Diamond Stone: suppliers, price requests and registration
Date: 2026-11-12. Revision 1. Drawn in docs/ui-shell-mockup.html under "Suppliers:
asking for prices, and registering".
Two things the owner asked for: asking suppliers for prices automatically by WhatsApp and email and reading their answers into the system, and registering a supplier properly. Before this the plan had one line for each.
Orders go direct from the factory, and the factory is paid for the stone only (decided 12 November 2026). So the supplier is where the price, the lot, the matching and the spare all come from, and this is the part of the business with the least software and the most money.
No supplier portal is needed for any of this. A factory answers in its own words on WhatsApp or email, as it does today. The work of structuring the answer is ours.
1. Principles
| Principle | Why |
|---|---|
| The supplier does nothing new | Small factories will not sign in to anything. They reply by text, voice note, photograph or PDF |
| A person approves everything that leaves and everything that commits | Software drafts, reads, reminds and compares. A person sends, chooses and orders |
| Nothing read by AI is trusted until shown beside its source and, for a price, confirmed by the supplier | Models misread units, currencies and spoken numbers |
| One supplier never sees another's price | Fair dealing; also WhatsApp's own rule against passing one party's chat to another |
| The relationship stays human | The owner still calls to bargain. The system records what was agreed |
| Every choice has a reason on record | Bribery between private firms became a crime in Oman in June 2026 (Royal Decree 66/2026, read directly). A record protects the staff as much as the company |
2. Asking for a price
The flow
| # | Step | Automatic | A person |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A price is needed: for a customer's enquiry, or to refresh a standing price | The request is built from the enquiry's lines: stone, selection, finish, thickness, sizes, quantity, where and when | Checks it |
| 2 | Who to ask | Suggests three to five approved suppliers who make that stone, by capability and record | Adds or removes |
| 3 | The messages | Drafts one per supplier, in their language, by their preferred channel | Approves the send |
| 4 | Sent | Each supplier has their own thread for this request. No supplier is told who else was asked | |
| 5 | They answer as they like | Text, voice note, photograph of a written quote, PDF, spreadsheet, or a button: "Will quote", "Not available" | |
| 6 | Reading the answer | Voice is written out; the answer is read into fields, each shown beside the words, picture or sound it came from | Looks |
| 7 | Checking it | Unit, currency, VAT in or out, thickness, validity, lead time, and whether the price is far from the last one or from the others | Fills a gap or asks |
| 8 | Confirming with the supplier | "You quoted 9.500 OMR per m², without VAT, 21 days, price held to 30 November. Correct?" with Correct and Change | Approves the wording until it is a fixed template |
| 9 | Chasing | One reminder after four working hours, one the next working morning, then a task for a person to call | Calls |
| 10 | Comparing | All answers in one unit and one currency, as a landed cost per m² to the customer's site | Chooses, with a reason |
| 11 | Closing | "Closed, thank you" drafted for the others, with a reason that is not a price | Approves |
| 12 | Ordering | Nothing is ordered here. The choice feeds the quote to the customer; the supplier is ordered only after the advance (REVIEW.md section 3) |
What a request says
Reference · stone · selection · finish · thickness · sizes · quantity in m² · tolerance · packing · delivery point · date needed · how long the price should hold · payment terms · "photographs of the actual lot, please".
The customer is never named. The reference is ours.
WhatsApp (a template; the supplier can tap "Will quote" or "Not available"):
Hello {name}, a price request {reference} from Diamond Stone. {stone}, {selection}, {finish}, {thickness} mm, {size}, about {quantity} m². Needed by {date}, delivered to {place}. Please reply with your price per m² without VAT, the lead time, and how long the price holds. A message, a voice note or a photograph is fine.
Email: the subject carries the reference and the specification; the body is the same lines as a short list; it is signed by a named person with a phone number. A reply lands on the right request by its address and reference.
What makes two answers comparable
An answer is complete only when it has: the unit (per m², not per piece or per tonne) · the thickness · the selection · the finish · the size · VAT in or out · packing and crates · where it is delivered to · the least quantity · how long it holds · the lead time. A missing one is asked for, not guessed.
Comparison is on landed cost: the price, plus crates, transport to the customer, insurance and duties, in the customer's currency at the locked rate.
