At a glance
Median RFQ Response Time (hours) is a Listing Health metric tracked from Alibaba data. It measures the typical time you take to reply to a buyer’s request for quotation or inquiry, in hours. Buyers shop multiple suppliers at once and reward the fastest reply, so a median above the day mark routinely loses business to competitors who answer within a few hours. The card pairs with RFQ Response Rate to show both speed and coverage of your buyer responses. Cross-reference the related cards below for context.
| What it counts | The median time in hours between an RFQ or buyer inquiry arriving and your first response, as exposed by the Alibaba integration. The metric is computed from the latest available data and refreshed on the standard data refresh. |
| Sample type | Backend API data from Alibaba, refreshed on the standard data refresh. |
| Why it matters | The metric appears in the Listing Health category and complements the sibling cards listed below. Faster replies win more quotes; a median above 24 hours cedes buyers to quicker suppliers. |
| Reading the value | Read in hours; lower is better. Compare the current period to the prior period to spot drift, and watch for crossing the 24-hour mark. |
| Currency | count |
| Time window | 30D vsP |
| Alert trigger | >24h |
| Sentiment key | ali_rfq_median_response_time |
| Roles | owner, marketing |
Calculation
Calculated automatically from your Alibaba data by taking the time between each RFQ or buyer inquiry arriving and your first reply, then reporting the median across the trailing period with a comparison against the prior period. The median is used rather than the mean so a handful of very slow or very fast replies do not distort the typical experience. Inputs are the RFQ and message timestamps the Alibaba integration exposes. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading.Worked example
A representative reading of Median RFQ Response Time (hours) for a typical Alibaba supplier. Suppose the 30-day median reads 31 hours on 12 Mar 26, up from 14 hours the prior period, and the alert has fired because it crossed 24 hours. Looking closer, weekend inquiries are going unanswered until Monday, dragging the median up even though weekday replies are quick. The fix is operational: add weekend coverage or a quick-reply template so first responses go out within a few hours regardless of day. Bringing the median back under the day mark typically lifts quote-to-order conversion. For deeper investigation, use Vortex Mind to see which days and message types are slowest; for natural-language exploration, ask Ask Viq which RFQs waited longest last week.Sibling cards merchants should reference together
| Card | Why merchants reach for it |
|---|---|
rfq-response-rate-30d | Listing Health sibling: the coverage half of the same RFQ story. |
buyer-messages-unread | Listing Health sibling: unread messages are slow replies waiting to happen. |
verified-gold-supplier-badge-status | Executive sibling: response speed feeds badge eligibility. |
revenue-at-risk-live | Executive sibling: overdue RFQs convert directly into revenue exposure. |
alibaba-supplier-health-score | Listing Health sibling: responsiveness is a component of overall health. |
Reconciling against Alibaba Seller dashboard
Where to look in Alibaba’s own dashboard: Open My Alibaba > Message Centre and the RFQ Market response metrics, where Alibaba reports your average response time and response performance. Confirm period boundaries and filter settings match the Vortex IQ profile to reconcile cleanly. Why the Vortex IQ value may legitimately differ:| Reason | Direction | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Period boundary. Vortex IQ uses a 30-day rolling window with prior-period comparison; Alibaba may report a different range or a lifetime average. | Variable | Match the period range. |
| Time zone. Alibaba uses account time zone; Vortex IQ aligns to your merchant reporting time zone, which can change which day a reply falls on. | Marginal | Confirm time zone match. |
| Filter scope. Alibaba may report an average while Vortex IQ reports the median, and profile-level filters may narrow the message set. | Variable | Compare median vs average and match filters. |