In 2020, consumers spent $565 billion online with U.S. merchants, according to Loss Prevention Magazine. That’s 14% of all U.S. retail sales! As impressive as that number is, that doesn’t mean that everyone receives their products and lives happily ever after. eCommerce returns more than doubled from 2019 to 2020, approximately $102 billion of merchandise bought online was returned. Some of the top reasons consumers return their online purchases include: 20% receive damaged products, 22% products received look different, and 23% receive the wrong item. This presents a huge buying opportunity for businesses that buy overstock inventory, closeouts and wholesale liquidations.Closeout brokers also take advantage of sellers who liquidate Amazon FBA and close 3PL warehouses. In this business environment there are businesses needing to get rid of old stock and sell excess inventory to raise cash.
The good news for resellers is that not every Amazon return is damaged or faulty! Sometimes items get returned for other reasons that include buyer remorse, simply not needing the item anymore, or expecting it to be different. So that means many of these customer returns will be new and in unopened condition. This type of overstock inventory is resold to buyers of closeouts who liquidate Amazon FBA and sell excess inventory into secondary markets at a deep discount.
Large retailers like Amazon sell pallets of customer returns to liquidators—giving small businesses and resellers access to that merchandise through online liquidation marketplaces. These online closeout marketplaces make sourcing high-quality branded and unbranded merchandise easy, accessible, and affordable. Liquidation buyers often resell overstock liquidations on deal sites or closeout websites for only a fraction of the original cost. This makes buying liquidated merchandise easy and fast for surplus buyers and inventory liquidators. Closeouts have become increasingly popular as Amazon and other online companies dispose of slow moving goods and sell excess inventory at steep discounts.
Warehouse liquidation is essentially a tale as old as time. Clearing out overstock, customer returns, and seasonal items has always been necessary in order to bring in new merchandise. Over time, the liquidation process has simply moved online. And thanks to growing technology, getting your hands on Amazon return pallets can be as easy as logging on your computer or mobile device. Liquidation merchandise is a great way to offer your customers deep discounts on brand name products that didn’t sell as originally planned. Overstock inventory has gone mainstream and big box retailers as well as Amazon sellers have learned they can make money getting rid of old merchandise to companies that buy and sell excess inventory.
Often, businesses need to liquidate Amazon FBA warehouses filled with closeouts. These may be items that did not sell, or sell but are not profitable. Wholesale closeout buyers may be good customers for these products if the prices are cheap enough. It is generally a good idea to get rid of liquidation stock quickly so you don’t have to pay long term storage fees for merchandise that stopped selling.
Merchandise USA is an overstock liquidator and we buy wholesale closeouts of toys, sporting goods, housewares, lawn and garden and more. If you want to sell liquidation stock or get rid of old inventory call us today to review your closeouts. We have been excess inventory buyers since 1984 and we are one of the largest liquidation buyers in the United States.