# Sales load

> A sales load is a fee you pay when you buy mutual fund shares (a front-end load) or sell them (a back-end load), and it works like a commission to the broker who sold the fund.

Canonical page: https://find.wellspent.co/glossary/sales-load/
Also called: sales charge, front-end load, back-end load, CDSC

A front-end load comes off the top of what you invest. At a 5.75% load, $575 of a $10,000 purchase goes to the sales charge and $9,425 is invested. A back-end load, usually a contingent deferred sales charge (CDSC), is taken when you sell, and typically shrinks the longer you hold the shares until it reaches zero.

FINRA limits the combined front-end and deferred sales charges on a fund without an ongoing asset-based sales charge to 8.5% of the offering price. Many funds lower the load for larger purchases at set breakpoints.

Loads pay for the sale, not for ongoing advice. Fee-only advisors don't receive them, and many funds also offer share classes with no load. The SEC describes "clean shares" as a class with no front-end load, deferred sales charge or asset-based distribution fee.

## How to check

Look for "Maximum sales charge (load)" under shareholder fees in the fund prospectus's fee table, and check your trade confirmation for the share class you actually bought.

## Sources

- [Investor.gov (SEC), Sales Charge or Sales Load (checked October 31, 2026)](https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/investing-basics/glossary/sales-charge-or-load)
- [Investor.gov (SEC), Contingent Deferred Sales Load (checked October 31, 2026)](https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/investing-basics/glossary/contingent-deferred-sales-load)
- [Investor.gov (SEC), Clean Shares (checked October 31, 2026)](https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/investing-basics/glossary/clean-shares)
- [FINRA Rule 2341, Investment Company Securities, paragraph (d)(1)](https://www.finra.org/rules-guidance/rulebooks/finra-rules/2341)

## Related terms

- [Breakpoint](https://find.wellspent.co/glossary/breakpoint.md)
- [12b-1 fee](https://find.wellspent.co/glossary/12b-1-fee.md)
- [Commission-based advisor](https://find.wellspent.co/glossary/commission-based.md)
- [Expense ratio](https://find.wellspent.co/glossary/expense-ratio.md)