What is consignment software?
Consignment software is a management platform built for the operational needs of resale and consignment stores. It handles the full lifecycle of a consigned item—from intake and pricing through sale, split calculation, and consignor payout—and gives store owners the reporting and account management tools to run their business day to day.
What does consignment software do?
The core function of consignment software is managing the relationship between the store, its inventory, and its consignors. In practice that means:
Consignor Account Management
Every consignor has an account that tracks their items, sales history, and current balance. Consignors can often access their own account through a self-service portal, reducing the volume of calls and emails a store has to field.
Inventory and Intake Management
Items are logged at intake, tagged, and tracked from the floor to the point of sale. The system knows what's in the store and how long it has been there.
Automated Pricing and Markdowns
Consignment software can apply discount schedules automatically based on intake date and can generate price tags that show upcoming markdown dates, creating urgency for shoppers without manual re-tagging.
Split Calculations and Payouts
When an item sells, the software calculates the consignor split automatically and updates the consignor's account balance. Payout records are generated when payment is issued.
Reporting
Sales data by consignor, brand, category, time period, and item gives store owners the information they need to make good decisions about intake, pricing, and turnover ratio.
Consignment Software vs. General Retail POS
A general retail POS processes transactions but has no native way to handle consignor accounts, split calculations, or intake tracking. Consignment software is built around those needs.
Even so, the two aren't mutually exclusive. Some stores use a general POS for transactions and separate consignment software for back-end management. Most consignment-specific platforms, however, combine both into a single system that handles the transaction at the point of sale and manages the full consignor relationship behind it — see resale POS.
What to Look for in Consignment Software
Consignor Portal
A consignor portal with self-service account access for consignors reduces administrative overhead and improves the consignor experience.
Automated Discount Scheduling
Manual markdowns are a significant time drain and a common source of errors. Automation is significantly more efficient and reliable.
Flexible Split Structures
Different stores, and sometimes even different consignors within the same store, operate on different split terms. Consignment software should handle variation naturally.
Reporting Depth
Reporting that filters by consignor, category, brand, and time period will give business owners critical insight into their store’s health and operation.
Label Printing
Intake labels with pricing, consignor codes, and discount dates are a practical necessity. The system should generate these automatically.
Support and Reliability
Consignment software is critical infrastructure for many operations, which means downtime or poor support will have real business consequences.