Wholesale or Consignment? Selling Your Art & Indie-Made Goods

At Creative Kind, we currently sell with both wholesale and consignment partners! Right now, this hybrid strategy allows us to grow, build relationships, and scale without inhibiting our systems.

To help you decide what might be best for your business, here’s a breakdown of the pros and cons of each method, as well as insights we’ve learned along the way.

What’s the Difference Between Wholesale and Consignment?

Before we get to the nitty-gritty, let's quickly define the two.

Wholesale: A retailer buys your products upfront in large quantities at a discounted rate, typically 50% of the suggested retail price (MSRP). The retailer assumes responsibility for holding and selling the inventory.

Consignment: You place your products in a retail location, but you retain ownership until they sell. The retailer gives you a percentage of the final sale price; usually 60% or more, depending on the agreement. Now that we’re clear on the definitions, let's explore what makes each option appealing—and what to watch out for.

Pros & Cons of Selling on Consignment

Pros of Consignment

More Inventory in More Locations

The main perk for consignment is that it enables us to put a LOT more inventory into shops that otherwise couldn’t afford to order as much. More options, more visibility, more stock = higher sales.

Higher Margins per Sale

Unlike wholesale, consignment often allows you to keep a higher percentage of the MSRP. We require a minimum 60/40 split for consignment relationships, while most wholesale sales are 50% of the retail price.

It Fits Our Current Product Mix

Our product right now is relatively inexpensive to stock up on, and we can stock high quantities in a small amount of space. With consignment, it’s more or less back stock, but…in someone else’s space. As we add product lines, there may be some that we don’t consign because it costs more to produce.

Cons of Consignment

Organization Overload

Managing consignment inventory requires an incredible level of organization. You need to track what’s at each location, monitor sales reports, and follow up on payments.

Retailer Reliability

Your consignment partner’s organization (or lack thereof) can be a challenge. Missing sales data, delayed payments, or unresponsive store teams can create headaches, especially if the retailer has weak operational systems.

There’s the potential of dealing with late payments, gaps between sales and payouts, or even chasing retailers for overdue checks. We worked with a retailer that we had to hound for payments because their operations were a mess. But we stuck with it because sales were high and we were local - so we could show up in person and ask for a check 🙃

Higher Risk

You’re assuming more risk with consignment. What if product gets damaged, stolen, rung in wrong? This isn’t your space and these aren’t your employees to manage. Since you still own the merchandise, you bear the risk. Plus, any sales discrepancies will affect your bottom line.

More Time-Intensive

Consignment often requires hands-on effort. You may be responsible for delivering the inventory, stickering items, merchandising the display, and managing reorders. All of this takes time that you wouldn’t spend in a wholesale arrangement.

Geographic Limitations

We only take on local consignment relationships - if we can't drop it off ourselves, it has to be wholesale. This gives us control over deliveries and merchandising, and saves the cost of shipping. It also helps reduce some of the risk! Out of sight, out of mind can be all too true.

Pros & Cons of Selling Wholesale

Pros of Wholesale

Guaranteed Payment

Wholesale means the retailer pays upfront for the inventory, so you can focus on making or ordering your next batch rather than wondering when you’ll be compensated.

Simplified Management

Once the retailer has purchased the inventory, the responsibility for tracking and selling the products falls on them. This frees you up to focus on producing new pieces.

Predictable Cash Flow

Wholesale provides a more predictable stream of revenue since you’re selling inventory in bulk rather than waiting for it to sell bit by bit.

Less Risk

When the retailer owns the stock, any theft, damage, or sales discrepancies are no longer your concern.

Cons of Wholesale

Lower Profit Margins

To make wholesale attractive for retailers, you typically sell at 50% of the MSRP. While this guarantees upfront payment, it means tighter profit margins compared to consignment.

Bulk Production Pressure

Wholesale often requires you to produce larger quantities of inventory at once, which can strain your resources if you’re a small team or a solo creator.

Limited Control Over Merchandising

Once the retailer acquires your stock, you have little say in how it’s displayed or marketed—an important consideration if your branding is a key selling point.

Restricted Store Budgets

Smaller shops may not have the budget to place large wholesale orders, potentially limiting the number of retail locations carrying your products.

Choosing Between Wholesale and Consignment

At Creative Kind, doing both wholesale and consignment has helped us expand our reach while maintaining flexibility. While exclusively wholesale is our long-term goal, here’s why a mix of both works for us:

• Consignment allows us to stock more inventory in shops that may not have the upfront budget for wholesale. The more options shoppers have, the higher our sales.
• For now, our products are inexpensive to produce, so consignment feels more like offsite storage that's selling for us. That said, we may choose a different approach for future product lines that are more costly to make.
• With consignment, we earn at least 60% of the MSRP, which exceeds wholesale’s 50%. However, due to the hands-on nature of consignment, this approach only works because we’re meticulous about organization and have systems in place to track inventory and payments.

That said, every business is different.

Here are some key factors to consider when deciding what’s best for you:

Your Product Margins – Can you afford wholesale’s reduced margins, or do you need consignment’s higher percentage of sales?

Your Space & Resources – Do you have the capacity to manage consignment inventory and the associated tracking, or is a simpler wholesale model more realistic?

Your Retail Partners – Are they equipped to handle consignment inventory responsibly and pay you out promptly, or is wholesale a safer option?

Experimenting with both can also be a great way to find what aligns best with your goals and capabilities.

Whether you choose wholesale, consignment, or a blend of both, your retail strategy should align with your production capabilities, financial goals, and the unique value your products offer.

If you’re just starting out, consignment can be a great way to get your products into more stores and increase visibility without a large upfront commitment from retailers. On the other hand, wholesale is perfect for scaling quickly and building dependable cash flow.

Your art and indie goods deserve the retail strategy that fits them best!