Memo vs consignment: tracking pieces out

What memo means

A memo is a short-term hand-off between dealers. You give a piece to another dealer to show a client, with an agreed value and terms, and they either buy it, sell it on your behalf, or return it — usually quickly. Title stays with you. The risk is simple: memo is fast and informal, so it’s the easiest thing to forget. A five-figure watch sitting on someone’s desk for two months because nobody logged it is a real and common loss.

What consignment means

Consignment is the same idea over a longer horizon and usually more formal: a piece is placed with a seller (or you hold a partner’s piece) to be sold, with a split or fee agreed up front. It’s the model behind most “on the floor but not owned” inventory. The stakes are the same — you need to know what’s yours, what’s theirs, what sold, and who gets paid.

The rule that prevents losses

Whichever term you use, the discipline is identical: every piece that leaves your hands gets logged with a date, an agreed value and terms — on the same record as the item itself. Not a notebook, not a text thread. When the memo or consignment status lives on the piece in your inventory, you can pull a single list of everything out, see how long it’s been gone, and follow up with the exact numbers in front of you.

Both directions count

Track what you’ve sent out and what you’re holding for others. When a consigned piece sells, it should turn straight into an invoice and a settlement to the owner — no reconstructing the deal from memory a month later.