Vending: Location Commission

All versions

The commission cheque is the price of the floor space. It is one multiplication — but getting the base wrong, gross versus net of sales tax, is where operators lose real money.

Quick formula: Gross sales times the agreed rate:

=PRODUCT(B2,C2)

$1,240 in monthly sales at 12% owes the location $148.80.

Functions used (tap for the full reference guide):

PRODUCT

The example

Three accounts, each on its own commission rate.

	A	B	C	D	E
1	Location	Gross sales	Rate	Commission	You keep
2	Break room A	1240	12%	$148.80	$1,091.20
3	Gym lobby	860	15%	$129.00	$731.00
4	Shop floor	2100	8%	$168.00	$1,932.00

The formula

PRODUCT multiplies the two cells; a subtraction shows what is left:

=PRODUCT(B2,C2) // gross sales x commission rate

How it works

Both inputs deserve a moment:

B2 is the sales figure the contract names. Read it carefully — gross including tax and net of tax can differ by 8% or more.
C2 is the rate, entered as a percentage so 12% stores as 0.12.
PRODUCT(...) returns the commission owed.
=B2-D2 shows the revenue you actually keep, before product cost.

Commission comes off the top, so a 15% account needs a materially better product margin than an 8% one to be worth the same to you.

Try it: interactive demo

Interactive

Enter gross sales and the commission rate.

Gross sales ($)

Commission rate (%)

Product cost (%)

Variations

Commission on net of sales tax

Strip the tax out first when the contract says net.

=PRODUCT(B2/(1+E2),C2)

Tiered rate above a sales threshold

Reward high-volume accounts without repricing the base.

=IF(B2>1500,B2*0.15,B2*C2)

Pitfalls & errors

Nail down gross versus net in the agreement. On a $1,240 machine, commissioning gross-with-tax instead of net costs roughly $11 a month per account — small until you have forty of them.

Track commission as a percent of gross profit, not of sales. A 12% commission on a low-margin snack line can be most of what you earned.

Practice workbook

📊

Download the free Vending: Location Commission practice workbook

Edit the yellow sales and rate cells; commission recalculates.

Frequently asked questions

What is a normal vending commission?

It varies widely with volume and location type — single-digit percentages on small accounts up to the mid-teens on high-traffic sites. The rate should follow the sales the location actually generates.

Should I pay commission on a machine that loses money?

If the contract says so, yes. But run this alongside your gross-margin figure — an account where commission plus product cost exceeds sales is one to renegotiate or pull.

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Function references: PRODUCT