Most cannabis retailers run consignment settlements out of a spreadsheet. Once a week, someone exports POS data, eyeballs the Metrc tags, splits the math by hand, prints a check, and emails the vendor a CSV. By month two, the spreadsheet has six tabs. By month four, the vendor stops trusting the math.
That's not a settlement report. That's a workaround. A real settlement report is a document the vendor's CFO can drop into accounting software without re-keying anything — every sale tied to a Metrc package tag, margin logic explained on the page, and a Check-21 compliant payment in the same envelope. We send one of these to every consignment vendor every week. The retailer never touches it.
This post walks through a real ShelfSpace settlement, page by page. The data is from a demo file — made-up retailer (Pinegrove Cannabis Co.), made-up vendor (North Ridge Cultivators), every Pkg ID starts with 1ADEMO — but the structure is exactly what we send. Download the full sample (six pages, PDF) to follow along.
What's in the document
Six pages, one check:
- Page 1 — settlement summary (the cover, with net payout up top)
- Page 2 — sales detail: every package, every sale, every split
- Page 3 — margin analysis with shortfall vs. authorized discount budget
- Page 4 — waste & credits (Metrc Waste, line by line)
- Page 5 — remaining inventory with days-left aging
- Page 6 — the check itself: Check-21 compliant, mobile-deposit ready
The walkthrough — page by page
Page 1 — Settlement summary
The cover gives the vendor the four numbers they care about: net sales ($3,069.31 in this sample), gross vendor payout ($1,534.66), waste credits ($0 this period), and margin true-up ($0 this period). Net vendor payout sits at the bottom of the table — what's actually getting paid this week.
A second block shows remaining inventory (25 items on hand) and inventory value ($2,406). That number matters because consignment vendors aren't tracking their cash in someone else's bank account — they're tracking it on someone else's shelves. The number tells them what's still working for them next week.
Page 2 — Sales detail
Eighteen line items in the sample. Each row carries the product name (e.g., "Aurora Mist | Flower | 3.5g"), the Metrc package ID (1ADEMO000000000000000001), quantity sold (in grams or units, matching how Metrc tracks it), sale price, the profit-split percentage, and the payout to the vendor.
This is the page that ends arguments before they start. The vendor's CFO can pull their own Metrc, pull the same package IDs, and reconcile every dollar. We don't ask them to trust us; we hand them the audit.
Page 3 — Margin analysis
The most differentiated page in the document, and the one most retailers can't produce on a spreadsheet. Four columns work together:
- Cost — what the vendor invoiced ShelfSpace per unit
- Expected — what the unit was supposed to sell for under the consignment agreement
- Sold For — what it actually sold for
- Shortfall — the gap between Expected and Sold For
Every package where the actual sale price came in below the expected price gets a row. Fourteen rows in the sample, summing to a Total Margin Shortfall of $148.52. That's the dollar value of margin the retailer absorbed via discounts, promos, and markdowns.
Then the smart gate: the Authorized Discount Budget ($422.51 in the sample). This is the maximum margin the vendor agreed to absorb in any given week, set in the consignment agreement. If the shortfall comes in under the budget — like this week — there's no clawback. Margin True-Up: $0. If the shortfall exceeds the budget, the excess gets deducted from the vendor's payout.
Translation: the retailer can run normal-course discounts without renegotiating. The vendor is protected from unlimited markdowns at their expense. Both sides know exactly where the line is, every week.
"On a spreadsheet, this is six hours of arguments. On the report, it's one number."
Page 4 — Waste & credits
Pulled directly from Metrc Waste. If a unit was destroyed during the period — expired, defective on receipt, damaged in transit — Metrc has the record. We credit those lines back to the vendor at cost. In this sample, the period had zero waste, so the page reads "No waste or returned items in Metrc during this period" and Total Waste Credit is $0. Other weeks, this page has rows.
The point: when waste exists, it's accounted for in the same document as the payout, not chased down separately three weeks later.
Page 5 — Remaining inventory
Twenty-five packages still on shelves. Each row shows on-hand quantity, inventory value, and days left — a velocity-derived estimate of how many days of sell-through remain at the current rate. Items running out (0.3 days, 1.8 days, 2.5 days) are flagged in red. Items with new placements show "New" instead of a day count.
For the vendor, this page is the replenishment signal. They don't have to guess what's selling, and they don't have to ask the retailer what to send next. The data is right there.
Page 6 — The check
A standalone Check-21 compliant printable check. Settlement ID SR-61. Pay to the order of North Ridge Cultivators, LLC, $1,534.66. Mobile-deposit ready, with a QR code for verification, deposit slip printed below the cut line, security features listed at the bottom. Print on regular paper, or have it mailed — either way the vendor's bank treats it like any other check.
Every check we cut is logged with a chain of custody. Void and reissue with a click. Fully Check-21 compliant under the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act, valid as a Substitute Check under federal law. (What that means.)
Why structured weekly settlements get vendors to say yes
Three reasons:
- Cadence builds trust. A vendor who gets paid every Friday for what sold the prior week stops worrying about cash flow. A vendor who gets paid "when the spreadsheet is done" never stops worrying.
- Metrc backup ends the dispute before it starts. Every sale ties to a package tag. Every waste credit ties to a Metrc Waste record. Every margin shortfall is reconcilable by the vendor in their own Metrc account. There's nothing to argue about that can't be settled with a report from the regulator's ledger.
- The retailer does nothing. We pull the data, run the math, generate the report, cut the check, mail it, and handle every dispute that comes back. The retailer's role in the weekly cycle is: receive the email confirming it shipped.
"AP teams pay invoices. Consignment vendors get paid by reports."
What this means for retailers
Most dispensaries that try consignment fail at the settlement step. Not because the math is hard — the math is easy. Because the operational cadence is hard: pulling clean data every week, reconciling Metrc to POS, producing a vendor-grade document, cutting and mailing checks, fielding the disputes. The first month, someone on the team can do it. The fourth month, that person quits.
The settlement report is what closes that gap. One PDF and one check per vendor per week, sent on the same cycle, formatted to a standard the vendor's AP team already runs. We tie into Metrc to make sure every sale is accurate. We send the check. We deal with disputes. The retailer just keeps selling product.
If you're settling consignment vendors out of a spreadsheet, you don't have a settlement process. You have a part-time job nobody wants.
If you want to see what we'd send your vendors, start with a free evaluation. We connect to your Metrc account, identify the consignment-eligible vendors and SKUs, and show you the first week's settlement before you commit to anything.
Consignment runs as one of the payment terms inside our accounts payable service. It pairs naturally with credit recovery when you want one team across the full vendor relationship — same Metrc connection, same cycle.