How many to ask, and fairness
| Rule | Detail |
|---|---|
| Three to five | Public-tender studies find each extra bidder lowers price a little, with less gain each time. Those are tenders, not a trader's enquiry; three to five is an inference, and a setting |
| Fewer than the least, or one supplier only | Allowed with a reason recorded, and seen by the owner |
| One round | Every supplier is asked once on the same terms. No supplier is quietly given the last look at another's price. If the owner bargains, the system records that he did and with whom |
| Not the cheapest | Allowed, with the reason: lead time, the lot seen, the record |
| Told the outcome | Always, and promptly |
Standing prices
For standard tiles a supplier's price list is kept: by stone, selection, finish and thickness, with a valid-until date and the document it came from. A quote to a customer can use a standing price while it is valid; a price request refreshes it when it lapses. Slabs, cut-to-size and large or special lots are always asked for.
3. The channels, and their rules
Read on Meta's own pages on 12 November 2026 unless marked.
| Rule | What it means here |
|---|---|
| The first message to someone must be an approved template | The request is a template. Once the supplier replies, free messages are allowed for 24 hours |
| A template is classed as utility, marketing or sign-in | A request tied to a named enquiry is plausibly utility, but Meta's guidance does not mention requests to suppliers. Only its review settles it |
| The person must have agreed to be messaged | Agreement is recorded at registration: when, by what words, by which channel |
| Automation must offer a quick route to a person | Every message is signed by a named person, with "call me" |
| One party's chat may not be passed to another | Per-supplier threads; no forwarding |
| Charges | From 1 October 2026 every template is charged when delivered, including inside an open conversation. Oman's rate for utility is reported at about 0.025 US dollars. Free replies are capped at 1,000 a month per number. At a few dozen requests a day this is small |
| Limits | 250 different people a day by default; 2,000 once Meta has verified the business |
| A template that people block or ignore is paused | Reminders are capped; requests go only to suppliers who make that stone |
| Forms inside WhatsApp ("Flows") | A supplier could type price, lead time and a date into a small form in the chat, and attach photographs. It needs a verified business and a healthy number. Offered as a second way, never the only one: labels are limited to 20 characters and many will prefer a voice note |
| Voice notes | Arrive as sound files, and are written out |
| Groups | Not usable through the platform in any practical way. Suppliers' existing groups stay outside the record |
A few dozen a day is far below the "bulk sender" rules, but the domain is set up properly anyway (the three sender checks). Each request has its own reply address so answers thread themselves. Every attachment is treated as untrusted and scanned.
4. Reading answers with AI, honestly
| What research says | What we do |
|---|---|
| On clean invoices the best models read about 96 % of fields; on scans 87 to 93 %; weaker models far less. Stamps and handwriting hurt. Bank account numbers were the worst-read field (one benchmark, read directly) | A bank account number is never taken from a document or a message. Section 6 |
| Spoken digits are misheard several times in a hundred by a general model; "sixteen" and "sixty" are a known confusion | A number from a voice note is always confirmed in writing |
| Arabic dialects are transcribed less well than formal Arabic (reported) | The sound stays beside the text; a person can listen |
| Models' own confidence is unreliable (reported) | Confidence is not the gate. Checks in code and the supplier's confirmation are |
| No benchmark exists for our mistakes: m² against ft² against a piece against a tonne; VAT in or out; thickness; Arabic-Indic digits; mixed languages | We build our own test set from real replies, and measure before trusting |
| A message or a file can contain instructions aimed at the model | The reading model has no tools and no access; it returns fixed fields that code checks; what it reads is marked as untrusted; a person approves every send |
Checks in code, not by the model: the unit is one we know · the currency is stated or is the supplier's own · the price is within a band of the last one and of the other answers · the thickness matches what was asked · the validity date is in the future · VAT is stated. Anything failing is asked, in the supplier's thread.
5. Registering a supplier
Two ways in
| Our person enters it, from the supplier's papers and a visit | The default. Most factories will prefer it |
| The supplier fills it in from a link sent by WhatsApp or email, on their phone, by photographing their papers | Offered. No account is made; the link is for this one purpose |
Either way the same record results, and the same checks follow.
