OverviewSalaryAboutEducationWhere are the jobsEmploymentGenderRace/Origin
Overview
Sell spare and replacement parts and equipment in repair shop or parts store.
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Titles for this career often contain these words
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Responsibilities and activities
Retail sales workers typically do the following:
- Greet customers and offer them assistance
- Recommend merchandise based on customers’ wants and needs
- Explain the use and benefit of merchandise to customers
- Answer customers’ questions
- Show how merchandise works, if applicable
- Add up customers’ total purchases and accept payment
- Inform customers about current sales, promotions, and policies about payments and exchanges
The following are examples of types of retail sales workers:
Retail salespersons work in stores where they sell goods, such as books, cars, clothing, cosmetics, electronics, furniture, lumber, plants, shoes, and many other types of merchandise.
In addition to helping customers find and select items to buy, many retail salespersons process the payment for the sale, which typically involves operating cash registers.
After taking payment for the purchases, retail salespersons may bag or package the purchases.
Depending on the hours they work, retail salespersons may have to open or close cash registers. This includes counting the money in the register and separating charge slips, coupons, and exchange vouchers. They may also make deposits at a cash office.
For information about other workers who receive and disburse money, see the profile on cashiers.
In addition, retail salespersons may help stock shelves or racks, arrange for mailing or delivery of purchases, mark price tags, take inventory, and prepare displays.
For some retail sales jobs, particularly those involving expensive and complex items, retail sales workers need special knowledge or skills. For example, those who sell cars must be able to explain the features of various models, manufacturers’ specifications, different types of options on the car, financing available, and the details of associated warranties.
In addition, retail sales workers must recognize security risks and thefts and understand their organization’s procedures for handling thefts, which may include notifying security guards or calling police.
Parts salespersons sell spare and replacement parts and equipment, especially car parts. Most work in either automotive parts stores or automobile dealerships. They take customers’ orders, inform customers of part availability and price, and take inventory.
Salary
Median salary: $32,460 annually
Half of those employed in this career earn between $25,970 and $43,120.
Context: Median Salary
How do salaries for this career compare to other jobs' salaries?
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Salary growth for parts salespersons
Is this job likely to reward you for sticking with it through pay raises and promotions? The higher a job’s “experience quotient,” the more you are likely to get as you stay there.
Experience quotient percentile
Take a minute to look at how much you might expect your salary to increase with each five years' experience, as well as how the numbers working at each age change. Does this seem to be a job for the young or the old, or could it be a career offering steady salary growth for many years?
Salary distribution
Number employed
About Parts Salespersons
How do benefits for this career compare to other jobs? The availability of health care, especially employer provided health care, and pension plans can add significantly to the value of compensation you receive in a career. These charts compare how this career compares to other careers with regard to health care and pension plans.
Employee has health insurance
Employer is providing health insurance
Employer-provided pension plan is available
Worker concerns
Some jobs are more stressful than others, and some are just plain dangerous. The following list gives the percentages of parts salespersons who report hazardous or difficult situations typically occurring at least once a week.
- Exposed to Contaminants (68%)
- Time Pressure (52%)
- Unpleasant or Angry People (50%)
- High Conflict Frequency (36%)
- Hazardous Equipment (35%)
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Personality and skills
Can you see yourself in the ranks of Parts Salespersons? Here are the skills and traits that could lead to success.
Customer-service skills
Retail sales workers must be responsive to the wants and needs of customers. They should explain the product options available to customers and make appropriate recommendations.
Interpersonal skills
A friendly and outgoing personality is important for these workers because the job requires almost constant interaction with people.
Math skills
Retail sales workers must have the ability to calculate price totals, discounts, and change owed to customers.
Persistence
A large number of attempted sales may not be successful, so sales workers should not be discouraged easily. They must start each new sales attempt with a positive attitude.
Selling skills
Retail sales workers must be persuasive when interacting with customers. They must clearly and effectively explain the benefits of the merchandise.
Injury and Illness
About 52 parts salespersons become injured or ill for every 10,000 workers, making this job more dangerous than 69% of other careers. The most common specific illnesses or injuries are detailed following.
