Difference between a Consignor and Consignee

In the shipping industry, there are many terms that are used for the various parties involved. These terms can also change based on the transactions at hand, especially when classifying whether they are personal or commercial transactions. For instance, a consignor and consignee are terms often used in the business sector for trade transactions. To understand the difference between a consignor and a consignee, let’s first understand what each term means and what each party is responsible for. To put it simply, a consignor is usually the party that is sending the goods, whereas a consignee is the recipient of the goods. Let’s look at it more in depth.

What is a Consignor?

A consignment is referred to the act of when the goods made and sent by the manufacture or the producer to the buyer; the owners of the goods are sending it across to either the agents located elsewhere. When goods are sent as consignments, the sender is usually referred to as a consignor and the main contract by the carrier will state the sender as the consignor.

What is a Consignee?

The recipient of a consignment is usually referred to as the consignee. The consignee however is only the receiver and not the owner of said goods. The ownership of the goods only transfers to the consignee when the party pays the consignor in full for the goods included in the consignment transaction. Usually the person who does receive the goods as a consignment is always the consignee. It does not matter if the consignee in question is indeed the buyer or an agent receiving the goods on behalf of someone with the intention of selling as this information is of no concern to the carrier who includes the consignee on the shipping contract.

The Difference between a Consignor and Consignee

So, you ask what would you say is the difference between a consigner and consignee? Well there are few to list out.

  • A consignment document will always have the name of the consignor and consignee mentioned by the carrier or the transporter
  • The consigner is the sender, whereas the consignee is the receiver of the goods (consignment)
  • The consignee may be the buyer or an agent acting on behalf of the consignor
  • Ownership of the consignment only moves hands when the consignee has paid for the goods in full to the consignor