Reselling Closeout Merchandise: What You Need to Know

Closeouts, whether it is a factory closeout or a store closeout, are a great way of finding merchandise to buy for personal use or for resale on websites like eBay or Amazon.

To clarify, closeouts are done for a number of reasons, but in most cases, it comes down to making room for new products. In order to free their shelf space, companies offer factory closeouts. This is a good sign for you as a buyer, or someone who is looking to buy cheap merchandise for online resale.  When you are looking for closeouts, there are some pointers when to expect them or when to go hunting for bargains.

Seasonal merchandise usually prompts sellers to offer closeouts. With one season ending, stores will look to sell old merchandise quickly to free space for the incoming goods.

The advantage of hunting closeouts for you as a buyer is that you can snap up top notch branded items in perfect condition, which are the perfect candidates for resale. But to cash in on closeouts resales, you should devise a plan, find the right supplier, a closeouts dealer or even a closeout liquidator.

How to Make Money with Closeouts

If you outline a plan and stick to it, chances are you will be getting significant profits from reselling closeout merchandise.

Some things you need to know before you head out to search for a supplier are where you will store the merchandise, what sort of products you are interested in reselling and whether there is a market demand for that product? You also have to sort out your finances and ways of reselling the merchandise, whether you are hoping to do it through one of the online platforms or maybe at a flea market.

The next step is securing a re-sale permit, which will allow you to start buying closeout merchandise. Find out more details by contacting your local government agency.

With the re-sale permit sorted, it is time to look for the right closeout merchandise supplier. You can either search online or through classifieds or maybe even through manufacturer’s outlets.

Like overstock and customer returns, retailers will work with wholesale suppliers and liquidators to get rid of the seasonal merchandise as quick as possible. This means that you could look through your usual sources to secure the best closeout deals.

If you have been in the business for a while, you should have already have built up a healthy business relationship with your wholesale supplier. This comes to good use more often than not. In terms of securing closeout merchandise, you could arrange with your wholesale supplier to notify you when closeout merchandise is coming in so you can plan around it.

However, if you are a newcomer to the closeout, wholesale buying and reselling game, your goal is to watch out for market hints. In most cases, closeouts are offered not only when one season changes to another, but also when one product is being replaced by a new model.

Looking into the highly contested electronics market, the examples are glaringly obvious. Any time a brand, such as Apple, releases a new iPhone model, the versions that preceded it will be discounted and sold at closeouts for very low prices. Wholesale players and liquidators are likely to snap up such offers by truckloads, but there is a way you can get your hands on cheap smartphones that are not only still in brand new condition, but still attractive to buyers.

And this is not only the case with smartphones, but also with laptops, appliances or even seasonal goods such as clothing and tools.

The goal with such merchandise is to have a plan outlined for each season, as noted before. Follow company announcements, forums and industry magazines or meets to see when a new model is coming out, or when a retailer might be expecting to receive the new clothing line or when they might start discounting summer clothes and start bringing in the fall collection. Having such a plan will greatly improve your chances of securing quality branded merchandise at reduced prices.

If you can’t hit all the retailers you wish during any given turn of the season or the wholesale suppliers have already snapped the merchandise up, you might turn to another tactic: checking the availability of the merchandise at the wholesale supplier’s website. Once they acquire closeout merchandise, it will be sorted, divided into pallets or lots and offered to other buyers. Just make sure you are working with a reputable wholesale supplier and you are 100 percent certain that you are buying the high-quality merchandise that you are looking for. Always check the manifest, a list of items contained in a pallet, especially if it is a pallet of mixed goods. If there are any issues with the manifest, if it is incomplete or missing completely, walk away from that wholesaler.

Buying Closeouts from Liquidators

But one way that is certainly gaining in popularity each day is buying through online liquidation auctions. But typing in ‘liquidation auctions’ and bidding on your first wholesale pallet without further research into the validity of the website or the reputation of the liquidator is a recipe for disaster.

Step by step, you have to find out as much information as possible about the website you are interested in purchasing from. There are numerous online sources that can provide you additional information.

Also, always make sure you go through the list of the liquidator’s services, shipping charges, go through customer testimonials and find out as much detail as possible.

Finding a reliable, reputable liquidation auction website means you are buying from a trusted source, bidding on wholesale pallets of high-quality branded closeout merchandise at the lowest prices, without fears of being scammed or receiving faulty goods.  In addition, you are securing the largest profit margins you can get, ensuring you remain competitive in the online resale market, which is one of the main factors of your success.

To recap, you have to understand the market and find what products are in demand. Find out where to find a reliable closeout merchandise supplier, sort out your license, storage and your preferred resale method and start buying.

Share on social networks

Henley Johnson

Henley currently works as a sales representative for Direct Liquidation, assisting businesses with product sourcing of liquidated merchandise from the largest retailers in the world. Whether you are looking for a pallet or a truckload Henley is here to help you grow your business.

View Henley’s Bio on YouTube.