have you ever worked on commission?

So I'm still without a job and am having a little trouble finding something that will pay the bills. It's tough, but I'm getting by the best I can...

But I came across an ad recently for a sales position in my area and I think it might be commission only (hard to tell.. might be base + commission) And while its selling something I can actually see myself getting excited about, the fact that it's commission is making me a little nervous because I've never done that. I also come from a long line of "find a job with a steady paycheck and stay at it for 30+ years" kind of people, so that's probably been drilled into my head more times than I can count... even tho I know its wrong today considering no job security and no pension...

So I'd like to hear from anyone who has worked on commission before. Were you able to pay the bills? How different was it from working on a salary? Were you paid your commissions correctly and such? What kind of percentage of a sale seems to be standard - if there is a standard?

Thanks!

I'm on a base plus commission, which works well for me as I no longer have a child at home to raise. Personally, though, I would never take on a commission only job, as there is zero security in that.

Depends in the BASE an amount that you can live on??? then yes because then commision is a "gravey"

I work on salary plus commission.

I DO NOT recommend working on commission....I would NEVER do it again.

It is stressful, and makes you anxious and worried...and to me its not worth it.

I'm not paid on commission, but I work in a sales office where folks get paid on base + commission and let me tell you, the good salespeople make some beucoup bucks

I personally haven't worked on commission and I personally wouldn't. I'm not a very good sales person. In order to work in sales you have to be quite pushy and that's just not me.

However, my ex fiance worked strictly on commission when he was selling vacuum cleaners and he did extremely well at it often taking home a 2 week pay cheque of $4,000.00. This was back in the early 1980's so that was extremely good money.

If you need a job, give it a try if there is a base amount plus commission. Who knows you might be successful.

Do keep in mind though that while they do give you a base, the idea is for you to actually sell and make them money. If you are consistently not meeting a goal above the base amount you are being paid, chances are they won't keep you around.

You know I would say it wouldn't hurt to try it... it sure beats having no money at all! If you don't like it, you can continue to look for a different job while your doing this one... It's really up to you if you want to do it or not.. Good luck job searching!

Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

I'm not a very good sales person. In order to work in sales you have to be quite pushy and that's just not me.

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That depends on the sales job. I currently work a commission only job. If I'm pushy, I lose my clients, and my business is based off of long term clients.

It's tough getting started. My first 6 months were almost nothing, but when you get the swing of it, you can make a lot of money. Basically it's a lot of hard work and once the client base is built up, it's easy and productive. Even now I have some months where I make absolutely nothing, but then it's made up by other months where I make 60-80k.

I can tell you if you absolutely need a steady paycheck, don't go this route. A good way to look at it is at the lowest income level of the job (nothing or base), can you survive? Because chances are you will be at the lowest until you get used to sales.

Be careful, there are some companies out there who advertise about the base+commission thing that are actually just a huge pyramid scheme sort of thing. It's probably not what you're talking about but every time I see those ads I think of this one company that sells knives like that-- bad news bears.

Good luck finding a job!

Originally Posted by Zissou'sMom

Be careful, there are some companies out there who advertise about the base+commission thing that are actually just a huge pyramid scheme sort of thing. It's probably not what you're talking about but every time I see those ads I think of this one company that sells knives like that-- bad news bears.

Good luck finding a job!

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I agree. Back when I was looking for a job, I got an email from a company who supposively found my resume on Monster.com (maybe they did, maybe they didn't). But they said that my resume looked like I would be perfect for a sales position and they wanted to schedule an interview. I have never worked in sales, only customer service, so I could possibly be cut out for it because alot of customer service is based around the same idea as sales (in my old job I sold alot of b.s. ). I scheduled the interview, and then I had a funny feeling, so I looked around on the internet and found out that the company was real, but it was basically a scam designed for them to make as much money as possible, and you make almost nothing, and in some cases have to invest some money. The "interview" as it turns out would have actually been a pitch to me and about 30 other people at the same time. You basically don't learn how to do the job, you're just told a bunch of statistics and bull about how much money you can make, but you're not given any real useful information.

Just be careful, this could be that same type of situation and you don't want to be in it.

No, I would never work on commission. It's an accident waiting to happen....especially if something goes wrong and you don't have enough sales for the month. It's just too stressful.

I would however not see a problem with commission in addition to a good base salary. That's almost like a bonus in a way, so long as the base pay is good.

I fell for this in 2003, the company made it seem like base + commission. It was all commission. The first month I didn't make any money. I made about 700 every two weeks before I quit. It's tough, I would only say do commission if you are confident in the product you are selling. Don't bank on it though.

I worked for a marketing company that paid on comission only. I would never do it again. There were times when I would work all day and hardly make anything. I think it would have been okay if there was a decent base pay, and then a commission on top of that, but strictly commission only is way to stressful and risky IMO.

In Canada companies are supposed to guarentee minimum wage at the least. If, however, you don't earn enough commission to cover the min wage they let you go PDQ.