Quote Expiry Dates

Choose how long customers have to accept a quote, and how many days before the event it must expire for each order type. Your account rules calculate an expiry date; staff can choose a different date for an individual quote.

Set your account rules

Open Settings → Account Details → Quote expiry. Save your changes when you have finished.

Quote expiry date

Choose one of these options:

• Set number of days: enter how many days the quote should stay open, such as 7, 14 or 30.
• On the event date: use the event date as the usual expiry date.

The days are counted from the date the quote is created or its automatic expiry is recalculated. Sending an existing quote later does not restart that period. Check its saved expiry date before sending it.

Expire no later than

Enter the number of days before the event by which you need a response. This rule brings the usual expiry date forward when necessary.

Each order type has its own box, because the notice you need is rarely the same for all of them. A common setup is 1 day for delivery orders and 5 days for staffed events: a drop-off can still be confirmed the day before, while a staffed event needs time to roster staff and place orders with suppliers.

Changing the order type on a quote recalculates its expiry date using that type’s cutoff.

• 5: expire no later than five days before the event.
• 0: expire no later than the event date.
• Blank: switch the cutoff off for that order type. With a set number of days, the saved expiry can then fall after the event.

Even with a later saved expiry, customers cannot accept after the event day.

Which rule takes priority?

The earliest expiry date wins. Neither rule extends a deadline set by the other.

For example, a quote issued on 1 October for a staffed event on 7 October would normally expire on 31 October with a 30-day setting. With that order type’s Expire no later than set to 5, it expires on 2 October instead. The same quote as a delivery order, with a cutoff of 1, would expire on 6 October.

These examples assume the quote is created today:

Quote expiry date	Event is in	This order type’s cutoff	Result
30 days	10 days	1 day before	Expires in 9 days
30 days	10 days	5 days before	Expires in 5 days
On the event date	10 days	5 days before	Expires in 5 days
3 days	20 days	5 days before	Expires in 3 days; the usual deadline is earlier
30 days	5 days	0	Expires on the event date
30 days	5 days	Blank	Saved expiry is in 30 days, but customer acceptance ends after the event day

What if the event is very soon?

With a five-day cutoff, a staffed event in five days gives an expiry of today. The customer can accept through the end of today, using your account time zone.

If that event is in three days, the cutoff has already passed. Puree asks staff to choose a manual expiry date instead of saving an automatic date in the past. Choose a deadline appropriate to the time you need to prepare the order. This is one reason to keep a shorter cutoff on delivery orders, which often come in at short notice.

Online orders and quotes created from enquiries use today when their automatic cutoff has already passed, so they remain open through the end of today. When duplicating an order, a past calculated deadline falls back to the usual number of days from today. Update the copy’s event date before sending it; the original order is unchanged.

Defaults and existing quotes

New accounts start with 30 days, an event cutoff of 0 for every order type, and Suggest a date using these rules when reopening.

Existing accounts keep their previously configured expiry period and mode. Whatever single cutoff they had is carried over to every order type, and it may be blank until someone sets it. Check your own settings rather than assuming the new-account defaults apply.

Changing account settings does not rewrite expiry dates already saved on quotes. Earlier quotes retain their saved dates as manual dates. You can switch an individual quote to Use account rules when you want it recalculated.

Change an individual quote

On the quote details form, use Expiry calculation:

• Use account rules: calculate the expiry automatically. Changing the event date recalculates it.
• Choose a manual date: set the expiry yourself. Your chosen date is kept when the event date changes.

Complete and save the quote to keep the change. A manual date can override the automatic event cutoff, but it does not allow customer acceptance after the event day.

Reopen an expired quote

An expired quote cannot be accepted by the customer. To offer more time:

1. Open the quote and choose Re-open quote.
2. Review or enter the expiry date. It must be today or later.
3. Select Re-open quote to save the date and return the quote to pending.

Your account’s When reopening a quote setting controls the date shown:

• Suggest a date using these rules: calculate a fresh suggestion from today, using the current event date and account rules. Review it before confirming.
• Require staff to choose a date: staff must enter the deadline themselves.

Accepting the suggested date keeps the quote on automatic rules. Changing that date, or using the setting that requires staff to choose, makes it a manual expiry.

If the calculated deadline is already in the past, choose a manual date. The quote is not reopened with an invalid deadline. If the event date has passed, reopening alone will not let the customer accept; the event date also needs to be corrected if the event has genuinely moved.

When does acceptance close?

A quote stays valid through the end of its expiry date in your account time zone. Customers cannot accept after that day or after the event day, whichever comes first. A later expiry date does not reserve extra time beyond the event.

For a practical explanation of choosing your settings, see Quote expiry rules that fit your catering business. For creating a quote, see Creating a Quote.