Quotes & Inquiries
On the Free plan, your storefront takes quote requests instead of paid orders. Every request a shopper submits lands in the Quotes inbox — your lead-capture mailbox — where you can read what they asked for and follow up. This page explains that inbox.
Availability: Free plan. Free's storefront is request-a-quote only (no pricing, no checkout, no payments). On paid plans, shoppers place real orders and quotes that flow into your Orders area instead.
Reach the inbox from the sidebar item labeled Quotes.
Note: A quote request (internally an "inquiry") is a separate kind of record from an order. It captures a lead's contact details and the products they configured — nothing is priced, invoiced, or charged. Think of it as a structured contact-form submission, not an order.
What a quote request is
When a visitor browses your Free storefront, configures a product (picking options and entering any dimensions), and submits the request-a-quote form, TimberCloud creates a numbered inquiry — #1, #2, and so on — and drops it into this inbox. Each one carries the requester's contact info, an optional message, and every product they configured.
For the shopper's side of this flow, see The Free Inquiry Storefront.
The inbox
The Quotes page lists your requests newest-first in a simple table.
Columns
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Inquiry | The request number (e.g. #7), plus a New badge if it hasn't been read yet, or an Archived badge if it's been filed away |
| Name | The requester's name |
| Product | The products they asked about (the first couple, with a "+N more" when there are others) |
| Date | When the request came in |
| Actions | Archive / Restore and Delete |
The New badge
Unread requests show a green New badge so you can spot fresh leads at a glance. Opening a request automatically marks it read and the badge disappears — no separate "mark as read" step.
Include archived
By default the inbox shows only active (non-archived) requests. Tick Include archived in the top-right to bring archived ones into the list too.
Opening a request
Click any row to open the full request. You'll see:
- The number and date, with the New or Archived badge if it applies.
- Contact card — the requester's name, email (click to email them), and phone (click to call). Their message appears here too, when they left one.
- Requested products — each configured product, shown read-only: the product name and image, the Options they selected, any Details they entered (like dimensions), any Add-ons they chose, and a per-item note if they added one.
Because Free leads are never priced, no prices appear anywhere in a request — just what the customer wants.
Managing requests
You can act on a request either from its row in the list or from inside the detail view:
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Archive | Files the request out of the active inbox. Reversible. |
| Restore | Brings an archived request back into the active inbox. |
| Delete | Permanently removes the request. You're asked to confirm, and it can't be undone. |
Tip: Archive requests you've followed up on to keep your inbox focused on new leads, and save Delete for spam or duplicates — archiving keeps the record around in case you need it later.
Where quotes go on paid plans
The Quotes inbox is Free's lead surface. When you upgrade to Commerce or higher, your storefront gains pricing, checkout, and payments, and incoming requests become real quotes and orders you work in the Orders area — with pricing, invoicing, payments, and production tracking. See Subscriptions & Plans for what unlocks where, and The Free Plan for how Free works overall.
Next Steps
- The Free Inquiry Storefront — the shopper-facing side of quote requests
- The Free Plan — what's included on Free
- Managing Customers — turn leads into customer records
- Subscriptions & Plans — unlock full orders, pricing, and payments