Where To Buy Amazon Return Pallets Online (And How)
Are you wondering where to buy amazon return pallets? If so, you’ll love today’s post, where we delve deeper into the business of Amazon return pallets.
And, you’ll learn how to make money by selling Amazon return pallets.
As a small business looking to expand your inventory (or venture into ecommerce), learning how to buy Amazon return pallets is a fun topic to explore.
Why? You can start today and turn in a profit with minimal investment.
And if you’re a greenhorn as far as Amazon return pallets go, we have answers to these questions:
- “How much does it cost to buy an Amazon return pallet?”
- “Can you buy Amazon return pallets directly from Amazon?”
- “Where do you find Amazon returns to buy?”
- “Does Amazon have a liquidation site?”
- And much more!
If that sounds good, let’s start.
Disclaimer: This article is meant for informational purposes only. We do not sell pallets ourselves. And while we list companies that do sell pallets, these listings do not constitute any form of recommendation. If you choose to buy pallets from any of these companies, it is critical that you do your own due diligence first. We cannot be held accountable (legally or in any other way) for the actions of another company. If you have an issue with a purchase, contact the company you purchased the pallet from directly. And we cannot solve support issues for another company.
What are Amazon return pallets?
Did you know that, unlike physical stores, 46.25% of people return products they buy online? Yeah, that’s quite a significant portion of online purchases!
And bad news for any small business owner depending on online sales to keep the lights on.
Ours is an average figure from the results of 12 major ecommerce hubs across the globe:
As seen above, the percentage of returned merchandise online varies from country to country.
Buyers return products (and abandon future online purchases) due to many reasons, including:
- The buyer received the wrong product. Perhaps you wanted a pink purse, but the seller delivered the wrong color or a different product.
- Broken merchandise or the product didn’t meet the buyer’s expectations.
- Buyer remorse – perhaps the product didn’t look as good in hand as it did online.
- There were missing accessories in the package. If you purchased a smartphone, you’d expect a charger and headphones, right?
- Late delivery might force the customer to buy the same product elsewhere.
So, what are Amazon return pallets? Well, let’s imagine you sold 1,000 products on your ecommerce store. If we work with the 46.25% return rate above, about 460 customers will return your products.
If you’re Amazon, which has millions of daily buyers, the number of customer returns can quickly add up.
Besides, Amazon’s free returns shipping policy is very lenient to customers who want to return items.
What to do? You can either keep the returned products and incur losses or do something about it.
That’s where Amazon return pallets come in 🙂
Instead of keeping millions of returned products, Amazon sells customer returns to liquidation companies and other online resellers.
The process is known as “liquidation.” That way, Amazon can recoup its losses and eliminate inventory that’s simply costly to store.
With that in mind, Amazon return pallets are containers or packages of returned products. There’s nothing more to it – it’s as simple as that.
When purchasing Amazon return pallets, you can buy a single box, a pallet, or a truckload. It all depends on your budget and business needs.
Also, pallets have an “estimated retail value” and are mainly sold via Amazon liquidation auctions.
However, some liquidation companies allow you to buy amazon return pallets at fixed prices.
It’s hard to know what’s inside return pallets!
One thing I would like to point out about Amazon return pallets is you never know what you’re getting.
While it’s rare, you may even receive empty boxes like Tom in the video above 🙂
Usually, the pallet purchase business is risky, but with some research, you can decide if the pallet is worth your time and money.
At times, however, you can tell the brands or types of products before you buy Amazon return pallets.
That’s right – Amazon liquidation pallets don’t usually come in opaque brown boxes. Additionally, some companies offer manifests to help you find what you need.
One more thing: merchandise inside Amazon return pallets can be in any condition.
You might find brand new merchandise, used items, and salvage goods that are only good as spare parts. It is especially true with consumer electronic items.
To illustrate further, have you watched “Storage Wars?” The process of buying liquidated merchandise online works similarly.
The only difference? You might guess what’s in the return pallets, but you don’t examine the products before buying.
That’s why we say selling Amazon return pallets online is a gamble.
Still, selling liquidated merchandise is exciting and can make you good money if you do your homework.
If you’d like to buy return pallets, visiting Amazon liquidation auctions and online liquidation marketplaces is the best route to follow.
Where to buy Amazon return pallets?
If selling Amazon return pallets seems like a great idea, you need to find great sources. Otherwise, you’ll end up throwing money away.
The best way to buy pallets is through Amazon liquidation auctions or a liquidation company.
Every year (particularly after holidays when many people return unwanted gifts en masse), Amazon auctions off the returned products to the highest bidder.
Amazon sells return pallets and overstock merchandise via their various liquidation resale programs:
- Amazon Warehouse for used merchandise online
- Amazon Renewed for refurbished items
- Amazon Outlet for overstock inventory
- Woot offers products at a highly discounted retail price
Additionally, many different liquidation companies buy from Amazon and other major retailers and sell pallets for profit.
Whether you buy overstock merchandise directly from Amazon or from a liquidation company, you’re bound to find some great deals with practice.
From our research, liquidation platforms offer you more options since you can buy customer returns pallets both from Amazon and other large retailers.
Liquidation companies to buy Amazon pallets online
If you want to buy liquidated merchandise, the following liquidation platforms offer you a good starting point. But remember, you should do your own due dilligence before purchasing anything.
Amazon Liquidation Auctions
Back in 2018, B-Stock joined hands with Amazon to launch Amazon Liquidation Auctions. It’s one of the best marketplaces to buy overstock merchandise directly from Amazon.
Amazon Liquidation Auctions offers a wide catalog of mixed lot liquidation auctions. The lots are organized by product category, location, and inventory type, making it easy to find what you need.
At the time of writing, Amazon Liquidation Auctions accepts applications from the US and Europe only.
You must have a valid reseller certificate and a free B-Stock account to bid on auctions.
Additionally, B-Stock requires you to fill out business paperwork before they process your bids and payments.
Once the regularities are out of the way, you can buy bulk lots of overstock merchandise.
888 Lots
Having been in business for over 15 years, 888 Lots is arguably one of the oldest liquidation companies around.
Still, it’s one of the most innovative B2B platforms for small business owners and big retailers.
While you can buy bulk lots and truckloads, they also allow you to purchase individual items at incredibly low prices.
On top of that, you can easily create custom lots and negotiate the price for the entire lot instead of negotiating prices item by item.
Custom lots help you to pick only the items you need.
If you ask me, it is pretty impressive if you have diverse target audiences, and/or would like to experiment with new products.
888 Lots require a valid resale certificate for US customers. For customers outside the US, you must provide a valid business registration.
To boot, they offer you an Amazon profit calculator so you can decide if the items or lots are worth flipping on Amazon.
Shipping costs vary depending on the pallet size and weight.
How to make money selling Amazon returns
So you’ve finally taken the leap of faith and decided to go into business selling Amazon returns.
You have raided Amazon liquidation auctions and are ready to hit the ground running.
You feel it in your gut you’ll strike gold but you don’t know where to start. How do you sell Amazon return pallets?
Well, it’s easier than you think.
Retail arbitrage
The best way to make money selling Amazon return pallets is retail arbitrage. Here, you simply refurbish the products and resell them for higher prices on Amazon, eBay, or your ecommerce site.
Here are two quick tips to improve your odds of success:
Tip #1: Repair & refurbish
Take time to repair and refurbish the products as much as possible to boost the resale value of your liquidated goods. The secret is to make the products seem “like new.”
Typically liquidated items from Amazon return pallets come with damaged packaging, and missing accessories.
Merely replacing packaging/missing accessories will significantly improve the prices you can command for your refurbished items.
Finding accessories and packaging online is extremely easy and relatively cheap. A simple Google search will help you find nearly anything you need.
If you can’t find the right packaging, at least consider using factory plastic wrapping and plain boxes.
Pro Tip: If your Amazon return pallets come with unsalvageable products, use them as spare part donors for your other products.
And if refurbishing gives you the creeps, you can always sell the spare parts individually.
Tip #2: Bundle products together
Bundling products together has worked for businesses since time immemorial. You’ve probably seen the trick at play on multiple ecommerce websites as well.
For instance, a MacBook, Apple Watch, and Airpods would make an excellent bundle especially when the price looks just right. You could even throw in a wireless charger for good measure.
That way, you will sell your Amazon return pallets faster, and recover your costs.
Don’t be afraid to experiment with bundles, and soon enough you will have a working formula before your next pallet arrives.
When sorting your pallets, set aside products you can put up for resale immediately. Have another pile for products that need refurbishing.
And lastly, have another pile of products that will be more attractive when sold as a bundle.
How much do Amazon return pallets cost?
You’re going into business, so it’s only obvious you are wondering how much Amazon return pallets cost.
Well, the price of an Amazon return pallet varies depending on the items and the size of the pallet.
For instance, a 200-pound pallet of automotive parts will probably cost more than a 200-pound pallet of groceries.
So it’s really hard to tell without some research. Besides, most online sites sell Amazon returns via auctions, which means the prices change all the time.
But so you have something to work with as a small business owner, a ballpark figure would be $100 to $10,000 per pallet depending on what you need.
I saw Mr. Beast unbox a $100,000 pallet on YouTube, meaning the prices jump all over the place.
At the end of the day, I think it all comes down to what you’re buying.
Pro tip: Consider labor, refurbishing, and shipping fees when calculating your initial investment.
Why invest in Amazon return pallets?
Here are a couple of reasons in case you’re still on the fence as far as Amazon returns go:
You have an endless supply of products
You have overstock, Amazon returns, lost cargo, local auctions, storage units, and many other sources of inventory at your disposal. Just make sure you choose a reputable seller. Check reviews and only go for trusted sources.
Low startup costs
Amazon return pallets cost a fraction of what you’d pay if you worked directly with retailers and wholesalers. You can start right now with just a few hundred dollars.
You can resell products easily
You can expand your brick-and-mortar stores with the surplus inventory. You can sell almost everywhere: flea markets, garage sales, social media, WordPress ecommerce site, Shopify, Amazon, eBay, and resale platforms like Thredup and OfferUp. The opportunities are limitless.
Huge profits margins
Amazon return pallets are incredibly cheap. If you do it right, you can easily turn a $500 pallet into a sweet $2500 profit. And repeat 🙂
Fine-tune your target audience
You have the options: Choose either random merchandise or use filters to find what your approved buyer wants. Additionally, you can create custom lots.
Conclusion
Now you know where and how to buy Amazon pallets online. Are you ready to start a successful ecommerce business?
If so, I believe selling Amazon pallets can help you start your ecommerce journey. It’s a great way to get your feet wet and make some extra money while at it.
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