Consignment stock: separate ownership, location and sale

What changes when goods are consigned?

First distinguish receiving a supplier’s goods from sending your goods to a partner. They are different sides of the process. Record operational owner, location and custodian; goods in your warehouse do not automatically become your own inventory. Sale, loss, return and settlement terms belong in the applicable agreement. This guide tests quantities and documents without determining legal, tax or accounting treatment. Keep those decisions explicit rather than deriving them from a location name.

Odoo 19 describes incoming supplier consignment and owner visibility in stock reports. That flow does not automatically define reconciliation of your goods at a partner. Consignment reference. Panthor publishes partner-stock, communicated-sale and settlement features. Consignment features. Use these as demonstration questions rather than proof that every configuration resolves both directions.

When does a shipment become a sale?

Define which document and decision recognize a sale for operational control. A partner may report by date, reference and line; you need to connect that information to the delivery and prevent overlapping periods. Keep reported and accepted quantities separate when discrepancies exist. Preparing a settlement or invoice does not prove a new physical movement. If a report arrives late, show its period and recording time rather than pretending it was already available in real time.

Worked example: eighty pieces and a partner’s partial sales

The initial 80 reconcile as 55 at site, 13 with the partner and 12 sold. The five returned units need physical receipt and inspection before becoming available under your policy. If three of P1’s thirteen are damaged, they remain in physical quantity but are held, leaving ten usable there. Do not offer those ten as ready for dispatch from your own site: the partner still holds them. Location and availability should remain visible together.

What if the partner counts fewer units?

Suppose P1 counts eleven while recorded quantity is thirteen. Two pieces remain unexplained; do not automatically turn them into sales or returns. Investigate cutoffs, unreported sales, damage, another customer or duplicate movements. Retain the count, responsible person and documents. A discrepancy may need a commercial decision distinct from a physical adjustment. The dashboard should show unresolved stock even if someone prepared settlement for the twelve known sales.

Which tests distinguish custody from sale?

• Normal: C30 changes location without reducing own total; V12 changes the balance under the exercise’s explicit rule.
• Exception: a report exceeding outstanding units or belonging to another partner is reviewed by line rather than offset with local stock.
• Retry: repeating V12 with matching period, reference and contents preserves twelve sold and one linked settlement.
• Correction: a revised report retains the original and its differences; decide whether it amends an earlier sale or represents a new sale.

How do you prepare partner reconciliation?

Use the consignment reconciliation worksheet for one delivery, report and return. Agree who confirms each document and how a repeated period is identified. The transfer guide covers movements between sites; supplier returns concern another recipient and relationship. Distribution management software should distinguish these processes and demonstrate where pending goods appear before automating reported sales.