From the outside looking in liquidation looks awesome, as all people see is lots of cash changing hands, long lines to buy pallets or at the front door at bin stores. People have no idea, how hard and risky it can be starting a business in the liquidation industry, let alone growing a business in this industry on thin margins.
That is right, thin margins! The real money is at the individual item level. The resellers that buy smart and have a good e-commerce game and generally the big winners. That’s why there is such high turnover in the liquidation business at the pallet level and above. Pallet sales are about volume and playing the law of averages. If you don’t move high volume pallets. Pallet sale can be real Tuff.
That’s why it’s so important to be smart and shop wisely even for the liquidation sellers. People think pallets are risky and scary. Try buying a truckload. That’s why there are business that pray over the load before they cut the seal and open it. Sometimes, you get a load that has almost no value and then your stuck with a bunch of trash.
This is where the novice are often separated from the professionals. You have to be able to find the opportunity even in the garbage. If you can do that and keep in mind everything has a buyer, you just need to be creative on how to work the load and find the right buyers.
It can be done, There are people in liquidation that have a 100% sell through rate. That’s right 100% right down to the cardboard and wooden pallets. Nothing left. We should all aspire to be that methodical.
However, most only see the good, and complain about what they think is bad or trash. The average pallet or truckload buyer cannot see the opportunity cause they either lack imagination or they are lazy.
It always kill me when some complains they did not double or triple there money. Like that’s even reality. If that was the case everybody would be buying and selling liquidation.
We are buying and selling Big Box retailers Trash. That’s right, there trash. Liquidation is everything that was over bought, under sold, customer returned, vendor returned, items that have been recalled, out of date, or replaced by a new models. When they do store change outs, you can see store computers, pallet racks, gondolas everything on these loads. All of this has been summarized into New, Warehouse Damages, Shelfpulls, Online returns, in Store returns, and Salvage(BER) (Beyond Economic Repair).
These are the terms sellers use to cover there ass. Truth is they would not have to cover there ass if the information from the Retailers was more accurate. That will never happen as they are all greedy bastards and they can require a high recovery for terms that hold a higher value. So mix the trash in and tell them it’s store returns. I am sure they think we will never know. Well they are wrong. We know!
So when getting in liquidation, setting the right expectations is key. Doesn’t matter if your buying or selling. If your selling, in my opinion you have the obligation to set the right expectations for your buyers. Even if you have to educate the buyer. If your a seller and do not, then you are no better then all the scammers on FB and your time here will be short lived. If your buying, your expectations should be set based on your research. Hopefully you did some, if not, you probably bought a pallet off Face Book or TicTok and got cheap earbud instead.
Remember Liquidation is like buying a lottery ticket, not every pallet/load is a win. At the end of day your hoping for more wins then losses. So be smart and shop wisely.
If I live in Indiana and buy pallets or are looking to buy pallets. I would give Hoosier Wholesale Pallet Liquidators LLC. a shot. If this many people are willing to stand in the cold and the rain. They must be doing something right!
Hoosier Wholesale Pallet LIquidators LLC
