Buyer vs procurement agent

The differences between buyers and procurement agents can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes More than 10 years to become a buyer, becoming a procurement agent takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a procurement agent has an average salary of $72,384, which is higher than the $54,049 average annual salary of a buyer.

The top three skills for a buyer include purchase orders, customer service and logistics. The most important skills for a procurement agent are supply chain, strategic sourcing, and supplier performance.

Buyer vs procurement agent overview

	Buyer	Procurement Agent
Yearly salary	$54,049	$72,384
Hourly rate	$25.99	$34.80
Growth rate	-	11%
Number of jobs	23,589	45,198
Job satisfaction	5	2
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 64%	Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Average age	47	48
Years of experience	-	6

What does a buyer do?

A buyer's duties include product sourcing and comparing resources for the best product range that would suit the specific needs of the business. Buyers must have excellent communication and negotiation skills to evaluate items that most likely benefit the customer and improve the sales of daily operations with cost-efficient products. They also conduct extensive research for market and price trends while considering the highest quality standards. Buyers should also possess strong analytical skills to create purchase orders and statistical analysis.

What does a procurement agent do?

A procurement agent develops profitable measures to save the client money and ensure the quality of goods supplied. Procurement agents obtain the purchased items through suppliers, monitor them, and expedite the orders. They oversee the activities and performance of the suppliers for compliance. Their duties include the verification of item receipts, resolving shipment-related problems, and authorizing purchase payments through documentation. The necessary skills for this job include being accomplished, decisive, and strong communication skills.

Buyer vs procurement agent salary

Buyers and procurement agents have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Buyer	Procurement Agent
Average salary	$54,049	$72,384
Salary range	Between $37,000 And $76,000	Between $49,000 And $106,000
Highest paying City	Englewood, NJ	Richmond, CA
Highest paying state	New Jersey	New Jersey
Best paying company	NVIDIA	McKinsey & Company Inc
Best paying industry	Automotive	Technology

Differences between buyer and procurement agent education

There are a few differences between a buyer and a procurement agent in terms of educational background:

	Buyer	Procurement Agent
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 64%	Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	California State University - Bakersfield	University of Pennsylvania

Buyer vs procurement agent demographics

Here are the differences between buyers' and procurement agents' demographics:

	Buyer	Procurement Agent
Average age	47	48
Gender ratio	Male, 43.9% Female, 56.1%	Male, 51.4% Female, 48.6%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 4.0% Unknown, 3.1% Hispanic or Latino, 10.0% Asian, 6.7% White, 75.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%	Black or African American, 8.8% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 12.2% Asian, 7.6% White, 66.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%
LGBT Percentage	15%	7%

Differences between buyer and procurement agent duties and responsibilities

Buyer example responsibilities.

Achieve QA initiatives by increasing transparency and communication with multiple departments and suppliers to achieve daily/weekly/monthly production requirements and expedites.
Manage all incoming RMA equipment, processing and directing to correct locations and departments.
Create, analyze and manage recaps pertaining to inventory, trends, OTB, and markdowns.
Manage KanBan spreadsheets to optimize inventory levels and supplier performance.
Manage business relationship with Japanese OEM of wide-format printer engines.
Manage MRB and IQA escalations to facilitate defective material resolutions.

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Procurement agent example responsibilities.

Achieve $200k cost savings buy locating excess material from OEM.
Manage project size OEM bills of material from supplier negotiation through final invoice.
Monitor and manage cost of components for bill of material (BOM), schedule lead times and performance with budgets.
Prepare strategic commodity business plans for globally manage commodities, performing spend analysis, and identifying part cost drivers.
Process purchase requisitions to POs for different commodities for MCI s end-user community.
Perform category spend analysis of indirect spend for hotel expenses to determine hotel candidates for 2010 RFP corporate rate negotiations.

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Buyer vs procurement agent skills

Common buyer skills

Purchase Orders, 22%
Customer Service, 11%
Logistics, 5%
Supplier Performance, 4%
MRP, 4%
Commodities, 3%

Common procurement agent skills

Supply Chain, 15%
Strategic Sourcing, 6%
Supplier Performance, 6%
Customer Service, 5%
Inventory Control, 4%
Purchase Orders, 4%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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