Sales Commission

[bermuda triangle]

It’s important to me because I’m contemplating legal action.

 

Why do you want to hide your compensation? Don’t you expect to know what the Doctor, Lawyer, Real Estate Agent, etc… charge you?

 

Vegaspier

 

As a real estate agent, soon to be the wife of a physician, do you know exactly what your physician makes? Granted you see the charges, pay the co-pays, but do you know what your insurance company has negotiated to actually pay the physician for the services you receive? It varies by the number of physicians in a group and how great their negotiating power is. If you are a self pay patient, does your physician charge you the rate they are reimbursed by an insurance company or medicare rates or somewhere inbetween? Do you know what their overhead is, how much their insurance rates are or what their employees make?

 

As a real estate agent, because a seller is willing to pay a 6% commission, do you realize that 3% goes to each agency, and then the agency keeps half of that, making my profit 1.5% less board memberships, E and O insurance, cost of gas for showing house/doing open houses, licensing fees, etc. A 6% commission these days is rare.......however I am more than happy to receive my 1.5%. Also, since commissions are negotiable between the seller and the listing agent, if the seller wants to pay less than 5% I have to receive written permission from my broker saying this is okay. So at the end of the day do you know how much your Realtor walks away with??

 

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh and for the sales where there is no money left at the end, neither agent gets paid, and notification of this possibility has to be upfront in writing on the listing, or else the selling agent can be sued by buyer's agent and their broker! Hows that for a fun time??

 

People who work for commissions deserve them. I can't imagine how a TAs commission comes into a lawsuit, as they are allowed to charge a service fee or a fee if you cancel your trip.

 

Laura

[mcclure2]

Suing them? On what grounds exactly?

Do you not understand why they make a commission, do you really think that the agent themselves actually see that much of the profit- do you understand why the cruise lines pay them for selling their product?

If you don't want your agent to earn a commission-book it yourself-but I can guarantee that you will pay the same amount if not more AND the cruise line pockets the extra not your local business-so much for supporting your local economy.

Honestly...some people.

[resstation]

The OP asked what Princess pays to THEIR independent travel agents. Princess has no independent agents. They have travel agencies registered with them that sell Princess space who have independent agents selling space for their travel agency. The independent agent makes whatever they and the agency have agreed upon by contract. In other words, the AGENCY may be a 20% commission agency for Princess, but the agent will only get a cut of that comission as it is shared with the agency. The agency may also charge the independent contractor a monthly or yearly fee. Sometimes they charge no fees but the agent has to give up more commission.

 

Its different everywhere and with each agency. Princess has nothing to do with how much an agent is commissioned. They send the AGENCY the commission.

 

ANY agency, large or small, can reserve group space and offer OBC or any of a number of amenities (cocktail parties, photo credit, gifts, etc.).

[earljr]

WOW -- This may be a first :D

 

TOTO -- Agree 100% -- Bottom line is what we care about.

 

Ethyl5 -- We too miss K but V still is still carrying on the tradition.

 

Pam in Ca.-- Same comment as above with Toto

 

Michael -- As usual you are right on target. None of my business how many $ someone has/makes, dont care, and wont lose any sleep over the fact you have more $ than me (LOL)

 

Sue -- glad to hear yu'all are ok --- sad about your town

 

Earl

[earljr]

WOW -- This may be a first for me -- I agree:D

 

TOTO -- Agree 100% -- Bottom line is what we care about.

 

Ethyl5 -- We too miss K but V still is still carrying on the tradition.

 

Pam in Ca.-- Same comment as above with Toto

 

Michael -- As usual you are right on target. None of my business how many $ someone has/makes, dont care, and wont lose any sleep over the fact you have more $ than me (LOL)

 

Sue -- glad to hear yu'all are ok --- sad about your town

 

Earl

[Toto2Kansas]

Hey Earl, glad to see ya. Hope all is well.

We switched TA's quite some time ago, don't even want to go into why. Grrrrrrrr!

[long cruiser]

amen.I think we should ask clothing stores,sporting good stores and especially

shoe stores what the mark up is.

long cruiser

[Ethel5]

We switched TA's quite some time ago, don't even want to go into why. Grrrrrrrr!

 

Me too! Double GRRRRR.

[gertz]

For us, it isn't the actual customer service we are after, but the best prices available. Usually, our only contact we make with a TA is to tell them the ship, sailing date, and stateroom number we want to book. After that, we rarely contact the TA again except to authorize final payment.

Newer cruisers might need questions answered and this works out very well with great customer service, but for us, the best price is all we need as I can't think of a question I would need or a service that I would need provided by a Travel Agent. Therefore, the best price is what we are looking for. We would book direct if that is where the best prices were, but they are not, they always seem to be the highest prices around.

 

Toto,You hit this on right on the head. Glad you are all right, condolences to the town, I think that one was part of the on that devasted Windsor north of here.

