Agency agreement

If you wish to supply goods through a strict agency agreement with a retailer on a sale or return basis, use this form of agreement to protect your position.

Our form of agreement seeks to protect the position of the principal (as the supplier of the goods) against the agent. (Note under this agreement it is the agent who finds the customer. This differs from a distributor who buys the goods and distributes them at their own risk.)

Protection comes from covering the following key areas:

• the agent agrees to be the legal agent of the supplier, thus imposing on the agent the full weight of UK agency law (e.g. to accept responsibility for the goods as though they were the legal owner)

• the supplier retains legal ownership of the goods until sale

• the agent agrees to return the goods on demand

• the agent agrees to assume personal responsibility for the proceeds of sale

• the agent agrees to accept the risk of the goods for insurance purposes (this is important as your insurance cover may not be valid for your goods stored off your premises)

• the agent agrees to liaise with the supplier about setting the price

• the agent agrees to let the supplier check their accounts records for the purposes of verification.