Commercial agent

“ The business of merchants, in foreign countries, is usually transacted by agents, called factors, or commission merchants, to whom goods are consigned to be sold, and by whom other articles of merchandise are purchased and returned according to order. Sometimes an agent, called a supercargo, accompanies the vessel ”

“ If the merchant has given to the agent corn, wool, oil, or any sort of goods, to traffic with, the agent shall write down the price and hand over to the merchant; the agent shall take a sealed memorandum of the price which he shall give to the merchant. ”

“ Therefore the prospector parts with his mine as soon as he can find a purchaser, usually an agent, who sells at a profit to some company, which in its turn sells at a greater profit to the British or Australian public. ”

“ The Factor.—Other types of middlemen are the manufacturer’s agent, who is a broker or sales agent, effecting sales usually by means of samples; and the factor or commission merchant who actually handles and sells the goods of his principal. ”

“ But where the agency is continuous, and concerned with a business made up of a long series of transactions of a like nature, of the same general character, it will be held that knowledge acquired as agent in that business in any one or more of the transactions, making up from time to time the whole business of the principal, is notice to the agent and to the principal, which will affect the latter in any other of those transactions in which that agent is engaged, in which that knowledge is material. ”

“ The average merchant in conducting his regular business, when waited upon by one claiming to be an agent of a manufacturer, places his order with that agent fully expecting to receive the goods. As the time rolls on the goods come according to the sample shown and the order given. ”

“ He comes more directly in contact with the buyer; he knows better to whom credit can safely be given, and is prepared to risk credits that the manufacturer would often refuse; he is well posted in railway and shipping rates and conditions, understands the peculiarities, practices, and requirements of particular markets, and has all other necessary commercial information, including freights and tariff duties, at his fingers’ ends.” Surely the functions thus suggested are sufficiently important to keep specialists employed, with profit to society as well as to the individuals engaged. ”

“ If they are letting too much business get away from them, it looks as if they were not attending to their business. They get it from what they see as they go around selling goods." But there is no such generality about this part of the agent's or salesman's business as this statement would lead one to believe. ”

“ The agent of the company who seeks to exclude "opponents" in the trade, errs by attempting to throw the responsibility of the minor question upon the local agent, over whose head he already shakes his permits from a superior power. ”

“ In one, as a book or patent agency, the agent works for one or two persons at a fixed commission and needs no capital. In the other, as that of servants and of supply companies, the agent is also in a certain sense a principal; he obeys no one’s orders, fixes his own commissions, and makes his profits directly from the public. Here are a few points for agents:
287. Book Agency.—The book agency depends partly upon the kind of book, but chiefly upon the kind of man. The right man selling the right book can make enormous wages. ”

“ And where a farmer and a consumer could not even thus be brought into direct contact, the bureau would act as the agent for each—maintaining warehouses, if necessary, to which farmers would send goods to be sold at a stated minimum price and to which consumers would resort for their purchases. ”

“ An agent who has a keen knowledge of human nature, and knows how to ask questions, sifting out the useless and the vicious from the valuable and the virtuous, can through proper advertising in agricultural papers, send at least a thousand of these men into the country every summer. Through an arrangement with the farmer by which $5 of the first month’s wages shall be withheld and forwarded to the agent, the sum of $5,000 as commission for these one thousand laborers is secured. ”

“ Commission merchants receive and sell goods belonging to others for a compensation called a commission. A selling agent is a person who represents a manufacturing establishment in its dealings with the trade. The factory may be located in a small town, while the selling agent has his office and samples in the heart of a great city. As regards the quantity of goods bought or sold in a single transaction, trade is divided into wholesale and retail. The wholesale dealer sells to other dealers, while the retail dealer sells to the consumer—that is, the person who consumes, or uses, the goods. ”

“ Where the number of workmen living on the same spot is large, it may be thought desirable that they should unite together and have an agent, to purchase by wholesale those articles which are most in demand, as tea, sugar, bacon, &c., and to retail them at prices, which will just repay the wholesale cost, together with the expense of the agent who conducts their sale. ”

“ The merchant sometimes furnished the agent with goods which he was to dispose of in the best markets he could find in the cities and towns along his route, and sometimes he would give the agent money with which to purchase goods in foreign cities for sale on his return. ”

“ The United States Agent and the chiefs shall have power to grant license to bring merchandise to the national payment ground for sale to so many traders as they may think proper for the interest of the nation. ”

“ For the propositions of your agent concerning the matter of trade and commerce, we will have due and respective consideration, wishing it had been sooner propounded at the beginning of the year, before we sent our factor into England and Holland about our trade and supplies; for, till his return, we can determine of nothing, not yet knowing certainly what issue there will be of the business between the merchants our partners, and ourselves ”

“ No officer of agent of any corporation, joint-stock company, or association, and no member or agent of any firm, or preson directly or indirectly interested in the pecuniary profits or contracts of such corporation, joint-stock company, association, or firm, shall be employed or shall act as an officer or agent of the United States for the transaction of business with such corporation, joint-stock company, association, or firm. ”

“ The merchant or manufacturer protects himself against his risk of loss by making another addition to the price of the goods he sells. Usually the goods pass through several hands; those of the jobber, the Western or Southern wholesale dealer, and the retailer, before they reach the consumer. ”

