For manufacturer's reps and rep agencies
Every shipped order, every commission, every principal paid up.
You sell for six manufacturers across four states, and each one pays commission on its own schedule, at its own rate, with its own idea of what shipped. Fee-Lion gives every principal a clean monthly commission invoice backed by your own numbers, tracks who has paid and who is short, and keeps the samples, trade-show booths and road miles attached to the line they belong to.
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Sound familiar?
The paperwork side of the job.
- The principal's commission statement says $3,180 and your own order log says $3,372. Finding the missing $192 means a night with two spreadsheets.
- One line pays on the 15th, another on the 20th, a third "when the distributor pays us." You only notice a check is late when the mortgage is due.
- Credit memos, returns and house accounts quietly come off your commission and nobody tells you which order they hit.
- A split deal with another rep lives in a text thread, so six months later neither of you remembers whether it was 60/40 or 50/50.
- Booth fees, sample cases and 2,000 miles a month sit in a glovebox until your tax preparer asks for them in March.
A real example
What an invoice looks like.
Line by line, the way you’d actually bill it: quantity times rate, tax worked out for you.
- Your client opens one link and pays by card.
- Reminders go out on their own until it’s paid.
- Your logo, your terms, and your line items saved for next time.
Prepared for Harborline Fixtures — Accounts payable
| Item | Qty | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lakeshore Hardware, invoices shipped Sep 1–30 ($42,180.00 net @ 6%) 1 ea × $2,530.80 | 1 ea | $2,530.80 | $2,530.80 |
| Brennan Farm & Home, invoices shipped Sep 1–30 ($18,450.00 net @ 6%) 1 ea × $1,107.00 | 1 ea | $1,107.00 | $1,107.00 |
| Northfield Lumber, stocking order PO 7734 ($26,900.00 @ 4% promo program rate) 1 ea × $1,076.00 | 1 ea | $1,076.00 | $1,076.00 |
| August adjustment: Brennan credit memo CM-118 reversed by your AR ($3,200.00 @ 6%) 1 ea × $192.00 | 1 ea | $192.00 | $192.00 |
| New-line development fee, October (per rep agreement, section 4) 1 mo × $1,500.00 | 1 mo | $1,500.00 | $1,500.00 |
Commission on net shipped invoices per our rep agreement, due by the 20th of the following month. Figures reconciled to your September sales report; please flag any order you show differently and we will settle it on the October invoice.
Sent with Fee-Lion · example document, fictional client
How Fee-Lion fits
The parts that do the heavy lifting.
Principals as companies
Each manufacturer you carry is a client company with its own contacts, rate notes and full history of commission invoices, payments and short pays. Revenue by company shows which lines actually pay your bills.
More on companies & contactsCommission invoices
One invoice per principal per month, one line per account or PO with the shipped amount and your rate spelled out in the description. Partial payments record against it until the balance is zero, so a short pay stays visible instead of disappearing.
More on invoicingReminders that chase for you
Set Net-20 or whatever your rep agreement says. When the commission check is late, Fee-Lion sends the polite reminder and shows you when their AP person opened it.
More on invoicingChecks recorded in seconds
Most principals pay by check or ACH, not card. Record the check number and amount against the invoice; the rest stays open and shows up in aging until it clears.
More on online paymentsMonthly retainers
A new line paying a development fee while you open accounts? Put it on a monthly recurring invoice that drafts itself for review before it sends.
More on invoicingSamples, shows and miles
Log booth fees, sample freight, hotel nights and mileage as expenses with the receipt attached, categorized and tied to the principal's project so you can see what each line costs you to carry.
More on expense tracking & bookkeepingAging by principal
The aging report lists exactly which principal owes which month, 30, 60 and 90 days out. It is the conversation starter for your next line review.
More on reports & insightsA day with Fee-Lion
How it actually plays out.
- First week of the month: the principals' sales reports land. Open each one next to your own order log and note anything shipped that is missing, returned, or paid at the wrong rate.
- Build one commission invoice per principal: one line per account or PO, the shipped dollars and the rate in the description, plus any adjustment from last month. Send it to their AP contact from the magic link.
- The development fee from your newest line is already sitting there as a recurring draft. Skim it, send it.
- On the road all week: the Thursday booth fee at the regional hardware show, sample case freight, and 640 miles go in as expenses with photos of the receipts, each tied to the principal they were for.
- A check arrives for $3,180 against a $3,372 invoice. Record it as a partial payment; the $192 stays open with a note, and it rolls into the next month's reconciliation instead of out of your memory.
- The 20th passes and one principal has not paid. The reminder has already gone out and you can see their AP opened it on Tuesday, which makes the follow-up call a lot shorter.
- Quarter end: revenue by company shows which lines earned their keep after expenses, and the aging report shows who you need to talk to at the next line review.
Live demo
Click around Meridian Rep Group.
A four-state manufacturer's rep agency with six principals: monthly commission invoices, a short-paid statement, a development-fee retainer and a road-trip worth of expenses.
A real Fee-Lion workspace set up as Meridian Rep Group, with sample clients, jobs, estimates and invoices. No signup, no password. Changes are switched off, so click anything.
Questions
What people ask before they switch.
How do independent sales reps invoice for commission?
Most reps send each principal a monthly commission invoice listing the accounts or orders that shipped in the period, the net shipped amount, the commission rate and the commission due. In Fee-Lion that is an invoice per principal with one line per account or PO, sent from a link their accounts payable team can open without an account.
What should a commission invoice include?
The period it covers, each account or order with the shipped or invoiced amount, the rate applied, any adjustments for returns or credit memos, the total due and the payment terms from your rep agreement. Putting the rate and base amount in each line description makes it easy for the principal to check against their own report.
What do I do when a principal pays my commission late or short?
Record what they actually paid as a partial payment so the difference stays open on the invoice, and let the automatic overdue reminders do the first round of chasing. The aging report then shows exactly which principal owes what for which month when you pick up the phone.
Can I split a commission with another rep?
Fee-Lion does not calculate splits for you. A simple way to handle it is to invoice the principal for the full commission, then record the co-rep's share as an expense tied to that principal's project with the deal named in the description, so both sides of the split are on the record.
Can I track mileage, samples and trade show costs as a 1099 rep?
Yes. Log each one as an expense with your own categories (mileage, samples, shows, travel), attach the receipt photo, and tie it to the principal it was for. Exports by category give your tax preparer what they need; they can tell you what is deductible in your situation.
Can a principal pay me on a monthly retainer plus commission?
Yes. Set the retainer or development fee up as a recurring monthly invoice, which drafts itself for review before it sends, and invoice commissions separately as orders ship.
Your next invoice could go out tonight.
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