selling

selling sell‧ing [ˈselɪŋ] noun [uncountable]

1. COMMERCE FINANCE when people sell products, services, shares etc:

• The dollar's decline came amid hectic dollar selling in the Japanese currency market.

• In New York, dealers reported heavy selling by investors from all around the world.

• Microsoft's selling costs amounted to 33% of sales.

— see also cross-selling

disˈtress ˌselling FINANCE

when a person or company is forced to sell something because they are in need of money

ˈpyramid ˌselling COMMERCE

a business activity where the main income is from people who pay to sell products, rather than from sales of products themselves. Pyramid selling is illegal in many places:

• Pyramid selling is concerned with marketing goods or services through a chain of private distributors.

ˈshort ˌselling FINANCE

when a trader sells shares immediately after buying them, and then buys them back later, making a profit because the price of the shares has fallen:

• Critics of short selling say it can cause huge falls in prices.

2. MARKETING the job and skill of persuading people to buy things:

• A keen interest in selling is a requirement of the post.

• Production, sales, accounting and purchasing are all concerned with the making and selling of a product.

diˈrect ˌselling MARKETING

when a company or manufacturer offers its products, services etc directly to customers, rather than through shops:

• Exhibitions and trade shows are often used for direct selling.

ˈhard ˌselling MARKETING

when a salesperson uses a lot of pressure to make people buy things:

• Two salesmen were criticized for hard selling to the aged or infirm.

inˈertia ˌselling MARKETING

selling to people by sending them goods that they have not asked for and then asking them to pay for them. Inertia selling depends on people not making the effort to send the goods back

ˌpersonal ˈselling MARKETING

when a company employs salespeople to offers its products, services etc to customers:

• Personal selling is carried out mainly by sales representatives and sales assistants.

ˈtelephone ˌselling also teleselling MARKETING

the practice of telephoning people in order to try to sell them things, or sales made by telephone; = TELESALES:

• Our firm is heavily dependent on telephone selling.

3. best-/​top-/​biggest-/​hot-selling COMMERCE a best-selling, top-selling etc product is very successful and many people have bought it:

• Until a few months ago, it was the best-selling PC in the US.

• Stephen King is already one of the top-selling authors in publishing history.

4. selling agent/​broker COMMERCE a person or company paid to sell property, goods etc for a customer:

• Viewing is by arrangement with the sole selling agents (= the only company involved in the sale of something, especially property ) .

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selling UK US /ˈselɪŋ/ noun [U] COMMERCE

► the activity of making products and services available so that people buy them: »

New measures announced yesterday include plans to accelerate the buying and selling of houses.

»

Market strategists expect some frenzied early selling when trading resumes.

»

The New York Stock Exchange closed for fear of panic selling.

► the job and skill of persuading people to buy things: »

Our staff have received extensive training in selling.

→ See also CROSS-SELLING(Cf. ↑cross-selling), DIRECT SELLING(Cf. ↑direct selling), DISTRESS SELLING(Cf. ↑distress selling), FORCED SELLING(Cf. ↑forced selling), FORWARD SELLING(Cf. ↑forward selling), HARD SELLING(Cf. ↑hard selling), INDIRECT SELLING(Cf. ↑indirect selling), INERTIA SELLING(Cf. ↑inertia selling), MIS-SELLING(Cf. ↑mis-selling), PERSONAL SELLING(Cf. ↑personal selling), PYRAMID SELLING(Cf. ↑pyramid selling), SHORT SELLING(Cf. ↑short selling)