Buying/Selling Pallets of Liquidation/Returned Goods, Any Experience?

Jerzsubbie

Jerzsubbie

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Does anyone have any experience buying and selling pallets of returned goods from liquidators?

I see plenty of pallet wholesalers listing on fb and while there is obviously risk and leg work involved, it seems like a good way to make a few extra bucks.

I have a wide variety of skills and experience so I’m quite confident that I can sell stuff successfully, but I know almost nothing about the liquidators/wholesalers and how they operate.

Has anyone done this? Good, bad, ugly info you can share? Are there certain categories of product that tend to be better than others (toys, electronics, tools, etc)?
 
Tagged for interest. My wife has started selling a few things here and there on poshmark and another site. It’s mostly clothes and she doesn’t have a lot listed so it’s a piece every other day or so but I think if she had more room and inventory she’d do a lot better.

She was talking about a business license tonight to get into the pallet buying but didn’t know what to do to get it or how much it would cost. Have you looked that far into it @Jerzsubbie ?
 
Pbj ak said:
Tagged for interest. My wife has started selling a few things here and there on poshmark and another site. It’s mostly clothes and she doesn’t have a lot listed so it’s a piece every other day or so but I think if she had more room and inventory she’d do a lot better.

She was talking about a business license tonight to get into the pallet buying but didn’t know what to do to get it or how much it would cost. Have you looked that far into it @Jerzsubbie ?
Click to expand...
https://www.nc.gov/services-info/starting-business-nc
 
You have to get the right product at the right price. And also plan on having stuff that just doesn’t move. One of my customer does this on a large scale, like owns 10 warehouses big. The amount of vacuums I see head to the landfill is crazy. Fans that get dumped, I’ve got like 5 of those Dyson air movers out of dumpsters. This is stuff that should sale but is just trash.
 
I have worked Amazon and Wal-Mart return pallets in the past. Expect a lot of it to be literal trash. It takes lots of man hours to sort the good from the bad, fix things that are fixable, etc. It's fun ( for me anyway) but it's also a lot of work, takes lots of man hours and space.

Value varies. One pallet was straight trash, just broken toys. Another was mostly trash but had several new Fitbits in it (back when they first came out) that paid for everything that round, making everything else profit. It's a crapshoot, really.
We had the luxury of moving our merchandise straight into an auction space once it was all graded- trying to sell at flea markets and the like will wear you down and take longer to get a return.

If anyone wants some Amazon pallets to test the water, there used to be a guy in Wilkes down on the old airport who sold them. I can check and see if he's still up and running.
 
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I can point you to a place in Kannapolis to buy some pallets and you can see most everything on said pallet. Guy makes a killing breaking them down and selling stuff in his "store" but sells by the pallet as well.
 
You can go to an auction twice a week in Thomasville to bid on specific items from truckloads of damaged freight. Usually it is the packaging that is damaged, not the content.

Payne's Discount store on N. Main in High Point gets all of it's inventory from that auction facility. That store is where I buy all of my coffee and paper products.
 
MacEntyre said:
Payne's Discount store on N. Main in High Point gets all of it's inventory from that auction facility. That store is where I buy all of my coffee and paper products.
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No wonder you seem to enjoy the coffee at my house. :p
 
Pbj ak said:
Tagged for interest. My wife has started selling a few things here and there on poshmark and another site. It’s mostly clothes and she doesn’t have a lot listed so it’s a piece every other day or so but I think if she had more room and inventory she’d do a lot better.

She was talking about a business license tonight to get into the pallet buying but didn’t know what to do to get it or how much it would cost. Have you looked that far into it @Jerzsubbie ?
Click to expand...
I have not seriously considered a business license yet as so far I’ve been seeing plenty of places that will sell to individuals no problem.

I did recently learn of Poshmark and Mercari as popular outlets for clothing. Maybe I’m wrong but clothing didn’t even cross my mind as a great product category to zero in on.
 
Once the vultures start going to these auctions, they will drive up the prices just like they did at the government auctions.
 
Button Pusher said:
Once the vultures start going to these auctions, they will drive up the prices just like they did at the government auctions.
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Honestly, we may even be at that point. I see it as similar to storage unit auctions. It became popularized by the TV show and then everyone and their cousin tried buying storage lockers. This is a topic that is covered a fair amount on social media and YouTube, but I feel that there is still healthy margin there from what I can see so far.
 
@charliesgrave i too enjoy fixing things and can imagine the time involved with sorting, testing, pricing, and getting everything in sellable condition, not to mention listing it for sale everywhere. This is part of why I like the idea of starting with non-electronics, maybe Lowe’s/THD returns/liquidated product.

I have no desire to do flea markets, I would be selling 100% online via multiple marketplaces. I’ve done this in a similar fashion while finishing school.

@LeeMajors PM sent on the Kannapolis place.
 
Trust me you do not want anything on a pallet of returns from Home Depot. The stuff people return often is not the same item that came in the box.
One guy came back with a power washer, says it had no engine when he opened it up at home.
They make a few phone calls, on a weekend, and talk to the buyer and vendor on conference call.
They weigh each and every carton that leaves the assembly line, no way the engine was missing in action.
This is one rare time they turned down a return. They return weed trimmers w/o the 2 cycle engines.
Ceiling lights returned with the cheap builder grade light they took down.
One guy would return the compound miter saws each month, said it would not stay in alignment.
Of course he kept the carbide blades each and every time.
 
Button Pusher said:
Trust me you do not want anything on a pallet of returns from Home Depot. The stuff people return often is not the same item that came in the box.
One guy came back with a power washer, says it had no engine when he opened it up at home.
They make a few phone calls, on a weekend, and talk to the buyer and vendor on conference call.
They weigh each and every carton that leaves the assembly line, no way the engine was missing in action.
This is one rare time they turned down a return. They return weed trimmers w/o the 2 cycle engines.
Ceiling lights returned with the cheap builder grade light they took down.
One guy would return the compound miter saws each month, said it would not stay in alignment.
Of course he kept the carbide blades each and every time.
Click to expand...
:mad:
 
Button Pusher said:
Trust me you do not want anything on a pallet of returns from Home Depot. The stuff people return often is not the same item that came in the box.
One guy came back with a power washer, says it had no engine when he opened it up at home.
They make a few phone calls, on a weekend, and talk to the buyer and vendor on conference call.
They weigh each and every carton that leaves the assembly line, no way the engine was missing in action.
This is one rare time they turned down a return. They return weed trimmers w/o the 2 cycle engines.
Ceiling lights returned with the cheap builder grade light they took down.
One guy would return the compound miter saws each month, said it would not stay in alignment.
Of course he kept the carbide blades each and every time.
Click to expand...
Yeah I’ve seen that kind of craziness when I worked big box retail years ago. Those things are going to be the minority of situations and are part of the assumed risk.
Something like the miter saws would be gold since a missing blade isn’t a big deal and could still bring great money in the secondary market.
 
Close friend of mine, his father did this for years.
Got out of it and got a 'real job' about a decade ago because the market was already getting flooded and prices were going up.

Not saying it wouldnt be bad for spare money, but dont expect to quit your job on it.
 
I bought an $1000 welder from a guy that does this. I got it for $450. box and contents were perfect.
 
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