# What VendorDue is

Start > Welcome · How it works · https://vendordue.com/docs/what-vendordue-is

**In short:** VendorDue works out what each vendor earned from every sale in your Shopify store, tells you when it's safe to pay them, and keeps the record of every payment. You still pay them yourself, the way you always have.

If you sell other people's goods in your Shopify store, every sale asks the same three questions. How much of it is theirs? When can you pay them? And did you? VendorDue answers all three for every vendor, and keeps the answers, so that months later either of you can open a sale and see what became of it.

It sits inside your Shopify admin, reads your orders as they come in, and changes nothing in your store.

## One sale, start to finish

Here is a single sale in the example shop these docs use: **Fernhill Pottery**, a Shopify store that sells for several local makers. One of them, Alder Ceramics, gets 60% of each sale.

*(example) The stoneware mug, from sale to paid.*

1. **A customer buys the mug.** Order #1047, a $120.00 stoneware mug, on 3 September. The product's vendor in Shopify is Alder Ceramics, so VendorDue knows whose it is.
2. **VendorDue works out the vendor's share.** Alder Ceramics' consignor rate is 60% of revenue, so they earn $72.00 and you keep $48.00. The working is saved with the sale: the price, any discount, the tax, the rate and the result.
3. **The money waits until it's safe to pay.** Your holds say a sale waits until it ships, then through a 14-day return window. The mug ships on 4 September, so it is On hold until 18 September. If the customer returned it in that time, the refund would come off before anyone was paid.
4. **It gets a pay day.** On 18 September the window ends. The sale is Scheduled for your next pay day, the 1st of the month.
5. **The payout lands.** On 1 October, Alder Ceramics' payout lands: its amounts are fixed, it appears on their page, and it waits for you under To pay.
6. **You pay and record it.** You write check 1043 on 2 October and record it in VendorDue. The mug is Paid, and Alder Ceramics gets a receipt.

Every sale goes through those same steps. You set the rules once, in your terms, and VendorDue applies them to each sale as it comes in.

## What it never does

- **It never moves money by itself.** You pay your vendors the way you already do: check, cash, bank transfer, PayPal. Then you record it. The one exception is Send now, which sends a payment from your own PayPal balance, and only when you press it.
- **It never changes your store.** VendorDue can read your orders, products and reports. It can't edit a product, an order or a price.
- **It never collects money from vendors.** When a vendor owes you something, like booth rent, it comes off their next payout. If they pay you directly instead, you record what they paid.
- **It doesn't manage stock or prices.** Shopify still does that. VendorDue tells you which of a vendor's items are in the store and for how long.

> **Good to know:** Each sale is worked out once, on the terms of the day it sold. Changing a consignor rate later changes the sales after it, never the ones before. And once a payout lands, it's fixed: a mistake on it is put right with an adjustment on the next one, never by changing the old one.

## Where things are

VendorDue has six pages in its sidebar, and Settings behind the gear at the bottom.

| Page | Answers |
| --- | --- |
| Overview | How is the month going, and does anything need you? |
| Activity | What happened with every sale, refund and payment, and why |
| Vendors | Who sells through you, on what terms, and what each is owed |
| Payouts | Who you pay next, how much, and what's still to pay |
| Reports | Your margin, each vendor's sales, and files for your accountant |
| Messages | Conversations with each vendor, pinned to the sale or payout they're about |

Press **⌘K** (or **Ctrl K** on Windows) anywhere to search VendorDue itself: a vendor, an order number, a setting.

## Your vendors have their own page

Each vendor can sign in to a page of their own, free for them. They see their sales as they happen, their payouts, when they'll be paid next, their receipts, their agreement, and messages with you. They see only their own, never another vendor's. You decide whether a vendor is invited and what they see. See [What vendors see](https://vendordue.com/docs/what-vendors-see).

## Who it's for

Any Shopify store that sells for someone else:

- **Consignment shops**, paying a share of each item once it sells. See [Consignment shops](https://vendordue.com/docs/consignment-shops).
- **Multi-vendor shops and makers' collectives**, with many makers on different splits. See [Multi-vendor shops and collectives](https://vendordue.com/docs/multi-vendor-shops).
- **Booth rentals and antique malls**, where vendors pay rent and keep most of each sale. See [Booth rental and antique malls](https://vendordue.com/docs/booth-rental).

## Common questions

**Does VendorDue pay my vendors for me?** No. You pay them the way you always have and record it in VendorDue. The only payment it sends is one you start yourself with Send now, from your own PayPal balance.

**Can VendorDue change my Shopify store?** No. It has read-only access to your orders, products and reports. It can't change a product, an order or a price.

**Do my vendors pay anything for VendorDue?** No. Their page is free. The store pays for the plan.

**What happens when a customer returns something?** If it's before the payout lands, the refund comes off the sale and the vendor is never paid for it. If it's after, the refund comes off the vendor's next payout.

Checked against VendorDue on 2026-10-06.