Calculate sales commission from a sale amount and commission rate, add an optional base salary, and see total earnings and your effective rate. Free, instant, fully validated.
Commission = Sale × Rate
The core commission formula is simple: Commission = Sale Amount × Commission Rate. A $50,000 sale at a 5% commission rate earns $2,500. Many sales roles combine a fixed base salary with commission, so total earnings = base + commission. This calculator lets you add an optional base and shows both your commission and your effective payout rate on the sale.
Commission structures vary widely: straight commission (no base, higher rate), base-plus-commission (lower rate, steady income), and tiered plans where the rate rises after you hit a quota. Whatever the structure, the per-sale math always starts here — multiply the sale value by the applicable rate. Use this tool to check a paycheck, compare job offers, or estimate earnings before closing a deal.
No base salary — you earn only on sales, usually at a higher rate (often 7–20%). Higher risk, higher ceiling.
A guaranteed salary plus a smaller commission rate (often 2–5%). Steadier income with upside on performance.
The rate increases once you pass a quota — e.g., 4% up to $100k, 6% above. Run each tier separately and add the results.
Total earnings ÷ sale amount shows what you actually keep per dollar sold — useful when comparing base-plus plans against straight commission.
Commission structures range from a flat percentage to tiered schemes that pay accelerating rates above quota, and the tiered form is where the arithmetic goes wrong. A tiered plan is marginal in exactly the way income tax is: the higher rate applies only to sales above the threshold, not retroactively to everything. Plans also differ on the base — gross revenue rewards volume while gross margin rewards profitability, and a rep paid on revenue has every incentive to discount. Draws against commission complicate matters further, since a recoverable draw is a loan repaid from future earnings rather than guaranteed pay.
Flat: Commission = Sales × rateTiered: Commission = Σ (sales within each tier × that tier's rate)On margin: Commission = (Revenue − COGS) × rateTake-home = Base + Commission − Draw repaymentwhere:
Assumptions: Assumes commission is earned on booking. Many plans pay only on collection, and clawback provisions reverse commission on cancelled or refunded deals.
A rep with a $45,000 base on a three-tier plan closes $340,000 in the quarter.
Result$15,200 commission — an effective 4.47% blended rate
The common error is applying 8% to the whole $340,000, which would give $27,200 — nearly double. The blended rate of 4.47% is what actually landed, and it is the figure to use when forecasting commission cost as a percentage of revenue.