Buyer

“ The seller takes the buyer by the hand, under cover of a scarf or veil, where, by means of the fingers, counting from one to a hundred thousand privately, they offer and bargain far the price till they are agreed, all of which passes in profound silence. ”

“ There can never, it is said, be a want of buyers for all commodities; because whoever offers a commodity for sale, desires to obtain a commodity in exchange for it, and is therefore a buyer by the mere fact of his being a seller. ”

“ This is the common way of dealing; and after all, it may be, they know the contrary of what they affirm; but the buyer, who may think he has no other way of being even with the seller, does as extravagantly commend his goods and justify the price he sets on them, and so there is a fault on both sides; whereas the bargain would be made every jot as well if both buyer and seller would be modest and speak as they think. ”

“ If a buyer, whether he be retailer, jobber, converter, or what not, wishes to secure goods of a certain kind, he would have a very difficult task if he had to canvass the entire market, and ascertain what was being offered. ”

“ Now, by means of bills of lading, the seller is enabled to keep his hold on the goods until he receives the price, and the buyer is enabled to secure possession of the goods as soon as he pays the price. ”

“ Characteristics of the Buyer.—To perform his functions properly, the buyer must be a man of broad experience, with a keen sense of values and the marketing possibilities of merchandise. On the buying side he must have complete information as to the available sources of the merchandise he desires to secure, both in staple and in novelty lines. On the selling side he must know the demands of his customers and the possibility of creating new demands. The best index of the buying power of his customers is the volume of sales made in previous years. ”

“ The modern buyer, on the other hand, is for the most part the mere puppet of the dealer. He buys at the top price of the market because he believes the market will maintain its price, and with a prudence that the dealer is careful to foster he makes his choice from among those{132} older pictures whereof the market value has been appraised by time. ”

“ Proverbs of the market every people has of its own. "It is nought, it is nought, saith the buyer, but, after he is gone his way, then he boasteth." And the seller has all the variants of caveat emptor ready to retort. In antiquity, and in the East to-day, apart from machine-made things, we find the same uncertainty in most transactions as to the value of the article, the same eagerness of both seller and buyer to get at the supposed special knowledge of the other, and the same preliminary skirmish of proposal, protest, offer, refusal, and oath. ”

“ The seller, with silken manners and brazen countenance, will always name a price four times as large as it should be. Then the real business begins. The buyer offers one half or one fourth of what he finally expects to pay ”

“ Let us make the opposite assumption, that the buyer has the privilege of purchasing commodities under their value. In this case it is no longer necessary to bear in mind that he in his turn will become a seller. ”

“ The buyer was engaged in a controversy with the old dealer, the point at issue hinging on one chicken, the Israelite contending he had bought thirteen hens, and the dealer maintaining there were only twelve to be sold. Arguments are taking place all the time between buyer, seller and auctioneer. ”

“ In early English law caveat emptor was the general rule, and it was one well suited to primitive times. Men either bought their goods in the open market-place, or from their neighbours, and buyer and seller contracted on a footing of equality. Now the complexity of modern commerce, the division of labour and the increase of technical skill, have altogether altered the state of affairs. The buyer is more and more driven to rely on the honesty, skill and judgment of the seller or manufacturer. ”

“ It would seem to be all on the side of the buyer and against the seller, who must lose many a bid from a bona fide purchaser at a lower figure. The matter of human nature doubtless figures in the problem, because there is some little [Pg 111] feeling of shame about returning an article bought in under competition, no matter what the guarantee may be. ”

“ I assure you that you are free from all responsibility, and as to the examination myself—I am a merchant, Herr Baron—" again the wary pause,—"the young man is the seller, and a seller always has to lay himself open, and to show what he is, more fully than the buyer, especially here, where the seller is offering himself for sale." ”

“ The wise Buyer, argued Bill, is the man who treats Salesmen like pals, because he can get more out of them that way; and moreover, Salesmen are always in position to do the Buyer a Good Turn in the Trade, as well as up at the Factory when the Complaints come in. ”

