## Proposal

A proposal is a list of items that a supplier submits directly to a merchant/retailer partner through the fabric Dropship Platform. When one of your connected suppliers submits a proposal, you receive an email notification that a new list of items are submitted. You can then review the items before accepting and approving.

## Proposal statuses

The status of a newly submitted proposal shows as **Proposed**. The following table describes the various proposal statuses.

| Status | Description |
| --- | --- |
| **Requires Approval** | Indicates the supplier has submitted the proposal for the retailer’s review and approval. |
| **Waiting for Supplier** | Indicates the proposal is sent back to the supplier for additional revisions to product data. |
| **Needs Pricing Approval** | Indicates that the proposal requires an approval for pricing or product data. |
| **Pricing Approved** | Indicates that the proposal requires a second approval before it’s ready for publishing. |
| **Ready to Publish** | Indicates the proposal is approved and is ready for publishing. |
| **Completed** | Indicates that the proposal is complete. |
| **Declined** | Indicates the proposal is declined, along with a reason. However, the reasons for declining may vary.

## Proposal types

There are three types of proposals:

- **New item proposals**: These proposals contain new items that aren’t currently available on your site.
- **Cost update proposals**: Suppliers submit these proposals to update the previously approved wholesale cost of items.
- **Attribute update proposals**: Suppliers submit these proposals to change product details, including images and descriptions, of already approved items.

All proposals are reviewed and approved with the same process outlined below.

## Managing proposals

1. To manage new item proposals, cost update proposals, and attribute update proposals, navigate to the **Products** page.
2. Click **Proposals** in the **Curate** section of the **Products** page. The **Product Proposals** page is displayed.

### Requires approval

On the **Product Proposals** page, click **Requires Approval** to pull up a list of all recently submitted proposals. The **Requires Approval** page lists all submitted proposals awaiting action. On this page, you can view the following details:

- Proposal ID.
- The name of the supplier who submitted the proposal.
- The name of the proposal, which includes the department name.
- The total items added to the proposal.
- The date when the proposal was submitted.
- The status of the proposal.

1. To review a proposal from the list, click the proposal’s **ID**. The **Proposal Detail** page for that proposal is displayed in the **Summary** view.
2. Using the left **Proposal Menu**, you can review the items on the proposal at both the product level and the item level.   
   - To view items on the product level, click **Products**.
   - To view items on the item level, click **Pricing**.
   - To view compatibility results, click **Compatibility**.
   - To view problems with the proposal, click **Issues**.
   - To download all the proposal images, click **Exports**.

### Approving a proposal

1. On the summary screen of the **Proposal Detail** page, click **Approve Products**. The **Approve Proposal** window is displayed.
2. Select from the following options:   
   - **Yes**: select this option if you also want to publish the products in the proposal. Selecting this option moves the proposal directly to the Completed section in the **Product Proposals** page.
   - **No, just mark this proposal approved**: Select this option to approve the proposal without publishing the products in the proposals. Selecting this option moves the proposal to **Ready to Publish** in the **Product Proposals** page.

If you selected **Yes** from the **Approve Proposal** window, follow the steps below to complete the proposal process.

1. From the **Approve Proposal** window, select a **Platform**. This is the platform where you want to publish the products such as Shopify or fabric.
2. In the **Template** field, select a template.
3. Click **Approve**.
4. When a new product proposal is submitted, one of two things happens depending on your settings:   
   - **If manager approval is required for pricing**: The proposal will appear in the **Needs Pricing Approval** section on the **Product Proposals** page. A **Manager Approve** option will also be available on the product’s detail page so your manager can review and confirm pricing before it moves forward.
   - **If manager approval is not required**: The proposal will go directly to the **Ready to Publish** section. From there, you’ll see an option to **Mark as Complete!**, making it easy to complete and publish the product.
5. Click **Mark as Complete!**. The proposal is moved to the completed section on the **Product Proposals** page.

The products from the proposal are automatically added to your site and you can begin receiving orders for those items.

### Removing Items

You can reject items or entire products from a proposal that aren’t relevant to the agreed upon assortment.

1. Select the items or products under the designated view (pricing or products). An **Actions** dropdown appears.
2. Click the **Actions** dropdown.
3. Select **Remove Items**. The **Remove Products** window is displayed.
4. In the **Select Reason** field, select a reason you removed the products from the proposal.
5. Click **Remove Products**.

If you remove products from a proposal, they cannot be restored. You must add the products to a different proposal.

### Sending Items Back to a Supplier

If a supplier needs to revise a proposal, create an issue for each item, detailing the reason for sending it back and setting the expectation for the required changes.

### Creating an issue

1. Select an item or product under the designated view (pricing or products).
2. Click **Actions**.
3. Click **Create Issue**.   
   - Add an **Issue Title** such as, _Images_.
   - Add an **Issue explanation** such as, `images provided are broken, please provide new ones`.

Once all issues have been created on the proposal, return to the summary screen using the proposal menu and click **Return**. The status is changed to Revised and the proposal is moved to the **Waiting for Supplier** section of the **Product Proposals** page.