| “Quote” Websites for Price Information July 19, 2006 1. Introduction. The purpose of this article is to identify websites at which the user can obtain quotes for services and products. The sites identified in this article were found using the Yahoo and Google search engines. The Internet can serve as a source of price information on services and products. This information can be valuable for companies for decisions that companies have to make. Another article appearing on the Management Accounting Information Center website identifies price comparison Internet websites. Price comparison sites can deliver price information almost immediately to the user, while the user is at the site. Usually, price comparison sites only provide price comparisons for products. Sites that provide price quotes are different from price comparison sites. At “quote” sites, the user almost always has to provide identifying and feedback information about the user. And, usually this identifying information will be used to contact the user, with the quotes. Contact can be by email, or possibly by telephone. Rarely will quotes sites provide quotes without user identifying information, although one site was found that did. Most quote sites, but not all, provide quotes for services. A few sites were found that provide quotes for equipment. Often, in order to provide reasonably accurate quotes, the quote provider needs some details about the service required and the recipient of the service. Quotes for insurance is a good example, where details are needed about the company before a reasonable quote can be provided. Contacting the requestor of price quotes is a continuation of this need for details, and contrasts the process requirements that characterize “quote” sites from “price comparison” sites. In other words, prices at price comparison sites generally do not depend at all for input from the purchaser, whereas prices from “quote’ sites do. In addition to sites that provide insurance quotes, sites were found that provide quotes on the following services: financing; human resources; marketing; telecommunications; answering; collections; document imaging; records management; information technology; staffing; call center; billing; warehousing; printing; website development; security; construction; and manufacturing processing. Sites were found that provide quotes for the following products: office furniture; industrial equipment: office equipment; merchant service equipment; security equipment; software; and telecommunication equipment. Each of the quote sites found is described in the next section, and a link to the site is provided. II. Site Descriptions. 1. Business service quotes from VendorSeek.com. www.vendorseek.com. This link takes you to a site, maintained by VendorSeek.com, at which you can submit a request for quotes for over 20 categories of business services. Services include: answering services; collection services; document imaging; records management; and others. Many of the vendors that provide these quotes are identified and links to their websites are provided. 2. Quotes for manufacturing processing. www.mfgquote.com/subprocess_equipment_process_plant.cfm. This link takes you to a site maintained by mfg.com, Inc., at which you can request quotes for such manufacturing processes as: machining; fabrication; molding; casting; forging; and stamping. Quotes can be solicited and probably received on dozens of manufacturing processes. 3. Quotes for products and services at BuyerZone.com. www.buyerzone.com. This link takes you to a site maintained by BuyerZone.com, at which you can request quotes for several services and products. Services for which quotes can be requested include: financing; human resources; marketing; and telecommunications. Products for which quotes can be requested include: office furniture; office equipment; security systems; industrial equipment; and software. 4. Telecommunications quotes. www.itquotes.com. This link takes you to a site, maintained by IT Corporation, at which you can submit a request for quotes on telecommunications services. Services include: voice; data; carrier; Internet; and conferencing. IT Corporation indicates it has contact with over 50 providers of such services. 5. Construction-related quotes. www.get-a-quote.net. This link takes you to a site, maintained by Craftsman Book Company, at which you can gain access to labor and material cost quotes for residential, commercial, and industrial construction projects. 6. Quotes for industrial equipment. www.a2zindustrialequipment.com. This link takes you to a site, maintained by CDSoftware, at which you can request quotes for heavy industrial equipment. Such equipment includes: ac motors; brakes; drives; generators; magnetic starters; phase converters; and seals. 7. Business insurance quotes from Business Insurance Now. www.businessinsurancenow.com. This link takes you to a site, maintained by Business Insurance Now, at which you can get quotes on most, if not all, insurance products needed by businesses. Quotes are from the following carriers: Philadelphia Insurance Companies; Hartford; CNA; and Zurich. 8. Quotes for small business health insurance from eHealthInsurance, Inc. www.ehealthinsurance.com. This link takes you to a site, maintained by ehealthInsurance, Inc., at which you can get quotes for small business health insurance without providing contact information. Usually to get quotes, contact information needs to be provided. This site is a rare exception. 9. Employer-based group health insurance quotes from HealthInsure.com. www.healthinsure.com. This link takes you to a site, maintained by an insurance agency, Castle Group Health, Inc., which will help you get quotes for employer-based group health insurance. This insurance agency can get quotes from many different insurance carriers, several of which are identified at the site. 10. Insurance quotes from Insure.com. www.insure.com. This link takes you to a site, maintained by Insure.com, at which you can receive quotes for the following types of insurance: life; business; travel; auto; and health. Insure.com has an affiliation with NetQuote (another site which provides quotes and is identified in this article). Possibly quotes obtained at Insure.com and NetQuote are duplicates. Insure.com provides limited information on the quote providers. Insure.com does advertise that over 200 companies are providing quotes. 11. Insurance quotes from NetQuote. www.netquote.com. This link takes you to a site maintained by NetQuote, at which you can get business, health, auto, and life insurance quotes. Information on who provides the quotes is provided. III. Conclusion. This article identifies several websites that provide price information on services and products, and which have a unifying characteristic – the sites provide “quotes” for the services and products. Another “type" of website, that provides prices, are sites that provide immediate price comparisons from databases already accessible at the sites. This other type of website is the subject of another article “Price Comparison Internet Sites for Company Decision Making”, also written by this author, and also appearing at the Management Accounting Information Center. These two articles “Quote Websites for Price Information” and “Price Comparison Internet Sites for Company Decision Making” are exploring how the Internet might be useful and valuable in serving as a tool to support company and business decisions that benefit from reasonably accurate price information. All the sites identified in this article are also linked to from the front page of the Management Accounting Information Center. The insurance sites identified can be linked to from the front page by clicking “Insurance and risk management”, and then clicking “Insurance”, and then “Quotes for Insurance Coverage”. The rest of the quote sites identified in this article can be linked to from the front page by clicking “Accounts receivable, accounts payable, inventory, and working capital” and then “Accounts Payable”, then “Purchasing”, and then “Websites providing quotes for business services and products”. please click here to comment on this article or suggest a topic for another article please click here to go to the front page of the Management Accounting Information Center |
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