Live vs Fixed Pricing in Quotes (Rate Management, External APIs, and Fallbacks)

Velocity can generate quotes using live pricing (real-time rates) or fixed pricing (uploaded/contract tariffs). Understanding the difference is essential for predictable quoting, margin control, and consistent customer communication—especially when live rates return partial results or no availability.

This article explains when quotes use live vs fixed pricing, the benefits and constraints of each approach, how to configure fallback behavior for continuity, and how to troubleshoot cases where a quote does not match expected live rates.

Live-Rate Quoting: Benefits and Constraints

What “live rates” means

Live-rate quoting uses real-time pricing returned at quote time through:

• Rate Management connections to carrier/airline/vendor integrations, and/or
• External pricing APIs (when configured)

Live rates commonly include updated base freight and may also return additional fields such as transit time or capacity signals, depending on provider coverage.

Benefits of live-rate quoting

• Market-accurate pricing: reflects current conditions rather than last week’s spreadsheet
• Faster spot quoting: reduces back-and-forth with carriers or agents
• Better responsiveness: supports time-sensitive deals and capacity-driven decisions
• Improved competitiveness: helps win business in volatile lanes

Constraints and trade-offs

Live rates are not always “complete” or “stable”:

• Availability gaps: some lanes, services, or equipment types may return no results
• Partial charges: base freight may return but local charges or specific surcharges may not
• Latency/timeouts: API response delays can slow quote creation
• Coverage differences: providers vary by mode, geography, and contract scope
• Volatility: the same query can return a different price later the same day

Operational implication: live-rate quoting requires a fallback policy to prevent quoting interruptions.

Fixed Tariff Quoting: When It’s the Right Choice

What “fixed tariffs” means

Fixed pricing is built from uploaded rate sheets or internally maintained tariffs in Rate Management. These are typically contract-based, with defined validity windows, surcharge rules, and standardized charge structures.

When fixed tariffs are the best choice

Fixed tariffs are preferred when you need:

• Consistency: predictable pricing for repeat lanes and contracted accounts
• Control: stable margins and fewer unexpected changes between versions
• Complete breakdowns: defined local charges and surcharge structures by design
• Governance: auditability, approvals, and version control around rate changes
• Speed at scale: reliable quoting for high-volume sales teams

Trade-offs

• Fixed tariffs must be maintained (updates, versioning, validity windows)
• They may drift from the spot market if not refreshed regularly
• They may not capture real-time capacity constraints

Fallback Logic When Live Rates Fail (Recommended Operational Policy)

A fallback policy prevents “no quote” situations and keeps sales moving.

Recommended fallback hierarchy

A common operational model is:

1. Try live rates first (for lanes/modes where coverage is reliable)
2. If live returns no rates → use fixed contract tariffs
3. If contract tariffs are not available → use last valid fallback rate set (or an internal “standard tariff”)
4. If required charges are missing → apply configured surcharges/accessorial defaults (where policy allows)
5. If the quote still cannot be completed → flag as “manual review required” with clear reasons

When to choose “fixed-first” instead

Some organizations should default to fixed tariffs and only use live rates for exceptions:

• Contract-heavy customers where consistency matters more than spot accuracy
• Lanes with frequent live-rate gaps or partial returns
• Teams with strict governance and approval workflows

Best practices for continuity

• Define which lanes/modes are live-enabled vs fixed-only
• Maintain a minimum viable fixed tariff set for top lanes as a safety net
• Standardize charge naming and surcharge rules so fixed and live outputs remain comparable
• Clearly label which source was used internally so reps understand why totals changed

Troubleshooting: “Quote Not Matching Expected Live Rates”

If a user expects a live rate but the quote total is different, use the checks below.

1) Confirm the quote used live pricing

Differences can occur if the quote fell back to fixed tariffs due to:

• No live results for the lane/service/equipment
• API timeout or provider outage
• Missing credentials or access scopes
• Live coverage limitations for that carrier or trade

When evaluating why carrier APIs sometimes return unexpected pricing compared with your own uploaded rate tables or fixed sources, it helps to understand the differences between live API rates and fixed rate data. See Live vs Fixed Rates to learn how live API pricing compares with static/fixed tariff pricing and when each should be used in Velocity’s workflows.

What to check

• Was live pricing enabled for this mode/lane?
• Did the system log “no rates returned” or a timeout event?

2) Validate that shipment inputs match the live-rate query

Live pricing is highly sensitive to inputs. Small changes can produce different results.

Common mismatches

• Port vs door scope changed (adds/removes charge sets)
• Origin/destination code differs (city vs port vs zone)
• Equipment type not supported (e.g., 40HC vs 40GP)
• Weight/volume basis not aligned (chargeable weight differences)

What to check

• Mode/service type
• Lane identifiers (port codes, zones)
• Scope (door/port)
• Shipment characteristics (weight/volume/equipment)

3) Identify missing or partially returned charges

Live results may include base freight but omit local charges or certain surcharges.

Symptoms

• Total seems too low compared to market expectations
• Breakdown shows fewer line items than a fixed-tariff quote

What to do

• Compare breakdown completeness against a fixed-tariff quote for the same lane
• Confirm surcharge defaults are configured and applied correctly
• Apply governance rules: if required charges are missing, trigger manual review

4) Check currency and conversion settings

Live pricing may return in a different currency than your quote currency.

What to check

• Rate currency vs quote currency
• Conversion timing (quote-time conversion)
• Rounding policies and margin calculations after conversion

5) Confirm pricing rules and margins were applied consistently

Even with the same live rate, totals change when:

• Customer-specific rules apply
• Markups/margins differ by lane/service
• Overrides were applied by a user with permissions

What to check

• Customer selection and pricing rule set
• Applied markup/margin method
• Any manual overrides and the reason

Operational Checklist for Admins

Use this checklist to keep live and fixed quoting stable:

• Define live-enabled lanes and fallback behavior by mode
• Maintain fixed contract tariffs for critical lanes
• Document “required charge completeness” rules (when to allow partial quotes vs manual review)
• Monitor live-rate timeouts and provider coverage gaps
• Standardize charge naming and surcharge modeling across sources
• Train reps to interpret differences: live volatility vs fixed consistency

FAQ

Should we always use live rates for quoting?

Not always. Live rates are best for spot-driven lanes and volatile markets. Fixed tariffs are better when consistency, governance, and complete breakdowns are required.

What happens if live rates return no results?

A fallback policy should route the quote to fixed tariffs or a defined backup rate set, ensuring continuity.

Why is the total different from the live result I expected?

Differences usually come from input mismatches (scope/lane/equipment), partial charge returns, currency conversion, or customer-specific pricing rules.