Any one rendering service of any kind may be paid therefor with a salary or a commission or both.

When the pay given for buying or selling or collecting is reckoned at a certain per cent of the price, it is called commission.

The person rendering the service is known as a commission merchant, agent, or broker.

The person for whom the service is rendered is called the principal (employer).

The entire amount received by the commission merchant is called the gross proceeds.

The sum left after the commission has been paid is called the net proceeds.

Problems in commission are percentage problems in which The base is the value of the goods bought, sold, collected, or exchanged. (Cost, selling price, exchange price, etc.) The rate is the per cent of commission.

The percentage is the commission.

The difference is the net proceeds.

To find the commission.

Example: A salesman sold $8424 worth of hats and received a commission of 71%. What was his commission?

To find the commission, multiply the value of the goods bought, sold, collected, or exchanged by the rate of commission expressed as a decimal or as a common fraction.

[Without pencil]

1. What commission did a salesman earn if he received 10% commission for selling $5000 worth of goods?

2. A book agent bought $2000 worth of rare books for a certain customer at a commission of 5%. What commission did he receive?

3. A real estate agent sold property for $80,000 for his principal, Mr. Elson. His commission was 1%. What was his commission?

4. A lawyer collected a debt of $800 for his client and charged a fee of 10%. How much did he receive for his services?

5. An auctioneer sold goods at auction on a commission basis. If his commission was 5% of all sales, how much did he earn last Monday when his sales amounted to $800?

6. Edgar sold 1000 Thrift Stamps one month. His father offered him a commission of 1% for his work. How much did he earn? If he bought Thrift Stamps with his commission, how many stamps did he buy?

7. A buyer in a department store received a yearly salary and a commission of 2% of all purchases made. Last year she bought $100,000 worth of dresses. What was her commission?

8. A salesman sold goods on a salary and commission basis. He received 5% of all sales. What commission did he earn if his sales amounted to $20,000?

9. A commission merchant sold $5000 worth of eggs and charged 5% commission. What was his commission?

Find the commission and the net proceeds in each of the following:

Check all work to test the correctness of your answers.

[With pencil]

1. A salesman sold hats on a commission of 71%. What commission did he earn if his sales amounted to $28,000?

2. A real estate agent charged 24% for purchasing property for $24,500. What was his commission?

3. An agent sold 450 books at $1.20 each and charged 81% commission. What was his commission? What were the net proceeds?

4. A commercial traveler (salesman) received a salary of $1200 a year and a commission of 51% of all sales. His sales for last year amounted to $65,000. How much did he earn last year?

5. A law firm collected 75% of a debt amounting to $360 and charged 10% for collecting. What was the fee of the law firm?

6. Mr. Lowe bought 600 yd. of velvet, at $1.62 a yard, through an agent, paying him a commission of 5%. How much did the velvet cost him?

7. Which was the better offer for a salesman, a yearly salary of $4500 or a commission of 74%, if his yearly sales amounted to $75,000? how much better?

8. Which was the better offer for a commission merchant, and how much better, a commission of 2¢ a bushel or 24% of all the sales, when he sold 500 bu. at 60¢ a bushel?

9. Find the gross cost of the following purchases :

a. 350 yd. of velvet @ $3.20; commission 24%; freight $1.80. b. 800 lb. of coffee @ 20; commission 2%; freight $2.50.