Supplier Evaluation Checklist Template
Three documents and three sheets that score a supplier quote on landed cost and financing cost, not the unit price printed on the page.
Free download · No account needed
Quote Comparison
[Company] — [n] quotes for [SKU], compared [date]
A quote's headline price is only the start. Landing it for its Incoterm and financing its payment terms are what decide which quote actually wins.
| Supplier | Incoterm | Unit Price | Landed Cost | Financing Cost | True Cost | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Two adjustments, applied before any ranking
| Landed cost | Freight and duty added on top if the quote is buyer-pays (FOB, EXW); already included if it is seller-pays (DDP) |
| Financing cost | The deposit's share of the price, priced at your own cost of capital for the days it sits paid before delivery |
Rank on the last column, not the first. A cheaper unit price and a cheaper true cost are not always the same supplier.
Supplier evaluation checklists agree on the shape of the scorecard: quality, delivery and cost, each weighted and scored one to five. None of them price what a quote's unit price actually leaves out. A quote is only comparable to another if both were made on the same basis. An Incoterm sets that basis: whether the buyer still owes freight and duty on top of the printed number, or whether the seller already built both in. Skip that check and the cheaper-looking quote can be the more expensive unit.
Camden Trail Co, an invented outdoor-gear brand, sole-sources its flagship 42-liter backpack from one factory. That factory's on-time rate fell from 100 to 75 percent over four tracked quarters, while its defect rate climbed from 1.10 to 2.89 percent. Requalifying a second source produced three competing quotes. The cheapest sticker price, $8.40 FOB Shenzhen, excludes freight and duty; landed, it is $10.45. A rival quote at $9.65 is DDP, meaning both are already included, so its landed cost is still $9.65. The cheaper-looking quote was not the cheaper unit.
A second adjustment, smaller but real, prices what the payment terms themselves cost: a deposit paid at purchase order ties up cash for the length of a reorder point's whole lead time before there is anything to sell. Together, landed cost and financing cost decide which quote actually wins. The Contingency Note turns a declining performance trend into a named backup before a stockout forces the question, the same trend a chargeback's return pattern shows up in once a bad lot reaches customers instead.
What's in the pack
Quote Comparison sheet
Every quote landed and financed to one true cost per unit, the cost a margin by channel calculation actually needs.
Supplier Register sheet
One row per supplier with Incoterm, payment terms and lead time, plus which SKU identifier each one actually ships against.
Performance Tracker sheet
On-time rate and defect rate by quarter, the same pattern a recurring complaint traces back to.
Evaluation Criteria
The scoring method: landed cost, then financing cost, then quality and delivery from the tracker, with knockout requirements checked first.
Onboarding Requirements
What a new supplier provides before the first purchase order: a verifiable registration, a written Incoterm and stated payment terms.
Contingency Note
Every single-sourced SKU marked covered, open and prioritized, or open and accepted, with the two thresholds that force a switch.
Three Prompts
Score a quote, log a finished order, or sweep every SKU for single-source exposure, three separate tasks rather than one.
How it works
- 1
Open it or download it
Open the pack in River with the agent ready to score quotes, or take the blank documents and sheets away for free with no account.
- 2
Send your quotes and terms
Send the quotes you are weighing, in whatever form they arrived, plus your current supplier list and terms if you have one.
- 3
Read the true cost, not the sticker
Get each quote landed for its Incoterm and financed for its payment terms, ranked on that number rather than the headline price.
- 4
Qualify a backup, or flag the gap
Get a named recommendation for any single-sourced item worth a second supplier, or a plain flag where one is still missing.
Frequently asked questions
Is this template free?
Yes. Three documents, three sheets and three prompts with no signup and no card, and they are the same files the agent works in. Editing with AI is the optional path, where your own quotes and supplier list become the register.
What format are the downloaded files?
CSV for the Supplier Register, Quote Comparison and Performance Tracker sheets, and Word for Evaluation Criteria, Onboarding Requirements and the Contingency Note, zipped together. Excel, Numbers, Sheets, Word, Pages and Google Docs all open them directly.
Why isn't the cheapest quote always the cheapest unit?
Because the number printed on a quote depends on the Incoterm it was quoted under, and Incoterms rules decide who pays freight, duty and import formalities, with DDP the one rule where the seller pays them. A buyer-pays quote still owes both on top; a seller-pays quote has already priced them in.
How do I pick a cost of capital rate if I do not know mine?
Use whatever a business line of credit would actually cost you to draw on today. Bank-issued lines have recently averaged in roughly the 7 to 8 percent range, which is a reasonable default until you have your own rate to use instead.
Does a qualified backup have to be cheaper than the primary?
No, and often it should not be the only reason to qualify one. A backup can be worth keeping for a shorter lead time or a different region, a hedge a cheaper, same-region option cannot provide if a regional disruption hits both at once.
What counts as single-sourced if another factory could technically make it?
Whether a second supplier is actually qualified today: onboarded, priced from a real quote, and ready to take an order. A factory that could theoretically make the part but has never quoted it or passed a sample is not a backup yet, only a possibility.
Rank your next supplier quote by true cost, not the sticker price
Download the blank pack as Word and CSV files, or open it in River, send your quotes and terms, and get every one landed, financed and ranked.
Edit with AI