How to hire a merchant

How to hire a merchant, step by step

Here's a step-by-step merchant hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a merchant job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new merchant
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a merchant do?

Post a merchant job for free, promote it for a fee

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring a merchant, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A merchant's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, merchants from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   This list shows salaries for various types of merchants.

   Type of Merchant	Description	Hourly rate
   Merchant	Retail sales workers include both those who sell retail merchandise, such as clothing, furniture, and automobiles, (called retail salespersons) and those who sell spare and replacement parts and equipment, especially car parts (called parts salespersons). Both types of workers help customers find the products they want and process customers’ payments.	$22-57
   Relationship Banker	A relationship banker is responsible for providing financial advice by applying financial disciplines in the banking industry. Relationship bankers process financial transactions on their clients' bank accounts, generate account statements, and reiterate bank policies to support clients' financial goals and objectives... Show more	$13-23
   Finance & Sales Representative	A finance and sales representative is responsible for selling financial services and instruments to clients according to their needs and requirements. Finance and sales representatives identify the clients' long-term financial goals and objectives to provide accurate investment options and plans by considering their risk tolerance and credit performance... Show more	$29-57

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Product Development
   • Gross Margin
   • Market Trends
   • Customer Service
   • Strong Analytical
   • Math
   • PowerPoint
   • Store Operations
   • Product Categories
   • Product Assortment
   • Direct Reports
   • POS
   • Product Knowledge
   • Assortment Planning

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Partner with production on achieving IMU targets and in store deliveries.
   • Manage merchandise deliverable deadlines: photography, copy, and inventory.
   • Manage the OTB to ensure seasonal sales, inventory levels, and margin objectives are met.
   • Lead online visual merchandising decisions base on in-depth understanding of weekly KPI s and high investment products.
   • Set and achieve monthly goals in new accounts and investment referrals; encourage cross-sells of services as per management
   • Manage social media (Facebook) by posting new content, questions, pictures, new arrivals, graphics, etc.

   More merchant duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your merchant job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. A merchant can vary based on:

   • Location. For example, merchants' average salary in missouri is 44% less than in california.
   • Seniority. Entry-level merchants 61% less than senior-level merchants.
   • Certifications. A merchant with certifications usually earns a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for an established firm or a new start-up company can make a big difference in a merchant's salary.

   Average merchant salary

   $74,999yearly

   $36.06 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level merchant salary

   $47,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 17, 2025

   Average merchant salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$121,942	$59
   2	Massachusetts	$102,463	$49
   3	Florida	$87,825	$42
   4	Washington	$86,138	$41
   5	New York	$85,422	$41
   6	New Jersey	$85,410	$41
   7	Ohio	$80,674	$39
   8	North Carolina	$79,696	$38
   9	Virginia	$77,972	$37
   10	Texas	$77,494	$37
   11	Colorado	$76,318	$37
   12	South Carolina	$76,083	$37
   13	Minnesota	$74,255	$36
   14	Tennessee	$73,143	$35
   15	Arkansas	$72,964	$35
   16	Illinois	$72,256	$35
   17	Kansas	$70,995	$34
   18	Georgia	$68,243	$33
   19	Indiana	$64,895	$31
   20	Missouri	$63,697	$31

   Average merchant salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Levi Strauss & Co.	$174,411	$83.85	3
   2	PayPal	$159,476	$76.67
   3	DoorDash	$154,409	$74.24	1
   4	Sephora	$141,460	$68.01
   5	Henri Bendel	$140,520	$67.56
   6	Family Dollar	$139,961	$67.29
   7	Tory Burch	$139,053	$66.85
   8	RH	$127,396	$61.25
   9	Lands' End	$118,594	$57.02
   10	Stripe	$108,133	$51.99
   11	Under Armour	$104,093	$50.04	2
   12	American Eagle Outfitters	$102,973	$49.51
   13	Rally House	$99,120	$47.65
   14	Abercrombie & Fitch Co	$96,694	$46.49	2
   15	Brilliant	$88,698	$42.64
   16	Scoular	$87,860	$42.24
   17	Crocs	$86,363	$41.52
   18	Retail	$86,143	$41.41
   19	Galerie Candy and Gifts	$84,560	$40.65
   20	Cross River	$84,254	$40.51	1

4. Writing a merchant job description

   A job description for a merchant role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a merchant job description:

   Merchant job description example

   National Retail Solutions Plus nrsplus.com provides Point of Sale and Credit Card Processing technology to our customers. Our sales team is rapidly growing and you could be a vital teammate with us. Apply Now!
   
   We offer a base salary, commissions, a travel reimbursement program, health benefits (medical, dental, and vision), and a 401k!
   
   These two products, Point of Sale devices and Merchant Services (can be sold separately or bundled together for best value), provide our sales team with two different ways of earning our generous commission compensation.
   
   Let's talk about your potential earnings:There are both upfront and residual payments that you can earn on our Point of Sale and Merchant Services tech. You earn upfront commissions when you first make the sale and residual payments as your client base continually uses our products.
   
   If you were to sell one of each type of solution per day, your total earnings would be well over $100,000 for your first year, closer to $125,000!!!
   
   Even if you only sell 10 of each per month, you can earn over $65,000 per year. That alone would put you into the top 20% of earners in the entire United States!
   
   Our team looks for highly self-motivated individuals who thrive on achieving success with their strong people skills.
   
   We would ideally like to see some experience in selling either point of sale or merchant services solutions, but we are totally open to those looking to start their own career.
   Bilingual is a plus, but not a requirement.
   NRSPlus operates a nationwide point-of-sale (POS) terminal-based platform for independent retailers; c-stores, grocery, tobacco, and liquor stores. With robust hardware and powerful software with a merchant touchscreen interface, the POS helps retailers compete and thrive, with sales, inventory and user management tools, one-touch Boss Revolution sinless recharge, a built-in, free customer loyalty program plus optional, integrated NRS PAY (and other) credit card processing services.
   
   NRS PAY is a service of National Retail Solutions, offering honest, best-rate credit card processing. CPGs and manufacturers are able to leverage the NRS platform to provision promotions, coupons and special offers for independent retailers and their multicultural customer demographics. Advertisers can reach customers at eye level at checkout, on the POS' large, customer-facing screen.
   
   NRS is a subsidiary of IDT Corporation (NYSE: IDT).

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right merchant for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your merchant job on Zippia to find and attract quality merchant candidates.
   • Use niche websites such as salesjobs, salesheads, allretailjobs.com, sales trax.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   To successfully recruit merchants, your first interview needs to engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. You can go into more detail about the company, the role, and the responsibilities during follow-up interviews.

   You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new merchant

   Once you've found the merchant candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   To prepare for the new merchant first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire a merchant?