What is collected
| What | For whom | How it is checked | By |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal name in Arabic and English; commercial registration number; that it is active | Every Omani supplier | The government's business register search (to confirm it is open to us), and a copy | Purchasing |
| VAT number or tax card | If registered | The Tax Authority's own checking page shows the name against the number | Accountant |
| Bank: name, account number, the account's name | Anyone we pay | A letter from the bank; the account's name matches the registered name; a call back to a number already on file; never from a message or a document alone | Accountant, then owner |
| Who may sign, and their signature | All | Against the registration | Accountant |
| Owners of a quarter or more; any relation to our staff | All | Their declaration; our staff's own declarations | Owner |
| Quarry or factory licence, with its end date | Factories, quarry owners | A copy | Purchasing |
| Where the factory is | Factories | A visit, or photographs | Purchasing |
| What they make: stones, selections, finishes, largest slab, sizes, monthly capacity, usual lead times | All | A trial order | Purchasing |
| How they work with us: deliver direct or we hold stock · will lay out and number to our rules · will keep spare, and for how long · whether a customer may collect there · whether their name is hidden from customers | All | Agreed, and written in the purchase terms | Purchasing, owner |
| People, languages, preferred channel, agreement to be messaged | All | Recorded as given | Purchasing |
| Sanctions check | Foreign suppliers; all if cheap | The United Nations' and the United States' own free searches, with a dated record | Accountant |
| Country and tax residence | Foreign | A certificate | Accountant |
| Our code of conduct and the no-gifts rule, acknowledged | All | A signature, or a tap | Owner |
| Optional: quality certificates, "Omani product", small-business card, insurance, safety | Copies with end dates | Purchasing |
Not collected: a copy of anyone's passport or identity card "for the file".
States
| State | Means |
|---|---|
| Draft | Being filled in. Cannot be asked for a price by the system, ordered or paid |
| Approved for prices | Identity checked. May be asked for prices. Cannot be ordered |
| Approved to order | Capability, terms and declarations done. May be ordered. Cannot be paid until bank details are approved |
| Approved to pay | Bank details checked by the accountant and approved by the owner |
| Conditional | Approved with a limit: a trial order, a ceiling on value |
| On hold | No new orders. Open ones continue |
| Blocked | Nothing. With a reason |
Who does what. Purchasing proposes. The accountant checks tax and bank. The owner approves. The person who creates a supplier cannot pay it, by any route.
Kept true
- Every paper with an end date warns at 60, 30 and 7 days.
- A supplier is checked again each year: is the registration still active, are the people the same.
- A change of bank details is never accepted by message alone: a call back to the number on file, a second person, and a wait before the first payment to the new account. A change of phone number or contact freezes any bank change for 14 days (
CRITIQUE.md, control C5). - A new supplier that matches an existing one by registration number, VAT number, account or phone is stopped as a likely duplicate.
- A new supplier paid within a week of being created is shown to the owner.
Why this much care over bank details: in one 2026 survey of finance staff in the United States, three in four firms met attempted or actual payment fraud in a year, most of it by impersonating a supplier or a colleague by email.
6. A supplier's record with us
Not shown as a league table, and never shared against a named rival.
| Measured | From |
|---|---|
| How quickly they answer a price request, and how often | The requests |
| On time | Loading against the agreed date |
| In range: pieces refused at sorting | Sorting (MATCHING.md) |
| Thickness and size | The readings |
| Packing damage | Deliveries and claims |
| How claims are handled | Claims |
| Where their price usually ranks | Comparisons |
A supplier can be told their own figures, privately. The record informs who is asked first; it does not choose.
7. Conduct
| Rule | Detail |
|---|---|
| No gifts, commissions or favours to or from a supplier | Stated to staff and to suppliers. Royal Decree 66/2026 makes private-sector bribery a crime for the giver and the taker, with prison terms; the lawyer writes the policy |
| Staff declare any relation to a supplier | Checked against owners at registration |
| A single-supplier choice, or not the cheapest, has a reason | Seen by the owner each week |
| Prices are not passed between suppliers | By design: separate threads |
| A supplier's safety and labour practice | Asked at registration. Cutting stone makes fine silica dust that causes lung disease; large foreign customers may ask what we know of our suppliers. A question, not an audit |
8. Privacy
Suppliers' contact people are people. Their agreement to be messaged is recorded;
they can stop it; identity copies are not kept; records have a keeping period
(SETTINGS.md). Sending a supplier's messages to an AI model hosted abroad is a
transfer of personal data abroad: for the lawyer, and the reason AI reading is a
switch that starts off.
