{ "model": { "rank": 1106, "code": "thing-q601401", "model_id": "vr.tr.trade", "name": "trade", "purpose": "Let an agent reason about trade as commercial activity with traders, outlets, goods, licences and consumer rules, separate from occupations and from international trade policy.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Activities and processes", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "ACT", "domain": "ACT.ACT", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q601401/", "tier": 2, "score": 182, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "Fur Brothers", "coin dealer", "street vending", "filling station", "vape shop", "cash and carry", "swimming pool equipment shop", "illicit massage industry", "unstaffed filling station", "Tank S", "gas station", "Self service fuel station", "Total filling station barnawa complex Kaduna", "CNG station", "gas station chain", "fuelling station", "atacarejo", "Obramax", "Role of Nantes in the slave trade", "spice trade", "wholesale bookseller", "live fish trade", "mass-market retailing", "e-commerce", "flower delivery", "print24", "Infowerk", "Q-commerce", "grocery delivery", "mobile commerce", "agentic commerce", "Easyprint", "darknet market", "online shopping", "B2B e-commerce", "location-commerce", "social commerce", "online tourism", "Wirelessbro", "Onyeka Akumah" ], "aliasCount": 407, "merged": 408, "knownIn": 182, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": "vr.tr.trade-act", "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q601401", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q601401", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-11T04:44:29Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 1, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q601401", "registryId": "vr.tr.trade", "name": "trade", "version": "0.2.0-wave.1", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "ACT.ACT" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q601401/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.trade", "name": "trade", "purpose": "Let an agent reason about trade as commercial activity with traders, outlets, goods, licences and consumer rules, separate from occupations and from international trade policy.", "definition": "The business of buying and selling goods or services, and the commercial activity and outlets through which it is carried out, from street vending to wholesale and retail shops.", "what_it_is_for": "Getting goods and services from producers to buyers in exchange for payment.", "affordances": [ "buy and sell goods and services", "license and register a trading business", "set prices and terms, within consumer law", "inspect traders, for standards and fair dealing" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Exchange of goods or services for payment", "Carried out by traders through outlets", "Subject to licensing, consumer protection and tax rules", "Trade as a craft occupation is a different sense" ], "appearance": "Shops, markets, stalls, filling stations, cash-and-carry warehouses and online stores, with goods on display and prices.", "visual_identification": [ "Goods on display with prices", "Shop signs, trading names and licences on display", "Payment points" ], "physical_properties": [], "families_and_kinds": [ "retail: shops, supermarkets, specialist shops", "wholesale and cash and carry", "street vending and markets", "online commerce", "service stations and dealers such as coin dealers" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "involves", "target": "payment", "why": "exchange for money" }, { "relation": "is carried out by", "target": "trader or business", "why": "the commercial actor" }, { "relation": "is regulated by", "target": "consumer protection law", "why": "rights of buyers" }, { "relation": "is confused with", "target": "international trade", "why": "trade between countries is a policy domain" } ], "identifiers": [ { "scheme": "business registration number", "value_or_pattern": "jurisdiction-specific", "note": "identifies the trader" }, { "scheme": "VAT number", "value_or_pattern": "country prefix plus digits", "note": "tax identity" }, { "scheme": "NACE or NAICS code", "value_or_pattern": "industry classification", "note": "classifies the activity" } ], "standards_and_regulation": [ "Consumer protection law, such as the EU Consumer Rights Directive", "Trading licences and street trading rules", "Weights and measures law", "Tax law on sales" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Unfair or misleading practices", "Unsafe or counterfeit goods", "Unlicensed trading", "Price errors and short measure" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "trader-and-outlet", "name": "Trader and outlet", "description": "Who trades and where.", "rationale": "Identifying the trader is the basis of consumer rights.", "layers": [ { "id": "trader", "name": "Trader", "description": "Business identity.", "findings": [ { "id": "trader-finding", "name": "Trader identity", "description": "The legal identity of the trader.", "questions": [ { "text": "Who is the trader, and what is their registration?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Are they licensed for this activity?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "outlet", "name": "Outlet", "description": "Shop, stall, online.", "findings": [ { "id": "outlet-finding", "name": "Outlet", "description": "The outlet type and location.", "questions": [ { "text": "What kind of outlet is it, and where?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "What are its trading hours?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "goods-and-prices", "name": "Goods and prices", "description": "What is sold and for how much.", "rationale": "Goods and prices are the substance of the trade.", "layers": [ { "id": "goods", "name": "Goods and services", "description": "What is on offer.", "findings": [ { "id": "goods-finding", "name": "Offer", "description": "The goods and services offered.", "questions": [ { "text": "What goods or services are sold?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Are any restricted, requiring age checks or licences?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "pricing", "name": "Pricing", "description": "Prices and terms.", "findings": [ { "id": "pricing-finding", "name": "Pricing", "description": "Prices and terms of sale.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are the prices and terms, including taxes?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "text": "Are prices displayed as required?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "consumer-rights", "name": "Consumer rights", "description": "Protection for buyers.", "rationale": "Consumer rights define what buyers can expect.", "layers": [ { "id": "rights", "name": "Rights", "description": "Returns, refunds, guarantees.", "findings": [ { "id": "rights-finding", "name": "Rights", "description": "Rights of the buyer.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which return and refund rights apply?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "text": "How is a complaint made?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "fairness", "name": "Fair dealing", "description": "Misleading practices.", "findings": [ { "id": "fairness-finding", "name": "Fairness", "description": "Signs of unfair practice.", "questions": [ { "text": "Is anything in the offer misleading?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "text": "Which authority handles complaints?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "regulation", "name": "Regulation", "description": "Licences, tax and inspection.", "rationale": "Rules protect buyers and the public purse.", "layers": [ { "id": "licensing", "name": "Licensing", "description": "Permits.", "findings": [ { "id": "licensing-finding", "name": "Licences", "description": "Licences held.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which licences does this trade require?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Are they current?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "inspection", "name": "Inspection", "description": "Standards and weights.", "findings": [ { "id": "inspection-finding", "name": "Inspection", "description": "Inspection results.", "questions": [ { "text": "When was the trader last inspected, with what result?