- Short answer
- Usually yes: in the 6 states we read, the shop that takes the payment collects it; 4 of them spell out tax on the full price.
- Tax base
- In California, the full sale price: CDTFA taxes all $1,500, not just the $750 the shop keeps.
- Exceptions we read
- Brokers in California and Texas; in Minnesota, only if four conditions hold, payment skipping your accounts among them.
- Your consignor
- In California, no seller's permit for items placed on consignment.
- In Shopify
- No consignment mode on the pages we checked; keep the product's Charge tax setting at Yes.
- Filing
- Yours; Shopify Tax automated filing covers only enrolled stores, for sales through December 31, 2026 (New York: February 2027).
Who collects sales tax when your shop sells a consignor's item?
State law decides this, not Shopify. We read what 6 states publish on consignment sales: Washington, California, Minnesota, Florida, New York and Texas. In all 6, the shop that sells a consigned item in its own name and takes the payment collects and remits the tax; the table shows where each answer can shift.
| State | Who collects and remits | Exception or limit of what we read |
|---|---|---|
| Washington | The business making the retail consignment sale | An owner in business may also be required to remit |
| California | The consignee, when it holds the item and can pass title | A broker generally owes no tax |
| Minnesota | Whoever receives the payment | Exempt only if four conditions all hold |
| Florida | The consignee, not the consignor | Covers goods consigned to a dealer who is registered, or required to be registered |
| New York | The consignee, as agent or co-vendor | Read from one charity-event advisory opinion |
| Texas | The factor, who holds the item and can pass title | On a broker's sale, the owner collects if a seller and not an occasional sale |
Read October 17, 2026 on official state sites; Florida and Texas rules via Cornell's Legal Information Institute.
If buyers pay your store at checkout and you pay the consignor a share later, you are the collecting party in each row, unless an exception below fits.
Is the tax on the full price or only on your commission?
On the full price, in the four states whose rules we read on the tax base. In California's example, a shop sold consigned bottles for $1,500 and paid the consignor $750:
The consignee must pay sales tax on the full $1,500 it received for the bottles.
Florida's rule taxes goods consigned to a person registered, or required to be registered, as a dealer "on the total retail sale price without deduction for any expense such as storage, rental, commission, or repairs." Minnesota taxes "the total sales price of the property".
In Washington, a tax appeals determination held that a consignment gallery lacking the records required of an agent was liable for retail sales tax "on the entire amount of the transactions". A shop that sells as the owner's agent and keeps the records Washington requires reports its commission separately, under the Service and Other Activities B&O classification, a state tax on gross receipts; a shop without those records doesn't report commissions separately.
When is someone other than your shop responsible?
When the shop doesn't control the sale. CDTFA says a broker, who can't pass title without the owner's permission or whose owner controls the item until it sells, "generally will not owe sales tax for the transaction." In Texas, on sales a broker solicits, the owner collects and reports the tax if the owner is a seller and the sale isn't an occasional sale.
Minnesota exempts a consignment sale only when all four conditions hold:
- title passes directly from the owner to the buyer;
- the payment does not pass through any accounts of the retailer;
- the shop doesn't insure the property;
- the owner keeps the right to accept or reject an offer.
If buyers pay your store and you pay the consignor afterwards, the second condition fails. Minnesota's auction example, with payment deposited in the company's books and the owner's share paid out, is taxable.
Washington says a consignment seller who hands the tax to the consignor stays personally liable for remitting it, and an agency agreement or other contract can't override that.
A New York advisory opinion on a charity event's consigned sales agrees: remit the tax to the Department rather than returning it to the vendors.
Who needs a seller's permit: your shop, your consignor, or both?
Your shop, first. California says that in most cases only the seller, the consignee, "needs to register with us to obtain a seller's permit".
A California consignor needs no seller's permit for items placed on consignment; one who is otherwise a seller, or makes more than two sales in any twelve-month period, needs a permit for the goods not placed on consignment. In Washington, a consignor who is in business also owes B&O tax and may be required to remit sales tax.
For consignors who hold a seller's permit and bought the items for resale without paying tax, California lets the consignee give them a resale certificate, so they aren't held liable for tax in consigning them. In Washington, when the shop isn't the owner's agent, the owner needs a copy of the shop's reseller permit or other approved exemption certificate.
How do you set up a consigned item in Shopify?
As an ordinary product: none of the Shopify Help Center tax pages, or the Shopify Tax, POS and retail pages, that we checked on October 17, 2026 describes a consignment mode.
- If you must collect in a state, contact each of the relevant agencies and register with them, then add that registration in Shopify.
- Keep the Charge tax setting in each consigned product's Price card at Yes. Shopify's help exempts a product when you deselect Charge tax on this product.
- Ring consigned items up in Shopify POS as products, not as custom sales.
- Products
- Product
- Price
Step 3 matters with Shopify Tax: custom sale items created in POS can't be assigned a product category, "which might result in incorrect tax calculations for those items."
Our consignment store guide shows one consigned product serving both the counter and the online store.
Filing is separate. Shopify's US taxes page says it doesn't remit or file your taxes for you unless you use Shopify Tax and set up automated filing.
Automated filing serves only stores already enrolled in it, and Shopify says it is ending: it files returns for sales made through December 31, 2026 (in New York, through the December 2026–February 2027 quarter). Who can still use it has its own answer.
Unsure whether to collect in a state? Shopify points you to the state tax authorities or a tax professional.
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