What is a differcence between...

Question

hi,I need to know what is a difference between these words:seller, vendor, shopkeeper, salesman, shop assistantthanks a lot

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

They all have an approximately similar sense, that is, a person who has a job selling things. However, there's a distinction between them in usage (current American usage).

"Seller" is used in a more abstract or academic sense, for example: "In a business it is desirable to have the number of buyers and sellers more or less equal."

"Vendor" is used either in a technical business sense, or in a specialty sense, for example: "This contract specifies the type of vendor that is allowed to do business here." or "He's a hot dog vendor. He has a hot dog stand on the corner of Main St. and Harbor Ave."

"Shopkeeper" is a quaint, old-fashioned term, that is rarely heard today, for example: "There are no shopkeepers anymore, because there are no shops. All the businesses are outlets of big chain stores."

"Salesman" (this actually should be "salesperson") is a kind of general term, for example: "He's a door-to-door salesman. He's a used car salesman. We've got all our salesmen out pushing our latest software package."

"Shop assistant" is apparently a British term. "Sales assistant" is used in the US. This means a person in a big department store whose job primarily is to ring up purchases, the customer picking out the items for himself and bringing them to the cash register, for example: "We've got openings for ten sales assistants in our new store."

What is a differcence between...

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