 

I don't remember when I have used a "true travel agent". All I want from a travel agent is to do what I request and at the best possible price and yes to be good enough to steer me in the right direction. Also I rarely speak to the one I use in Port St. Lucie, Fl. do all by email. I generally book with FCC then transfer it.

 

GERTZ

Princess Elite

Next Tahitian Princess 9/18 Vancouver to Honolulu

Coral 4/12 FLL to LA

[dazee8]

Me too! Double GRRRRR.

 

Ethel and Toto,

 

I agree with both of you. It's not the same, and we are still seaching for an alternative so we don't GRRRR all the time. Hopefully we will meet up on a future cruise to compare notes.

 

Best to you both and Toto we are glad to know all is well with you.

[rdsqrl]

It’s important to me because I’m contemplating legal action.

 

Why do you want to hide your compensation? Don’t you expect to know what the Doctor, Lawyer, Real Estate Agent, etc… charge you?

 

Vegaspier

Are you for real?! "hide" compensation??

The compensation earned by my doctor, my lawyer and my realtor is -- listen carefully here: NONE OF MY BUSINESS. That also goes for my travel agent, the guy who changes the oil in my car, and the woman the maid service sent to clean my house yesterday. Just as my compensation is none of their business. If you want to know how much a TA makes, why don't you post on here what YOUR salary is?

My, I'm grumpy today.

[Canadian_Commodore]

Are you for real?! "hide" compensation??

The compensation earned by my doctor, my lawyer and my realtor is -- listen carefully here: NONE OF MY BUSINESS. That also goes for my travel agent, the guy who changes the oil in my car, and the woman the maid service sent to clean my house yesterday. Just as my compensation is none of their business. If you want to know how much a TA makes, why don't you post on here what YOUR salary is?

 

My, I'm grumpy today.

 

I completely agree here. I'm affiliated with a national travel agency in Canada. I will not disclose to anyone how much I make unless it's to the tax people who are the only ones with a legal right to know.

 

To the OP, either post your job and salary here, or if you are sueing them, simply have your lawyer subpheona that information as part of the court proceedings. But DO NOT EVER ask me what I make as part of my job, YOU have no RIGHT to know!

 

I'm grumpy too now :mad:

 

Warren

[Colo Cruiser]

I think it is a double shot:confused: Oh wait, wrong liquid:o

 

Mike:)

 

 

Yeah wrong liquid. :D

[lindanick]

Hot topic!!!!

Why in the world would anyone ask how much money do you make?

When you come into our agency, do we ask how much you make? Maybe we should... then we can charge you however much we think your worth.

I think it is very RUDE to ask how much someone made off a deal!!!

Linda

[smeyer418]

You know I find this all interesting. My normal stance is what some one makes is generally none of your concern. I am amazed at how some people want to count what the room steward and the servers make so they can cut the $10 auto tip down. BUT the TA is not the cruise lines agent, he or she is YOUR agent and I don't think there is anything wrong asking your agent to disclose what they are making---don't believe me? Look at Princess cruise contract. They make it abundantly clear that the "agent" is your agent not theirs. While its true the TA has to be registered with Princess to get paid commissions, that doesn't change their status as independent agents. They are free to contract with as many cruise lines as they want. They are "independent" in the sense that the cruise line don't limit who they sign with or who they can get as clients and that the cruise line is not responsible for them in any way. Finally its common knowledge that the TA's get anywhere from 10-16 of the fare(excluding NCF and fuel surcharges). The difference is based on the amount of business the TA or the agency the TA works for does with the cruise line. Certain elite agencies may get slightly more but I don't believe that any one for most cruise lines gets 20% and with the non commissionable items it works out to be much less than that anyway.

 

From the Princess cruise contract

 

"Your travel agent acts for You in making the arrangements for Your Cruise and any related travel, lodging and tours. Carrier is not responsible for any representation or conduct of Your travel agent, including but not limited to, any failure to remit Your deposit or other funds to Carrier, for which You shall at all times remain liable to Carrier, or any failure to remit a refund from Carrier to You. You acknowledge that Your travel agent acts solely as Your agent, and not as agent for Carrier, and is deemed as Your agent. Further, receipt by Your travel agent of this Passage Contract or any other communications, notices or information from Carrier shall constitute receipt of such materials by You. You agree Carrier is not responsible for the financial condition or integrity of any such travel agent."

