Fee

From Wikinvestor

Or see Fee simple.

A fee is the price one pays as remuneration for services, especially the honorarium paid to a doctor, lawyer, consultant, or other member of a learned profession. Fees usually allow for overhead, wages, costs, and markup.

A contingent fee is an attorney's fee which is reduced or not charged at all if the court case is lost by the attorney.

A service fee, service charge, or surcharge is a fee added to a customer's bill. The purpose of a service charge often depends on the nature of the product and corresponding service provided. Examples of why this fee is charged are: travel time expenses, truck rental fees, liability and workers' compensation insurance fees, and planning fees. UPS and FedEx have recently begun surcharges for fuel.

Restaurants and banquet halls charging service charges in lieu of tips must distribute them to their wait staff in some U.S. states (e.g., Massachusetts, New York, Montana), and may keep them in others (e.g., Kentucky).

A fee may be a flat fee or a variable one, or part of a two-part tariff.

It has become fairly common in the United States for fees to be used to hide the real price of a service or product.

Advance-fee fraud is a scam, although some contractors or other businesses may legitimately go bankrupt after accepting an fee in advance.