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Are measures and scales certified?", "kind": "measurement" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should kinds of outlet be separate entries?", "How should trade as activity and trade as occupation be separated?", "Which industry classification should the registry use?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "abstract concept", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a trade, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent reason about trade as commercial activity with traders, outlets, goods, licences and consumer rules, separate from occupations and from international trade policy.", "characteristics": { "substance": "activity", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: Fur Brothers, coin dealer, street vending, filling station, vape shop, cash and carry, swimming pool equipment shop, illicit massage industry, unstaffed filling station, Tank S, gas station, Self service fuel station.", "408 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 182 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a trade, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "something that happens over time", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Nothing to see. What is recognised is an instance of it, and which instances count is exactly what is argued about." ], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "Fur Brothers", "coin dealer", "street vending", "filling station", "vape shop", "cash and carry", "swimming pool equipment shop", "illicit massage industry", "unstaffed filling station", "Tank S", "gas station", "Self service fuel station" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 182 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 408 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one trade from another, and a trade from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a trade, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a trade, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a trade is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a trade, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a trade, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a trade is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a trade sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a trade, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a trade, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a trade is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a trade from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a trade, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a trade, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a trade is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a trade passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a trade between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a trade, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a trade, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a trade is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a trade, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a trade is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a trade, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a trade, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a trade is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "process-and-outcome", "name": "Process, inputs and outcome", "description": "How a trade proceeds, what it needs and what it leaves behind.", "rationale": "An activity is known by its steps and its results, and both have to be recordable while it is still running.", "layers": [ { "id": "steps-and-sequence", "name": "Steps and sequence", "description": "The steps of a trade, their order and what may run in parallel.", "findings": [ { "id": "steps-and-preconditions", "name": "Steps, preconditions and completion", "description": "What has to be true before each step of a trade and what marks it done.", "questions": [ { "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a step of a trade, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a step of a trade, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a step of a trade is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "inputs-and-results", "name": "Inputs, resources and results", "description": "What a trade consumes and what it produces.", "findings": [ { "id": "inputs-and-outputs", "name": "Inputs, outputs and side effects", "description": "The resources a trade takes and the results it leaves, wanted or not.", "questions": [ { "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the inputs and results of a trade, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the inputs and results of a trade, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the inputs and results of a trade is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "definitions-in-contest", "name": "Definitions and who holds them", "description": "What trade is taken to mean, and by whom.", "rationale": "When a field disagrees about a concept, the disagreement is the content. A model that picks one definition silently destroys the information.", "layers": [ { "id": "competing-definitions", "name": "Competing definitions", "description": "The main readings and the traditions behind them.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-map", "name": "Definitions and their holders", "description": "Each definition with the school or body that holds it.", "questions": [ { "id": "definition-map-q01", "text": "Which definitions of trade are in use, and which tradition or body holds each?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "definition-map-q02", "text": "What turns on the difference between them in practice?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "operationalisation", "name": "Operationalisation", "description": "How it is measured or applied when it has to be.", "findings": [ { "id": "operational-record", "name": "Measures and proxies", "description": "Instruments and indicators used to stand in for it.", "questions": [ { "id": "operational-record-q01", "text": "How is trade operationalised or measured in practice, and by what instrument?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "id": "operational-record-q02", "text": "What does that operationalisation leave out, and when does that matter?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "instances-and-use", "name": "Instances, use and consequence", "description": "What counts as an instance of trade and what follows from calling something that.", "rationale": "Applying a concept is an act with consequences, so a model must say what the label licenses and what it does not.", "layers": [ { "id": "instances", "name": "What counts as an instance", "description": "Clear cases, borderline cases and non-cases.", "findings": [ { "id": "instance-tests", "name": "Tests for an instance", "description": "What would settle whether something falls under it.", "questions": [ { "id": "instance-tests-q01", "text": "What would settle whether something is an instance of trade?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "instance-tests-q02", "text": "Which borderline cases are argued about, and on what grounds?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "consequence", "name": "Consequence of application", "description": "Rights, duties or decisions that follow from the label.", "findings": [ { "id": "consequence-record", "name": "What the label licenses", "description": "What an agent may do once something is classified this way.", "questions": [ { "id": "consequence-record-q01", "text": "What follows practically once something is treated as trade?", "kind": "action" }, { "id": "consequence-record-q02", "text": "What must an agent not infer from the label alone?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a trade came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a trade and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a trade, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a trade, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a trade is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a trade is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a trade, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a trade, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a trade is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 12, "findings": 14, "questions": 38 } } } }