Commissioned Agent Software for Consignment Fuel Stations

At a commissioned-agent station, also called a consignment station, the jobber owns the fuel in the station's tanks and sets the pump price, and the agent runs the store, sells the fuel and earns a commission on it. The fuel money belongs to the jobber. Every day the two settle, and the settlement says who drafts whom and for how much.

One station's Tuesday, settled

A station pays the jobber $150 a day in rent for the building and earns 4 cents a gallon. On Tuesday it sold 2,400 gallons of regular at $3.199, 300 of premium at $3.899 and 600 of diesel at $3.799, for 3,300 gallons and $11,126.70.

The jobber drafts $2,494.70 from the agent's account. A jobber with 7 agent stations runs 2,555 of these a year.

Settlements can also run the other way. Where one card processor takes payment for the whole site, store sales paid by card reach the jobber along with the fuel cards, and the settlement pays the store's share back to the agent. On a day with $6,000 of fuel on 1,800 gallons and $6,400 of card receipts, the cash line runs $400 under; add $150 rent and take off $72 commission, and the jobber owes the agent $322. The software has to show that day as a payment to the agent and send it.

What the agreement decides

The software carries out the agent agreement, so start with the agreement. The commission can be cents per gallon, a flat amount each day or a split of the fuel margin with a floor and a ceiling. Rent, card processing fees, cash shortages and drive-offs each need a line saying who pays. Since the fuel in the tank belongs to the jobber, the agreement also has to say who carries a tank that comes up short against the books.

PDI Enterprise offers margin-split commissions with a minimum or maximum commission. AIMS sets up commission by station in COMPAS Commander. FastDragon's agent settlement takes commission by station as a flat daily amount or cents per gallon, with each term dated, so an old day settles on the terms in force then. Bring one of your own agreements to the demo and have the vendor set up a station from it.

Where a day stops balancing

A price change in the middle of the day splits each grade's gallons between two prices, so the settlement needs sales by price from the register or the pump controller. Miss a 10-cent change on 1,000 gallons and the day is $100 off. Card batches close on the processor's clock, and the station closes its day on its own, so some card receipts land on the next day's settlement and the two days have to be read together.

Pump tests and drive-offs need lines of their own. Gallons pumped into a test can for a meter check go back into the tank and come off the day's sales. A drive-off is fuel that left without payment, and the agreement says whether it comes out of the commission or stays with the jobber. A cash shortage, where the safe holds less than the register says was taken in, is usually charged back to the agent.

Signing off a day

A settlement moves money between two businesses, so someone has to accept each one. The jobber's office reviews the day, signs it and sends the agent a statement with the figure and the draft date. A figure that changes after the signature should send the day back for another look before it posts again. PDI can run a trial settlement and print a preliminary settlement document before the batch posts. FastDragon keeps the history of who signed what and when, and it flags a signed day as stale once a number on it changes.

When a draft comes back

An ACH draft can come back unpaid a few days after the settlement posted, most often for insufficient funds. The returned draft has to reopen the agent's balance, and the jobber decides whether to draft again, collect in person or end the agreement. Ask each vendor to show a returned draft on screen: where it lands, who sees it and how the next settlement picks it up.

Who owes the sales tax

Federal excise tax is imposed when fuel leaves the terminal rack, before it reaches the station. State sales tax on the pump sale follows each state's rules, and the rules change. California has put the sales tax on the operator who held the seller's permit and sold a distributor's fuel. Michigan ended its sales tax on motor fuel bought from January 1, 2026 and raised its fuel tax to 52.4 cents a gallon. Ask your tax advisor which rule covers your stations, and have each vendor show the tax lines on a settlement for your state.

Software that settles agent stations

ADD runs dealer settlement inside eStore, its convenience-store back office, and iRely Petroleum includes a consignment option. FastDragon settles each station daily, builds the bank file that drafts or pays the agent and sells TurboTurtle for the agent's store. PDI generates settlements in batches, with settlement groups and rules set up ahead. Red River Software and Series2K sell jobber back offices as well, so ask either one to settle a station on screen. How these vendors compare across the rest of the back office is in our PDI competitors guide and our review of petroleum wholesale software, and the store side is in our guide to software for fuel jobbers with convenience stores.

The books behind one settlement

Posting a settlement writes one entry with six parts: fuel revenue, rent income, the commission expense, card clearing for receipts on their way from the processor or netted on the supplier's draft, the agent's receivable and the fuel inventory relieved at cost. For Tuesday the receivable is the $2,494.70 drafted. The inventory relief is 3,300 gallons at what they cost the jobber, and the gap between the gallons the books relieve and the gallons the tank stick shows is the over or short the agreement assigns. Our guide to petroleum accounting software works through the month-end tie-outs a settlement clearing account needs.

Questions for the demo

1. Settle one of my stations from yesterday.
   Bring the day's gallons by grade, the card receipts, the rent and the commission terms, and watch the figure come out with the draft or the payment ready.
2. Set up my commission terms.
   Per gallon, flat daily or a margin split, whichever your agreements use, and an old day settled on the terms in force then.
3. Show me a day the jobber owes the agent.
   A negative settlement should turn into a payment to the agent, with the bank file to match.
4. Correct a settlement after it posts.
   Change one figure and see whether the posting is replaced or a second entry is added, and who signed off on each version.
5. What does the agent see?
   A statement, a portal or a login, and the way the agent raises a dispute about a day.