Consignment and brands
How much commission to charge a brand in your shop
Commission, space rent or both. How to pick a model, run the numbers on a real sale and avoid surprises on payout day.
Updated Monday 28 September 2026 · 5 minute read
In a multi-brand shop, the shop doesn’t buy the merchandise. The brand leaves it, the shop sells it, and at the end of the period the shop pays out what sold minus its own share. How big that share should be is a question to answer before the first piece arrives, and it’s better answered with numbers than with whatever the shop across the street charges.
The three models
Commission per sale. The shop keeps a percentage of what each brand sells. If the brand doesn’t sell, the shop doesn’t earn. It’s the easiest deal for a new brand to accept, and the one that puts the most risk on the shop: a shelf full of pieces that don’t move doesn’t pay the rent.
Space rent. The brand pays a fixed monthly amount for its spot (a rack, a shelf, a display case) and keeps everything it sells. The shop knows what it will collect from day one. The brand carries the risk, which is why it wants proof of foot traffic before signing.
Mixed. Lower rent and a lower commission. It’s the most common arrangement in design markets and concept stores because it splits the risk: the rent covers the space, the commission rewards the shop for selling.
There is no right percentage for every shop. It depends on what your space costs, how many people walk in, who staffs the counter and how much margin the brand’s product carries. A piece of designer jewelry can bear a commission that a low-margin T-shirt can’t.
The full math on one sale
The shop’s commission isn’t the only thing that comes out of a sale. Before you settle on your percentage, run the numbers with every deduction. An example with made-up figures:
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Price of the piece | $800.00 |
| Coupon discount (10%) | −$80.00 |
| What the customer paid, by card | $720.00 |
| Card terminal fee: 3.5% + VAT (4.06%) | −$29.23 |
| Shop commission: 25% of $720 | −$180.00 |
| Paid to the brand | $510.77 |
Three decisions change that last line, and they are worth putting in writing:
- Who absorbs the discount? In the example, the brand does: the commission is calculated on $720, not $800. If the promotion was the shop’s idea, the fair thing is for the shop to absorb it.
- Who pays the card terminal fee? The usual practice is to take it out of the brand’s share, but only on sales paid by card. Cash sales have nothing to deduct.
- Is the shop’s commission taken before or after the discount? On the discounted price is the easiest to explain: the shop earns on what actually came in.
When there is rent
With rent, the month’s math is the sum of net sales minus the rent. The trouble comes in a slow month: if the brand made $1,200 net and its rent is $1,500, do you bill it the $300, or carry it into next month?
Either works if it’s agreed in advance. What doesn’t work is deciding on payout day. Carrying the difference forward avoids asking a brand that just had a bad month for money, and it makes clear how much is being carried.
How to pick your number
- Start with your costs. Rent on the space, wages for whoever runs the counter, power, internet, your card terminal fee. Divide by the number of brands you can fit: that’s the minimum each one has to leave you, through rent, commission or both.
- Look at turnover. If a brand sells little but takes up a lot of room, rent nudges it to bring what actually moves. If it sells a lot in a small space, a commission rewards it.
- Run the numbers on a real sale. Take one of the brand’s pieces, its price and a card sale, and see what reaches the brand. If the brand can’t live with that number, the deal won’t last.
- Give each brand different terms if you need to. They don’t all have to pay the same. What does have to be the same is how it’s calculated.
Put it in writing
Percentage, rent, who absorbs discounts and card fees, how often you settle and what happens to a slow month’s balance. With that written down and accepted by the brand, payout day is a subtraction, not an argument. If you also want a formal contract, have a lawyer review it: this guide is not legal or tax advice.
Skip the spreadsheet
The Consignment calculator runs the math above with your numbers: price, payment method, your commission, the terminal fee and the rent. It’s the same math Atiéndalo records on every sale, with each brand’s percentage frozen at the moment of checkout, so the period report already shows what each one is owed. How to pay out that period is covered in How to settle with your brands every period, without arguments.
If you already use Atiéndalo
- Brands & suppliers — Register your brands, agree their terms, and understand their life cycle.
- Reports & settlements — Understand what each brand sold, mark it as paid, and hand over their statement.
