Vendor

Vendor may refer to any of the following:

1. Also called a provider, seller, and supplier, a vendor is anyone who offers a good or service to another person or company. The good or service offered by the vendor generally has a cost to the customer that helps the company fund its operations. Vendors who do not charge for their goods or services generate revenue through alternative means (e.g., advertising) or may be a non-profit organization that receives support through donations.

2. When dealing with hardware, a VEN (vendor) is the manufacturer of the physical device. For example, with the following PCI (peripheral component interconnect) PnP ID, the vendor is "5333," which, when searched for in the PCI database, is the S3 Graphics company.

VEN_5333&DEV_8901&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_16

3. In computer games like an RPG (role-playing game), a vendor is an NPC (non-playable character) who sells items in a game.

Business terms, Computer abbreviations, Hardware, Hardware terms, Manufacturer, Provider, Vendor ID