If you're wondering what agency agreements are, what their aim is, and how you can get a free agency agreement for yourself or your company, then this articleis the place to be.
In this article, we shall explain the concept of an agency agreement, its complexities, and what are the dos and don'ts if you intend to make this agreement with another party.
This article will provide you valuable insight and answer all queries regarding the agency agreement. Moreover, this article will show how agency agreement canbe a tool to expand your business or earn valuable commission by being anassociate to a business.
What Is an Agency Agreement?
Agency agreement is an agreement between a company and an agent. The essential purpose of this agreement for the company is to use the agent for the company's interests.
The agents are allowed by the company to profess the interests of the company, gain revenue for them, and establish goodwill of the company. In this way, the agents can be an invaluable asset for the company that hires them.
It is important to remember that these agents are non-contract workers innature. This aspect holds a certain significance in an agency agreement as it allows companies to hire non-contract agents that provide them with certain services.
These services could range from the selling of the goods supplied by the company to other more executive services such as legal consultancy and advisory duties as well.
The agents are allowed to work over a given territory and time period to secure some revenue for the company and are paid commission in return.
Download a Free Agency Agreement Template Today!
When you hire a non-contract worker, it is important to specify what services they would provide and for how long. With our free agency agreement template, you can ensure complete clarity of work between your company and the independent worker. Download the agency agreement below and start hiring non-contract workers legally today!
When to Use an Agency Agreement?
Now that we understand the basics of the free agency agreement, the next step is to understand when it is the most advantageous for your business to employ this agreement. Let’s understand the optimum time and usage of an agency agreement:
- The agency agreement would come in handy if you don't know the dynamics of agiven market. This agreement can be employed to bring in an agent on yourbehalf, to sell or manage the goods that you have provided, over a certain territory and time period.
- This allows you to extend your business into the far-reaching areas of your state where you may not have previous experience.
- The agent can be a valuable asset as it does not pose a liability to the company hiring the agent. The non-contract part of the agent states that any damages incurred during the process of hiring and working of the agent, the company has limited no liability.
What Constitutes an Agency Agreement?
There are many things that come into play while a free agency agreement is being constructed. The following factors constitute an agency agreement:
The Territory And Time Period
This is a pretty important one among the basics. The company has to provide a territory and time plan as well. The agent may be given some version of autonomy in deciding the extent of his services depending upon the situation, but this has to be defined in the given agreement.
Exclusivity
Exclusivity is an important factor. The company can ask the agent to exclusively deal with their agreement, or the agent could alternatively be allowed to focus on multiple customers at a time as well.
Commission
The commission of the agent is described in the agency agreement as well. The commission is usually a percentage of the total revenue generated by the agent over the course of its work.
The commission or compensation can be conditional and linked to the services and their delivery by the agent.
Expenses
Expenses are decided upon by the company and the agent as well. The expenses are usually all imposed on the agent, during the time period where the agent is providing the service. However, certain transportation and other expenses can be decided to be paid by the company.
These are the essentials of the free agency agreement. In addition to the aforementioned factors, the agreement has a very crucial point of the agents being non-contract workers. Pay particular attention to understand this clause in the upcoming part.
What Is the Limited Liability of an Independent Contractor?
In an agency agreement, the agents are independent contractors which means a number of possibilities for the hiring authorities. These possibilities emerge due to the limited liability clause and include, but not limited to, the following:
- Limited liability is a very attractive clause for the hiring authorities. Limited liability states the errors made by the agent in working and managing the services, and the damages being imposed as a result of that, shall not be liable on the company.
- The company has limited liability in this case which means that the individuals of the authoritative board shall not bear any expense, in case the agent is unable to meet any given criteria.
- Both parties are liable to indemnify one another in case of loss of capital, breach of the law, or any miss judgments made by either of the parties at the expense of the other.
- In case of natural disasters, the parties shall not be held accountable for nor holding up their part of the deal. If this situation continues for 6 months or more, it will urge the parties to sit together and talk about alternatives that they may need to adopt.
Where to Get Your Free Agency Agreement?
Now, you must be thinking of where you can get your free sample of an agency agreement. The free agency agreement still requires serious legal reasoning and guidance as well. The advisory company, to provide you with a foolproof legal document is none other than the Cocosign.
Cocosign is one of the best companies out there to provide you with valuable and quality services when it comes down to you and your legal documents.
We take special care in crafting a legal document that takes care of your required considerations in a lawful process, so that you may never fall behind when it comes to your matters with the law. Get your free sample of the agency agreement template on Cocosign now!
Download a Free Agency Agreement Template Today!
When you hire a non-contract worker, it is important to specify what services they would provide and for how long. With our free agency agreement template, you can ensure complete clarity of work between your company and the independent worker. Download the agency agreement below and start hiring non-contract workers legally today!
Conclusion
The agency agreement is a great way to hire third-party contractors or agents for expanding your business, without bearing any additional liability.
These agents often have a special skill set, tailored to your needs that can be employed as such to gain revenue and prosperity in the business. The legal aspects of the agreement have been disclosed in detail in the article.
