Dealer Guide

Audience: Dealer Admins, Regional Managers, and Sales Reps. Where you work: the dealer portal at /dealer/*. New here? Read the Platform Overview first.

As a dealer, QuoteStore is your control panel for turning AutoQuotes (AQ) projects into buyer-facing catalogs, managing your buyer organizations, and processing their orders end-to-end.

1. Roles & what each can see

Every dealer user belongs to one dealer organization and has one of three roles:

Region/district scoping primarily affects the Orders list and Dashboard stats. Admins always see all data.

2. The dealer dashboard

After login you land on the dashboard — a snapshot of revenue, order counts, project/buyer counts, a revenue & profit trend, an order-status breakdown, and recent orders. Non-admins see numbers scoped to their regions/districts.

The left sidebar is your primary navigation: Dashboard, Projects, Orders, Manufacturer View, Buyer Organizations, Buyer Group Admins, Team, Regions & Districts, Notifications, and Settings.

3. Projects (catalogs)

Projects are the catalogs you publish to buyers. The Projects page lists all your projects with product counts, linked buyer-org counts, status, and validity dates.

What you can do here:

• Create Project — start a new (empty, draft) project with a name and optional description.
• Search the project list.
• Refresh — if you have an AutoQuotes API key configured, this can sync your AQ project catalog.

Project detail & importing products

Click a project to open its detail page: stats (products, orders, sales, profit), the full product table (with net/sell prices, discounts, and profit), linked buyer organizations, and import history.

Key actions:

• Edit Name / Activate / Deactivate (archive) the project.
• Import AQ Project — bring products in two ways:
  1. From the AutoQuotes API (preferred): browse your AQ projects, preview the diff (new / modified / removed / unchanged), then confirm the import.
  2. From a JSON file: upload an AQ project export, preview, then import.
• Link / unlink buyer organizations — control which buyers can see this project’s products. Only active linked projects appear in a buyer’s catalog.

Each import overwrites the project’s product list. Products that disappear from the source are soft-deleted (hidden) rather than destroyed, so historical orders stay intact. A notification is sent when an import completes.

4. Orders

The Orders page shows every order you’re allowed to see (scoped by your role’s region/district). Status tabs with live counts let you focus on what needs attention: Needs Review, Needs Regional, Needs Admin, Processing, Shipped, Completed, Cancelled.

You can search by buyer, order ID, or PO, and filter by buyer organization.

Order detail & the approval workflow

Open an order to see its line items, buyer information, addresses, totals, payment status, and the comment thread.

The Actions panel changes with the order’s state. While an order is awaiting dealer review/approval you can:

• Approve Order — moves the order forward. Where it goes depends on your role:
  • Sales Rep approval → escalates to Needs Regional.
  • Regional Manager approval → escalates to Needs Admin.
  • Admin approval → Processing.
  • From Needs Regional / Needs Admin, an approval moves the order to Processing.
• Request Changes — modify quantities, remove items, or restore items. This moves the order to Dealer Changes Requested and requires a comment explaining the change. The buyer then accepts the changes (→ Processing) or replies.
• Reject Order — cancels the order and releases the buyer’s Open Credit hold.
• Mark as Paid — records payment and updates the buyer org’s Open Credit balance.

Once an order is Processing you can Mark as Shipped (with tracking) and then Mark as Completed.

Comments: Use Reply to Buyer for messages the buyer sees, or Internal Note for dealer-only notes.

5. Buyer Organizations

The Buyer Organizations page lists your buyer customers with their region, district, and status.

• Add Buyer Org — create a new buyer organization (name, optional region/district, credit limit).

Buyer org detail

Open a buyer org to manage its profile, Open Credit, linked projects, and users.

What you can do:

• Edit the org’s details and set its Open Credit limit (the available-credit figure updates automatically).
• Upload/remove the buyer org’s logo.
• View which projects the org can access.
• Invite buyer users (as admin or user), and promote/demote, activate/deactivate, or remove them.

The buyer org setting “requires buyer admin approval” controls whether a non-admin buyer’s order must be approved internally before reaching you.

6. Team (dealer users)

Admin only. Manage the people in your dealer organization: their role, region/district assignments, and active status.

• Invite Team Member — add a dealer user and assign their role and regions/districts.
• Edit roles/assignments, activate/deactivate, or remove members. Admin accounts are marked Protected.

7. Regions & Districts

Admin only. Define the geographic structure used to scope Regional Managers and Sales Reps.

• Regions are large areas (e.g., Northeast). Regional Managers assigned to a region see all buyer orgs and orders within it.
• Districts are smaller areas within regions (e.g., NYC Metro). Sales Reps assigned to a district see only that district’s buyer orgs and orders.
• Admins always have full access regardless of assignments.

Each region/district card shows how many team members and buyer orgs are attached.

8. Settings

Manage your organization branding and your own account.

• Organization Logo — appears in the sidebar next to the QuoteStore branding.
• Organization Details — org name (admin only) and read-only org ID.
• AutoQuotes Projects API (admin only) — paste your AQ Projects API key (verified before saving, encrypted at rest, never shown again) and choose the database region (US/UK). Once configured, you can import projects directly from AQ.
• Account Settings — your name, email (read-only), role, and password change.

9. Manufacturer View (demo)

A preview of what a logged-in manufacturer would see for their products across your dealership. Pick a manufacturer to view their revenue, units, order-status mix, top products, and the orders that contain their items.

This is a demo/preview feature — there is no separate manufacturer login. It’s read-only analytics for showcasing the concept.

10. Notifications & Buyer Group Admins

• Notifications — alerts for new orders, orders awaiting your approval, new order comments, completed AQ imports, and credit-limit events. Each dealer user only receives alerts for buyer orgs they’re allowed to see.
• Buyer Group Admins (admin only) — invite and manage multi-org buyers: people who can shop and approve orders across several of your buyer organizations. Assign or remove the orgs each one can access.

Quick reference — dealer routes