At a Glance
- Consignment settlements run on each vendor's cadence — weekly by default, or biweekly/monthly set per vendor
- Calculation: net sales x category splits - returns - credits = vendor payout
- Every line item is rounded to the penny before it accumulates into a total
- You review the summary and approve — the platform pays the vendor by Check 21 by default, or by ACH bank transfer when the vendor has opted into ACH
How Consignment Settlements Work in Cannabis
Every week, the platform calculates a consignment settlement for each vendor with active inventory on your shelves. It reads the POS sales export you upload, applies the terms defined in your consignment contract, and produces a settlement that both you and the vendor can review. The result is a single check amount — no spreadsheets, no manual math.
Weekly is the default cadence — you can set a vendor to biweekly or monthly on their Settings tab, and the calculation is identical; only the period length changes.
The settlement engine is the core of the ShelfSpace consignment service. Here's how each step works.
The Settlement Calculation, Step by Step
1. Gather sales data. The platform pulls every transaction for the vendor's consigned products during the settlement period. Each sale record includes the product, category, sale price, and date.
2. Apply category splits. For each sale, the platform looks up the vendor's percentage for that product category. If flower has a 60/40 vendor/retailer split, a $50 sale yields $30.00 to the vendor and $20.00 to the retailer. When no category-specific split exists, the contract's default split applies. If no default is set, the system falls back to 50/50. See category splits and profit sharing for details.
3. Markdowns need no separate step. The split is taken against what the item actually rang up for, so a discounted or aged-down sale is already shared between you and the vendor at the register. There is no aging deduction and no margin-deficit true-up on a consignment settlement — both were removed in July 2026. See aged inventory on consignment for what replaced them, and price drops for the wholesale equivalent.
4. Subtract credits. Any outstanding credit memos — returns, expirations, or co-marketing credits — are deducted from the vendor's gross payout.
5. Arrive at the net payout. The vendor's net payout is their category share, minus returns, credits, and any conversion credit. That's the amount the vendor is paid. Platform pricing is not part of this math — cutting the settlement payout is part of your Automate subscription and never reduces the vendor's payout. ACH is included; a mailed paper check is $5. No percentage of your sales. Fees may be waived during your evaluation period.
6. Round and finalize. Every line item is rounded to the penny before it accumulates into a total, so the report's totals always equal the sum of the lines printed above them — no drifting last cent, which is what breaks spreadsheet-based settlements. Amounts are stored to four decimal places, and the engine is locked by replay tests that re-run real historical settlements and fail on a one-cent difference.
What Happens After Calculation
Once the settlement is calculated, the platform generates a detailed settlement report. You see a summary in your retailer dashboard, and when you approve, the platform pays the vendor. The default is a Check 21 payment the vendor receives through the vendor portal. When the vendor has opted into ACH bank transfer, you can instead send the payout straight to their linked bank account — the vendor gets the same settlement report either way, plus an email confirmation once an ACH deposit lands. See Approve & Pay vs Paid Externally for how the payout choice works at approval.
Every calculation is backed by an audit trail that traces each line item back to the original POS transaction, so any question resolves against the source data.