Quote-to-cart for $5k+ orders, how does Magento B2B Quote work?

The workflow most B2B networking orders actually need:

1. Sales engineer at the customer (or an MSP working on behalf of a customer) adds gear to a quote cart, Cisco Catalyst 9300 stack + Aruba 7030 controller + 48-port PoE switches. Total list: $87,400.
2. Engineer hits “Request quote” with a target discount (say 12% off list) + a note explaining the deployment.
3. Your sales rep gets a notification, reviews the line items, counters at 9% off (because Cisco deal-reg is locked at 8% for this account), adds shipping notes.
4. Customer’s procurement officer reviews the quote, approves it. Multi-step approval chain enforced ($25k+ might require CFO sign-off).
5. Approved quote converts to a real cart. Customer pays via Net-30 invoice + PO number, or card if under their threshold.
6. PDF quote auto-attached to the email with your letterhead, W-9, certificate of resale, and line-item terms.

Native on Adobe Commerce: B2B Quote module ships with Companies. On Open Source: Aheadworks Quote Manager ($499, $1,499 one-time) or Magento Quotation Cart by IWD. Both support: expiration dates, line-item negotiation, comment threads (rep and customer chat inside the quote), PDF export, conversion to cart.

The key feature: line-item negotiation. Customer wants 15% off the switches but is fine paying list on the SFPs, B2B Quote handles per-line discounts, not just an order-level coupon. Critical for big networking deals where the discount mix varies by SKU.