For businesses
Received an email from a standinfor.me address?
It's from a real customer. Someone who wants to buy what you sell. Instead of writing to every business themselves, they asked their StandIn — a personal assistant that handles the emailing, comparing, and negotiating for them — to contact businesses on their behalf. Yours is one of them.
The email comes from an address that belongs to that customer for this one purchase, for example sam-rav4@standinfor.me. Reply to it the way you'd reply to any customer. Your answer goes to their StandIn, which reads it, asks a follow-up if something is unclear, and shows your offer to the customer next to the others they received.
Hello,
I'm looking for a used Toyota RAV4, 2020 or newer, ideally under $25,000, and I'm about 12 miles from your lot. Adaptive cruise control is a must for me.
Could you let me know:
- which RAV4s you have in stock that fit,
- the out-the-door price for each, and
- whether each one has adaptive cruise.
I'm comparing a few dealers this week and will come in to see the one I choose.
Thanks,
Sam
Sent on behalf of Sam Ortiz by standinfor.me. This assistant corresponds and negotiates on the sender's behalf and has no authority to accept an offer or agree to terms. Any agreement is subject to the sender's own confirmation and a signed written agreement.
What this is
A customer asking you for an offer — with the details already in.
Nobody is selling you anything. A person with a real budget and real requirements wants to know what you can offer them. The email tells you what they need, how far they'll travel, and what matters to them, because their StandIn asked them before writing to you.
One customer, one purchase.
Each address is created for one person and one thing they want to buy. When that purchase is done, the conversation is over. You're not being added to a mailing list, and you won't get a stream of emails from the same address.
The customer decides. You close the sale.
The StandIn collects offers and negotiates on the customer's behalf, but it has no authority to accept an offer or agree to terms for them; every email says so in its footer. If the customer picks yours, they make the agreement with you directly, and we're not part of that transaction.
Nothing to sign up for.
Your address came from public business listings, or the customer gave it to us. There is no account to create and no website to log into. Just reply to the email.
How to reply
How to make sure your offer reaches the customer.
The customer typically sees the two or three best offers out of everyone who answered, chosen by comparing what each business actually wrote back. The reply that gets through is the one that answers the questions.
-
Answer the questions that were asked, in the email.
What you have, what it costs, when it's available, what the terms are — whatever the email lists. A concrete total price beats "come in and we'll talk". The StandIn can't take a phone call or fill in a form on your website, so a reply that only says "call us" gives the customer nothing to compare.
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Reply to the same address and keep the subject line.
Just hit reply. The code in the subject line (like [SF-7K3Q]) is how your answer finds its way to the right customer, so leave it in. Attachments, spec sheets, and photos are fine.
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Expect follow-up questions, and possibly a counteroffer.
If something in your reply is unclear, the StandIn will ask. If your offer is close to another one, it may tell you the price it has been offered elsewhere and ask whether you can do better. Its rules are to negotiate plainly: no invented competing offers, and no requirements the customer didn't state.
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Put what you promise in writing.
The customer chooses based on what was written down: the price, what's included, and how long the offer is good for. Whatever you'd tell them across the desk, put in the reply.
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Not a fit? Say so, and that's the end of it.
A short "we don't have anything that matches" closes the conversation and the StandIn moves on. If you don't reply at all, expect a polite reminder or two, and then it moves on.
An invitation
Let an assistant of your own answer these emails.
The customer's side of this conversation is already handled by an assistant. We're now setting up assistants for the business side: one that drafts answers to inquiries like this from your inventory and your prices, with a person at your business checking what goes out. If you'd like to be among the first, tell us about your business.
Drafts first, sending later
Your assistant would write a draft reply for one of your staff to check and send, based on how your team has answered similar questions before. Nothing goes out that a person at your business hasn't approved.
The replies it has are the ones it compares
While a customer's StandIn waits for your reply, it's already comparing the ones it has. An answer that arrives on Thursday is weighed against offers that arrived on Monday.
Already using software that answers leads?
If your business already runs on a system that handles inquiries — for leads, service bookings, or scheduling — tell us which one. Connecting it so these emails are answered there is part of what we'd set up with you.
Questions
Things businesses ask us.
Is this spam?
No. Each email is one customer's inquiry about one purchase, sent only to businesses that sell what they're looking for, near where they are. They aren't sent in bulk: each one is written for one customer's request.
Why is the sender a person's name?
Because a person is buying. Their StandIn writes on their behalf and on their instructions. The footer at the bottom of the email says an assistant sent it on their behalf, that it has no authority to accept offers or agree to terms for them. This page is where to read about it.
Can I get the customer's phone number or personal email?
Not from us. The address the email came from is how this customer has chosen to be reached for this purchase. If they want to move to a call or a visit, they'll offer it themselves.
How do I stop receiving these?
Reply and say you're not interested; that customer's StandIn moves on. These are individual customers' inquiries sent to a public business address, not advertising, so there is no mailing list behind them to unsubscribe from.