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PocketSuite’s Team Commissions and Gratuity feature lets you pay each team member their own commission rate, down to the individual item, and send client tips to the team members who did the work. Commission and gratuity roll into one payout balance per team member. You can review both in the Commissions dashboard, and the data is also on the Jobs export.

In this article:

• Overview
• Who can use this
• What’s changing in how your team is paid
• How to set up commission rates
• How to set the Commission base
• How to turn on gratuity payouts for a team member
• How commission and gratuity are paid out
• Viewing the Commissions dashboard and exporting data
• Frequently asked questions

Overview

Team Commissions and Gratuity has two parts.

• Commission. Commission rates live on each team member. You can set one rate for everything they do, a different rate per item type, or a specific rate for a single item. Two team members on the same booking can earn different rates.
• Gratuity. When a client leaves a tip on a booking, PocketSuite splits it automatically between the assigned team members who have gratuity payouts turned on. The split happens once, when the appointment is completed and charged or marked paid, or when the invoice holding it is paid.

A few rules apply everywhere:

• Changes only apply going forward. A rate, whether you set it for the first time or change it, applies only to bookings created after you save. Changes to gratuity payouts and the Commission base also apply only going forward. Nothing already calculated is recalculated.
• Commission is calculated on the service price only. Gratuity, tax, products and expenses are never part of the amount commission is calculated on.
• Amounts are never negative. The lowest any rate or payout amount can be is $0.00.
• Team members only appear where they earned something. If a team member earns nothing on a booking, you won’t see a $0.00 line for them.

Who can use this

• SuperAdmin: Sets commission rates and gratuity payouts for every team member, and sets the Commission base. Each account has one SuperAdmin.
• Admins with “Show reporting dashboard” turned on: Can view the Commissions dashboard. They can’t change commission rates, gratuity payouts or the Commission base.
• Admins without that permission, Staff and Limited Staff: Don’t have access to commission and gratuity settings or the Commissions dashboard.

What’s changing in how your team is paid

What’s changing

• Commission is paid out once the booking is fully paid. Commission can no longer be paid out on future bookings. It becomes payable once the booking is fully paid.
• The invoice commission rate is gone. Invoices now earn line by line, at the rate for each item on them. A booking on an invoice earns through the booking itself, so a booking is never paid twice. If a team member’s only rate was an invoice rate, set rates for the items or item types they work so their invoice lines earn.
• You can pay commission and tips from the Commissions dashboard. You can still use Pay team member, and you can now also pay out from the Commissions dashboard. Tips can now go to team members too. This stays off until you turn on Receive gratuity payouts for a team member.
• New and changed rates apply only to new bookings. A rate applies only to bookings created after you save it, whether you’re setting it for the first time or changing it.

What stays the same

• Your existing per-type rates carry over.
• Your Commission base stays the same. Existing accounts keep Pre-discount subtotal as their Commission base.
• Past bookings stay as they are. Bookings created before the update aren’t recalculated.
• Tips still stay with your business until you turn on Receive gratuity payouts for a team member.

What your team’s payout looks like now

• Commission and Gratuity are separate lines. A team member’s payout balance shows Commission and Gratuity as separate lines, in the summary and in the per-transaction breakdown. They’re never combined.
• You can edit any line before you pay. Every commission and gratuity line can be edited before the payout is finalized. Edited amounts are flagged.
• Cash tips aren’t paid twice. If you already handed a team member their tip in cash, use Mark as paid in cash so it isn’t paid again.
• Commission is credited when the booking is fully paid. The rate and the Commission base are locked when the booking is saved, so later changes never affect existing bookings.
• Unpaid balances are settled first. Removing a team member with an unpaid balance requires settling it first.
• Refunds don’t take commission or tips back. If a paid booking is later refunded, cancelled or charged back, the commission and tips already earned stay in the balance. Edit the amount before the next payout if needed.

