A guide for consignment and resale shops
How to track consignor items in Shopify
In a consignment shop, every item on the floor belongs to someone. Shopify does not know who unless you tell it, and if that link is missing, a sale turns into detective work on payout day. This guide covers how to number consignors, where to put that number on each product, how SKUs and barcodes keep the counter fast, and how to find any item later. The last part shows how Still Works Consignment sets all of this up in one step at intake.
1. Give every consignor a number
Names are not enough. Two people called Linda will bring things in, and one of them will marry and change her last name. Give each consignor a number when they sign up, such as 142, and never reuse it. Keep a simple list: number, name, email, phone, and their split. That number goes on every item they bring in.
2. Where the number goes on each product
Shopify gives you several places to put it. Each does a different job, and most shops use more than one.
| Field | What it is good for |
|---|---|
| Vendor | One value per product. Put the number here, such as "C-0142". Reports and the Orders export group sales by vendor, so this is how sales add up per consignor. |
| Tags | Several per product. Add "consignor-142" and "consignment", plus a month tag like "in-2026-10" for markdowns and end dates. Filter the Products list by any of them. |
| SKU | The code staff read. Build it from the number and a running count, like "C142-007", the seventh item from consignor 142. |
| Barcode | The code the scanner reads. Use the same value as the SKU, so a scan on Shopify POS finds the item. |
If the Vendor field already holds brands in your shop, use the tag for the consignor instead. You can also add a product field for the consignor number under Settings, then Custom data, but tags and vendor are easier to filter and export.
3. Set each product up so it cannot sell twice
Most consigned items are one of a kind. When you create the product:
- Turn on Track quantity and set the quantity to 1 at the location where the item is.
- Leave Continue selling when out of stock off. Then an item sold at the counter cannot also sell online an hour later.
- Make sure the product is on both the Online Store and Point of Sale sales channels, if you sell in both places.
- Fill in the SKU and barcode before the item goes on the floor.
4. Put the number on the price tag
The paper tag should carry the price, the consignor number, and the SKU as a barcode. Several label apps for Shopify print barcodes from your products. Or print from a spreadsheet with a barcode font. A Shopify POS device can scan with its camera or a connected scanner, so a scanned tag rings up the right product, and the sale carries the vendor and SKU into the order.
5. Find any item later
- One item: search the Products list by SKU.
- Everything from one consignor: filter Products by vendor or by their tag.
- What sold: export Orders with line items for your dates. Each line has the vendor and SKU. Or use the sales by vendor report under Analytics, then Reports, if your plan has it.
6. Close items out, do not delete them
When a consignor takes an item back, or it is donated, archive the product instead of deleting it. In Products, select it and choose Archive. Archived products cannot be bought, but the product and its history stay, so you can answer questions about it next year.
The same steps in Still Works Consignment
In the app, the Intake screen does steps 2 to 4 in one go. Pick the consignor, type a title and a price, set how many and where it is, and the app creates the Shopify product linked to that consignor. If you leave the SKU blank, it makes one from the consignor's number, like C12-004. The barcode is set to the same value. The product gets the tags "consignor-12" and "consignment", inventory that is tracked and refuses to oversell, and a place on your Online Store and Point of Sale.
Each intake queues a price tag. Print the sheet from your browser: every tag has the price, the consignor number, and the SKU as a barcode, so Shopify POS finds the item when it is scanned. From a consignor's page you can reprint all of their items at today's price.
The Items page lists what is in the store, expiring soon, expired, sold, and returned or donated, and you can search it by item, SKU, or consignor. When an item sells, online or on Shopify POS, the consignor's share is credited from what the customer actually paid. A consignor list in a spreadsheet comes over with a CSV import that keeps your existing consignor numbers, with a dry run first. The app is free for up to 15 active consignors and never takes a percentage of sales. It is on the Shopify App Store.
Related guides
Where to go from here
The Still Works Consignment page has the plain description of what the app does and does not do. If something here does not match what you see, email the studio and it gets fixed the same business day.