All multiple traumatic injuries
All cuts, lacerations, punctures
Bruises and contusions
Education pathways to this career
Education attained by parts salespersons
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), parts salespersons typically hold no formal educational credential.
Sometimes the typical education identified by the BLS differs a bit from the reality of the how much education current workers actually have. The donut shows the education level held by people currently working as parts salespersons as reported in responses to the American Community Survey.
Details: Education and training recommended for parts salespersons
Although retail or parts sales positions usually have no formal education requirements, some employers prefer applicants who have a high school diploma or equivalent, especially employers who sell technical products or “big-ticket” items, such as electronics or cars.
Education level of Parts Salespersons
Only 6% of parts salespersons have a bachelor's degree or higher.
Education attained by parts salespersons
None
High School
Some College
Associate's Degree
Bachelor's Degree
Master's Degree
Professional Degree
Doctorate
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Programs recommended by the Department of Education
The Department of Education recommends the following college degree programs as preparation for this career. You can click a program row to learn more about the program and explore a list of schools that offer the program.
Program
Where are the jobs
State-by-state employment numbers
Some careers tend to be centered in specific parts of the country. For example, most jobs in fashion are in New York or California. Let's see if your dream job is easy to find in your dream location! We have a few choices for viewing the data that can help you get a full employment picture.
Select a state to see local area details
Number of Parts Salespersons per 1,000 workers (ACS)
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Job density versus job count
Which states hire the most parts salespersons? We wonder if that's a fair question since states come in all sizes, so instead let's start with the question of which states have the highest density of people working as parts salespersons. You can choose to view the number of jobs per state if you prefer.
Salaries by state
Let's get a feel for where parts salespersons earn the highest salaries. There are several choices for which data we consider and how we view that data, and each can lead to different conclusions, so please read on...
Median salary versus state ratio
We use two methods to compare salaries across states:
- In-state comparisons: the ratio of median (middle) salaries for parts salespersons compared to the median salary for all people working in each state, or
- Median salary: the unaltered median salaries for parts salespersons.
The darkest shading corresponds to states in which parts salespersons earn the highest salary when compared to other jobs in the state. We think this figure might be a better indicator than the actual salary for your buying power as a state resident.
Select a state to see local area details
Location-adjusted median salary for Parts Salespersons (ACS)
Employment
13% of Parts salespersons are working part time.
We’ve found that some jobs have a huge number of part-time workers, and typically that is because they are unable to find full-time work or the job itself can’t provide full-time hours. With 13% part-time workers, this occupation has a higher percentage of part-time workers than 51% of careers.
Employer types
This donut shares the break-down of workers by employer type, giving us a picture of what employers most typically hire for this career.
Employers of undefined (ACS)
Private for-profit
Private not-for-profit
Local government
State government
Federal government
Self-employed incorporated
Self-employed not incorporated
Working without pay
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Distribution: Salaries of parts salespersons by type of employer
Here are the salary distributions based on employer type.
Gender
Parts salespersons and gender
With 13% women, this occupation has a lower percentage of women than 76% of careers.
Gender of Parts salespersons
Men (87%)
Women (13%)
Distribution: salaries by gender
Does gender greatly influence your salary in this career? The closer the bars are, the less discrepancy there is.
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
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Context: Women in the workforce
How does this career compare to other careers with regard to the percentage of women in the career.
Context: Salary inequity
The median (middle) salary for all full-time male workers
in the US exceeds the full-time median salary for women
by 19%, and the difference
for parts salespersons tops that, with the median salary for
men 34% higher than the median
salary for women.
Race/Origin
Race and origin of Parts salespersons
This donut shows the distribution of race and origin among those employed as Parts salespersons.
Race/origin of parts salespersons
White (86% )
Black (5% )
Other (4% )
Multiracial (2% )
Asian (1% )
Hispanic (1% )
American Indian (0% )
Pacific Islander (0% )
Distribution: salaries by race/origin
Some careers might have a pay disparity based on race or origin, the closer the below bars are the less of a discrepancy is present.
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
