Buyer vs seller

The differences between buyers and sellers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a buyer has an average salary of $54,049, which is higher than the $25,530 average annual salary of a seller.

The top three skills for a buyer include purchase orders, customer service and logistics. The most important skills for a seller are product knowledge, customer service, and POS.

Buyer vs seller overview

	Buyer	Seller
Yearly salary	$54,049	$25,530
Hourly rate	$25.99	$12.27
Growth rate	-	-
Number of jobs	23,589	1,064
Job satisfaction	5	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 64%	Bachelor's Degree, 51%
Average age	47	41
Years of experience	-	-

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 seller do?

A seller is a sales facilitator responsible for initializing sales conversations and easing customer sales experience. A seller helps customers and then offers the best solution in regards to the products being sold. They also explain to the customers how a certain product works when necessary, as well as explain the current deals and discounts.

Buyer vs seller salary

Buyers and sellers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Buyer	Seller
Average salary	$54,049	$25,530
Salary range	Between $37,000 And $76,000	Between $9,000 And $71,000
Highest paying City	Englewood, NJ	Boston, MA
Highest paying state	New Jersey	Massachusetts
Best paying company	NVIDIA	Point B
Best paying industry	Automotive	-

Differences between buyer and seller education

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

	Buyer	Seller
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 64%	Bachelor's Degree, 51%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	California State University - Bakersfield	-

Buyer vs seller demographics

Here are the differences between buyers' and sellers' demographics:

	Buyer	Seller
Average age	47	41
Gender ratio	Male, 43.9% Female, 56.1%	Male, 50.0% Female, 50.0%
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, 8.5% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 24.4% Asian, 7.0% White, 54.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%
LGBT Percentage	15%	7%

Differences between buyer and seller 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.

Seller example responsibilities.

Require to manage time and employee hours schedule in conjunction with intake of customer PCs in need of repair.
Work in the music department shelving CDs and DVDs, and occasionally working the cash register.
Assemble PowerPoint presentations, clip books and event materials.
Create dozens of compelling PowerPoint presentations for brokers and clients.
Stock, inventory, and maintain appearance of music and DVD sales department.
Work as a seller/buyer of auto parts and utilize online payment services such as Paypal.

Buyer vs seller skills

Common buyer skills

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

Common seller skills

Product Knowledge, 72%
Customer Service, 8%
POS, 7%
Cash Handling, 5%
Ebay Store, 2%
Online Sales, 1%