# Business referrers

> Record the referrer behind each consignment, calculate their commission on sold lots or on your vendor commission, and see what is payable once buyers have paid.

- URL: https://www.selloff.auction/features/business-referrers
- Language: English
- Domain: Consignments
- Last updated: 2026-10-07
- Français: https://www.selloff.auction/fr/fonctionnalites/apporteurs-affaires.md

## At a glance

- Referrer (broker) and commission rate set on each consignment
- Commission calculated on the total of sold lots or on the total vendor commission
- Per-sale report by referrer, consignment and currency
- Payable amount in proportion to what buyers have actually paid
- PDF report for one referrer, one currency or all referrers

## Who brought the consignment?

Many consignments arrive through an intermediary: a dealer, an expert, a lawyer or a regular client who recommends your house. Selloff calls them brokers, or business referrers, and rewards them with a share linked to the consignment's results.

## Set on each consignment

Any contact can be flagged as a consignment broker. On a consignment, you pick the referrer and enter their commission percentage next to the consignor's own terms. The contact record of the referrer then shows every consignment they introduced in an "As broker" section, and the contact list can be filtered to show referrers only.

## How the commission is calculated

A house-wide setting defines the base of the calculation:

- the **total of sold lots**, the default, or
- the **total vendor commission** earned on the consignment.

For each sale, the broker commission report breaks the figures down by referrer, consignment and currency: number and total of sold, paid, unsold and returned lots, the commission due, and the part already payable, in proportion to what buyers have paid. Download it as a PDF for one referrer, one currency or all of them, and use it to settle the referrer or to answer their questions.

## Stays consistent after the sale

When a sold lot from a referred consignment is returned, Selloff warns that the referrer's commission is affected. Referrer placeholders in your receipt and consignment templates let you mention the arrangement in the documents you choose, and the referrer can be added to the consignment's email recipients. See also [consignor management](https://www.selloff.auction/features/consignor-management.md) and [consignor settlements](https://www.selloff.auction/features/consignor-settlements.md).

## Related features

- [Consignor management](https://www.selloff.auction/features/consignor-management.md): Set commission, lot fees, insurance, broker and representative per consignment, group lots under receipts, and keep each consignor informed from one page.
- [Consignor settlements](https://www.selloff.auction/features/consignor-settlements.md): Generate consignor statements for a whole sale, deduct commission, fees and VAT, pay consignors once buyers have paid and export transfers to your bank.
- [Results & statistics](https://www.selloff.auction/features/results-statistics.md): Follow each sale from bids to results: realised prices, consignor results, sell-through rate and performance against estimates.
- [Client records & history](https://www.selloff.auction/features/client-records.md): One record per contact with addresses, ID and bank details, tags, consignments, bids, invoices and a complete activity history shared by the whole team.

## Frequently asked questions

### How is a business referrer's commission calculated?

Each consignment records the referrer and their percentage. A house-wide setting decides the base: either the total of the consignment's sold lots or the total vendor commission earned on it. The commission report applies that percentage per consignment and per currency.

### When is the referrer's commission due?

The report shows the full commission and the part that is payable, in proportion to the amounts buyers have already paid for the sold lots. Unsold and returned lots are listed separately, and staff are warned when a returned lot affects a referrer's commission.

### Can a referrer receive the documents of the consignments they brought?

Yes, if you wish. Their email addresses appear among the consignment's possible recipients and can be switched on, and their name, address and percentage are available as placeholders in receipt and consignment documents.