How to Get Five Printer Quotes From a Single RFQ Instead of Phoning Round All Day

You've got a job on the desk, a client waiting on a number, and a browser with fifteen tabs open — each one a different printer's contact form. By the time you've phoned round, left voicemails and chased email replies, half the day is gone and you've maybe got two usable quotes back. There's a faster way, and it starts with treating the request itself as the tool.

Why Phoning Round Is a Broken Way to Buy Print

Ringing suppliers one by one made sense when your little black book had five printers in it and you knew them all by first name. It stops making sense the moment you need a Pantone special on an uncoated 350gsm, or a wide-format run with same-week turnaround, or a short-run digital job with foiling — because now you're not just asking for a price, you're asking whether they can even do the work.

Each call becomes a mini-interview: capabilities, lead time, minimum order, finishing options, delivery. Multiply that by five or six printers and you've burned a morning before a single quote has landed in your inbox. And the quotes you do get back are rarely comparable, because everyone quoted slightly different specs based on what you said down the phone.

The Fix: One Well-Written RFQ, Sent Once

A Request for Quote isn't a form-filling exercise, it's a specification. If you write it properly, one RFQ can go out to dozens of trade printers at once and come back with quotes that actually line up side by side. That's the whole point of a marketplace like ZeozGig — you post the request once, printers who can genuinely do the work respond, and you compare on price and capability without ever picking up the phone.

The trick is making sure your RFQ contains enough detail that every quote you get back is answering the same question.

What a Print RFQ Must Contain

At a minimum, a print RFQ should specify:

• Quantity — and ideally a couple of run-length options (e.g. 500 / 1,000 / 2,500) so you can see where the price breaks fall
• Flat and finished size — plus bleed if the artwork is ready
• Stock — GSM, coated/uncoated, silk/gloss/matt, or a named substrate if it matters
• Colour — CMYK, CMYK + Pantone spot, mono, or a specific Pantone reference
• Sides printed — 4/4, 4/0, etc.
• Finishing — trim, fold, score, perfect bind, saddle stitch, laminate, foil, die-cut
• Process preference — litho, digital, wide-format (or leave open if you want printers to suggest)
• Delivery address and deadline — including whether split delivery is needed
• Artwork status — press-ready, needs a check, or still being designed

Get those on the page and you've eliminated 90% of the back-and-forth that eats your day.

Writing the RFQ So the Right Printers Actually Respond

A vague post gets vague quotes. A tight post filters itself — the wrong printers self-select out, and the right ones price with confidence because they know exactly what you're asking for.

A few things that help:

1. Lead with the unusual bit. If the job needs a Pantone 877 metallic on a GF Smith stock, put that in the first line. Printers who can't handle it won't waste your time (or theirs) replying.
2. Be honest about your deadline. "Need delivered by Friday week" is more useful than "ASAP". It lets printers with makeready slots free jump in and rules out anyone whose schedule is full.
3. Say if this is a one-off or repeatable. Trade printers price differently for a job that might become a monthly reprint versus a single hit.
4. Flag your role. Are you the end client, an agency, or a broker with mark-up baked in? Trade printers quote sharper when they know they're quoting trade.

Comparing Five Quotes Without Losing the Plot

Once the responses land, resist the urge to just sort by price. A cheap quote on the wrong spec isn't cheap. Line the quotes up against your original RFQ and check that each supplier has quoted what you actually asked for — not a substitute stock, not a different finishing method, not a longer lead time.

A simple comparison grid works: printer, price, stock, lead time, delivery included, any caveats. Ten minutes with a spreadsheet beats an hour of re-reading emails.

If two quotes are close on price, that's where a direct conversation earns its keep. On ZeozGig you can open a direct connection to a supplier for a small fixed fee — chat, voice or video — and settle the last few questions in five minutes. No commission on whatever you go on to spend with them, no percentage skimmed off the top. If the RFQ gets zero responses, the posting fee is refunded automatically, so there's no downside to putting an awkward brief out there and seeing who bites.

For Individual and One-Off Buyers Too

This isn't just an agency or broker workflow. If you're a sole trader ordering 200 wedding invites with foiling, or an artist commissioning a short-run zine, the same principle applies. Post once, let printers who genuinely do that kind of work come to you, and skip the awkward round of "do you even print this?" phone calls.

Post the Request, Get the Quotes, Get On With Your Day

A good RFQ is the single biggest lever a print buyer has. Write it once, write it properly, put it in front of multiple printers at the same time, and you'll get more comparable quotes in an hour than you'd get in a day of ringing round.

Ready to try it? Post your print RFQ on ZeozGig for a $1 flat fee and let the printers come to you. No commission, no contracts, no chasing — just quotes in your inbox and your afternoon back.