Automation · Sales and quoting

Quote the freight for a made to order import over WhatsApp with Flexport

An AI agent finds the HS code and ports, checks Flexport rates and builds the price of a made to order import for your customer.

Show me this with my own operation See every automation

How do I quote an imported order to a wholesale customer without waiting for someone to look up freight?

The Met that handles your WhatsApp asks for the product, the quantity, the weight or volume and where the cargo comes from. With that it finds the product's HS code in Flexport, looks up the origin and destination ports, searches contract and spot rates for ocean or air and works out the total price of the option. With your pricing rule it tells the customer how much the order costs. If Flexport has no rate for that lane, the Met requests pricing from your Flexport team and lets the customer know the quote is on its way. The recipe does not book the freight: that is a separate decision.

What starts it

When the customer writes

It starts when a wholesale customer writes on WhatsApp asking for the price of a product you import to order. There is no trigger to set up: the Met assigned to the line runs the procedure inside that conversation.

Nothing to set up. The Met assigned to that channel picks up the conversation and runs the procedure inside it.

Who runs it

Sales Met that quotes imports

Sales team

It has no seeded name of its own: it is the Met already handling the business WhatsApp, with Flexport connected. Its job is that the price the wholesale customer hears comes from your account's rates and not from a figure remembered from a month ago.

Run by the sales closing Met

Channels: WhatsApp

What you need connected

Flexport Run stores and orders

5 steps · 5 tools

The procedure, step by step

Each step shows the tool that runs. They belong to the real connector: if one of them stopped existing, this page would not build.

1
Identify the product with its HS code

With the name of the product the customer asks for, the Met searches Flexport for the Harmonized System code that matches it, which is the data the rate and customs need.
- network_search_hs_codes Flexport
2
Look up the origin and destination ports

The Met searches the official identifier of the port the cargo leaves from and the port it arrives at, with each country code, to build the lane for the quote.
- network_search_ports Flexport
3
Search the rates for the lane

With the lane, the cargo type and the weight or volume, the Met searches Flexport for the available contract and spot rates for ocean FCL or LCL and for air.
- rates_search_instant_price Flexport
4
Work out the total price and reply

The Met works out the total price of the option that best fits your rule and replies to the customer with the order price, built with the pricing rule you left in its instructions.
- rates_evaluate_total_price_from_instant_price_search Flexport
5
Request pricing if there is no rate

If Flexport returns no rate for that lane, the Met requests pricing from your Flexport team and tells the customer the quote is on its way, without making up a figure in the meantime.
- rates_request_rate Flexport

Before you start

What you need ready

The Met solves none of these for you. If one is missing, the automation stops there.

The Flexport ready connector

An administrator at your company enables the connection in the Flexport client app. Then, in Met, open Connections → Flexport → Connect and sign in with your Flexport user.
A Flexport user who can see rates

The connection uses the permissions of whoever authorizes it: it has to be a user who can already see rates and quotes in the Flexport app.
Order details and pricing rule

In the Met instructions you set which details to ask the customer for (product, quantity, weight or volume and origin) and your rule to turn the freight into the price you give.

The limits

What this automation does NOT solve

Better said here than discovered halfway through the rollout.

It does not book the freight. Booking with rates_instant_book is a separate decision and that action does not start turned off: if you do not want the Met to book, the admin turns it off in Connections.
It does not calculate import duties or taxes. What it brings is the freight rate in Flexport; the rest of the cost comes from the rule you leave in the instructions.
It does not add your margin on its own. The price the customer hears comes from the pricing rule you set; without that rule, the Met has nothing to build it with.
It does not answer right away when there is no rate. The request goes to your Flexport team and the price arrives when they quote it.
It does not give historical average times by lane. Flexport says its current tools cover live shipments and current rates.

FAQ

Questions about this automation

It depends on your instructions. The Met uses the rate to build the price with your rule; you can ask it to give only the final price.

Yes. Flexport searches rates for ocean FCL or LCL and for air, and the Met can compare both options if your rule asks for it.

The Met requests pricing from your Flexport team with rates_request_rate and lets the customer know the quote is on its way, instead of giving an unsupported figure.

Yes, with rates_instant_book, which does not start turned off. This recipe does not use it: if you prefer that it only quotes, the admin turns it off in Connections.

Your Flexport account, under the terms you have with them. Meteor does not resell the Flexport service.

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