> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.kirafin.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Quotation

> The price of a movement before you commit to it, and how long it holds.

A **quotation** is the answer to "what will this cost, and what will actually arrive" — asked before the money moves.

It is not a commitment. You can ask as often as you like, act on none of them, and it costs nothing.

## What it tells you

Three things a decision needs:

* **What is charged**, broken down line by line rather than as a single number, with what each charge is for.
* **What arrives**, after every charge and any conversion.
* **The rate**, when a conversion is involved — both the rate applied and the market rate it came from.

The lines are the charges named in [How you're charged](/overview/how-you-are-charged), and they carry the same names your contract uses:

| Line               | What it is                                                              |
| ------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Inbound fee**    | A percentage of what arrived, charged once when it arrives from outside |
| **Conversion fee** | A percentage of what was converted, on each conversion                  |
| **Rail fee**       | A flat amount per leg, for the network that carried the money           |

Not every line appears on every quotation — a movement with no conversion carries no conversion fee, and a movement paid from a balance you already hold carries no inbound fee, because that was taken when the money arrived.

You can also ask it backwards: give the amount the counterparty should receive, and the quotation tells you what to send.

## Locking it

A quotation can be **locked** for a short window. Within it, the movement settles at exactly the figure you were quoted, even if rates move in between.

This is what lets you show a firm number to your own customer instead of an estimate. It is also the part people get wrong: a lock expires, and a price accepted after it has expired is not the price that will be charged. Ask again rather than assuming.

## What it is called elsewhere

The name is the same in the API reference: [Create a quotation](/api-reference/quotations/create-a-quotation) is the call, [The quotation object](/reference/quotations/the-quotation-object) is what comes back, and a locked quotation is redeemed by naming it when you make the transfer.

<Note>
  A quotation prices the movement **you describe**, including the rail you name — so describe the one you intend to make. See [Rail](/overview/model/rail).
</Note>