When an agent fee lands on a different number than you expected, it's nearly always the fee's percentage basis, the way the percentage was typed, or a transaction that was entered before the fee changed. Here's how to tell which.
The Fee Is Calculating on the Wrong Amount
A percentage fee runs against whatever its Fee % Basis is set to. Set to Gross Commission, it takes its cut of the whole transaction's commission; set to Agent Gross, it takes its cut of that one agent's share. A fee meant to be per-agent but left on the transaction-wide basis is the most common cause of a fee that looks too big.
To point the fee at the right number:
- Click the [Gear] in the upper-right corner, then [Admin / Settings].
- Click [Agent Fees] in the Financials section of the left menu.
- Open the Fee % Basis dropdown beside the fee and choose the correct value — Agent Gross for a slice of the individual agent's commission, Gross Commission less Referral Commission when a referral should come out first.
- Click [Save Settings].
Then reopen any affected transaction and click [Update Commissions] to recalculate it.
To check a fee's basis without leaving the commission form, hover over that fee's [%].
The Fee Is Off by a Factor of 100
A fee entered as 0.015000% is fifteen thousandths of a percent, not one and a half percent — on a $24,000 commission that's $3.60 instead of $360.00. If a fee is coming out drastically small, open the Agent Fees page and read the number as written: enter 1.5 with the [%] option for one and a half percent.
A Fee Change Didn't Update an Existing Transaction
Fee amounts and bases apply to commission entries going forward. They don't reach back and rewrite commissions that were already entered, including CDAs created before the fee existed.
To bring one up to date, open the transaction, click [Update Commissions], and step through the commission form again so the current settings recalculate.
The Percentage You Need Can't Be Calculated
Percentage fees can only run against the values in the Fee % Basis list. If your fee is a percentage of something else — gross minus a particular flat deduction, say — there's no formula for it.
Work out the amount yourself and enter it as a dollar figure in Step 3 — Fees & Deductions. The total is identical; only the way it's typed changes.
Still Stuck?
If the math still doesn't reconcile, email us the transaction name and what you expected the fee to be, and we'll trace the calculation with you.
Learn More
Agent fees are what an agent pays the brokerage out of their own share of a commission: office admin, E&O, B&O tax. Set them up once and they're ready on every transaction.
See Agent Fees
Still Have Questions?
Email us at help@paperlesspipeline.com and we'll help.