Glossary entry (derived from question below)
French term or phrase:
rétro commission
English translation:
rebate
French term
Spain
Law, Business & Marketing, BA, MA, MCIL
Native in: English (Variant: British) 
Works in: Spanish to English, French to English
Rétro commission
So I'm working on a contract involving a tour operator and destination management company. The latter provides the former with a range of travel and tour services. There is a clause called "rétro commission" which reads:
En cas d’accord entre le Prestataire et le Client sur le versement d’une rétro commission, cette dernière sera calculée à la fin de la période concernée sur la base d’un chiffre d’affaires généré au cours de la période concernée.
Obviously, this can't be a retro-commission in the illegal sense, so I was wondering if anyone had any ideas? It's the Service Provider which has to pay the commission to the Customer.
Cheers,
Nick
Feb 15, 2021 22:28: Conor McAuley Created KOG entry
Proposed translations
France
Excellence, Expertise & Experience
Native in: English (Variants: Wales / Welsh, UK, Scottish, Irish, British)
Works in: French to English, English
rebate
= volume discount paid in arrears
"A rebate is a payment back to a buyer of a portion of the full purchase price of a good or service. This payment is typically triggered by the cumulative amount of purchases made within a certain period of time."
(Compare the last part with "sera calculée à la fin de la période concernée sur la base d’un chiffre d’affaires généré au cours de la période concernée".)
https://www.accountingtools.com/articles/2017/5/13/rebate
Second time lucky.
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Note added at 19 hrs (2021-02-09 10:46:16 GMT)
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Hi Nicholas, see also my reply to Daryo's comment. I think the context is very clear if you think about it and the directions of payments.
| Hi Conor, I think this must be it because later on it says that it's calculated "sur la base d’un chiffre d’affaires généré au cours de la période concernée". |
| neutral |
Daryo
: we don't know the structure of this "rétro commission" - if it's a fixed % paid for "bringing clients" to hotels/restaurants ... (= some kind of "commission", as it's named!) or if it's some kind of "volume discount", in which case "rebate" would be fine.
1 hr
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"payment back to a buyer of a portion of the full purchase price of a good or service" / "It's the Service Provider which has to pay the commission to the Customer [the Client]"
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Ecuador
Language and engineering expert
Native in: Spanish 
, English
Works in: English to Spanish, Portuguese to English, Spanish to English, and 7 more.
Belgium
Studying MA in Physics with Philosophy
Native in: English
Works in: French to English, English to French
retroactive commission
Austria
Retd.T&I, Barrister & Austro-Advokat
Native in: English (Variants: Scottish, British)
Works in: Spanish to English, English to Spanish, French to English, and 5 more.
travel trade + music copyright: commission split; coll. 'rake-off'
My Norwegian editor-cum-resort rep and English travel-guide friends in the UK and Swiss etc. travel trade called this kind of arrangement a 'rake-off'.
So even though you may have a commission split with your host agency, in the end, many agents stand to rake in more dough with a host because they are earning more commission.
United Kingdom
Thoughtful and professional translation.
Native in: English (Variant: UK)
Works in: French to English
Discussion
...Clients tend to be legal persons, and customers tend to be physical persons, but that's not a hard-and-fast rule.
I agree with the distinction in this context and in general.
I apply this rule:
If you know the person or the representative of the company well and a decent amount of money is involved, then he/she/it is a Client.
If not, he/she/it is a Customer or an end-user.
It's the Service Provider which has to pay the commission to the Client
"Customers" are individuals (the travellers) THEY won't be getting anything in this transaction - the "Client" here is a business / a company i.e. the tour operator.
It suggest that a commission-only arrangement is normally paid in arrears - which makes sense.