How consignment sales work at the till
From bag to payout: how item, commission and balance connect when something sells. Why a regular POS is not enough in a consignment shop.
💡Key takeaways
- ✓A regular till sale is not enough – the same amount must be split
- ✓Commission and balance should update in the same second as the sale
- ✓The portal removes the calls asking if a jacket sold
- ✓Unsold needs a date, or it becomes a pile
Consignment in second-hand is a simple business. The customer drops off. You sell. You keep your share and pay out the rest. What breaks is the same purchase at the till: whose item it is, which split applies and when the balance can be withdrawn.
A regular POS records an amount. In a consignment shop that amount must be split. Otherwise the till is right for the Tax Agency and wrong for the seller.
The bag becomes items
Drop-off is not “a bag behind the counter”. Every garment needs an owner, a price and a commission.
You can do it two ways. Staff value and enter – full control when the bag is mixed. Or the seller adds photos and a description before they arrive, and you approve. The second saves time when volume is high and the margin per kids’ garment is low.
The label the till scans is the link. Without it you are back to sticky notes.
The till already knows whose it is
When the garment sells, three things should happen in the same second:
- The purchase is rung up on a certified cash register, for example Zettle
- The consignment system receives the receipt and finds the seller
- Commission is calculated and the balance is written up
Then the money is already split. You should not sit in the evening reconciling which jacket was SEK 450.
The seller sees it first
The two calls you get are always the same. Did my jacket sell? When does the money arrive?
If the answer sits in a binder, you are customer service. If it sits in a portal, the seller sees balance, for sale and sold. They can request Swish, payout in store or use the balance as a gift card. You approve. The system keeps the books.
Unsold is a decision
Consignment without an end date becomes a pile. Set a sales period, for example 60 days. Extend per item if it still sells. When time is up: pick up, donate or the copy you write.
Serculate does this on top of the till you already have. Free until you sell. Then SEK 699/month.
Related articles
Consignment POS: what the shop actually needs
A POS for consignment has to take payment, know whose item it is and pay out without Excel. How to tell a full till, Zettle and a consignment layer apart – and when SEK 699/month is enough.
From Excel to a consignment system – without switching tills
Spreadsheets die when sellers multiply. How to move customers, items and balances into a consignment system and keep Zettle.
