Client fees are paid by a buyer or seller on top of the commission, and the section you collect them in decides who gets the money. Answers to the common questions about payers, payees, and how client fees land in reports.
Is a client fee taken out of the commission?
No — it's added on top. The buyer or seller pays it at closing, outside the normal commission, so nobody's share shrinks to cover it.
Who can set up client fees?
Master admins. The Client Fees page sits in Admin / Settings under Financials. It's part of the Commission Module, so offices without the module don't have the page at all.
Why did a client fee end up in the agent's payable?
Because it was collected in the agent's section. Where you collect a fee decides who receives it. Remove it from the agent's Fees & Deductions and add it under Broker's Fees & Deductions to route it to the office instead.
Does the franchise fee apply to client fees?
No. The franchise fee is calculated on the transaction's gross commission only, so a client fee collected on top — an excise tax, an admin fee — isn't part of that base.
Do client fees show on the Agent Income report?
Only the ones collected to the agent. A client fee collected to the brokerage is brokerage income, so it doesn't turn up on that agent's income report.
Can I use a client fee for a seller-paid bonus?
Yes. Set the bonus up as a client fee name, choose Seller as the payer, and collect it to whoever earns it. It lands as its own line rather than being folded into the commission.
The fee I need isn't in the dropdown. Where is it?
It hasn't been set up yet. The dropdown holds the fee names your office created. A master admin adds the missing one on the Client Fees page, and it's there the next time you enter commissions.
Can a client fee be made payable to a different company?
Not directly. A client fee collected to the brokerage shows as payable to the brokerage name set in Pipeline. To direct the money elsewhere, leave the fee off and write the instruction into the CDA's special instructions instead.
Where do I change an amount that pre-fills on every transaction?
On the Client Fees page — and check your deduction types too. The same charge is sometimes set up in both places. Update it in Admin / Settings under Client Fees and under Deductions, or one of them keeps filling in the old figure.
Learn More
When a buyer or seller pays something on top of the commission, that's a client fee — collected at closing and routed to your brokerage or to the agent.
See Client Fees
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