“ Which of the two courses seems most in harmony with common sense? The report provdes for a foreign agent to collect money, who shall have for his services thirty cents on every dollar which he may collect. By this we understand that as agent is about to be sent to England to solicit money for the establishment in question. But we respectfully ask the advocates of this measure, What answer their agent can make, when the question is asked him abroad, "What have you done with the press which we have already given you? ”

“ Nothing but a cold, emotionless, methodical, business-like precision, a well-considered series of commercial transactions, conducted by men specially acquainted with the articles required and regularly trained to office routine. ”

“ Frequently a single agent has the consignment of the whole of a company’s yarn, but many spinners, especially those whose business connexion is not perfectly assured, prefer to have more outlets than can be explored by an individual. At times of bad trade even those who usually depend on their own resources seek the aid of experienced agents, who sometimes find a grievance if their services are rejected when trade improves and sales are made easily. ”

“ Wine-merchants will naturally compete every week promiscuously, sending what they consider their best samples, and leaving with the hall-porter tickets of the prices. Confectionery to be done out of the house. Fruiterers, market-men, as butchers and poulterers. The Agent's maitre-d'hotel will give a receipt to each individual for the articles he produces; and let all remember that The Agent is a VERY KEEN JUDGE, and woe betide those who serve him or his clients ill! ”

“ In the matter of buying, the result depends entirely upon the purchasing agent, and this position must necessarily be occupied by a man of honor and integrity, coupled with a reasonable amount of shrewdness and aptitude for such business. As this department covers to a greater or less degree pretty much all the known branches of trade, the buyer cannot, under ordinary circumstances, thoroughly master the whole field as an expert ”

“ The said salesman shall, subject to the control of the said firm, keep proper books of account, and make due and correct entries of the price of all goods sold, and of all transactions and dealings of and in relation to the said business, and shall serve the said firm diligently and according to his best abilities in all respects. ”

“ If an agent is authorized to sell goods, and in making a sale, is notified by the purchaser that the goods are purchased conditionally, in the absence of any special instruction limiting the power of the agent to sell conditionally, brought to the attention of the purchaser, the principal will be bound by the condition. ”

“ This is the constant multiplication of intervening agents—middle-men, factors, brokers, speculators, contractors, and distributors of every sort—between the producer and the consumer, or between the primary owner and the ultimate owner of almost everything which is the subject of ownership and trade. Those two, who are the actual persons brought chiefly into relationship by the thing in question, are put quite out of sight of one another in most of the transactions of modern industry and commerce ”

“ The tradesman sells on commission, as we say, receiving the goods from the manufacturer, the farmer, or the State, and paying only for what are sold at the end of each year, reserving to himself one-twenty-fourth of the price. ”

“ Should the foreigner manufacturer attempt to establish himself in this country he must advertise his goods, establish selling agencies and points of distribution before he can successfully conduct his business. ”

“ Of course, with the development of the market the complexity of office management increased. In modern times the business man concerns himself not only with the duties of the merchant and exchanger, but also with the organization of industry and economical procedure. ”

“ Being Agents for most of the celebrated Family and valuable Patent Medicines, and receiving the same directly from the Manufacturers or their Agents, they are enabled to supply all orders at wholesale and retail, on the most favorable terms. ”

“ Then there is a third source of material, scarcely less important than the study of the house and the customer, and that is a study of the competitors—other firms who are in the same line of business and going after the same trade. The broad-gauged correspondent never misses an opportunity to learn more about the goods of competing houses—the quality of their products, the extent of their lines, their facilities for handling orders, the satisfaction that their goods are giving, the terms on which they are sold and which managers are hustling and up to the minute in their methods. ”

“ The corporation fixes the minimum price of articles of sale, and has secret agents to watch that no house takes less, thereby setting bounds to competition and preventing the injurious depreciation of goods. ”

“ The general retail merchant is compelled to transact business with a great number of wholesale dealers, to whom he pays cash in hand, or agrees to pay it at some future period, say, in four, six, nine, or twelve months. ”

“ The same is true of the manufacturer, whose complicated, and it may be extensive, business relations with the producers and dealers who supply him with raw material, with the workmen who convert such material into finished wares, with the merchants or agents who market the products of his factory, all require his oversight and direction. ”

“ The opening of bids and awarding contracts on sample requires actual acquaintance with the market, and experience in judging of the quality of goods of every variety. He needs the experience and judgment of a first-class country merchant. ”

“ The merchant, the manufacturer, the contractor, are to be able to depend again upon the value of the money they invest in the goods they sell, and upon that assurance they can base safe business calculations. ”

“ All who are engaged in commercial pursuits form a corporation united by the strongest of all bonds, common interest; and commercial correspondence frequently presents a fertile field for observation, and affords much valuable information, which often escapes the inquiries of Government agents.
I resolved to form a connection with some of the mercantile houses which maintained extensive and frequent communications with the Northern States. I knew that by obtaining their confidence I might gain a knowledge of all that was going on in Russia, Sweden, England, and Austria. ”

“ Individuals who are agents for the sale of all manner of speculative securities, who invite you to realise a swift and easy fortune by purchasing a lead mine in the antipodes, or a coal field at the North Pole, or by taking shares in a projected company for journeying in balloons to the moon. ”