Custom Item quotes and shopping cart

[jezter]

Thought I'd put out my objectives to see if anyone has a good approach.
I sell a variety of items to do with shadesails etc.
I am developing an online quotation system for custom shadesails and I'm trying to figure out the best way to integrate with OSCMax.
My quotation system will use a separate database which will store various quotes of custom configurations. Prices are developed based upon actual measurements inserted into the quote database. The customer will input measurements and option variables and get a price that includes shipping from Australia. The price will be good for 30 days.
As the quote is developed the system sends an email to the customer with a link to purchase.
What I'm trying to figure out is how to add the unique item to an individual's shopping cart. I don't want to import the quote records until the customer has clicked the link to purchase because based on previous experience we get 10-15 quotations for every order placed. I don't want to clog up the OSC database with unredeemed quotes.
I'm working through a plan based on this workflow but if anyone has some cool suggestions on how to accomplish I'd love to hear from you.

[ridexbuilder]

If you have a set price for a base product, you could use priced attributes for not only options in the 'normal' sense but also for (a range of) dimensions.
As long as potential customers go as far as the cart process (they could be encouraged to do so), then 'Max will store the contents of the cart and hence the quote.
This is a normal occurrence for ecommerce sites and should not concern you in the slightest. Many people go as far as the cart without purchasing (for a number of reasons).
osCmax has an inbuilt Recover Cart Sales feature that can be used to retrieve these 'quotes' and email the relevant person. It is also possible for you to control the purging of these records and the content of additional notes to the person.
You may also be able to leverage the Wishlist feature, in a similar fashion, as a form of encouragement for the potential customer.
Just a few thoughts.
EJ

[jezter]

Thanks for your suggestions. Unfortunately I don't have a set price for a base product. There are simply too many variables. I want to keep it strictly separate from the OSCMax database until such time as the customer hits GO. I'm also going to be using the Quotation module for another website and for wholesale dealers. I've tried working within the constraints of the existing contributions in OSCMax and it's just too cumbersome. It seems to me that some kind of SQL query can be written that will place the order in the shopping cart once the customer hits the link. The system should insist that a customer be registered through OSC first before getting quotes so that a customer-id can be associated with the quote.