article sold in bags of 100 | Quoting 100 bags | Converts 100 ÷ 100 = 1 bag and shows it | Nothing, unless the content per bag changed |
| 250 pcs — pack size 100 | Quoting a quantity you cannot ship | Rounds up to the pack size (300) and notes the rounding | Whether to offer 300 or ask the customer |
| Below the minimum order quantity | A line that cannot be ordered | Applies the minimum order quantity and notes it | Whether the customer accepts it |
| 1.000 in an English request | One or a thousand? | Reads the number by the request's language and flags the line as ambiguous | The intended quantity |
| 1,000 in a German request | One or a thousand? | Reads the comma by the request's language and flags the line as ambiguous | The intended quantity |
| No quantity in a free-text email | An invented quantity of one | Creates no line; the point becomes an open question | Send the clarification |
Units written in German, English, French or Italian — Stück, pcs, pièces, pezzi, Karton, box, boîte, scatola — are mapped to the same internal units first, so the conversion rules apply whatever language the request is in.
Part numbers and articles
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| Customer writes | The trap | What Quotrail does | Reviewer checks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 000000000000221599 (zero-filled from an ERP) | No match because of the zeros | Compares the number without the zero fill as well | Nothing, if the article matches |
| A number with a web shop prefix copied along | No match because of the prefix | Removes known shop prefixes and “Art.-Nr.” before comparing | Nothing, if the article matches |
| Two digits swapped, or one character off | A confident wrong article | Finds the near match but counts it as weak evidence — on its own it cannot make the line clear | Which candidate is meant |
| A number several articles share | The first hit wins | Weights a shared number down, so it cannot make a line clear alone | Manufacturer and attributes |
| A discontinued article | Quoting what you cannot deliver | Proposes the successor; a discontinued article is never marked clear | The successor with the customer |
| 25x47x7 in the description | Dimensions read as a part number | Treats dimension patterns as attributes, not as numbers | Nothing |
The customer's own part numbers
Many buyers order with their own internal numbers. The first time, nobody but your team can resolve them. Once a reviewer has confirmed which of your articles a customer number means, Quotrail stores that mapping in the customer's profile, and the same spelling is matched directly on the next request. A mapping confirmed several times counts as strong evidence; a single one is weaker.
Turning this page into a pilot
- Pick real requests that contain these cases — most inside sales teams can name them from memory.
- Make sure pack sizes, content per pack and minimum quantities are maintained in the master data you import; the rules can only be as good as these fields.
- For each case, write down the expected result before you run it, then compare.
- Count separately: lines marked clear that had to be corrected, lines left in review, open questions.
Quotrail never sends a quote on its own and never turns a draft into a quote without a second authorised person. See the plans and prices, book a call to run these cases with your data, or read the overview of RFQ automation for technical distributors.