Keeping in mind the conditions of the agreement, the business owner, as well as the hired agent, can gain maximum advantage for themselves while remaining within the boundaries of the law.
DOCUMENT PREVIEW
- Hereby, the Parties agree that the Agent is not entitled to bind the Principal in any matter other than for the Services in this Agreement.
TERM
- This Agreement shall be effective on the date of signing this Agreement (hereinafter referred to as the “Effective Date”) and will end on ________________.
- Upon the end of the term of the Agreement, this Agreement will not be automatically renewed for a new term.
COMPENSATION
- Hereby, the Parties agree that the Agent will be paid by means of invoicing the Principal via the following means: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
RELATIONSHIP OF THE PARTIES
- Hereby, the Parties agree that this is a non-exclusive agreement and that the Parties are not to be regarded as employer-employee.
CONFIDENTIALITY
- All terms and conditions of this Agreement and any confidential information provided by the Principal to the Agent and vice versa during the term of the Agreement must be kept confidential, unless the disclosure is required pursuant to process of law.
- Disclosing or using this information for any purpose beyond the scope of this Agreement, or beyond the exceptions set forth above, is expressly forbidden without the prior consent of the Parties.
- The Parties’ obligation to maintain confidentiality will survive termination of this Agreement and will remain in effect indefinitely.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- Hereby, the Agent agrees that any intellectual property provided to him/her by the Principal will remain the sole property of the Principal and vice versa including, but not limited to, copyrights, patents, trade secret rights, and other intellectual property rights associated with any ideas, concepts, techniques, inventions, processes, works of authorship, confidential information or trade secrets.
- The Agent will refrain from using such intellectual property upon the termination of this Agreement.
TERMINATION
- This Agreement may be terminated in the event that any of the following occurs:
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Immediately, in the event that one of the Parties breaches this Agreement.
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At any given time by providing written notice to the other party ________________ days prior to terminating the Agreement.
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By the Principal in the event of the Agent’s breach of this Agreement and/or due to insolvency, bankruptcy and/or liquidation.
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By the Agent in the event of the Principal’s breach of this Agreement and/or due to insolvency, bankruptcy and/or liquidation.
- The Principal will be responsible for paying for all the Services conducted by the Agent until the date of termination, except in the event of a breach of this Agreement by the Agent.
- Upon terminating this Agreement, the Agent will be required to return all the Principal’s products and/or any other content (if any) at his/her earliest convenience, but not beyond ________________ days.
REPRESENTATION AND WARRANTIES
- The Parties agree and disclose that they are fully authorized to enter this Agreement. The performances and obligations of both Parties may not violate the rights of any third party or violate any other agreement made between them and/or any other organization, person, business or law/governmental regulation.
LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
- Under no circumstances will either party be liable for any indirect, special, consequential, or punitive damages (including lost profits) arising out of, or relating to, this Agreement or the transactions it contemplates (whether for breach of contract, tort, negligence, or other form of action) in the event that such is not related to the direct result of one of the Parties’ negligence or breach.
INDEMNITY
- The Parties agree not to indemnify and hold one another harmless. This also applies to their affiliates, agents, officers, employees, and/or successors. The Parties in this Agreement hereby in addition agree to assign against all (if any) claims, liabilities, damages, losses, penalties, punitive damages, expenses, any arising reasonable legal fees and/or costs of any kind or any amount that may arise. This includes, but is not limited to, any amount which may result from the negligence of or the breach of this Agreement by the party that is indemnified, its successors and assigns that occurs in terms of this Agreement.
- This section will remain in full force and tact as well as effect, even upon the termination of the Agreement naturally, or the early termination by either of the Parties.
SEVERABILITY
- In the event that any provision of this Agreement is found to be void and unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, then the remaining provisions will remain in force in accordance with the Parties’ intention.
GOVERNING LAW
- This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of ________________.
AMENDMENTS
- The Parties agree that any amendments made to this Agreement must be in writing, where they must be signed by both Parties to this Agreement.
- As such, any amendments made by the Parties will be applied to this Agreement.
ASSIGNMENT
- The Parties are not entitled to assign the responsibilities that they have under this Agreement to anyone else unless both Parties agree to the assignment and provide such agreement in writing.
ENTIRE AGREEMENT
- This Agreement contains the entire agreement and understanding among the Parties hereto with respect to the subject matter hereof, and supersedes all prior agreements, understandings, inducements and conditions, express or implied, oral or written, of any nature whatsoever with respect to the subject matter hereof. The express terms hereof control and supersede any course of performance and/or usage of the trade inconsistent with any of the terms hereof.
ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION
- Any dispute or difference whatsoever arising out of or in connection with this Agreement shall be submitted to arbitration/mediation/negotiation (circle one) in accordance with, and subject to the laws of ________________.
SIGNATURE AND DATE
- The Parties hereby agree to the terms and conditions set forth in this Agreement and such is demonstrated by their signatures below:
