What to agree with a brand before taking its merchandise

Almost every falling-out between a multi-brand shop and a brand starts the same way: something happened that nobody had talked about. A coupon the brand never approved, a piece that went missing, rent charged in a month with no sales, a stock pickup the shop wasn’t expecting. None of these is unusual, and every one of them takes five minutes to resolve if it was agreed before the brand dropped off its first piece.

This guide is a list of what’s worth agreeing on, with the questions each point has to answer. It is not legal or tax advice. If you’re going to sign a formal contract, have a lawyer review it; the point here is simply that both sides know what to expect.

1. What the shop keeps

• Commission, rent or both? And how much of each.
• What is the commission calculated on? The easiest to explain is what the customer paid, after the discount.
• Is rent charged even with no sales? If so, what happens when rent is larger than what sold: do you bill the difference or carry it into the next period?
• Is rent per month or per cut-off? If you pay weekly, say whether rent comes off every cut-off or only once a month.

How to pick the numbers is in How much commission to charge a brand in your shop; the Consignment calculator helps you test them before you propose them.

2. Discounts and the card terminal fee

• Can the shop put the brand’s pieces on sale? Up to what limit, and does the brand need notice first?
• Who absorbs each discount? A simple rule: if the promotion was the brand’s idea, the brand absorbs it; if it was the shop’s, the shop does.
• Who pays the card terminal fee? The usual practice is to take it out of the brand’s share, only on sales paid by card. Write down the percentage and whether it includes the VAT on the fee, so the brand can check the math.

3. Prices

• Who sets the price? Usually the brand, since it’s their product.
• Can a price be changed at the counter? For a haggle, say, or a piece with a flaw. If so, who approves it and who absorbs the difference?
• How is a price change communicated? And from when does it apply: the sensible answer is that a new price affects new sales, not the ones already made.

4. Cut-offs and payments

• How often do you settle? Weekly, every two weeks, monthly.
• What day is the cut-off and what day do you pay? Two fixed dates.
• How do you pay? Bank transfer, cash, to which account and in whose name.
• What does the brand get with each payment? A statement with its sales, the discounts, the terminal fee, the shop’s fee and the rent.
• How is a return on something already paid handled? The cleanest way: what the brand received for that piece comes off the next payment.

How to put each settlement together is covered in How to settle with your brands every period, without arguments.

5. How merchandise comes in

• Who counts the pieces on arrival? Ideally both sides, on the spot, with a delivery document the brand takes away.
• Who labels? If the shop prints its own barcode labels, the brand doesn’t have to; if the brand brings its own, agree on the format so the shop’s scanner can read them.
• How many pieces, and of what kind? A minimum so the space looks full, a maximum so it fits, and whether the brand can restock whenever it likes or has to give notice.
• Are there physical counts? How often you check that what’s on the shelf matches the records, and whether the brand can be there.

6. Damaged, lost or stolen pieces

This is the point people most avoid and the one that causes the most arguments.

• A piece that arrives damaged is noted on the delivery and either refused or accepted with the note.
• A piece damaged in the shop: who absorbs it? Does it depend on whether it happened at the counter or in the fitting room?
• A piece missing from a count: does the shop pay for it at retail price, at what the brand would have received, or is the loss shared?
• A customer return with a damaged piece: does it go back to the brand or get written off?

There’s no single right answer. What matters is that there is one, in writing, before the first case.

7. How long pieces stay

• Is there a display period? For example, pieces that don’t sell within a set time are pulled or rotated.
• Who decides to pull pieces that aren’t moving? Can the shop ask for it? With how much notice?
• How does the brand pick up what didn’t sell? At what hours, with what notice, and against a pickup document it signs.

8. How the relationship ends

• How long does the agreement last? With an end date, or open-ended until someone gives notice.
• How much notice is needed to end it? From either side.
• What happens at the end? What’s left gets counted, the brand collects it against a signed document, the last cut-off is paid along with any outstanding balance, and you close.

9. What the brand can see

• How does the brand check its sales and stock? Only through the statement, or during the period as well?
• Who is the contact on each side? One person, one phone number, one email.

A brand that can see its numbers without asking builds trust faster, and it saves you messages.

Put it in writing

You don’t need a long contract to get started: one page with the answers to this list, signed or accepted by email by both sides, already heads off most disputes. Go over it again with each brand whenever something important changes, like the percentage or the rent. And if you want a formal contract, have a lawyer review it.

Where Atiéndalo keeps it

In Atiéndalo each brand’s terms live on its record: consignment percentage, monthly rent, its own cut-off and a contract end date, with a warning on the brand list 30 days before it expires. When you create a coupon, you choose whether the brand or the shop absorbs the discount. Every stock delivery is recorded and can be printed, barcode labels come from the shop, physical counts are done by scanning, and returning merchandise to a brand produces a document with signature lines. If you already use Atiéndalo, Brands & suppliers explains each field.

What the brand sees on its own, its sales, its stock and its statements, is on the Brand portal page.