{"data":{"id":"us-ca/corp-31011","jurisdiction":"us-ca","citation":"CORP § 31011","heading":"","body":"“Franchise fee” means any fee or charge that a franchisee or subfranchisor is required to pay or agrees to pay for the right to enter into a business under a franchise agreement, including, but not limited to, any payment for goods and services.\nHowever, the following shall not be considered the payment of a franchise fee:\n(a) The purchase or agreement to purchase goods at a bona fide wholesale price if no obligation is imposed upon the purchaser to purchase or pay for a quantity of the goods in excess of that which a reasonable businessperson normally would purchase by way of a starting inventory or supply or to maintain a going inventory or supply.\n(b) The payment of a reasonable service charge to the issuer of a credit card by an establishment accepting or honoring that credit card.\n(c) Amounts paid to a trading stamp company under Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 17750) of Part 3 of Division 7 of the Business and Professions Code by a person issuing trading stamps in connection with the retail sale of merchandise or service.","path":["Corporations Code - CORP","TITLE 4. SECURITIES [25000. - 31528.]","DIVISION 5. FRANCHISE INVESTMENT LAW [31000. - 31528.]","PART 1. DEFINITIONS [31000. - 31020.]"],"source_url":"https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/pubinfo_2025.zip","current_through":"2026-09-13","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14T05:56:33Z","sha256":"5571965dbf97a3c80f0bb6396b056526e33c0a29a8b599d7025e3af4486ee184","source_id":"us-ca","stale":false,"prev":"us-ca/corp-31010","next":"us-ca/corp-31012"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}