If you’ve found an item on our website and wondered how we can offer it at such a low price, chances are you’ve discovered an item belonging to our consignment program.
What does “consignment” actually mean? The process is simple:
- Machine shops, tool manufacturers, and distributors have unused tooling that have no plans for future use. These are our “consignment suppliers”.
- Instead of throwing these tools out, the consignment suppliers contact us in order to turn the tools into a revenue stream.
- We transport the tools to our facility, picture them, assign a price, and upload them to our website.
- As items sell, our consignment suppliers are paid a predetermined percentage of the sale.
In order to ensure our vendors get paid quickly, we list all consignment products below market price. This program allows us to create value for everyone involved: CTS is able to expand our inventory, consignment suppliers generate revenue from what was otherwise dead stock, and our customers get the lowest possible price on tools.
We carefully inspect every item to ensure that our customers are getting a tool that has not been used. Many of our consignment items are still sealed within the original packaging! While we won’t always have every item available in consignment, we always tell our customers to check us first. If we have the tool, you will save money.
Read about how to become a consignment supplier here.