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The differences between buyers' agents and senior purchasing agents can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a buyers' agent and a senior purchasing agent. Additionally, a senior purchasing agent has an average salary of $73,386, which is higher than the $59,175 average annual salary of a buyers' agent.
The top three skills for a buyers' agent include buying process, real estate license and purchase agreements. The most important skills for a senior purchasing agent are purchase orders, project management, and supplier relationships.
| Buyers' Agent | Senior Purchasing Agent | |
| Yearly salary | $59,175 | $73,386 |
| Hourly rate | $28.45 | $35.28 |
| Growth rate | 5% | -6% |
| Number of jobs | 33,999 | 43,833 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 64% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Average age | 48 | 48 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
A Buyers' Agent specializes in helping clients with their real estate needs. Their responsibilities begin at meeting the clients to identify their needs and preferences, discuss budgets and other relevant information, and understand the procedures' extent. From there, a Buyers' Agent conducts research and analysis to curate house listings that a client can choose from. They represent the client when liaising with the sellers' agent, conducting inspections and appraisals, and negotiating terms.
Senior Purchasing Agents are experienced employees in the company's purchasing department. They oversee the purchase requisitions of the employees. They validate requests, ensure that the requestors followed company guidelines, check the availability of the items with the chosen supplier, and forward the purchase order to the supplier. Upon fulfillment of the request, Senior Purchasing Agents check the deliveries, ensure that the items are complete and correct, forward the items to the requestor, and process the payment for the supplier. Senior Purchasing agents also prepare reports, spot trends in employee or department purchases, and create recommendations based on observations. They are also expected to form good working relationships with suppliers.
Buyers' agents and senior purchasing agents have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Buyers' Agent | Senior Purchasing Agent | |
| Average salary | $59,175 | $73,386 |
| Salary range | Between $40,000 And $86,000 | Between $52,000 And $103,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | - | New York |
| Best paying company | - | Levi Strauss & Co. |
| Best paying industry | - | Energy |
There are a few differences between a buyers' agent and a senior purchasing agent in terms of educational background:
| Buyers' Agent | Senior Purchasing Agent | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 64% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between buyers' agents' and senior purchasing agents' demographics:
| Buyers' Agent | Senior Purchasing Agent | |
| Average age | 48 | 48 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 44.0% Female, 56.0% | Male, 57.7% Female, 42.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.1% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 12.5% Asian, 7.4% White, 65.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% | Black or African American, 8.9% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 12.3% Asian, 7.7% White, 66.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |