How to settle with your brands every period, without arguments

Settling means paying each brand what it sold in a period, minus the shop’s share. In a multi-brand shop it’s the moment everything else gets tested: whether sales were recorded correctly, whether discounts landed on the right party, whether rent was charged. A good settlement is boring: the brand gets a number, checks it in two minutes and has no questions.

This guide assumes you’ve already agreed on what to charge each brand. If you haven’t, start with How much commission to charge a brand in your shop.

Pick a cadence: weekly or monthly

The most basic decision is how often you pay.

• Monthly is the most common when brands pay monthly rent: one cut-off, one rent, one payment. It’s less admin for you, but the brand waits longer for its money.
• Weekly gives cash flow to small brands that depend on their sales to restock. It’s more work for you, and if you charge rent you have to decide whether to deduct it every week or only once.

Not every brand has to run on the same cadence. A fast-moving brand may prefer weekly cut-offs, while one with expensive pieces is fine with monthly. What matters is that each brand has one fixed cadence and knows it.

Where to cut off

A cut-off is a date: everything sold up to the last minute of that day is in, anything from the next day belongs to the next period. Three rules make it predictable:

1. Cut off by sale date, not by entry date. If a sale was entered late, it belongs to the day it happened. If that period has already been paid, the sale stays pending and goes into the next settlement.
2. Only closed sales count. A layaway the customer hasn’t finished paying isn’t a sale yet; a voided sale never counts.
3. Pay on a fixed day after the cut-off. Give brands a date they can count on, and keep it.

What goes on a statement

The statement explains the payment. It has to start from sales and arrive at the final amount with every deduction in plain view, so the brand can check the subtraction. A monthly example with made-up figures, for a brand that leaves a 20% consignment fee and pays $1,000 in rent:

Item	Amount
Sales for the month (4 pieces at list price)	$2,700.00
Coupon discount absorbed by the brand	−$60.00
Card terminal fee, only on what was paid by card ($1,740 × 4.06%)	−$70.64
Shop consignment fee: 20% of $2,640	−$528.00
Return of a piece the brand was already paid for	−$240.00
Rent for the month	−$1,000.00
Balance carried from last period	$0.00
Amount due	$801.36

Behind each line there should be the detail: which piece sold, on what day, at what price, with what payment method. Three things to check before you send it:

• The terminal fee applies only to what was paid by card, and includes the VAT on the fee (3.5% × 1.16 = 4.06% in the example). Cash sales have nothing to deduct. It’s calculated sale by sale: $540 × 4.06% = $21.92 and $1,200 × 4.06% = $48.72.
• Your fee is on the price after the discount. The shop earns on what actually came in: $2,700 − $60 = $2,640.
• A discount the shop chose is absorbed by the shop. If the coupon was your promotion, the brand is paid as if there had been no discount.

Returns after payout

A customer brings back a piece you already settled with the brand. Don’t reopen the paid period or ask for the money back: deduct it from the next settlement. The amount to deduct isn’t the piece’s price, it’s what the brand received for it. In the example, the piece sold for $300 in cash, the shop kept 20% and the brand got $240; that’s what comes off.

If the return comes before you pay, it’s simpler: the sale is corrected and the period closes with one piece fewer.

When rent is larger than sales

It happens in every shop: a brand sold little and its rent exceeds what it’s owed. There are two ways out: bill it the difference, or carry it into the next period. Carrying it is the simplest for both sides, and one rule makes it work: the payment is never negative.

Continuing the example, suppose the brand has a slow month next:

	Slow month	Following month
Owed for sales	$700.00	$1,500.00
Rent	−$1,000.00	−$1,000.00
Balance from last period	$0.00	−$300.00
Amount due	$0.00	$200.00
Balance carried forward	$300.00	$0.00

In the slow month you pay nothing and the statement says clearly that $300 is outstanding. The following month it’s deducted first. The brand never gets a surprise bill and you never lose the rent.

Pay and keep the trail

When you transfer the money, keep the payment reference (the transfer confirmation number, or the receipt number if it was cash) with the statement. That one detail ends any “it never arrived” conversation.

Once paid, the period is frozen. If a sale in that period turns out to be wrong, don’t edit it: correct it with a return or an adjustment that goes into the next cut-off. That way the statement the brand already has stays true.

Send the statement

Send each brand its statement as soon as you pay, through whatever channel you already use with them. Better still if the brand can look up its sales and stock during the period: it arrives at payout day with a rough idea of what it’s owed.

How Atiéndalo does it

In Atiéndalo each brand has its own cut-off (weekly or monthly, or the shop’s default), and the brand’s report for that period already lists every line with its discount, card fee and consignment fee, frozen at checkout. Mark as paid records the settlement with the payment method and reference, offers to deduct the rent and, if the rent is larger than sales, sets the payment to zero and carries the difference into the next settlement. A return on something already paid creates an adjustment that comes off the next cut-off automatically. The statement prints, downloads as XLSX and can be emailed from the report.

The Consignment & settlements page walks through the whole flow. If you already use Atiéndalo, Reports & settlements and Returns explain each step.