{"id":3294,"date":"2014-05-07T19:44:28","date_gmt":"2014-05-07T23:44:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.inflowinventory.com\/support\/article\/3294\/can-i-use-inflow-to-track-items-on-consignment\/"},"modified":"2018-05-16T16:21:17","modified_gmt":"2018-05-16T20:21:17","slug":"can-i-use-inflow-to-track-items-on-consignment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onpremise.inflowinventory.com\/support\/article\/36592754\/can-i-use-inflow-to-track-items-on-consignment\/","title":{"rendered":"Can I use inFlow On-Premise to track items on consignment?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A consignment agreement is an agreement between a two parties: the supplier\u00a0(referred to as ‘consignor’<\/strong>) and the buyer (‘consignee’<\/strong>) who will be selling the products. Typically, the agreement includes the consignee retaining a percentage of the sales. Any unsold products would be returned to the consignor.<\/p>\n

There are a few ways you can handle consignment in inFlow On-Premise. There are different steps depending on if you\u00a0are a consignor or a consignee!<\/p>\n\n

For consignors<\/h2>\n

There are two methods you can use, as a consignor. The first one uses locations to track the consignment stores, and the second one uses the Customers instead.<\/p>\n\n

Using multiple locations<\/h3>\n

Since inFlow\u00a0can handle multiple locations, you can\u00a0set up locations within your warehouse for each of your consignment shops. This will allow you to use the Transfer Stock<\/em> function to move stock over to that store from your central location. This way, you would always have an accurate count of what each store has.<\/p>\n

When a store reports a sale to you, then you can create\u00a0a sales order and pick\/fulfill the items from that location to reduce the store’s stock. If you notice that a store is getting low, transfer more stock and send it out.<\/p>\n

To create a consignment location:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Go to\u00a0<\/span>Main Menu > Options > Settings<\/em>.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Click the Manage Inventory Locations<\/em>\u00a0button.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. In this window, add your consignment stores to the list (each on its own line).<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Click Save & Close<\/em>.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    <\/div>\n

    To transfer stock to a consignment location:<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Go to <\/span>Main Menu > Inventory > Transfer Stock.<\/em><\/li>\n
    2. Select the items you\u2019d like to transfer in the Item\u00a0<\/em>column.<\/span><\/li>\n
    3. In the\u00a0From Location<\/em> column, select your central location.<\/span><\/li>\n
    4. In the To Location\u00a0<\/em>column, select the consignment store you’re transferring to.<\/span><\/li>\n
    5. Once you\u2019re satisfied\u2014enter a remark if you would like to\u2014click Send Transfer<\/em>. This takes the items out of your central inventory location.<\/span><\/li>\n
    6. Click Receive Transfer<\/em>\u00a0to receive the goods at the location you sent it to.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n
      \u00a0Be sure to click both Send Transfer<\/em> and Receive Transfer<\/em>, otherwise your items will be stuck\u00a0In Transit.\u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

      To sell from a consignment location:<\/strong><\/p>\n

      This part can vary depending on how your consignees send you the sales information. Assuming you do have a report of how many each item sold at that store, proceed with the following:<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Go to\u00a0<\/span>Main Menu > Sales > New Sales Order.<\/em><\/li>\n
      2. Fill in your customer, and select the consignment location you’d like to sell from in the Location<\/em> field at the top. You can use a generic customer (Consignment) if you wish.<\/span><\/li>\n
      3. Fill in the items sold according to your consignee’s report, in the table below.<\/span><\/li>\n
      4. Complete your order by clicking Fulfill<\/em> and Pay<\/em>.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        This method is useful for users who want a listing for each of the stores, and to be able to pull reports on the sales at certain stores. This will help show whether your stock has a high turnover at one store over another.<\/p>\n\n

        To return stock from a consignment location:<\/strong><\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Go to <\/span>Main Menu > Inventory > Transfer Stock.<\/em><\/li>\n
        2. Select the items and quantities that are being returned\u00a0in the Item\u00a0<\/em>column.<\/span><\/li>\n
        3. In the\u00a0From Location<\/em> column, select your consignment location.<\/span><\/li>\n
        4. In the To Location\u00a0<\/em>column, select your\u00a0central location.<\/span><\/li>\n
        5. Click Send Transfer, <\/em>then click<\/span>\u00a0Receive Transfer<\/em>\u00a0to receive the goods\u00a0back to your central location.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Using customers<\/h3>\n

          This method is also quite straightforward, but it results in more movement history than in the previous method. The advantage of this method is that you can use inFlow’s Reorder Stock<\/em> function as designed.<\/p>\n

          When a store returns stock to you, you would go to their specific sales order and scan\/enter the items that have been returned.<\/p>\n

          The final result is a sales order showing items sold and returned, all in one place.<\/p>\n

          To sell to a consignment customer:<\/strong><\/p>\n

            \n
          1. Go to\u00a0<\/span>Main Menu > Sales > New Sales Order.<\/em><\/li>\n
          2. In the Customer\u00a0<\/em>field, select the consignment store.<\/span><\/li>\n
          3. Scan or select the items you’re sending in the table below.<\/span><\/li>\n
          4. Fulfill<\/em> and Pay<\/em> your order.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            To return from a consignment store:<\/strong><\/p>\n

              \n
            1. Go to Main Menu > Sales > Sales Order List. <\/em><\/span><\/li>\n
            2. Go to the order on which you sent out the stock.<\/span><\/li>\n
            3. Click the Return<\/em> tab.<\/span><\/li>\n
            4. Scan or select the items that the store is returning.<\/span><\/li>\n
            5. Click the Restock<\/em> tab.<\/span><\/li>\n
            6. Click Auto Fill<\/em>\u00a0to restock all items listed on the Return<\/em> tab.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              This method is useful for users who have high turnover, or if you need constantly reorder stock.<\/p>\n\n

              For consignees<\/h2>\n

              This can typically be handled the usual way — treating the consignor as a vendor and creating a purchase order<\/a> to buy the items.<\/p>\n

              The tricky part is creating a report for your consignor about the items sold, especially if they are scattered across various sales orders, lumped in with items of other<\/em> consignors!<\/p>\n

              We have a workaround below that you can try, only<\/strong>\u00a0if your consignors don’t supply the same items.<\/p>\n\n

              First, to set up custom fields for reporting:<\/strong><\/p>\n

                \n
              1. Go to Main Menu > Options > Settings > Custom Fields<\/em>.<\/li>\n
              2. Under the Inventory<\/em> tab, create a Product<\/em>\u00a0custom field named “Consignor”.<\/li>\n
              3. For every product you buy from a consignor, you’ll need to fill in that custom field with the consignor name.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                Tip: If you don’t want to fill the consignor information for each product\u00a0one by one, you can\u00a0export to Excel from\u00a0Main Menu > General > Export Data,\u00a0<\/em>then fill in the information in the Consignor column on the right. When you’re done, save as .csv file and import into inFlow (Main Menu > General > Import Data<\/em>).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

                To generate a sales report for your consignor:<\/strong><\/p>\n

                  \n
                1. Go to\u00a0Main Menu > Reports > All Reports > Sales by Product Details.\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n
                2. Under\u00a0Filter By<\/em>, click on any one of the filters and change it to Consignor.<\/li>\n
                3. Type in the Consignor you want to generate the report for.<\/li>\n
                4. Click the\u00a0>>More\u00a0<\/em>button and make any other changes to the settings for the report (e.g. you can change the Invoice Date to show only sales for a certain range, or change the group\/sort settings).<\/li>\n
                5. Click\u00a0Generate Report.<\/em><\/li>\n
                6. You can click\u00a0Add to My Reports<\/em> and set the title to the Consignor you generated the report for, so you don’t have to do steps 1 to 4 again.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                  <\/h2>\n

                  Looking for more info about consignment?<\/h2>\n

                  Have a look at our blog on Consignment Inventory Management: selling stock by contract agreements<\/a> for a closer look.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                  A consignment agreement is an agreement between a two parties: the supplier\u00a0(referred to as ‘consignor’) and the buyer (‘consignee’) who will be selling the products. Typically, the agreement includes the consignee retaining a percentage of the sales. Any unsold products would be returned to the consignor. There are a few ways you can handle consignment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":""},"categories":[20,21],"tags":[46,49],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onpremise.inflowinventory.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3294"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onpremise.inflowinventory.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onpremise.inflowinventory.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onpremise.inflowinventory.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onpremise.inflowinventory.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3294"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/onpremise.inflowinventory.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25449,"href":"https:\/\/onpremise.inflowinventory.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3294\/revisions\/25449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onpremise.inflowinventory.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onpremise.inflowinventory.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onpremise.inflowinventory.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}