Meet Otto. Your new AI purchasing employee.
Otto is the AI purchasing agent inside MySourceBot, built for distributors who quote by email. He reads your customers’ RFQs and purchase orders, gets prices from your suppliers, applies your markup, and puts a finished quote on your phone. You tap Send, or just tell him. It goes out under your name and lands in QuickBooks.
Built inside a working fastener distributor, for distributors who quote by email. Watch the full walkthrough.
- A customer emails a request for quote. A customer, Cascade Pipe, emails RFQ 11552 for 400 pieces of 1/2-13 B7 all-thread rod, 800 heavy hex nuts and 400 F436 washers, MTRs required, needed by November 7. Otto reads the email and extracts the three lines.
- Otto asks your suppliers for prices. Otto drafts a request for quote to the three suppliers who carry the material, without naming the customer. The owner taps Approve and send, and the RFQs go out.
- Supplier quotes come back and are compared. Supplier replies are read from email: Gulf Coast Fastener at $2,308.00 with 5-day lead time, Midwest Bolt and Nut at $2,446.80 in 3 days, and Pacific Rod Supply at $2,391.60 in 10 days. The lowest price is marked and chosen.
- Your quote is built with your profit. Otto applies the 30% markup to build the customer quote: $3,004.00 total, $696.00 profit, 23.2% margin. The quote waits on the owner's phone; one tap sends it and adds it to QuickBooks.
- The customer’s purchase order is checked. The customer's purchase order 4500018832 arrives as a PDF. Otto matches it to estimate 2761, confirms quantities and prices, adds the MTR requirement to the order checklist, and holds the order for the owner's review.
What Otto does, from email to sent quote
Otto reads the request
Quote requests in the email body and purchase-order PDFs from your customers’ systems are read as they arrive. Every line keeps its full spec exactly as written, with mark, drawing and item numbers, and PO requirements like MTRs become a checklist. Anything Otto is unsure of is flagged for you instead of guessed.
Otto asks your suppliers
Otto drafts an RFQ to the suppliers who carry that material, without naming your customer. You approve it with one tap or by saying “send them”, and their replies are read back in automatically.
Otto prices the quote your way
Supplier cost or your price list, plus your markup, your freight and your tax wording. Every line shows where its price came from and when.
You tap Send
The finished quote waits on your phone with the total and the margin. Tap Send and it goes out as a PDF under your company’s name, and lands in QuickBooks as an estimate.
Talk to Otto like you’d talk to your buyer
On your phone, tap the mic and say what you want. Otto reads back exactly what he’s about to do, and nothing goes out until you say so.
You: What’s the new RFQ?
Otto: Cascade Pipe sent RFQ 11552: three lines, all need a price.
You: Send lines 1 and 2 to Gulf Coast, Midwest and Pacific. Need by Friday.
Otto: Ready to send to three suppliers, with your note. Say “send them”.
You: Price line 3 at forty-six cents.
Otto: Line 3 at $0.46 each. Say “set it” and the quote is ready to send.
You: What needs me today?
Otto: One quote ready to send and one purchase order to check.
What Otto will never do
Your name is on every quote, so Otto drafts and you decide. These rules are built into the software, not left to a setting.
Send anything without you
Every supplier RFQ and every customer quote waits for your approval.
Invent a price
If Otto cannot find a cost, the line is flagged for you, never filled with a guess.
Accept a PO that doesn’t match the quote
Quantity or price differences stop the order until you accept them.
Take orders from an email
Customer and supplier text is treated as data. Anything that reads like an instruction is flagged.
Who it’s for
Distributors who quote by email: fasteners and threaded rod, pipe, couplings and harness rod, valves and fittings, and MRO and industrial supply. If your quotes start in Gmail and end in QuickBooks Online, Otto fits the way you already work. Customer POs can arrive as PDFs from SAP and other ERP systems.
New to this? Read: What is an AI purchasing agent?What it does, how it differs from procurement software, and what to look for.Questions
What is an AI purchasing agent?
An AI purchasing agent is software that handles the routine work of buying and quoting for a business: it reads incoming requests, asks suppliers for prices, compares their replies, and prepares quotes or purchase orders for a person to approve. MySourceBot is an AI purchasing agent built for industrial distributors who quote by email; its AI employee is called Otto.
What is MySourceBot?
MySourceBot is an AI purchasing agent for small industrial distributors. Its AI employee, Otto, turns customer quote requests in Gmail into priced quotes, gets supplier pricing by email, and adds sent quotes to QuickBooks Online as estimates. A person approves every message before it goes out.
Who is Otto?
Otto is the AI purchasing assistant inside MySourceBot. You talk to him the way you would talk to your buyer, by voice or by typing: “send lines 1 and 2 to Gulf Coast and Midwest”, “what needs me today?”. Otto does the reading, drafting and arithmetic, and waits for your OK before anything goes out.
Does Otto send emails on his own?
No. Otto drafts supplier RFQs and customer quotes, but each one waits until you tap Send or tell him “send them”. The only automatic message is an optional “we received your request” reply to known customers, which you can turn off.
Which systems does it work with?
Gmail and QuickBooks Online. Customer purchase orders can arrive as PDF attachments, including ones generated by SAP and other ERP systems. Each company connects its own mailbox and its own QuickBooks.
How does it price a quote?
It uses your supplier’s quoted cost or your own price list, then applies your markup, quote validity, freight and tax wording from your settings. Every line records the source and date of its price, and lines without a known cost are flagged instead of guessed.
Can I approve quotes from my phone?
Yes. MySourceBot installs to your phone’s home screen and sends a notification when a quote request arrives or a quote is ready. You can tap Send, or tell Otto what to do by voice.
What kinds of distributors is it for?
Distributors who quote by email: fasteners and threaded rod, pipe and couplings, valves and fittings, and MRO or industrial supply. It was built inside a working fastener distributor.
Is my data kept separate from other companies?
Yes. Each company’s customers, prices, mailbox and QuickBooks connection are stored separately, and access is restricted at the database level so one company can never see another’s records.
How do I get access?
MySourceBot is in early access. Request access with the form on the homepage, and we will show you the quote it would have built from one of your recent RFQs before you commit to anything. For questions, use the contact form.
Don’t buy another software tool. Hire Otto.
Tell us a little about your business. We’ll follow up and show you the quote Otto would have built from one of your recent RFQs, before you commit to anything. Just have a question? Send us a message.