Track Referral Commissions Paid to Other Brokerages
Referral fees are the commission everyone forgets to track. Pipeline puts them on the brokerage ledger — paid out, earned, or split in-house.
Try it free for 14 days — full access, unlimited users, no credit card.
How Pipeline tracks referral commissions
Paperless Pipeline tracks all three kinds of real estate referral commissions on the transaction itself: referral fees paid out to other brokerages (entered as a percentage or dollar amount, with the name and address of each receiving company on record), referral income your brokerage earns from outside referrals, and in-house referrals between your own agents. Referral amounts appear in a dedicated Referral Commission column on four built-in reports — Aggregate Performance, Commission and Closings, Pending Commissions, and Agent Income — so the money you paid away is as visible as the money you kept. Pricing starts at $69/month with unlimited users.
The commission everyone forgets to track
A referral fee leaves your brokerage before anyone's split is calculated — and in most back offices it lives in an email thread, a settlement statement, or someone's memory. When it's not on the transaction record, your commission reports overstate what the brokerage kept and understate what walked out the door. Pipeline treats referral commissions as a first-class line on the transaction, in all three directions a referral can flow.
Referral fees you pay to other brokerages
On any transaction, open the Manage/Update Commissions page and enter the outside referral as a percentage or a fixed dollar amount in the Referral Commission box. Pipeline supports multiple referrers on a single transaction — distributed by percent or dollar amount — and records the name and address of each referring company. When you calculate the commission, Pipeline generates a complete breakdown of everything entered: what the brokerage earned, what agents were paid, and what was referred away.
Referral income your brokerage earns
When one of your agents refers a client out and a check comes back, Pipeline tracks that too. Create a transaction for the outside referral, assign the referring agent, and enter the referral commission as a dollar amount with a $0 sale price — so the income is recorded and the agent gets their share of the referral commission, without the transaction counting toward unit production. An optional custom Transaction Label for referrals lets you filter them on reports.
In-house referrals between your own agents
When one of your agents refers a client to another one of your agents, enter the Total Referral Commission as a percentage or dollar amount, check "This is an in-house referral," then search for the referring agent by name in the Referral Commissions and Other Payables section. Pay their share as a percentage or dollar value and apply any fees and deductions associated with that agent — all inside the same commission workflow as the rest of the deal.
Referrals show up in your reports, not just your files
Every referral amount you enter flows into a Referral Commission column on four reports: the Aggregate Performance Report, the Commission and Closings Report, the Pending Commissions Report, and the Agent Income Report. Filter, download, and reconcile — referral dollars stop being the number you reconstruct at year-end.
~8%
of US real-estate transactions
1,700+
brokerages
17 yrs
in real estate back offices
4.6 · 5.0
G2 · Capterra
Ready to set it up?
The step-by-step guides live in our help center:
Referral commission FAQs
What brokers and TCs ask about tracking referrals in Paperless Pipeline.
How do I track referral fees paid to another brokerage?+
In Paperless Pipeline, open the Manage/Update Commissions page on the transaction and enter the referral as a percentage or fixed dollar amount in the Referral Commission box. Pipeline records the name and address of each referring company and includes the amount in your commission breakdown and reports. See the full guide: https://help.paperlesspipeline.com/help/track-referral-commissions-paid-to-other-brokerages
Can I split a referral fee between multiple brokerages on one transaction?+
Yes. Pipeline lets you set the number of referrers on a transaction and distribute the referral commission between them by percent or dollar amount, with the name and address recorded for each referring company.
How do I record a referral commission my brokerage receives?+
Create a transaction for the outside referral, assign the referring agent, enter a $0 sale price, and enter the referral commission as a dollar amount. The agent is paid their share of the referral commission, the transaction doesn't count toward unit production, and an optional Transaction Label lets you filter referrals on reports.
How do I pay a referral fee to one of my own agents?+
For in-house referrals, enter the Total Referral Commission as a percentage or dollar amount, check "This is an in-house referral," then search for the referring agent by name and enter their payable amount in the Referral Commissions and Other Payables section, including any applicable fees and deductions.
Which reports show referral commissions?+
Four Paperless Pipeline reports include a Referral Commission column: the Aggregate Performance Report, the Commission and Closings Report, the Pending Commissions Report, and the Agent Income Report. Each can be filtered and downloaded from the Reports menu.
Does Paperless Pipeline have a free trial?+
Yes. Try it free for 14 days — full access, unlimited users, no credit card. Trials include up to 9 transactions, and logging back in automatically extends your trial by 7 days. Pricing starts at $69/month with unlimited users.
Put every referral on the ledger.
Paid out, earned, or in-house — tracked on the transaction and reconciled in your reports.
Try it free for 14 days — full access, unlimited users, no credit card.
14 days, full access. No credit card. Free setup with you. Or book a demo
See pricing — from $69/mo, unlimited users