Using Consignments in coreSTORE

One of the more easy-to-miss features in coreSTORE is our consignments process. This process allows you to receive used items from your customers and not have to pay the customer for the used items until you have sold those items, and even then at a set percentage of what you sold the item for.

You can watch the video below to watch this process in action, and follow along with the video using the steps outlined in this article.

Step 1: Enable and Setup Consignments in Your coreSTORE

In order to use consignments, you need to enable them in the Items section of Company Settings. Navigate to Company (1) Settings (2) click Consignments (3) Click the checkbox to Consignment Items? (4) to enable consignments in your store. Once you enable this option, the system will automatically create new tags for consignments.

If you want to pay each customer who sells you items for consignment (the consignor) a default cost percentage of the price that the item eventually sells for, enter the desired percentage without a percentage sign in Default Cost Percent (5) (This is required if you want to use auto calculation for the amount to pay the consignor) . For example, if you want to keep 25% of the profit from the sale and want to pay the consignor 75% of the profit from the sale (same as cost of goods sold or COGS), you would enter 75 here.

In addition to the default cost percent, you can also charge each consignor a specific fee in addition to the margin you will earn on the item for selling the used item for them by entering that amount in Default Fee (6). If you do not want to charge consignors a fee, leave this set to 0.

Example of Consignment cost percent and consignment fee Selling price of $100, Consignment cost percent of 75% and consignment fee of $10 would pay the Consignor $65 ( $75(consignment cost) - $10(consignment fee)= $65)

Note:

These options are just default settings. You can change these amounts per item.

Finally, click the Save button (7) to save these settings and complete setting up consignments for your coreSTORE:

Step 2: Receive the Consignment Item Using the Trade-In Widget

Navigate to the Sales screen and add the consignor as a customer to the sale (A), then click on the trade-in widget (B).

To create a consignment item, check the Consignment checkbox (C), which will automatically add the Consignment tag (D) to the item. Make sure that the cost field (E) is set to 0 or leave it empty, so that the system is able to correctly do the consignment calculations based upon the cost percent. If you want to apply a different cost percent and/or fee to the consignment than is set in Store Config, you can add that here (F) also. Once you click Save (G), the item will be added to the sale.

Note:

If you are a coreFORCE user, the Consignment Tag must also exist on that end under Product Tag Maintenance. 

After saving the consignment item, it will be added to the sale with a Transaction Type label to show it is for a Consignment (H).

To finish receiving the consignment, add payment and complete the sale. The consignment item will then be added to your Inventory.

Note:

You can also run a report to see a list of all the current consignment items you have in your inventory (not including sold or settled consignments) by navigating to Reports (A) > Inventory Reports > Inventory Summary Report (B), selecting the Consignment tag (C), then clicking the Submit button (D):

Step 3: Sell the Consignment Item

All you need to do to sell the consignment item is to add it to the Sales screen, and complete the sale. This will automatically change the tag on the item to Sold Consignment.

Step 4: Settle Consignments

After you have sold a consignment, the last step is to pay the consignor for the item. In order to do so, we have the Settle Consignments report. Navigate to Reports (A) > Items (B) > Settle Consignments (C):

You have the option to select the time frame of when the consignments were sold and can even narrow it down by consignor. Once you click the Submit button (D) the report will show which items need to be settled:

If you have Checkeeper, you can generate a check to give/send the consignor. Check the checkbox next to the item you want to create a check for (E), then click on the Create Checks button (F) to bring up the dialog. Enter the routing number for your bank in Bank Routing Number (G) and your bank account number in Account# (H), then click the Process button (J) to have a check automatically generated by Checkeeper for you (need to have permission enabled under Employee Permissions of the employee's profile). You can either print this check or have Checkeeper send it to the consignor automatically.

After printing the check or paying the consignor, check the checkbox (E) again, then click the Mark as Settled button (K) to complete the consignment, which removes the consignment from this report and deducts it from inventory:

If you want to pay the consignor with something other than a check, we also have a column in the report that tells you the amount you need to pay them:

If you want to verify that the consignment has settled, the Sold Consignment tag should have automatically changed to Settled Consignment:

Other Resources

• If you do not want to pay consignors using checks, refer to this article: How do I pay out after a consignment is sold not using checks?
• To learn more about Checkeeper, visit their website: https://checkeeper.com