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Comparing quotes with different price breaks and minimum orders

Compare quotes on what you would actually pay for the quantity you need. For each supplier, work out the quantity you would really have to order (minimum order, order multiple), the price break that quantity reaches, the total with freight, and that total divided by the units you need. The lowest quoted unit price often loses.

Quotes and landed cost · 29 September 2026 · Proceny

Three quotes for 250 pieces

What each supplier quoted
SupplierPrice breaksMinimum orderOrder multipleFreight
A1+: 2.40 · 100+: 2.10 · 500+: 1.80—5035.00 per order
B2.00 flat500—free
C1+: 2.30 · 250+: 2.05—100free from 500.00 goods

On unit price alone, B wins at 2.00. Now work out each order the way the supplier would actually deliver it.

The same three quotes at the quantity you need
SupplierYou orderWhyBreak usedGoodsFreightTotalPer needed piece
A250a multiple of 502.10525.0035.00560.002.24
B500minimum order2.001,000.000.001,000.004.00
C300rounded up to 100s2.05615.000.00615.002.46

A is the cheapest order by 55.00, and B — the lowest unit price — costs almost twice as much, because you pay for 250 pieces you did not ask for. Divide the total by the pieces you need, not by the pieces you receive: the surplus is only worth something if you will use it before it ages, and that is a separate decision with its own number.

The rules, one at a time

  1. Order quantity. Start from what you need, raise it to the minimum order, then round up to the order multiple (or the pack size when the supplier only sells whole packs).
  2. Price break. Read the break from the quantity you will order, not the quantity you need: C's 300 reaches the 250+ price.
  3. Charges. Add freight and other charges per order, and check thresholds after rounding: C's 615.00 clears its free-freight limit.
  4. Currency. Convert at the rate you will pay, and write it next to the result. A comparison without a stated rate cannot be checked later.
  5. Per needed unit. Total ÷ quantity needed. That is the number to compare.

In Excel

One row per supplier. Put the break quantities in ascending order in one range (for A: 1, 100, 500) and the prices next to them:

Order qty          =CEILING(MAX(Need, MOQ), Multiple)
Price at that qty  =XLOOKUP(OrderQty, BreakQtys, BreakPrices, , -1)
Goods              =OrderQty * Price
Total              =Goods + Freight
Per needed unit    =Total / Need

XLOOKUP(…, -1) returns the break at or below the quantity — the one that applies. Leave MOQ at 0 and Multiple at 1 when a supplier has none. For a whole-pack supplier, the multiple is the pack size. The free quote comparison template has these formulas ready for 30 lines and 8 suppliers, with freight, duty and exchange rates.

When ordering more costs less

Supplier A is 2.10 from 100 pieces and 1.80 from 500. If you needed 450, the order at 2.10 would be 945.00, but 500 pieces at 1.80 are 900.00 — 45.00 less for 50 more pieces. The point where the larger order becomes cheaper is the next break's total divided by the current price:

Break-even quantity = 500 × 1.80 / 2.10 = 428.6

With A's multiples of 50 the step comes earlier: any need from 401 to 450 is ordered as 450 pieces (945.00), so from 401 pieces the 500-piece order is the cheaper one.

Show that option next to the plain one rather than switching to it silently: someone has to decide whether the extra 50 pieces are welcome in the warehouse.

Mixed baskets and split orders

With several items, compare per line first, then check the split. If you buy most lines from A and one from C, A's 35.00 freight now falls on fewer lines and C may drop below its free-freight threshold — the "cheapest per line" plan can cost more than one supplier for everything. Always compare the totals of the whole plan, freight included, and state the baseline a saving is measured against: your current supplier, the cheapest single supplier, or last price paid. How to spread one freight bill over the lines is in allocating freight and duty across an order.

Before you pick