Consignment Without the Shoebox: Splits, Statements, and Unsold Items

Consignment is a records business

Selling the item is the easy part of consignment. The hard part is everything around it: who brought it in, what split they agreed to, when it sold and for how much, what they are owed, and what happens to it if it never sells. A consignment shop, an antique mall, or an auction house taking items from the public all live with the same question from consignors: "What sold, and when do I get paid?"

The shops that answer it easily are the ones that wrote things down at intake. Here is what to set up.

Put the agreement in writing, every time

A consignment agreement does not need to be long, but it should cover:

• The split: what percentage goes to the consignor and what the shop keeps
• How long items stay on the floor before they count as unsold
• What happens to unsold items: returned, donated, or relisted
• How and when payouts happen
• Whether the shop can mark prices down, and by how much

Have each consignor accept the agreement before their items go out. When a dispute comes up six months later, the accepted version is the only thing that settles it quickly.

Consider a split that scales with price

A flat split is simple, but it is not always fair to either side. A $15 item takes about as much handling as a $300 one, and a flat percentage on cheap items can leave the shop working for almost nothing. Many shops use a tiered split instead, where the consignor's share rises as the sale price rises. It rewards consignors who bring in better pieces and keeps low-value items worth the shelf space.

Whatever you choose, make sure the tiers have no gaps and no overlaps. A broken split table pays real people the wrong amount.

Tag every item to its consignor at intake

The single most common consignment headache is a sold item nobody can trace. Tag every consigned item to its consignor when it comes in, not when it sells. The tag should follow the item all the way to checkout so the sale is credited correctly without anyone checking a notebook.

Settle on a schedule, with a statement

Pick a payout schedule and keep it, whether it is weekly, twice a month, or monthly. Each payout should come with a statement listing what sold, the sale price, the split, and the amount paid. Consignors who can see the math rarely call to ask about it.

Decide unsold items before they pile up

Back rooms fill with items whose consignors have stopped answering the phone. Avoid that by deciding at intake what happens when time runs out, and by reminding consignors before the deadline rather than after. A pickup window with a couple of reminders is fairer to the consignor and far easier on your storage space.

How FindA.Sale handles consignment

The consignment tools are part of the TEAMS plan ($79 a month, including 5 team members). With them you can:

• Create a record for each consignor with their split, either a flat rate or a value-tiered ladder you set once and edit on its own screen
• Record each consignor's plan for unsold items: return, donate, or relist
• Give each consignor a private portal link where they accept your agreement, see their items and their status, review payout history, and connect a payout account
• Share an intake link where prospective consignors describe what they want to bring, then approve or decline each request and schedule intake appointments
• Assign items to a consignor, and print price labels that credit that consignor when the item is rung up
• Run settlement batches that total what each consignor is owed, then mark payouts paid, put them on hold, and send each consignor a statement, with a PDF copy and a CSV export for your books

Unsold items are flagged for you once they pass the consignor's return period, which defaults to 90 days. For consignors whose items are set to be returned, FindA.Sale opens a 15-day pickup window and sends them reminder emails during it. Nothing is moved or donated automatically. You make that call.

Shops with a storefront that is open all the time can also use Retail Mode, an always-live storefront for resale shops and antique dealers, so consigned inventory is browsable online between in-person visits. Fees on TEAMS are 6% for in-person sales and 7.5% online, with card processing included and a $0.75 minimum per transaction.

The short version

Write the agreement down and get it accepted. Choose a split that is fair at every price. Tag items to consignors at intake. Settle on a schedule with a statement every time. Decide what happens to unsold items before the deadline, and remind people before it arrives. Do those five things and the consignor's question answers itself.

finda.sale is free to try.