Middle Man
Middle Man
A business or person who is involved in the distribution of goods and services, from the point of distribution to the point of consumption.
Merchants
Who purchases goods for resale at a profit. They own the good and have their possession.
Mercantile agents
Acts on behalf of principals in finding buyers for goods and services.
There are two types of mercantile agents. Factors do not own the goods and services themselves but have the temporary possession, earn commission for their services. Broker do not have title not possession, they get brokage for their service.
Importance of Middleman
- Bring about a wide distribution of goods.
- Reduce the work of the producer.
- Reduce the cost of distribution-due to their skills.
Special types of Middleman
- Del credere agent: Renders the additional service of guaranteeing and collecting payment for any transaction handled by him for his principal, for extra commission.
- Buying agent: Find sellers of goods and services.
- Selling agent: Find buyers of goods and services.
- Insurance agent: Employed to effect insurance policies.
- Estate agent: Appointed to buy and sell real property or to collect rents.
- Shipping agent: Deals with all the matters related with shipment of cargo.
- Forwarding agent: Deals with al the matters related to transportation of cargo with in the country.
- Custom clearance agent: As responsible for appraisement of cargo and all motors related to custom clearance and payment of duties thereon on behalf of its principal.