[cacy6893076]

You know I find this all interesting. My normal stance is what some one makes is generally none of your concern. I am amazed at how some people want to count what the room steward and the servers make so they can cut the $10 auto tip down. BUT the TA is not the cruise lines agent, he or she is YOUR agent and I don't think there is anything wrong asking your agent to disclose what they are making---don't believe me? Look at Princess cruise contract. They make it abundantly clear that the "agent" is your agent not theirs. While its true the TA has to be registered with Princess to get paid commissions, that doesn't change their status as independent agents. They are free to contract with as many cruise lines as they want. They are "independent" in the sense that the cruise line don't limit who they sign with or who they can get as clients and that the cruise line is not responsible for them in any way. Finally its common knowledge that the TA's get anywhere from 10-16 of the fare(excluding NCF and fuel surcharges). The difference is based on the amount of business the TA or the agency the TA works for does with the cruise line. Certain elite agencies may get slightly more but I don't believe that any one for most cruise lines gets 20% and with the non commissionable items it works out to be much less than that anyway.

 

From the Princess cruise contract

 

"Your travel agent acts for You in making the arrangements for Your Cruise and any related travel, lodging and tours. Carrier is not responsible for any representation or conduct of Your travel agent, including but not limited to, any failure to remit Your deposit or other funds to Carrier, for which You shall at all times remain liable to Carrier, or any failure to remit a refund from Carrier to You. You acknowledge that Your travel agent acts solely as Your agent, and not as agent for Carrier, and is deemed as Your agent. Further, receipt by Your travel agent of this Passage Contract or any other communications, notices or information from Carrier shall constitute receipt of such materials by You. You agree Carrier is not responsible for the financial condition or integrity of any such travel agent."

As usual, the fine print has it all covered. Gee whiz, another negative, "them against me" post. What's next?

[WeBeGone]

I will occasionally tell a client my commission - especially when they are asking for free insurance, a large OBC, free shore excursion, etc. Especially when a short cruise, inside cabin, is booked (those wanting to rack up cruises for their "count"), our agency commission can be as little as $34. My cut of that is 30%. So to put up with all the belly-ackin", I earn a whopping $10. File a lawsuit over that !:cool:

[Lynda90]

I have to agree with Toto, as usual. :D I'm in it for the price. I've been cruising long enough to know what I want and use a TA basically for booking and final payment. As long as I'm getting the best price possible, I could care less about what the TA makes. Hopefully, she will make a lot and stay in business for a long time with all her repeat business.

[Ethel5]

I have to agree with Toto, as usual. :D I'm in it for the price. I've been cruising long enough to know what I want and use a TA basically for booking and final payment. As long as I'm getting the best price possible, I could care less about what the TA makes. Hopefully, she will make a lot and stay in business for a long time with all her repeat business.

 

Here! Here! :D

[lvtotrvl1]

You know I find this all interesting. My normal stance is what some one makes is generally none of your concern. I am amazed at how some people want to count what the room steward and the servers make so they can cut the $10 auto tip down. BUT the TA is not the cruise lines agent, he or she is YOUR agent and I don't think there is anything wrong asking your agent to disclose what they are making---don't believe me? Look at Princess cruise contract. They make it abundantly clear that the "agent" is your agent not theirs. While its true the TA has to be registered with Princess to get paid commissions, that doesn't change their status as independent agents. They are free to contract with as many cruise lines as they want. They are "independent" in the sense that the cruise line don't limit who they sign with or who they can get as clients and that the cruise line is not responsible for them in any way. Finally its common knowledge that the TA's get anywhere from 10-16 of the fare(excluding NCF and fuel surcharges). The difference is based on the amount of business the TA or the agency the TA works for does with the cruise line. Certain elite agencies may get slightly more but I don't believe that any one for most cruise lines gets 20% and with the non commissionable items it works out to be much less than that anyway.

 

From the Princess cruise contract

 

"Your travel agent acts for You in making the arrangements for Your Cruise and any related travel, lodging and tours. Carrier is not responsible for any representation or conduct of Your travel agent, including but not limited to, any failure to remit Your deposit or other funds to Carrier, for which You shall at all times remain liable to Carrier, or any failure to remit a refund from Carrier to You. You acknowledge that Your travel agent acts solely as Your agent, and not as agent for Carrier, and is deemed as Your agent. Further, receipt by Your travel agent of this Passage Contract or any other communications, notices or information from Carrier shall constitute receipt of such materials by You. You agree Carrier is not responsible for the financial condition or integrity of any such travel agent."

 

So "my Doctor" because he is my doctor, should tell me what he makes, or my hairdresser, because she is my hairdresser should also tell me what they make? I don't buy that argument at all. Sorry.

[lvtotrvl1]

I completely agree here. I'm affiliated with a national travel agency in Canada. I will not disclose to anyone how much I make unless it's to the tax people who are the only ones with a legal right to know.

 

To the OP, either post your job and salary here, or if you are sueing them, simply have your lawyer subpheona that information as part of the court proceedings. But DO NOT EVER ask me what I make as part of my job, YOU have no RIGHT to know!

