Salon, spa & fitness
Salon Commission Calculator
Works salon commission, where what is deducted before the percentage is regulated.
Result
Paying on revenue rewards volume and quietly rewards discounting; paying on gross profit rewards the jobs that actually earn. The choice changes behaviour more than the rate does.
Get a Free Business AuditHow the calculation works
Commission as a percentage of service revenue, with any retail commission shown separately, and the stylist's total against the salon's remaining contribution. Whether product cost is deducted before the commission is calculated changes the stylist's pay substantially and is the term most often disputed.
What moves the number
- Service commission rate and any tiering.
- Whether product cost is deducted before commission.
- Retail commission, usually at a different rate.
- Whether the stylist is an employee, with wage rules applying.
Where this one goes wrong
Deducting product or back-bar costs from an employee's pay is restricted under federal wage law and more tightly in several states, particularly where the deduction would take earnings below the applicable minimum, so a commission structure that nets out product has to be checked against the rules rather than agreed informally. Commissioned employees are also still entitled to minimum wage for hours worked and to overtime unless genuinely exempt, which means a slow week has a floor the salon has to cover.
Before you quote
- Check product deductions against federal and state wage rules.
- Ensure commission earnings meet minimum wage for hours worked.
- Put the structure, including deductions, in writing.
Where the rules come from
Questions
About this calculator
Can product cost be deducted before commission?
It is restricted under federal wage law and more tightly in several states, particularly where the deduction would take earnings below minimum wage. A structure that nets out product has to be checked against the rules rather than agreed informally.
Do commissioned stylists get minimum wage?
Employees are entitled to minimum wage for hours worked and to overtime unless genuinely exempt, so a slow week has a floor the salon has to cover. Commission is a method of calculating pay, not an exemption from wage law.
Should retail commission differ from service commission?
Commonly it does, since the margin structures differ and retail requires no chair time. What matters is that both rates are written down with any deductions stated, because this is the area salons argue about most.
The formula
commission = (revenue or gross profit) x rate
Put this calculator on your site
Free to embed. Paste this where you want it to appear. It stays up to date automatically because it loads from BDEVY.
Please keep the attribution line. It is the only thing we ask in return.
How to use this calculator
- Sales in the period ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $42,000.
- Cost of that work ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $24,000.
- Commission is paid on. Enter your own figure; the page starts at Gross profit.
- Commission rate (%). Enter your own figure; the page starts at 10%.
- Base pay for the period ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $2,600.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to commission earned, and change it back. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or saved.
A worked example
These are the figures the calculator opens with. Every number in the results column below is produced by the same calculation the page runs, so you can follow it through before putting your own figures in.
What goes in
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Sales in the period | $42,000 |
| Cost of that work | $24,000 |
| Commission is paid on | Gross profit |
| Commission rate | 10% |
| Base pay for the period | $2,600 |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Commission earned main result | $1,800 |
| Total pay | $4,400 |
| Gross profit on the work | $18,000 |
| Left to the business | $13,600 |
| Pay as a share of sales | 10.5% |
Commission of $1,800 plus base pay makes $4,400, leaving $13,600 of the gross profit for the business.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only sales in the period, this is what happens to commission earned. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Sales in the period ($) | Commission earned |
|---|---|
| $21,000 | -$300 |
| $31,500 | $750 |
| $42,000 example above | $1,800 |
| $63,000 | $3,900 |
| $84,000 | $6,000 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Sales in the period ($)
- A money amount, starting at $42,000.
- Cost of that work ($)
- A money amount, starting at $24,000.
- Commission is paid on
- Choose from Revenue, Gross profit.
- Commission rate (%)
- A percentage, between 0 and 60, starting at 10%.
- Base pay for the period ($)
- A money amount, starting at $2,600.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| Commission earned | The headline result. A money figure. |
| Total pay | A money figure. |
| Gross profit on the work | A money figure. |
| Left to the business | A money figure. |
| Pay as a share of sales | A percentage. |
Estimating is the easy part
The jobs you never hear about cost more than the ones you mis-measure. BDEVY builds the marketing, systems and automation that bring them in.