Consignment sales and who receives the payment

Read the sale and the stock agreement together

Start with the products covered by the consignment agreement. Record which entity owns them before sale, where the agreement says ownership changes, and who bears loss while they are held. Separately read the storefront terms and order confirmation to identify the business presented as the seller. The business storing or packing the goods may perform a different role from either of those parties.

Keep the exact legal names beside the public trading names. If the stock agreement names one company and the buyer's terms name another, describe both roles rather than choosing the familiar brand. If those documents contradict each other about the seller, record the contradiction for contractual clarification. A stock count or the word consignment cannot resolve it.

This map addresses who sells and collects, beyond the question of who fulfills an order. A merchant can have a clear packing workflow and still lack a clear explanation of whose sale the payment account is collecting.

Trace the proceeds in both directions

For an existing sale, trace the buyer payment to the account on which it was recorded, then identify the recipient of the provider payout. Follow any later supplier payment using the settlement statement and the relevant agreement. Keep the customer charge, provider payout and supplier settlement as separate records; their recipients and timing need not describe the same step.

Record how the supplier's entitlement is calculated only where the agreement states it, including any documented deductions or conditions. Do not infer a commission or settlement deadline from the amount that happened to reach a bank account. If the arrangement is planned, use the agreed or proposed terms and clearly mark the money movements as planned.

Trace a refund or loss allocation back through the same parties. Identify who owes the buyer a response under the sale terms, whose processing balance would fund a refund under the actual setup, and whether the supplier must return proceeds under the consignment agreement. One party paying initially does not establish which party ultimately bears the cost.

A multi-party feature does not settle the contracts

Stripe's prohibited and restricted businesses policy prohibits processing for another undisclosed merchant and processing undisclosed products or services. For a Stripe inquiry, disclose the other business and the products alongside the collection flow. For another payment provider, obtain that provider's answer under its own account terms; Stripe's policy is not a substitute.

Stripe Connect documents a way for platforms and marketplaces to manage payments among multiple parties. Its charge-type documentation distinguishes direct charges on connected accounts from destination charges and separate charges and transfers on a platform. The configuration affects funds distribution and which balance pays refunds or disputes. Fees can also depend on configuration.

Those technical facts help identify which records to request if your arrangement actually uses Connect. They do not establish that consignment requires Connect, that your account uses it, or that a charge type determines the legal merchant of record. Product eligibility, legal seller status and permission to collect remain separate questions.

Turn the map into a precise scope question

Compare the completed table with what the payment provider has already been told. An undisclosed inventory owner, a different seller in the buyer terms, or a supplier receiving proceeds is a specific fact to clarify. Ask the provider to address the named seller, account holder, recipient and refund arrangement in writing. File which facts the response covers and which remain conditional; a reply about the product category alone leaves the collection structure unanswered.

Prism's research-only payment-processing consultation can help organize the business description and provider questions. Describe the consignment relationship and the uncertainty without attaching customer transactions or confidential contracts to the public form. Scope, responsibilities, fees and terms are agreed before work. The inquiry is followed up by email and does not submit a processing application.

Consignment responsibility table

Complete this for one actual consignment arrangement, using document references and role findings rather than customer or bank details. Mark conflicts and missing clauses explicitly. A consistent table is ready for provider confirmation; it is not itself approval or a legal seller determination.

Worksheet entries are not submitted by Prism’s worksheet and are not saved by the site. Use record types, availability, anonymized observations, or match/mismatch results. Do not enter government identifiers, customer names or addresses, customer messages, receipt-access links, card or bank details, passwords, or keys. Send sensitive documents only through the provider’s verified secure channel.

These are temporary notes. Leaving or reloading this page may clear them. Worksheet entries are not sent automatically. If you copy notes into the consultation message and submit the form, Prism receives them as part of your request.