RDA "consultant / consolidators" represent thousands of retailers across the U.S., providing them with sales data captured from wholesaling systems (data transfer format from north American periodical wholesalers).  Sales information is obtained through your local wholesaler on a quarterly basis, in most cases electronically.  Typically, RDA consultant / consolidators ensure that your account has signed contracts for all titles that offer a retail display allowance.  Retailers tend to be updated quarterly, and contracts are signed for new RDA titles that the specific retailer is selling.

The magazine publisher's national distributors pay RDA quarterly. RDA Consultant/Consolidator invoices are generally sent along with retailer RDA payment checks monthly, so that there is no unnecessary delay of retailer cash flow.  Commissions charged by consultant/consolidators is usually based upon a percentage of what is collected for the retailer, depending on the retailer's number of locations, sales volume, and number of magazine distributors servicing the store(s).