Commission

Show your work for each problem.

1.
A salesperson earns a 5% commission. Her sales this week are 2,000 dollars. How many dollars of commission does she earn?
1. a)1,000
2. b)10
3. c)100
4. d)400
Answer: 100
Commission = rate × sales: $0.05 \times 2{,}000 = 100$ dollars.
2.
A real estate agent sells an apartment for 180,000 dollars. Her commission rate is 3%. How many dollars of commission does she earn?
Answer: 5400
$0.03 \times 180{,}000 = 5{,}400$ dollars.
3.
A job pays a base salary plus commission. Which calculation gives the total earnings?
1. a)base salary × rate × sales
2. b)sales - base salary
3. c)base salary + rate × sales
4. d)rate × (base salary + sales)
Answer: base salary + rate × sales
The base salary is paid anyway and the commission (rate × sales) is added to it: total earnings = base salary + rate × sales.
4.
A car salesperson earns 2% commission on every car. He sells a car for 24,000 dollars. How many dollars of commission does he earn?
Answer: 480
$0.02 \times 24{,}000 = 480$ dollars.
5.
A shop assistant earns a base salary of 1,600 dollars a month plus 4% commission. Her sales this month are 15,000 dollars. What are her total earnings in dollars?
Answer: 2200
1. Write 4% as a decimal. 0.04
2. What is the commission? 600
3. What are the total earnings? 2200
6.
A car salesperson sells 3 cars at 20,000 dollars each. His commission rate is 1.5%. How many dollars of commission does he earn?
Answer: 900
1. What are his total sales? 60000
2. Write 1.5% as a decimal. 0.015
3. What is the commission? 900
7.
A salesperson earns a base salary of 1,400 dollars plus 6% of sales. Her sales are 9,000 dollars. What are her total earnings in dollars?
Answer: 1940
Commission: $0.06 \times 9{,}000 = 540$ . Total: $1{,}400 + 540 = 1{,}940$ dollars.
8.
A salesperson earned 360 dollars of commission on sales of 6,000 dollars. What is the commission rate?
1. a)3.6%
2. b)16.7%
3. c)6%
4. d)60%
Answer: 6%
$\frac{360}{6{,}000} = 0.06 = 6\%$ . Check: $0.06 \times 6{,}000 = 360$ .
9.
A car salesperson has a base salary of 1,500 dollars. This month he sold cars for 25,000 dollars and earned 2,250 dollars in total. What is his commission rate?
Answer: 3
1. How much of the total is commission? 750
2. Divide the commission by the sales. What decimal do you get? 0.03
3. Write the rate as a percent. 3
10.
An electronics salesperson earned 1,350 dollars of commission on sales of 45,000 dollars. What is the commission rate?
Answer: 3
1. Divide the commission by the sales. What decimal do you get? 0.03
2. Write the rate as a percent. 3
11.
A salesperson earns 1,000 dollars a month plus 8% commission. How many dollars must she sell to earn 1,800 dollars this month?
Answer: 10000
1. How much must come from commission? 800
2. Which sales give 800 dollars of commission at 8%? 10000
12.
A store pays 4% commission on the first 5,000 dollars of sales and 6% on sales above 5,000 dollars. An employee sells 8,000 dollars. How many dollars of commission does he earn?
1. a)480
2. b)320
3. c)200
4. d)380
Answer: 380
$0.04 \times 5{,}000 = 200$ and $0.06 \times 3{,}000 = 180$ , so the commission is $200 + 180 = 380$ dollars. 480 is the mistake of using 6% on all 8,000.
13.
A real estate agent earns 2.5% commission. She sells a house for 240,000 dollars. How many dollars of commission does she earn?
Answer: 6000
$0.025 \times 240{,}000 = 6{,}000$ dollars (1% is 2,400, so 2.5% is $2.5 \times 2{,}400 = 6{,}000$ ).
14.
A company pays 5% commission on the first 10,000 dollars of sales and 8% on sales above 10,000 dollars. A salesperson sells 14,000 dollars. What is the commission in dollars?
Answer: 820
1. Commission on the first 10,000? 500
2. How much of the sales is above 10,000? 4000
3. Commission on the part above 10,000? 320
4. Total commission? 820
15.
Job A pays 1,800 dollars a month plus 2% of sales. Job B pays 1,200 dollars a month plus 5% of sales. With monthly sales of 30,000 dollars, how many dollars more does the better job pay?
Answer: 300
1. Total earnings with job A? 2400
2. Total earnings with job B? 2700
3. How many dollars more does the better job pay? 300
16.
Job A pays 1,800 dollars a month plus 2% of sales. Job B pays 1,200 dollars a month plus 5% of sales. At what monthly sales, in dollars, do both jobs pay the same?
Answer: 20000
$1{,}800 + 0.02s = 1{,}200 + 0.05s$ gives $600 = 0.03s$ , so $s = 20{,}000$ dollars. Check: both pay $2{,}200$ .
17.
A real estate agent earns 3% commission. For what house price, in dollars, would she earn 9,000 dollars of commission?
1. a)270,000
2. b)3,000,000
3. c)300,000
4. d)30,000
Answer: 300,000
$\frac{9{,}000}{0.03} = 300{,}000$ dollars. Check: $0.03 \times 300{,}000 = 9{,}000$ .
18.
A company pays 5% commission on the first 10,000 dollars of sales and 8% on sales above 10,000 dollars. How many dollars must a salesperson sell to earn 1,100 dollars of commission?
Answer: 17500
1. How much commission does the full first tier give? 500
2. How much commission must come from sales above 10,000? 600
3. How much must be sold above 10,000? 7500
4. What are the total sales? 17500