“ The conditions, whatever they are, will bind him; for by one of the legal fictions of which we have still so many, the auctioneer, who is in reality the agent for the vendor, becomes also the agent for the buyer, and by putting down the names of bidders and the biddings, he binds him to whom the lot is knocked down to the sale and the conditions,—the falling of the auctioneer's hammer is the acceptance of the offer, which completes the agreement to purchase. ”

“ If there is any doubt in the mind of the would be purchaser as to the character of the seller, that should be the first thing investigated.
What the buyer must satisfy himself of is:
1. Who is the seller? 2. What do the bonds represent? 3. Are they negotiable? and 4. Can they be sold again for about their face value?
Every one who has saved money, it is to be supposed, has a bank account and is acquainted with the president of his local bank. When in doubt, the advice of such a man may be of great help. ”

“ Some salesmen think that selling is like eating—to satisfy an existing appetite; but a good salesman is like a good cook—he can create an appetite when the buyer isn’t hungry. ”

“ A learned author says, 'If any one of the ingredients be wanting, there is no sale.' Atkinson on Sales, 5. Benjamin on Sales, p. 1, note, and p. 2, says, 'To constitute a valid sale, there must be (1) parties competent to contract; (2) mutual assent; (3) a thing, the absolute or general property in which is transferred from the seller to the buyer, (4) a price in money, paid or promised.'
How, then, can there be a sale of seven hundred and five packs of iron, unless there be a purchase of it? How can there be a seller, unless there be likewise a purchaser? ”

“ And as in other things, so in men, not the seller, but the buyer determines the Price. ”

“ Every successful roadside stand operator has built his business on honest dealing and a personal interest in seeing that the buyer is satisfied. This contact between the owner of a small business and a buyer is one that can be capitalized to a very great extent. ”

“ He can then go around the corner, if he wants to, and put his thumb to his nose or call the Buyer anything he can think up that doesn’t carry too far along the etheric waves. But to indulge any such feeling before one is off and premises is to invite probable loss of Sale and possible kick in neck. ”

“ They frequently allow their customer, the buyer, to take the bill of lading, indorsed, for the purpose of entering the goods at the Custom House, or warehousing them, or even for the purpose of selling the goods, so that the buyer will be in funds to enable him to discharge his debt to the banker. ”

“ Another habit is for a buyer, when making an offer which he expects will be accepted by the seller, to ask the seller to open his hand. This being done, he slaps the open hand in token of an agreement as he makes what he pretends to be his last bid. ”

“ That will enable you to meet both real and imaginary competition. By this we mean, be familiar with the intrinsic merits of the goods you are selling, and know the market conditions which surround the trade. Read very carefully all the literature and advertisements put out by your house. Nothing will destroy a buyer’s confidence more quickly than to find a salesman ignorant of the claims made by his own house, or of the specific qualities of the goods offered for sale. ”

“ In such a market every purchase is made with the most thorough acquaintance with the conditions involved. Each dealer, each broker, each speculator, strives to obtain the best knowledge7 of the supply and demand, and the earliest news that may affect it, and each buyer or seller has an equal and a fair opportunity to profit by the resultant effect on the market of all these various agencies. The larger the body of brokers and traders, then, the more accurate the standards of value thus created. ”

“ In the excitement of auction sales higher prices may be paid than would be prudent, or, indeed, it may be that the quality of the specimen bid for is not exactly that which the buyer requires, and the difficulty of changing it is accentuated when the purchaser buys at an auction. ”

“ The main thing for the buyer to possess is a most thorough knowledge of the goods he buys. Learn who makes the goods and where they are made, and get at the factory cost.
Then learn whose factories have the best reputation, and whose are the best fitted and established to make the goods you buy. ”

