How Consignment Works, and What You'll Actually Net
Published 2026-09-20 · Selling Antiques · Antique Partner
Quick answer: Splits run 40 to 60 percent, and the markdown schedule matters more than the percentage. What to check in a consignment agreement before you hand anything over.
Selling Antiques
How Consignment Works, and What You'll Actually Net
By Nicolas · September 20, 2026 · 9 min read
Consignment sounds simple. The shop sells your thing, keeps a cut, sends you the rest. In practice the percentage is rarely the number that decides what you get, and the people who end up disappointed are almost always the ones who only asked about the percentage.
We list
3,255 consignment shops and 554 resale stores
across the US and Canada. Here is what the arrangement actually is, and the four clauses worth reading before you hand anything over.
You still own it
This is the part that distinguishes consignment from everything else and it is worth being clear about. When you consign,
you keep ownership until the item sells
. The shop is selling on your behalf, not buying from you.
That cuts both ways. You keep the upside if it sells well, and you carry the risk while it sits there. It also means the contract, not the conversation, governs what happens to it, which is why the clauses below matter.
What the splits actually are
Most shops pay the consignor
40 to 60 percent
of the final sale price. The single most common arrangement is 60/40 in the consignor's favour.
Category
You typically get
Why
Lower-priced goods
50%
Handling costs the same whatever the price, so cheap items carry a heavier proportional load.
General consignment
60%
The standard 60/40, and the number to expect if nobody has said otherwise.
Furniture and antiques
50% to 70%
Higher value and often higher demand. Genuinely good pieces can command more still, and are worth negotiating.
If you are consigning a good piece of antique furniture and being offered 50%, that is the low end of the range and there is usually room to ask.
The markdown schedule, which matters more than the split
This is the clause that quietly decides your cheque, and the one almost nobody asks about.
Most contracts run for
60 to 90 days
and reduce the price automatically as it goes. A common schedule is
20 percent off after 30 days and 50 percent off after 60
. Others cut 10 to 25 percent every month.
Follow that through. A $400 chest at a 60/40 split sold in week two nets you $240. The same chest sold in week nine, after a 50 percent markdown, nets you
$120
at exactly the same percentage. The split never changed and your money halved.
So the question to ask is not only "what is your split", it is
"what is your markdown schedule, and does my share come off the marked-down price"
. It always does, and knowing that in advance changes what price you agree to start at.
Four clauses decide what you get: who prices it, how long it runs, how fast it marks down, and where it goes if it does not sell.
Who sets the price
Shops vary between pricing at their sole discretion and agreeing a price with you, sometimes with a floor below which they will not go. Both are normal. What is not acceptable is finding out which one you agreed to after the fact.
A shop that prices everything itself is not being unreasonable, they know their floor traffic and what moves. But if you have a piece you know the value of,
ask for a written minimum
. A reserve you both signed is the difference between a considered discount and a surprise.
What happens if it does not sell
At the end of the term, unsold items are returned, donated, or marked down further, depending entirely on what the contract says.
Some contracts donate anything not collected within a set window
, and that window can be short.
If you want the piece back, find out whose job it is to tell you the term has ended. In many shops it is yours, and a diary note is the only thing standing between you and your grandmother's dresser going to a charity in a van.
Getting paid
Payouts are usually monthly rather than on sale, so expect a wait after something sells. Many shops offer
store credit at a better rate than cash
, which is a genuinely good deal if you were going to shop there anyway and a poor one if you were not.
Worth also asking who carries the loss if an item is damaged or stolen while in the shop. It is in the contract, it is often the consignor, and it is the clause people discover at the worst possible moment.
Consignment, a booth, or an outright sale
Consignment suits pieces with real value that need the right buyer to walk in, where you can wait a couple of months. You get more than a dealer would pay you outright, and you do none of the selling.
If you have a continuing supply of things rather than a few pieces,
usually nets more per item, because you pay rent instead of a share and keep the rest. If you want the money this week and the piece is ordinary, sell it outright and accept less.
The mistake is consigning something ordinary and low-priced. On a $30 item the shop's handling costs are the same as on a $300 one, the split is worse, and after two markdowns you are collecting a few dollars for something that took two trips.
The short version
Expect 40 to 60 percent, more on good furniture. Ask about the markdown schedule before the split, because it moves your money further. Get a written minimum on anything you know the value of. Find out what happens to unsold pieces and whose job it is to tell you. And do not consign cheap things.