Sales commissions are paid to employees or companies that sell merchandise in stores or by calling on customers. The commission is meant to motivate sales persons to sell more. A commission may be paid in addition to a salary or instead of a salary. A common place that commissions are paid are in real estate marketing.

A commission is generally a percentage of the sales price of an item. For example, if a salesperson receives a 10% commission on their sales and sells $1500 worth of merchandise, they would earn $150 in commissions.