Business· Help center

Help center › Vendors & partner programs

How to find vendors and ask for a quote

Tell Otto what you want to source and where to look, then draft a quote request to the vendors it found.

Updated 2026-10-17

Vendors finds suppliers, makers and wholesalers for what you sell. Otto reads the web for you, ranks what it found against your brief, and drafts the first message. It never sends, buys or contacts anyone on its own. Owners, admins and anyone whose position manages the business can use it.

It is under Operations → Vendors in the menu.

Find vendors

  1. Open Vendors and stay on the Find vendors tab.
  2. Under What to source, type the product, for example "bamboo phone stands". Names from your ideas and your stock appear under From your ideas and stock; press one to use it.
  3. Under Where to look, tick one or more of Alibaba, Instagram, Other wholesale sites and Makers' own sites.
  4. If you like, fill in Target unit cost (US$), Most you'd order first and Ship to, and tick what it Must offer: Custom branding / private label, Samples, Dropshipping or Made in a given country.
  5. Press Find vendors. The search takes a few minutes; you can leave the page.

The results come back as Vendors, best fit first. Every price, order minimum and seller detail on a card links to the page it was read on, and Score and notes shows the points behind each vendor's score. A vendor from a place you did not tick is left out.

Ask for a quote

  1. On a vendor's card, press Ask for a quote. Otto drafts a short inquiry.
  2. What happens next depends on how the vendor can be reached:
    • Email: the draft goes to Reviews. Press Open the draft in Reviews, change the words if you like, and approve it. Nothing is sent before you do.
    • Instagram or a wholesale platform such as Alibaba: Otto cannot send there. Press Copy message, open the profile or listing, and send it yourself. Copying marks the vendor Contacted.

Good to know

  • Vendor searches share the monthly research allowance with Otto chat's research. The number of runs left shows beside the button.
  • Instagram is never opened by Otto; it only uses what search results show.
  • One search runs at a time for each business.

If it doesn't work

  • "Say what you want to source." or "Tick at least one place to look." — fill in the missing part of the brief.
  • "Say which country it must be made in, or untick that." — fill in Made in.
  • "Otto is already looking for vendors for this business." — wait for the running search to finish.
  • "That search did not finish. Try again." — press New search and run it again.
  • "Otto came back with an empty message. Try again." — press Ask for a quote again.