9. Settings
Added to SETTINGS.md, group 5 (Suppliers and buying).
| Setting | Default | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Suppliers asked per request | 3 at least, 5 at most | Owner |
| Fewer than the least needs | A reason, shown to the owner | Fixed |
| A request must be approved before it is sent | On | Owner |
| The confirmation back to the supplier | On; approved by a person until its wording is a template | Owner |
| Reminders | After 4 working hours; the next working morning; then a person | Administrator |
| No messages | Friday, Saturday, at night, and at shorter hours in Ramadan | Administrator |
| Most requests to one supplier in a week | 10 | Administrator |
| How long we ask a price to hold | 14 days, to match our own quote | Owner |
| A standing price may be used for | Standard tiles, while valid | Owner |
| Price far from the last one | Flag at 15 % | Accountant |
| AI reading of answers | On, with a person looking, once the lawyer's answer is ticked at setup. Until then a person types | Owner |
| Forms inside WhatsApp | Off until the number qualifies | Administrator |
| Papers a supplier must give, by kind of supplier | Section 5 | Owner |
| Re-check a supplier | Every 12 months | Owner |
| Wait before first payment to new bank details | 3 working days | Accountant, with the owner |
| Trial order ceiling for a conditional supplier | An amount | Owner |
10. Screens
| Screen | For | Drawn |
|---|---|---|
| Ask for a price: the lines and who to ask | Purchasing | ● |
| The messages, before sending | Purchasing | ● |
| As the supplier sees it, in WhatsApp | ● | |
| An answer, read: each field beside its source | Purchasing | ● |
| The confirmation, as the supplier sees it | ● | |
| Compare, in one unit, as landed cost; choose with a reason | Purchasing | ● |
| A supplier's standing prices | Purchasing | ● |
| Register a supplier: the steps and their state | Purchasing | ● |
| The supplier fills it in from a link | Supplier | ● |
| Bank details: the accountant's check | Accountant | ● |
| A supplier: state, what they make, how they work with us, their record | Purchasing, owner | ● |
| A choice that needs the owner: one supplier, or not the cheapest | Owner | ● |
| Papers about to end; yearly re-check | Purchasing | ○ |
| The test set for AI reading, and its score | Administrator | ○ |
11. What can go wrong
| Risk | Answer |
|---|---|
| A unit, currency or VAT read wrongly | The source beside every field; checks in code; the supplier confirms |
| A spoken number misheard | Always confirmed in writing |
| A file that carries instructions for the model | The model has no tools; fixed fields; a person approves every send |
| A fraudster changes a supplier's bank details | A call back to the number on file; two people; a wait |
| A staff member favours a supplier | A least number asked; the reason recorded; declarations; the owner sees exceptions |
| Our number is flagged for unwanted messages | Recorded agreement; requests only to those who make the stone; capped reminders; a person named on every message |
| A supplier learns another's price | Separate threads; nothing forwarded |
| Suppliers tire of requests that never become orders | A weekly cap; standing prices for standard items; telling them the outcome |
| The factory reveals itself to the customer | Unchanged: LOGISTICS.md section 9 |
| The customer's name reaches the supplier | A request never carries it |
12. To confirm
A WhatsApp solution provider: that a price request is accepted as a utility template; today's rates for Oman; whether forms inside WhatsApp are available to our number; what counts as proof of a supplier's agreement.
The lawyer: the basis for holding suppliers' people's details; AI reading abroad; keeping periods; the wording of the no-gifts policy under Royal Decree 66/2026; whether owners' details may be asked for.
The accountant: e-invoicing dates for us and for suppliers; tax withheld on any foreign service fees; keeping proof of VAT number checks.
To try ourselves: whether the government's business register can be searched by us; how well voice notes from our real suppliers are written out.
13. Decisions for the owner
Settled by recommendation on 12 November 2026, each as a setting
(SETTINGS.md section 10):
- Three to five suppliers per request, with a reason below three.
- Suppliers may register by link, as well as our people entering them.
- AI reading of answers is on, with a person looking at every one, once the lawyer's answer is recorded. Until then a person types.
- Forms inside WhatsApp are off.
- A supplier is shown their own record when our person chooses, never against a named rival.
14. Sources and limits
Read directly: Meta's developer pages on sending, templates and their categories, pricing, limits, forms, uploads and voice messages; WhatsApp's business policy; Google's sender rules; the security community's guidance on instructions hidden in content; an invoice-reading benchmark and a speech-digits paper (the second by its summary); Royal Decree 66/2026 on bribery in the private sector; a law firm on the data protection law; a guide to checking a VAT number; a note on the beneficial owner rule; a payments-fraud survey's press release; the United States regulator on silica.
Not confirmed: the government business register's search (the site could not be opened); professional procurement bodies' guidance (their sites refused); the studies on numbers of bidders (summaries only, and about public tenders); Oman's marketing rate on WhatsApp; chamber membership, small-business cards and local-content certificates.
Not found: any study of WhatsApp in business buying in the Gulf; reply rates by channel; how readily small suppliers adopt portals, beyond that sign-in is a known barrier; any benchmark for the mistakes particular to stone quotes. The reminder timings and the three-to-five rule are judgement, to be tuned from our own figures.