“ Whenever anybody goes forth to buy, he must of course take with him something with which to pay for what he wants to buy, that is to say, he must become a seller the very instant he becomes a buyer; and whenever anybody wants to sell something, he must of course want something already in the hands of somebody else, in which to take his pay, that is, he becomes a buyer [138] the moment he becomes a seller. ”

“ Looking at bargains from a purely commercial point of view, someone is always cheated, but looked at with the simple eye both seller and buyer always win. ”

“ So a sale upon credit, instead of being for ready money, under a general authority to sell, and in a trade where the usage is to sell for ready money only, creates to contract between the owner and the buyer, and the thing sold may be recovered in an action of trover. ”

“ By waiting, and looking industriously for a customer, or by engaging a real estate dealer to do so, he could finally find a buyer, but the thing is slow and uncertain, and he wishes to get the equipment at once. ”

“ If you do so he will ask for commission from the buyer, you may be sure he will try and do his best with the seller. If you go into a shop and price a certain article, they fix a price they never expect to get ”

“ The buyer is the beneficial and substantial owner, with such attributes of ownership as possession, use and control, and has his equity of redemption sedulously guarded by the law. The seller, on the other hand, reserves title to the goods solely as security for payment or performance by the buyer. ”

“ A broker had offered us a parcel for future delivery at a price he thought cheap and we accepted it. Later he called and said when he gave up our name as the buyer, the seller declined to confirm unless we would deposit with him, the seller, five thousand dollars as security. ”

“ Wholesale buyers and salesmen come together at a designated place at a set time and clear their transactions. The auction is a much more widely used mechanism of trade in England and in continental Europe, where large quantities of nearly all kinds of goods are thus sold, than in America. ”

“ Moreover, the sellers learn to combine; they form partnerships, firms, corporations, alliances, leagues, associations, parties, classes; the buyer, on the other hand, remains unorganized and helpless. ”

“ The author, recently instructor in merchandizing in the University of Wisconsin, has also held positions with Marshall Field & Co., of Chicago, and James McCreery & Co., of New York. His book aims to give “a simple and readable explanation of what is best to-day in buying principles and practice.” (Editor’s introd.) Contents: The merchant as a buyer; Merchandise; Buying practice; Stock systems.
“A book list of descriptive material issued by manufacturers will be suggestive to librarians who wish to build up a working trade collection.” ”

“ Note the two selections that follow, in comparison with the definitions [Pg 105] of a responsible statesman and quack novels on pages 87 and 88, and write a definition of any of the following groups, using the method of comparison and contrast.
A sale of personal property is the transfer of its general ownership from one person to another for a price in money. It is almost always the result of a contract between the seller and the buyer. ”

“ And when, by the introduction of a medium of exchange and measure of value, a distinction has been made between buyers and sellers, the demand for any sort of commodities may be defined to be, the will of persons to purchase them, combined with their general means of purchasing ”

“ But I speak not this to discourage any man, that has a mind to improve his Estate, by adventuring upon such a Purchase; for, though the Planter, by long and tedious pain and industry, have worn out his life, in the acquist of his fortune; yet, the Buyer, by his purchase, is so well and happily seated, as he need endure no such hardships, but may go on in the managing his businesse, with much ease, and some pleasure ”

“ Buyers hired representatives to hold places for them: often one man would have two or three such proxies. They had to be visited often to see that they did not sell out to a rival. It often happened that a place near the head would sell out to a place near the foot at a price representing what would have been a good profit had a lot been bought. ”

“ Accordingly, the proper focus of concern is whether the seller has the power to raise prices, or impose other burdensome terms such as a tie-in, with respect to any appreciable number of buyers within the market. ”

“ Indeed, it is the buyers that make this custom necessary; for they, especially those who buy for immediate use, will first pretend positively to tie themselves up to a limited price, and bid them a little and a little more, till they come so near the sellers' price, that they, the sellers, cannot find in their hearts to refuse it, and then they are tempted to take it, notwithstanding their first words to the contrary. ”