What is an authorized representative?
An authorized representative is a person or firm a franchise brand has itself authorized to respond to buyer requests about its franchise — usually the franchisor's own development team or a consultant the brand appointed. Under our model, a request you send may reach the brands you picked and our partner franchise advisors, who can follow up. You are told who may receive it, and you choose who may contact you.
Authorized by whom? The brand. The authorization comes from the franchise itself, not from us or any lead seller, which is why a brand's own development team or a consultant it appointed qualifies while a random marketer with the title does not. What has changed is honesty about reach: when you send a request, we may share it with the brands you picked and with our partner franchise advisors who can help you evaluate them. (A partner advisor may be a franchise broker or consultant, but we share only with our own partner advisors — not arbitrary third parties.)
The money is disclosed in the same breath: a brand you picked, or a partner franchise advisor, may compensate us for a qualified request, and how we make money documents what that payment never buys. You decide who may contact you and how — the consent wording you agree to at submission names the parties who may follow up, we store that wording with every request, and you can ask us to stop selling or sharing your details.