on consignment

Idioms  

1. Turning over goods for an agent to sell, with the provision that payment is made only on completed sales and that unsold goods may be returned to the consignor. For example, This secondhand shop accepts items of clothing on consignment. [c. 1700]

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Example Sentences

Called Athena, the technology proposes item descriptions, suggests pricing and, crucially for a company that receives millions of goods a year to sell on consignment, helps discern authentic products from fakes.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 21, 2026

She is the one who innovated the model away from wholesale into acquiring our product on consignment, where we revenue share with our partners.

From The Verge • Jul. 26, 2022

Detectives had determined Tom had owned 108 firearms, had sold six in the past four years and had 14 on consignment, Carranza wrote.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 29, 2021

A portrait memorializing a hero doctor is sold on consignment because he no longer fits in with the library’s contemporary décor; he’s “kinda gloomy.”

From New York Times • Mar. 9, 2021

Uncle Cor helps by taking more than twenty of Vincent’s drawings on consignment.

From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman