if you get referrals from caterers and event planers do you give them a kickback? how much? i had one tell me 15-20% was standard. 20% seems kind of high to me.
please educate me

a good planner will NOT ask for a kickback. their job is to find the best for the clients, not make the most money off their clients.

run from this planner- run fast, run far.

caterers should only get a % if you are included in the contract for the whole event, in which case you are essentially working for the caterer. if you are doing your own thing, then there should be no kickback.

Are they going to give you a kickback for sending people their way? I think not.

I had a dress shop that wanted us to be their "exclusive" cake place. We would pay them 10% of each cake order they sent us. I asked her how much we would get for each alteration/dress order we sent them. ---DEAD SILENCE----- for a good 5 minutes. I was trying so hard not to laugh. She finally said that she'd get back with me. Never heard from her again.

raise your hand if you're shocked.

agree with needy2. It is a 2 way street, they refer to you and you refer to them. It is a win win situation. No money or kickback should be involved.

I true planner or designer does not get a kick back from your service. it is not worth the referral to end up giving them money out of your pocket or up charge the bride. I work with high end event planners frequently, and they would never ask for money in return. Adding a sweet wow factor and making their couples happy is all they should ever want from you.

Here's a blog post Preston Bailey (Famous New York Event Planner) wrote on the subject
http://blog.prestonbailey.com/2010/08/17/frequently-asked-questions-do-clients-ultimately-end-up-having-to-pay-when-there-are-commissions-involved-with-vendors/

Never, never, never. Kickbacks are illegal in the first place, but if some planner is trying to get one from you it shows that she isn't very professional, and will just go with the highest bidder. She's not doing her clients any favors.

What costume said!! Stop using the word "kickback"!!!

A true professional planner will not expect or ask for monetary compensation for a referral. I've talked to too many of them.

Most vendors will do referrals back and forth with vendors they have built a relationship with. note..... see this month's Cake Central magazine for my article on this very topic.

the only vendors that I have a problem with are the venues, who think they should get a referral payment, even when they had nothing to do with the bride/groom finding me! And venues are the WORST about wanting payment for this. I'd love to see a revolution where the other wedding vendors reminded these venues that without cakers, caterers and photographer, etal, all they'd have is a big empty room!

A few venues that I worked with "required" a fee that was a percentage of the catering invoice. So on a $5,000 catering job, I'd have to hand over $500 to the venue.

No problem. I just added $500 to the invoice to the bride and labeled it "XYZ Venue Access Fee". If the bride doesn't want to pay it, then she takes her argument to the venue, because I am NOT playing the bad guy and making it look like MY pricing is expensive just so they can make $500 off of my work.

I've not problem with paying a Kitchen Use fee. It's expensive to set up a comm'l kitchen. But one place charged a $300 kitchen use fee *AND* started requiring a 10%-from-the-catering-invoice-fee.

This practice has to be the biggest "racket" in the wedding industry.

[quote="costumeczarfor the cakes, if they don't use the in-house baker they get charged the cake-cutting fee, which can be up to $5 a serving. It certainly dissuades people from going off-list.[/quote]

What?????