 

I'm grumpy too now :mad:

 

Warren

 

Just have to add....he won't be winning much if he's suing over our commission:eek:

[smeyer418]

So "my Doctor" because he is my doctor, should tell me what he makes, or my hairdresser, because she is my hairdresser should also tell me what they make? I don't buy that argument at all. Sorry.

 

First of all the doctor isn't your agent. second of all, all I am asking if I do is how much the commission they are making on my cruise which they are my agent on- not what they are making(the split between the agency and the TA is their business) and thirdly if you want to ask the doctor how much the insurance company is paying him for your service you are entitled to know(from the insurance company) but there is no reason the doctor shouldn't disclose it. As for your hairdresser, most hairdressers get about 1/2 of what you pay the rest goes to the shop(for rent hot water etc)....do you ask the hairdresser if they get to keep the tip? if the hairdresser is the store owner should you tip(OT issues) but it really isn't the same. No one says you have to ask but I do think when someone is MY agent I can ask what they get and finally most lawsuits against TA's a waste of time, if you have a problem with the cruise its with the cruise company and the TA has really very little to do with it.

[lvtotrvl1]

First of all the doctor isn't your agent. second of all, all I am asking if I do is how much the commission they are making on my cruise which they are my agent on- not what they are making(the split between the agency and the TA is their business) and thirdly if you want to ask the doctor how much the insurance company is paying him for your service you are entitled to know(from the insurance company) but there is no reason the doctor shouldn't disclose it. As for your hairdresser, most hairdressers get about 1/2 of what you pay the rest goes to the shop(for rent hot water etc)....do you ask the hairdresser if they get to keep the tip? if the hairdresser is the store owner should you tip(OT issues) but it really isn't the same. No one says you have to ask but I do think when someone is MY agent I can ask what they get and finally most lawsuits against TA's a waste of time, if you have a problem with the cruise its with the cruise company and the TA has really very little to do with it.

 

and what if the agent is on 100% commission as I am, and still only making a certain %? I'm out of this conversation..everyone has a right to their own opinion..as an agent, I do not tell people what I make and for the record, in over 13 years of business, that question may have come up no more than 5 times..

[lpsquillace]

:eek:

 

I don't really care what the commission is or isn't. I am surprised many agents not associated with big firms can make ends meet. I love the service ours provides so I use them. They are worth what they make.

 

I also like to know what markups are and if prices are negotiable. I saved money negotiating for my last car using internet sites. I also understand that people have to make a fair buck. I wonder if all the people so against the disclosuring pay and commission paid sticker price on their last car? or is it Ok in those cicumstances to know what is being made by the dealer? Double standard?

 

After my first trip to Jamacia many years ago, I came back to the US and started negotiatng with everyone, everywhere, including doctors and dentists. (i.e. doctors do waive co-payments on occasion and "Out of Network" dentists sometimes write off the extra amount not covered by insurance). Big Deal what people make or how much. If a business overscharges, people won't deal with the business. If some people are to cheap to pay a fair amount no-one will sell it to them.

 

FYI - Coloado state employees salaries are posted on the Denver Post website.

[MszKitty]

You know I find this all interesting. My normal stance is what some one makes is generally none of your concern. I am amazed at how some people want to count what the room steward and the servers make so they can cut the $10 auto tip down. BUT the TA is not the cruise lines agent, he or she is YOUR agent and I don't think there is anything wrong asking your agent to disclose what they are making---don't believe me? Look at Princess cruise contract. They make it abundantly clear that the "agent" is your agent not theirs. While its true the TA has to be registered with Princess to get paid commissions, that doesn't change their status as independent agents. They are free to contract with as many cruise lines as they want. They are "independent" in the sense that the cruise line don't limit who they sign with or who they can get as clients and that the cruise line is not responsible for them in any way. Finally its common knowledge that the TA's get anywhere from 10-16 of the fare(excluding NCF and fuel surcharges). The difference is based on the amount of business the TA or the agency the TA works for does with the cruise line. Certain elite agencies may get slightly more but I don't believe that any one for most cruise lines gets 20% and with the non commissionable items it works out to be much less than that anyway.

 

From the Princess cruise contract

 

"Your travel agent acts for You in making the arrangements for Your Cruise and any related travel, lodging and tours. Carrier is not responsible for any representation or conduct of Your travel agent, including but not limited to, any failure to remit Your deposit or other funds to Carrier, for which You shall at all times remain liable to Carrier, or any failure to remit a refund from Carrier to You. You acknowledge that Your travel agent acts solely as Your agent, and not as agent for Carrier, and is deemed as Your agent. Further, receipt by Your travel agent of this Passage Contract or any other communications, notices or information from Carrier shall constitute receipt of such materials by You. You agree Carrier is not responsible for the financial condition or integrity of any such travel agent."

 

The TA may be the client's "agent" but the cruiseline is the one that pays the TA...not the client.

Therefore its not the client's business how much the cruiseline pays the TA.