What is the Difference Between Consignor and Consignee?

The difference between a consignor and a consignee lies in their roles within the shipping and consignment process:

• Consignor: The consignor is the owner of the goods and the sender of the consignment. They are responsible for bringing the goods to be sold on their behalf by another party, the consignee. The consignor retains ownership of the goods until they have been paid for in full by the consignee.
• Consignee: The consignee is the receiver of the consignment, and they may be a buyer or an agent acting on behalf of the consignor. The consignee is responsible for selling the goods to a third party, after which they pay the consignor and retain a commission.

Key differences between consignor and consignee include:

1. Shipping documents: The consignor is the shipper, and the consignee is the recipient.
2. Ownership: The consignor is the initial owner of the goods, while the consignee may simply be an agent, not actually taking ownership of the goods.
3. Payment: The consignor retains title to the goods until payment is received from the consignee.

For example, if an artist has an arrangement with a gallery to sell their paintings, the artist is the consignor, and the gallery is the consignee. When the gallery sells a painting, ownership transfers from the artist to the buyer of the painting. The buyer pays the gallery for the painting, the gallery extracts its commission, and then forwards the remaining amount to the artist.

Comparative Table: Consignor vs Consignee

The difference between a consignor and a consignee can be summarized as follows:

A consignor is a person or entity that sends goods to another party, called the consignee, who receives and may facilitate the sale of those goods. The consignor is responsible for arranging the transport of goods, while the consignee is responsible for receiving the goods and may facilitate sales. The ownership of goods remains with the consignor until they are sold or delivered to the final buyer, at which point the ownership is transferred to the consignee.