supplier-and-commission-management

name	supplier-and-commission-management
description	Make earned margin real: maintain a booked-vs-paid commission ledger by supplier, chase gaps on a cadence, handle net vs commissionable pricing correctly, understand BSP/ARC air settlement, and steer the mix to preferred-supplier/consortia programs. Commission terms are verify-at-use per supplier agreement.

Supplier & Commission Management

Commission that is booked but never collected is the quietest agency leak. This skill closes it and steers the mix to what pays.

The loop

1. Ledger booked vs paid. For every booking, record earned commission (rate × commissionable value) and reconcile against what the supplier actually paid. The gap is the recovery worklist — see the commission-recovery chase tree in ../../knowledge/travel-agency-decision-trees.md.
2. Chase on a cadence. Commission mostly comes due post-travel. Run the sequence: match the commission statement → open a claim for missing/short payments → escalate per the supplier agreement. Timing is [verify-at-use] per supplier.
3. Price net vs commissionable correctly. Net rate → margin via markup; commissionable/retail rate → margin via paid percentage. Record which model each supplier uses so nothing is under-collected.
4. Know the air rail. Air settles through BSP (IATA, international) or ARC (US); bare-air commission is often minimal — see ../../knowledge/travel-agency-reference-2026.md (verify-at-use).
5. Steer to preferred suppliers / consortia. Weight bookings to programs with higher base commission, overrides/bonuses, and client amenities where they fit the trip.

Metrics

Metric	Reads	Note
Commission capture rate	paid / earned	The core leak indicator; target near 100%
Days-to-collect	booking → commission paid	Long tails hide write-offs
Preferred-supplier share	% booked to preferred/consortia	Higher share -> more override + amenity
Override / bonus earned	volume-tier and promo bonuses collected	Often left on the table

Anti-patterns

• Trusting suppliers to pay what they owe without a ledger.
• Confusing net and commissionable pricing (silent margin loss).
• Expecting commission from a bare-air segment the rail never pays it on.

See also

• ../itinerary-design-and-quoting/SKILL.md, ../../templates/supplier-commission-tracker.md.
• Best practice: ../../best-practices/chase-every-commission-it-is-your-margin.md.