How to set up an online consignment store on Shopify

Write your consignment terms first

Every later setting follows from your terms, so put them in writing before the first item comes in. A consignment agreement usually covers:

• The split: what share of each sale goes to the consignor.
• How long items stay for sale, often 60 to 90 days.
• Whether and when prices drop as items age.
• What happens to unsold items: collected by a date, donated, or kept by the shop.
• When consignors are paid, and how.

In Consignment Hub these are your defaults in Settings, and you can change any of them for a single consignor.

List each item so it sells

• One product per item, with a quantity of one, so it sells out the moment it's sold.
• Brand, size, measurements and condition in the description, flaws included. Clear condition notes prevent most returns.
• Several photos on a plain background, including labels and any wear.
• A product type and tags such as size, brand and colour, which collections and filters use.
• Variants only when you have the same item in several sizes. Each size can belong to a different consignor.

Organise the store

Automated collections in Shopify fill themselves from conditions such as product type or tag, so new arrivals land in the right place without extra work. Shopify's free Search & Discovery app adds filters such as size, brand and price, which matters when every item is different.

A New arrivals collection sorted by date gives returning shoppers a reason to check back.

Match your returns policy to your payouts

If customers can return items for 14 days, you shouldn't pay a consignor before those 14 days are up. Selling into the EU or the UK, online customers have that right by law. Set your return window in Consignment Hub to at least your returns period: a sale becomes payable once it has passed, counted from when the order is fulfilled.

If a return still comes in after you've paid, the refund comes off that consignor's next payout.

Bring in consignors

1. Add each consignor. Only a name is needed; add an email to send them an invite to their own page.
2. Turn on the consignor portal in Settings, so consignors can check their items, sales and payouts themselves.
3. Let consignors propose items from their page, with details and an asking price. You add each one at your price, or decline it with a note.
4. Create products for consignors with Quick add, or link products you've already listed.

Selling in person too

If you also have a shop, a market stall or pop-up events, Shopify POS sells from the same inventory, and in-person sales count toward the same consignor balances. The Shopify POS guide below covers the counter.

Questions

Keep reading

• Consignment on Shopify POS
• Paying consignors
• Clothing boutiques