Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

If you place your media yourself, most media will give you an "agency discount" which is 10 - 15% off the gross rate. You are entitled to request net rates if you are doing your own media placement.

You don't say whether you're an agency or a client. One of the reasons for agencies charging the commission was to reimburse them for the time involved in negotiating rates and managing a media buy (it can be considerable), and for their risk in signing off on the buy.

Realize that if the agency signs off on the buy on behalf of the client and handles the billing, thereby entitling it to the commission, it also assumes the risk if the client doesn't pay. (That happens more than you would like to think.) When a client defaults, the wronged publication can contact the rest of the media in your city, essentially placing a freeze on your ability to place media for ANY client. This puts you out of business on the media buying side until 1) the client pays up or 2) you pay for the client's media and then take him to court.

Since many media buys run into the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, it's no small thing to liquidate a delinquent client's media bill. After over 20 years of watching these shenannigans, my advice if you're the agency is to have the client sign all contracts and handle all media billing directly, and to make sure that the media know your policy. (You can still do the client's negotiations and manage the schedules, just charge per hour for your time.) You are better off charging a 15% higher rate for services and reducing your risk than dealing with the headache of a client who closes up shop without paying his media bills.