Sales and Leases Outline (First Edition)

Sales and Leases | 48

knowledge or skill. Of course, a person could be a merchant as to some transactions and a nonmerchant as to others. UCC Article 2 acknowledges two overarching types of merchants: (1) merchants concerning the practices involved in the transaction and (2) merchants with respect to goods of the kind. [U.C.C. § 2-104(1), cmt. 2 (1951); 2 Anderson U.C.C. §§ 2-104:19, 2-104:22 (3d. ed.), Westlaw (database updated Dec. 2020).] a. Merchants Concerning the Practices Involved Virtually any professional businessperson acting in her business capacity could be considered a merchant concerning the practices involved in the transaction. After all, most transactions subject to Article 2 rest on normal, nonspecialized business practices with which almost anyone in business should be familiar. Thus, for instance, a bank or university could be a merchant concerning the practices involved, even if it does not deal in goods of the kind. Of course, a businessperson acting outside her sphere of business would not necessarily be a merchant concerning the practices involved, for instance, a lawyer buying fishing tackle for her personal use. And if the practices involved are sufficiently specialized, or if the alleged merchant is in fact unfamiliar with them, merely being a professional businessperson might not be enough to make one a merchant concerning the practices involved. [ See U.C.C. § 2-104, cmt. 2 (1951); 2 Anderson U.C.C. § 2-104:37 (3d. ed.), Westlaw (database updated Dec. 2020).] b. Merchant with Respect to Goods of the Kind Merchants with respect to goods of the kind represent a much narrower class than merchants with respect to the practices involved in the transaction. A merchant with respect to goods of the kind refers to someone with professional experience and expertise (or who employs agents with such experience and expertise) in the particular goods that are the subject of the transaction. In this vein, a merchant with respect to goods of the kind will normally be one who sells the particular kind of goods in a professional capacity— that is, one for whom selling or dealing in the particular kind of goods is a substantial part of her occupation. In this vein, casual or isolated sales of the goods are usually not enough to make one a merchant with respect to goods of the kind. Rather, this status normally requires continuous, regular, systematic dealing in the goods. [ See U.C.C. § 2-104, cmt. 2 (1951); Vince v. Broome , 443 So.2d 23 (Miss. 1983); 2 Anderson U.C.C. § 2-104:27 (3d. ed.), Westlaw (database updated Dec. 2020).] Examples : (1) An auctioneer operated a livestock auction. Farmers brought their livestock to the auction. The auctioneer auctioned the livestock off to buyers and took a percentage of the final purchase price as a fee for her services. The auctioneer was a merchant with respect to the livestock. The auctioneer’s entire business involved facilitating the sale of livestock

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