Legal Question in Business Law in Washington

Re: goods on consignment

The first question is, hold harmless for what? If you are trying to disclaim product liability, that will likely be impossible to do. If you want to be held harmless for any misrepresentations by the seller to ultimate buyer, sure.

I would encourage you to put all the particulars in a contract template that you use for all of your sellers in Alaska. The factors to be covered are too numerous to fit in the 3000 character limit that we have, but here are a few.

Terms of the agreement - How long will the seller hold your goods attempting to sell before returning them? What share does the seller get? How quickly must the seller pay you once goods are sold? Can the seller discount the goods? When and how much?

Remedies - What do you want from the seller if he or she breaches?

Attorney's fees - Contracts involving more modest amounts are impossible to enforce unless the prevailing party can also collect attorneys' fees.

Venue and choice of law - Do you want to have to go to Alaska to enforce? If not, you need a venue and choice of law clause.

Insolvency - If your seller becomes insolvent, you want any unsold goods back. To accomplish this, you will also want the contract to make clear that this is a consignment and not a sale. If goods are valued over a certain amount, you may need to take additional steps.

Breakage - Who pays if goods break in care of seller, and who pays if they break in transit to or from the seller?

Non-compete - You want to be sure seller does not knock off what you're selling, but you don't want to run afoul of anti-trust laws.

I would urge you to get an attorney work with you to write your contract template for you. If your transactions all over Alaska are very similar, one template could be used again and again, so it would likely be a one-time expense, and should not break the bank.