This article covers the logistics side of consignment stock: creating an agreement, bringing the customer's stock in (including importing receipts that already exist), keeping it segregated, and returning it to the owner. For rent, fees and payments see Billing & payments.
Create an agreement
Procurement & Logistics -> Consignment Stock -> Agreements -> New agreement.
Fill in:
- Owner - pick an existing customer, or enter a free-text owner name for a one-off.
- Storage bay - the warehouse location where the goods live (informational; stock is tracked wherever it actually sits).
- Storage terms - the rent basis and rate, free days, and fees (see the billing article for what each means). You can leave these blank now and set them later.
- Billing - whether the agreement is billable, the currency, VAT and the billing cycle. Turn Billable off for a no-cost / "friend" arrangement - the stock is still segregated and tracked, but nothing is ever charged.
Save, then use the status buttons to move it through its life.
Status lifecycle
- Draft -> Activate -> Active - an active agreement accrues rent and can be billed.
- Active <-> Suspend / Reactivate - suspending pauses rent accrual without losing anything.
- Active -> Close - only allowed when the agreement holds zero stock on hand. Return or write off the stock first.
The agreement page
An open agreement has tabs:
- Stock - the current segregated stock on hand, by product.
- Receipts - the Local Receipts (goods-in) bound to this agreement, plus New receipt and Import existing receipts.
- Shipments - the return-to-owner Local Shipments, plus New return shipment.
- History - the charge ledger.
- Billing - bills and payments (see the billing article).
Bring stock in
There are two ways to get a customer's stock onto an agreement.
1. Receive new stock
On the Receipts tab choose New receipt, add the products and expected quantities, and save. This creates a Local Receipt bound to the agreement. Warehouse staff then receive it on the normal Local Receipts floor screen - the stock lands tagged to this agreement (category CONSIGNMENT, lot CONS-ref), segregated from your own stock.
2. Import receipts that already exist
If the customer's goods were already received under ordinary receipts (for example a batch of container deliveries), you don't re-key them - you import them.
On the Receipts tab choose Import existing receipts. Each row is a container / document reference (a receipt plus its backorder children that share one reference). For each one you can see how many receipts, how much is on hand, and how many linked shipments it has; expand a row to preview the exact stock.
Importing a container:
- re-points every receipt on that reference to this agreement,
- converts its still-on-hand stock to the agreement (category CONSIGNMENT, lot
CONS-ref) at the same location - quantity-neutral, so nothing moves physically, - converts any linked shipments on the same reference, and
- posts a revert journal to the agreement's chat channel listing exactly what changed.
Best practice: import one container first and check the Stock tab, then use Import all for the rest. Serialized, move-locked or already-allocated stacks are skipped and counted, never forced.
Where the stock is
Consignment stock is real, located stock - you can see exactly where each customer's goods sit, down to the building, floor, area and bin. This breakdown drives the per-location section of the full PDF report (see Reports & PDFs) and, if the agreement bills per location, the rent calculation.
Because consignment stock is category CONSIGNMENT it is kept out of your sellable availability and never pushed to the ERP as your own - it is the customer's, held on their behalf.
Return stock to the owner
On the Shipments tab choose New return shipment, add the products and quantities, and save. This creates a Local Shipment bound to the agreement. Collect and dispatch it on the normal Local Shipments screen; dispatch consumes the stock out (returned to the owner), and it leaves the agreement's on-hand.
Once an agreement is fully returned and holds zero stock, you can Close it.