There is another way to look at a vendor and a supplier. A vendor gets the products from the supplier or the manufacturer, and sells them to companies. He normally gets products on a consignment process, and has the liberty to return all unsold products. His risk is thus, lesser than that of a wholesaler as he can return unsold items and thus, has no headache of any dead stock. A vendor, when returning back some products, clears his account as he pays for the products he has sold retaining his commission or profit percentage as has been fixed beforehand.