Query: Professional Niceties, relevent or arcane

I have just learned another "professional nicety", of which I was previously blithely ignorant. It has come to my attention that when a book dealer brings a client of theirs into your shop/booth and said human purchases from you, you owe the introducing dealer a 10% commission. This makes sense, I think, though it was news to me. [N.B. there is an argument that you owe this commission to the other dealer on *all* purchases from such a client *forever*...which also makes sense, but I have heard conflicting opinions...].

This has led me to think about professional courtesies, generally, and what has been happening to them specifically. Changes in the business, particularly the flood of new "dealers" with little or no background in the profession, seems to have resulted in an erosion of some of the niceties of the profession, as perhaps has the growth of web business. The following are the niceties that are front of brain for me...please post or email me with any that I have overlooked:

• The granddaddy, of course, is the reciprocal discount. Typically 20% (10% in the UK, it appears), most dealers who take the business seriously discount stock to other dealers. It is nice when one is purchasing for stock...all but necessary when acting as an agent. When I purchase material for clients, my margin is generally the discount (I do not believe a client should pay more when I secure a book for then than they would getting it from another directly)...as a result, it is very seldom I will purchase a book from a dealer who chooses not to offer a discount. It seems as if this one remains very strong. There is clearly some erosion among internet-only dealers...but most of those who refuse to extend discounts are not "really" book dealers (exceptions, as always, exist).
  
• Not "doing business" in another dealer's shop/booth. This is largely a book fair issue, though one that applies to shops as well. It is just common courtesy that you do not enter another dealer's booth and pitch a book/strike up a conversation with a potential client of that dealer. It is just plain rude. You do not see it often...but it does happen and is almost always a good way to get someone seriously pissed off at you (and talking about it with all other dealers).
• The aforementioned, "tithe to those who bring you clients". This is straight-foreword and makes good business sense. This is, particularly in certain areas, very much a "networked" profession. A fair number of collectors will not buy from dealers they do not "know" and a personal introduction by one dealer to another can go a tremendous way to in starting a relationship. In my experience, such introductions tend to be limited to "good" customers only...all the more reason to thank the introducing dealer. As I mentioned before, there is a traditional view that such an introduction obliges the introducee to pay a commission to the introducor for the life of the client (or other dealer). Again, I think this makes sense...though the logistics seem to get tricky in time...
• A related, "tithe to those who bring you business". This is also pretty straight forward. If a dealer sends someone to you who sells/consigns material with you, you owe that referring dealer 10%. Again, this is just good business...as you want other dealers to feel comfortable introducing you to their "good clients", so do you want those dealers to feel comfortable referring sellers who do not fit their stock. The best transactions are ones where everyone is happy.
  
• Do not make an appointment with a dealer and not buy anything. This applies largely to appointment only dealers and falls under the rule of: if you are going to take someone's time, compensate them for it. Obvious exceptions exist for friends (and, perhaps, enemies) but generally if you call and make an appoint to see someone's books, you should buy *something*. It does not have to be much...though bigger is generally better.
• Don't "cut and paste" other's work product. This is obviously a rather recent addition...though it existed pre-web as the more specific "don't copy verbatim another's catalogue description". This practice, again pursued mostly by...er...flakier members of the art, is really more of a nicety issue than an ethical/legal one. While some are attempting to "copyright" their book descriptions (and the issue generates a fair bit of gnashing of teeth), I suggest that one would be hard pressed to succeed in pursuing such a claim and guarantee it would not be worth the time and effort. That said, while "imitation" may be the sincerest form of flattery, copying verbatim another's description is...er...tacky and rude. I've had people ask me if they could quote large parts of some of my more verbose descriptions and I have never said no. I've had others *clearly* cut and paste my descriptions...I keep a little list. Mind you, there is very little truly original work out there...most "good" book descriptions are so good because interesting bits were pulled out of published bibliographies (or earlier catalogues, etc.). I guess the rule might be "don't be verbatim".

[This last should be noted for a future post...there are some wonderful examples of "bibliographic errors" where a mistake was made in a very early bibliography (e.g. early 17oos) and still appears, two, three and seven generations later, because subsequent bibliographers relied on the first bibliographic description and did not bother to handle the book itself. Admittedly, these things may only interest geeks like me...]

Again, if you know of other "nicety" rules that I have failed to include, please let me know. I am also curious to receive feedback (emails will be kept confidential) as to opinions about specific rules and/or issues around the evolution of such rules in "modern times". I am toying with an article on this subject at some point in the distant future...

Some of these issues seem to break over the "trade" versus "profession" views of the art of book dealing. I am a very strong advocate of the "profession" argument. I know there are a reasonably wide variety of business models that are, to varying degrees, equally viable in the marketplace and this adds complexity at times in having people play well together. That said, I also believe (?know?) that the business as a whole is best served when we treat each other with the highest degree of respect and professionalism possible. Thoughts? Comments? Pissy rants?