CHAPTER IX 

 PURCHASING EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES 



THE BUYER 



The qualified buyer is the one who obtains the r. ost value 

 for his money without defrauding the salesman of money which 

 is justly due him. A business transaction has been defined as 

 being an exchange of values. Therefore, if a permanent busi- 

 ness relationship is established between two firms, the business 

 transaction between them must be mutually beneficial. 



The Buyer Should Know the Present Value of the Goods 

 He Is to Buy. — The unqualified huyei is ignorant of values. 

 He may realize his own ignorance and imagine that the salesman 

 is taking advantage thereof. As a result he may make an arbi- 

 trary offer which is perhaps even less tha'n the cost of the goods 

 to the manufacturer. He is not willing to pay the price at 

 which the goods are offered by the salesman, regardless of how 

 fair such a price may be. 



The salesman who is anxious to do business studies the char- 

 acter of the buyer. It is soon clear to him that he is dealing 

 with a man who is either ignorant as a buyer or perhaps a man 

 who is unwilling that the manufacturer or dealer should make a 

 fair profit. The latter class of men are not considered as desir- 

 able to do business with and some firms even refuse to sell them 

 goods. If the salesman considers that the buyer belongs to the 

 first class mentioned he may be inclined to ask a price high 

 enough so he can afford to reduce it as much as he thinks neces- 

 sary. The buyir in this case is placed at a disadvantage, and it 

 is quite likely that he will pay more than market value for the 

 goods he buys. 



The successful buyer studies the goods he buys. He should 

 know the source of raw material from which they are manu- 



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