How to set up commission rates

Commission rates are set on each team member. Item screens for services, classes, reservations and other items don’t have a commission setting, since two team members on the same item can earn different rates.

Each rate can be one of three options:

• A percentage of the subtotal. Use a whole number between 0 and 100.
• A flat amount per job, between $0 and $10,000.
• No commission.

If you enter a value outside these ranges, you’ll see “Commission rate must be between 0 and 100%” or “Flat commission must be between $0 and $10,000.”

New team members start with No commission until you set a rate.

Set one rate for everything

1. Open the team member’s profile and edit it.
2. Find the Commission section.
3. Choose a percentage, a flat amount or No commission. This single rate applies to all of the team member’s eligible items.
4. Save your changes.
5. Review the confirmation, “Commission changes only apply to new bookings. Existing bookings are not affected.”, and tap Confirm.

Set rates per item type

1. In the team member’s Commission section, choose to set a separate rate for each item type.
2. Set a rate for each type you want to pay on. There are six item types: appointments (services), classes, overnight reservations, same-day reservations, packages and subscriptions.
3. Save your changes, then tap Confirm.

Set a rate for a specific item

1. In the team member’s Commission section, open the item type you want to adjust.
2. Add an item and enter a rate for it. The item’s price is shown next to its rate field, so you can size a flat rate against what the item sells for. Reservations show a per-night or per-day price, and subscriptions show a per-billing-period price.
3. Repeat for each item you want a specific rate on. Items are added one at a time.
4. Save your changes, then tap Confirm.

To stop using an item-specific rate, remove that item. Items are removed one at a time, and there’s no single switch that turns all of a team member’s item-specific rates on or off. A removed item goes back to the team member’s rate for its item type.

Item-specific rates are optional. You can set them for one team member without setting them for anyone else.

How PocketSuite picks a rate

For each item a team member works, PocketSuite checks for a rate in this order:

1. The team member’s rate for that specific item.
2. The team member’s rate for that item type (or their single rate).
3. If neither is set, no commission is earned.

If you remove an item-specific rate, that item goes back to the team member’s item type rate. If you choose No commission on a specific item, that item earns nothing, even if the team member has an item type rate.

How commission works on invoices

An invoice earns commission line by line. Each item line earns the team member’s rate for that item, or their rate for that item’s type. A booking on an invoice earns through the booking itself, never through the invoice, so it’s never paid twice. Products and expenses never earn commission.

How to set the Commission base

The Commission base setting decides whether discounts reduce the amount commission is calculated on. It applies to your whole business.

1. Go to Settings and find the Commission base setting.
2. Choose one option:

• Pre-discount subtotal: “Commission is calculated on the original price of each booking, before any discount is applied.”
• Post-discount subtotal: “Commission is calculated on what the client actually pays, after any discount is applied.”

3. Save, then review the confirmation: “This change applies to commission calculated from now on. Commission already calculated or credited to team member balances will not be affected.” Tap Confirm.

For example, a $100 service with a 10% discount and a 50% commission rate earns $50 on Pre-discount subtotal and $45 on Post-discount subtotal.

Accounts that existed before this release start on Pre-discount subtotal. New accounts start on Post-discount subtotal. You can change it at any time.

A few situations follow their own rules, whatever the Commission base is set to:

• Package and gift certificate redemptions: the team member who delivers the service earns commission on the item’s list price.
• Manual price changes: if you edit a booking’s price instead of applying a discount, commission is calculated on the edited price.

How to turn on gratuity payouts for a team member

1. Open the team member’s profile and edit it.
2. Find the Gratuity section.
3. Turn on Receive gratuity payouts. The helper text reads: “When enabled, gratuities from assigned bookings are shared with this team member.”
4. Save your changes.

Receive gratuity payouts is off by default for every team member, so tips stay with your business until you turn it on. The SuperAdmin can turn it on for their own team member record too.

