Buyers Keep all Parts of Buys

Recently one of our buyers bought an item that was gold but one part of it wasn’t gold so the buyer bought the item for the gold, which was the correct thing to do. There was one part that wasn’t gold so they threw it away.

When you make a buy, don’t throw any part (of a whole item) away as there are several situations where the non-gold part might be needed.

Two examples of which I can think of are:

1. Maybe we want to reassemble the item after it is inspected in San Diego. If a part is missing we can’t do that.
2. What if the item comes up stolen and we want to return it to the owner but we are missing a piece of it?

There could be many other reasons to NOT “throw away” a “non-gold part” or any odd part of a whole item until the staff in San Diego inspects the whole item.

Even paperwork, old original notes, etc. may have some unknown value to the item’s history but may not be seen to have value until the item is inspected later down the line.

So the best rule to follow is “keep everything together” so that people down the line within our company, or even an outside dealer that sees it later, may see some value, or “clue” in this odd item, whatever it is.

This doesn’t need to be taken to the extreme of, “It came in a 2-foot by 2-foot plain cardboard box so I kept it all.” A plain cardboard box, or generic Tupperware container, or plastic bag is not likely to be a “clue” to anything of value. But err on the side of keeping, rather than throwing away. And use common sense. If in doubt, consult with your Buying Manager!