Guides / Process

How Metal Stamping Shops Qualify for the RFQ Leads We Match

October 14, 2026

A stamping shop that gets matched to work it cannot run well loses on both sides: a wasted quote for the shop, and a slow, frustrating search for the buyer. The matching we do exists to prevent that, and it depends on a shop’s registered capability being accurate, specific and current.

What we match on

When an RFQ comes in, we compare it against what each registered shop has told us it runs:

• Press tonnage and bed size. The part’s die needs a press that can supply the force and physically hold the tooling.
• Die types run in house. Progressive, transfer, deep draw, fourslide and single stage are different capabilities. A shop that mainly runs single stage blanking is a poor match for a progressive die RFQ, even if it technically owns a bigger press.
• Material range. What you run weekly, not what you have run once. Coated and stainless materials in particular behave differently from mild steel on a press line, and matching them accurately avoids a quote nobody can actually deliver on.
• Volume band. The annual volume ranges you want. A shop set up for high volume progressive work does not want a one-time prototype order clogging its queue, and a shop built for short runs is the wrong match for a 500,000 piece a year program.
• Secondary capability. Tapping, welding, plating management, assembly, PPAP experience. RFQs that need these are matched to shops that actually offer them, not shops that would have to figure it out mid-program.

Why accuracy in your registration matters more than breadth

It is tempting to register for everything to see more previews. In practice, broad, vague capability claims lead to previews that do not fit, which wastes your time reviewing them and, if you take a lead that does not match, wastes the buyer’s time too.

A shop that registers precisely, including the volume bands it actually wants, sees fewer previews but a higher share of ones worth taking. That is the outcome the matching is built for.

What we ask you to confirm

• Press list with tonnage and bed size, kept current as you add or retire equipment
• Die types you run in house, versus ones you would need to subcontract
• Material range you run weekly
• Preferred volume band for new programs
• Quality system in place, including certifications where you hold them, since some RFQs specify a requirement like IATF 16949 for automotive work, covered in more detail in PPAP and IATF 16949 for stamped automotive parts
• Your typical response time to a preview, since buyers are told to expect a reply within a set window

Declining a lead is a legitimate choice

Not every preview will fit, even with accurate registration, since buyer volumes and part geometry vary. Declining a preview that does not fit your press, material range or volume target is expected and does not affect future matching. Taking a lead you cannot run well costs more in the end, in a missed quote, a strained first interaction with a buyer, or a rejected lead credit request that could have been avoided by passing on it.

What an honest quote does for the relationship

Buyers reading previews and quotes are also learning who to trust, covered from their side in how to choose a metal stamping supplier. A shop that quotes honestly, including pushing back on a print callout that does not make sense or flagging a volume that does not justify hard tooling, builds the kind of trust that leads to a second order, not just the first one.

Where we fit

Register your shop’s real capability at for suppliers and we send previews that match press tonnage, die type, material and volume band, so what you see is worth your time to quote. We take no commission on the order, and you quote the buyer directly.

Frequently asked questions

Keep reading

• Stamping Press Tonnage Calculation: The Formula Shops Use and Where It Falls Short
• Stamping Die Maintenance: How Tool Life Is Managed and the Questions Worth Asking