Changes only apply to tips collected after you save: “Gratuity eligibility changes only apply to bookings collected after this update. Existing gratuity attribution is not affected.”

How tips are shared

• Tips are split automatically, once, when the appointment is completed and charged or marked paid, or when the invoice holding it is paid. This works the same whether the client pays by card or you mark the booking as paid and record the tip.
• If several eligible team members are assigned to a booking, the tip is split evenly between them. Team members assigned to an add-on on the booking count as assigned.
• Team members with Receive gratuity payouts turned off don’t receive a share.
• If no assigned team member is eligible, the tip stays with your business, the same as today.
• On an invoice, the tip goes only to the bookings on that invoice. It’s divided across the bookings that have an eligible team member, based on each booking’s subtotal, then split within each booking.

Gratuity is shared on bookings (appointments, classes, overnight reservations and same-day reservations), including bookings on an invoice. Tips on standalone direct payments, gift certificate purchases, product orders, package purchases, subscription billings and invoices with no bookings stay with your business.

There’s no option to split a tip differently. If a tip needs correcting, use Mark as paid in cash and Edit amount on its row. See How commission and gratuity are paid out below.

How commission and gratuity are paid out

Commission is added to a team member’s payout balance when the booking is fully paid. It can’t be paid out on future bookings. Gratuity is added when the tip is split. You can pay both through the existing Pay team member flow, which now also pays out commission and gratuity, or from the Commissions dashboard.

Pay a team member

1. Open the Pay team member flow for the team member.
2. Review the payout summary. It shows a Commission line and a separate Gratuity line for the payout period.
3. Open the breakdown to see a Commission line for each booking, invoice, package sale or subscription billing, and a Gratuity line for each booking or invoice.
4. Confirm the payout.

Pay out from the Commissions dashboard

1. Open the Commissions dashboard and find the commission or gratuity row you want to pay.
2. Open the row menu and choose Pay out. This opens Pay team member with that row included.
3. Confirm the payout.

Edit an amount before you pay

You can edit any commission or gratuity line in Pay team member, or with Edit amount on the Commissions dashboard, before the payout is finalized. The payout total updates as you type, and edited amounts are flagged in the payout record. An edited amount can be any value from $0.00 up. An edited gratuity doesn’t have to match the tip that was collected.

Editing is also how you handle a booking that was refunded, cancelled or charged back after it was paid. See the FAQ below.

Mark a tip as paid in cash

If you already handed a team member their tip in cash, mark it so it isn’t paid twice.

1. On the gratuity line in the team member’s payout breakdown, or from the row menu in the Commissions dashboard, choose Mark as paid in cash.
2. Review the confirmation: “Mark this gratuity as paid in cash? It will be removed from the outstanding balance but stay in reporting with a paid-in-cash flag.”
3. Tap Confirm.

The tip is removed from the outstanding balance and shown in its own section of the breakdown with a paid-in-cash flag. You can reverse the marking from the same place at any time, which returns the tip to the outstanding balance.

Correct a tip

Tips split automatically and evenly, and you can’t move a tip between team members. To correct a tip, use Mark as paid in cash and Edit amount on the tip’s row.

Removing a team member with an unpaid balance

If a team member has unpaid commission or gratuity when you remove them, you’ll see a Settle outstanding balance step. Pay the balance out, or zero it. Zeroing shows this confirmation: “Zeroing this team member’s outstanding balance will write off [amount] in unpaid earnings. This cannot be undone. Confirm only if you have separately settled this balance with the team member.” Team members with no outstanding balance skip this step. Their past commission and gratuity stay in your records.

Viewing the Commissions dashboard and exporting data

The Commissions dashboard

The Commissions dashboard lists every commission and tip across your team in one place.

