For an Aplus franchise, are payments received from vendors included in Gross Sales?

According to Aplus's 2024 Franchise Disclosure Document, payments received from vendors are included when calculating Gross Sales. Gross Sales is defined as the total amount of sales and any merchandise inventory variation including the total amount of consideration, valued in U.S. currency, received by the franchisee for sales from or in the Franchised Business. This includes merchandise, services, equipment rentals, and merchandise inventory variation. Gross Sales also include all barter and exchange transactions for which you furnish services or products in exchange for goods or services to be provided by the vendor, supplier or customer and will be valued at the full retail value of goods and services bartered in exchange for the good or services provided to you.

This means that any payments Aplus franchisees receive from vendors for any reason, such as rebates, marketing allowances, or promotional funds, must be included in their reported Gross Sales. This is a standard practice in franchising, as Gross Sales are often the basis for calculating royalty fees and other payments to the franchisor.

However, the FDD also specifies certain items that are excluded from Gross Sales. These exclusions include gasoline, diesel, and other fuel sales (if applicable, when operating a Fueling Station), sales taxes, customer refunds, lottery and other commissions, money orders (face value), ATM income, money order fees, prepaid product sales and commissions on products from designated supplier, federal, state and local excise taxes on cigarettes, car wash and automotive repairs, and proprietary SUNOCO food service businesses and convenience store product offerings from which no royalty is collected in accordance with the terms of the applicable participation agreement. Franchisees should carefully review the complete definition of Gross Sales in the Aplus Franchise Agreement to ensure accurate reporting and avoid potential disputes with the franchisor.