Consignment vs Selling Yourself: What You Keep Either Way

What consignment really costs

Consignment means you give your item to a store or reseller, they sell it, and you receive a percentage of the sale price. The commission is your main cost.

Commission rates are not published for most Polish komis shops. Each shop negotiates individually. One US model is published: Flyp's consignment service lets Pro sellers set their own commission rate, and a 2022 TechCrunch report states Flyp takes a 5% cut — though this may be outdated and applies to the US market only. Flyp's help centre confirms the model: the reseller sets their rate, Flyp takes its share, and you receive the rest.

Chrono24, a specialist platform for watches, charges private sellers a published 6.5% commission. Catawiki, a collectibles auction platform, charges 12.5% plus a fixed fee. Both publish their rates, but these are specialist platforms — they are not traditional consignment shops.

For Polish komis, the rate is typically negotiated. The key question is not just the percentage but the full terms: the minimum price you accept, how long the consignment lasts, what happens if the item is lost or damaged, and whether unsold items are returned to you.

What selling yourself really costs

When you sell yourself, you pay platform fees and invest your time. For a full breakdown of all selling costs, see our hidden costs of reselling guide.

On Vinted Poland, the buyer pays the Buyer Protection fee — typically 5% of the item price plus 2.90 zł. As a private seller, your payout is the full item price. Listing is free, and you only pay for optional promoted listings.

On Allegro Lokalnie, local pickup listings cost nothing — 0 zł in platform fees. For shipped "Kup teraz" listings, the fee is 7.9% (or 4.9% for electronics). The buyer pays shipping in both cases.

On OLX, listing is free for private sellers, but if a buyer opens a dispute and OLX rules in their favour under Pakiet Ochronny, the return shipping cost comes from the seller's payout.

Your time is the other cost. To sell one item yourself, you typically spend 30–60 minutes creating the listing with photos and description, 15–30 minutes answering buyer messages, and 15–30 minutes packing and shipping. As a practical rule, plan for 1–2 hours per item. Value your time at your actual hourly rate — a difference of 30 zł per hour changes the calculation significantly.

Worked example in zł: one jacket, three routes

Imagine you have a quality wool jacket that could sell for 300 zł on the market. Here is what you keep through each route:

Consignment (assuming a 30% commission): say you get 210 zł after their commission. They take 0 hours of your time.

Vinted yourself: you receive the full 300 zł from the buyer (they pay the 5% + 2.90 zł fee). Say you spend roughly 8 zł for packaging and a padded envelope, and say 30 zł for your 1.5 hours at 20 zł/hour. Net: roughly 262 zł.

Sell outright to a reseller: say a reseller who will resell the jacket would pay you 150 zł, which is roughly 50% of the market price. You get it immediately with zero time invested.

The Vinted route keeps you the most in this example, but the gap narrows if your time is worth more, if the jacket is cheap, or if consignment negotiates a lower rate.

Payment timing, risk and what to ask

Payment timing differs significantly. Consignment typically pays only after the item sells — you wait weeks or months. Vinted and Allegro pay out within days of the buyer receiving the item. A reseller buyout pays immediately.

Who holds the risk matters. With consignment, the store holds your item until it sells — if it is lost or damaged, the contract should specify who bears the loss. When you sell yourself, you hold the item until sale, and returns under buyer protection policies can mean you ship back and lose the item or the payment.

Before signing a consignment contract, ask these questions:

• What is the exact commission percentage?
• Is there a minimum price below which you will not sell?
• How long is the consignment period, and what happens when it ends?
• Who is responsible if the item is lost in storage or shipping?
• Who covers the cost of returns under buyer protection?
• Are unsold items returned to you, and is there a fee for holding them?

Decision table: when consignment wins and when it does not

Consignment wins when you have designer or valuable items where the commission is worth the store's expertise and reach, or when you genuinely have no time to list, photograph and manage sales yourself. For more on selling designer items specifically, see our guide on where to sell designer bags.

Selling yourself wins on lower-value items where the platform fees are zero (Vinted buyer-paid, Allegro Lokalnie local pickup) and your time is limited to a few hours. It also gives you control over pricing and the full payout.

Selling outright wins when you need cash immediately, when the item is difficult to photograph or describe, or when you are clearing bulk inventory and prefer a guaranteed transaction over maximising profit. If you are sourcing from charity shops and second-hand boutiques, see our charity shop sourcing guide for strategies on finding inventory.

To calculate your actual profit on any sale, use our marketplace fee calculator.