• Summary card: the total for the selected dates, split into outstanding, paid and paid in cash, with commission and gratuity shown separately.
• Rows: each row shows the team member, the source (booking, invoice, package sale or subscription billing) and item, the date, whether it’s commission or gratuity, the amount and the status.
• Search and filter: search by team member or client, and filter by date range. The dashboard shows the last 30 days by default.
• Details: tap a row to see where the number came from, including the rate applied, the amount it was calculated on and whether it was edited.
• Row menu: commission rows offer Pay out and Edit amount. Gratuity rows offer Pay out, Edit amount and Mark as paid in cash.

Exporting commission and gratuity data

There’s no separate commission or gratuity CSV export. Commission and gratuity data is on the Jobs export, which you can use for your payroll or accounting tools.

Frequently asked questions

Q: What happens to commission and tips if I refund a booking after it’s paid?

A: Commission and gratuity already added to a team member’s balance stay there. This applies to refunds, cancellations and chargebacks. If you need to adjust what you pay, edit the amount in Pay team member before you pay it out.

Q: What happens if a booking is cancelled before it’s paid?

A: No commission is earned, and no tip has been collected, so nothing is added to anyone’s balance.

Q: Can I pay commission on a booking before the appointment?

A: No. Commission can no longer be paid out on future bookings. It becomes payable once the booking is fully paid.

Q: Two team members worked the same booking. How is it paid?

A: Each team member earns their own rate on the full booking subtotal. For a $100 Full Groom with one team member at 50% and another at 20%, they earn $50 and $20. Add-ons are paid separately to whoever is assigned to them. Any tip is split evenly between the eligible team members.

Q: How are discounts handled?

A: It depends on your Commission base setting. Pre-discount subtotal pays commission on the original price. Post-discount subtotal pays commission on what the client actually paid. See How to set the Commission base above.

Q: How does commission work with packages?

A: The team member who sells a package can earn their packages rate on the sale. The team member who delivers a session from that package earns their rate for the service, based on its list price. You control each one by setting or clearing the team member’s packages and appointments rates.

Q: If I change a team member’s rate, will it update bookings that already exist?

A: No. Rate changes, gratuity payout changes and Commission base changes only apply going forward. A booking’s rate and Commission base are locked in when the booking is saved.

Q: How does commission work on an invoice?

A: An invoice earns line by line. Each item line earns the team member’s rate for that item, or their rate for that item’s type. A booking on an invoice earns through the booking itself, so it’s never paid twice. There’s no separate invoice rate.

Q: Do products earn commission?

A: No. Products don’t earn commission, on a booking or on an invoice. Tips are still shared on the whole booking, including bookings that include products.

Q: Do direct charges earn commission?

A: No. Charges aren’t a commission rate type, so a direct charge doesn’t earn commission. To pay commission on the work, book it or add it to an invoice as an item line, where it earns the team member’s rate for that item.

Q: Do gift certificate sales earn commission?

A: No. Gift certificates aren’t a commission rate type. When a client redeems a gift certificate for a booking, the team member who delivers the service earns their rate for that service, based on its list price.

Q: How are amounts rounded?

A: Commission rounds to the nearest cent. When a tip doesn’t split evenly, each share is rounded down to the cent and the extra cents go to the first eligible team member assigned. For example, a $10 tip split three ways pays $3.34, $3.33 and $3.33.

Q: When does commission show up on a booking?

A: Once the booking is saved, it shows a Commission line for each assigned team member with their rate and amount. The commission is added to their payout balance when the booking is fully paid.

Q: When is a tip on an invoice split?

A: Once, when the invoice is paid. The tip goes only to the bookings on that invoice, divided by each booking’s subtotal.

Q: Can I split a tip differently between team members?

A: No. Tips split automatically and evenly between the eligible team members. To correct a tip, use Mark as paid in cash and Edit amount on the tip’s row.

Q: Can my team members see their own commission and tips?

A: No. Commission and gratuity are visible to the SuperAdmin and to Admins with the “Show reporting dashboard” permission. Staff and Limited Staff don’t have access.

If you have questions, reach out to our support team at support@pocketsuite.io.