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Free tool · Supplier rebates

Volume rebate calculator: tiered supplier rebates, retroactive or incremental

Enter one supplier's eligible spend and its rebate tiers. You see the rebate both ways tiers are commonly written, the gap to what you received, and how much more spend reaches the next tier. It runs in your browser; nothing is sent.

Rebate tiers: from this amount of spend, this rate

Rebate earned on $210,000.00

Reached rate applies to all spend (retroactive)
$6,300.00
3% × $210,000.00
Each rate applies to its own band (incremental)
$2,300.00
2% × $100,000.00 + 3% × $10,000.00

Received: $4,500.00

Difference if your agreement is retroactive: $1,800.00

Difference if your agreement is incremental: -$2,200.00

A difference is a reason to check, not proof that money is owed: check returns, eligible product groups, the period and payment timing.

Checking every supplier, with your actual purchase export? Rebate Check reads your Excel or CSV file and shows, per supplier, what you should have received, what arrived and the purchases behind each number.

Try Rebate Check free in your browser

Why rebates go uncollected

In an industry survey reported by Modern Distribution Management, 52% of distributors said they believe they don't receive all the rebates they earn, and only 43% knew the rebate earned from each manufacturer (source).

The usual causes are a tier crossed late in the period, returns netted the wrong way, product groups left out, and payments nobody matched to the agreement.

How Rebate Check helps distributors

What is the difference between a retroactive and an incremental rebate?
With a retroactive (all-units) tier, once your spend reaches a tier, that tier's rate applies to all of your eligible spend in the period. With an incremental (banded) tier, each rate applies only to the part of the spend inside its band. The same tiers can give very different rebates: in the default example, $210,000 of spend earns $6,300 retroactively but $2,300 incrementally.
Which one is my agreement?
Look for wording like "on all purchases once" or "from the first unit" (retroactive) versus "on purchases above" or "for the portion between" (incremental). If the agreement is unclear, ask the supplier to confirm how the tiers apply before you compare payments.
My received rebate is lower than the calculation. Does the supplier owe me money?
Not necessarily. Check returns and credit notes, which product groups are eligible, the exact period, and whether the payment has simply not arrived yet. The difference is where to start looking.