Iterate On Your Return Policy
A longer or better return policy can sometimes, depending on the product, bring dead inventory back to life.
If the product is both expensive and a lifestyle product, giving customers adequate time to incorporate it into their lives and feel happy with it will allow you to sell it off without fearing that it will be returned.
Improve Stock Ordering By Observing How Customers Interact With Your Merchandise
Ensure that youre ordering the right products by keeping your customers needs in mind. Talk to them and observe their behavior so you can gain insights into what items will sell.
As shoppers come into your store your sales staff should hear them make comments about fit, quality, etc. for a particular item this will help clue them in as to why they do or do not like a particular item, says Kat. I would start off by talking to the sales staff to figure out what comments have been made and why the product isnt moving.
What Does Liquidating Inventory Mean
WInding down a business is a straightforward process. The company notifies its employees, its vendors, its creditors and its customers that it is closing up shop. It pays its taxes and fulfills its contractual obligations. It liquidates its inventory and other assets by selling them off quickly, often for less money than the company originally paid for the items.
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What An Estate Liquidator Is Not
An estate liquidator often has a strong background in the liquidation industry. Estate liquidators may own antique shops, or they may work as licensed auctioneers. Accredited appraisers may also make good estate liquidators.
However, estate liquidators are not attorneys, and they cannot provide advice on the legal aspects of estate liquidation sales. Likewise, theyre not referees who can mediate disputes between multiple shoppers who want the same collectibles.
Finally, remember that family members may be dealing with unsettling personal issues as they prepare to liquidate a loved ones belongings. Although estate liquidators may be sympathetic to the situation, they are not trained therapists, and they are not equipped to handle emotional issues.
Create A Removal Order On Amazon
As an Amazon seller, you probably know a time may come when you need to remove your products from Amazon altogether, either to dispose of them or find somewhere else to offload them, such as eBay, Etsy, among other eComm marketplaces.
Whatever your next step is, youll have to pay a price to remove your products from Amazon. Typically, the fees are twice as high to remove a product than to liquidate via the FBA Liquidations program.
So, before submitting a removal order, make sure you understand the Amazon removal fees and how they might impact your finances.
If you want to deep dive into this topic to learn the key factors that drove the costs of inventory removal up this 2022, be sure to read this article.
And if you still want to move your inventory out of FBA despite the costs, simply:
Go to this FAQ page for more information.
Removal orders are a good idea for sellers whose product sales dont cover their Amazon storage costs, or for sellers who think they can get a better return through other marketplaces like eBay.
However, note that Amazon doesnt count removal orders toward your sales velocity. Therefore, if you want to free up space and at the same time, improve your IPI score through increased monthly velocity by moving your slow sellers, it would be best to run a flash sale or sell them via multi-channel fulfillment.
But if you have no other way to sell your inventory through other channels, liquidation may be a better option.
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Scenarios To Use A Surplus Liquidator
All companies considering the services of a surplus liquidator share one thing in common: they have stuff they need to get rid of. All companies find themselves with surplus assets at one point or another. Here are a 5 examples of different situations in which companies might use a surplus liquidator.
Going Out Of Business
The final stage of shutting down a business is often selling off all assets. Although surplus liquidators dont typically deal with real estate, they can help clear out and extract value from other surplus assets. From heavy machinery to office furniture a good surplus liquidator will be able to help sell off all of a closing companies assets.
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Scoreboards Kayaks And Knives
By 2000, a year after it launched, Liquidation.com had its first major sale: a $200,000 marine vessel for the state of Georgia. In 2006, it went public under its new name Liquidity Services. Its stock peaked in 2012, trended downward for the next seven years, then saw a resurgence during the Covid pandemic.
Liquidity Services remains the only major publicly traded liquidator. Another big player is B-Stock Solutions, which runs branded liquidation marketplaces for huge clients like Amazon, Walmart, Home Depot and Costco. Howard Rosenberg founded B-Stock after six years at eBay, where he saw the benefits of specializing in liquidation for others, at scale.
“Companies typically don’t want to spend a whole lot of time and effort focused on that little slice of the pie. They want to focus on the 99% slice of the pie,” explained Rosenberg.
Liquidity Services sells returned items on a variety of marketplaces. There’s Liquidation.com where pallets of returns and some individual items are auctioned off to the highest bidder, Secondipity for direct sale of individual items, and GovDeals for some especially unusual items.
“We’ve sold road paving equipment, entire gymnasium floors, scoreboards. All of the colleges and universities that are publicly funded, all of that equipment and uniforms come through our marketplace. We sell construction equipment. We sell the bucket trucks for power and utility companies,” Angrick said.
Liquidate Inventory Or Leave Money On The Table
Reverse logistics programs aim to efficiently remove returned and obsolete inventory from the primary sales channel to maximize recovery values while minimizing related financial risk. Retailers and manufacturers liquidate more than 95 percent of overstock inventory and customer returns on the secondary market.
When evaluating the effectiveness of their returns process, many executives focus on transportation and processing costs. While managing these expenses is important, the actual costs are low compared to the potential revenue companies can gain by maximizing their inventorys liquidation value.
For example, the cost of transporting and processing returns ranges from 30 cents to $2 per item, depending on the products volume, size, and type. Manufacturers and retailers can sell items on the secondary market for 15 to 50 percent of the products value, depending on its characteristics, and whether it is sold to a bulk liquidator, pallet buyer, or directly to a consumer.
If a company dramatically improves its reverse logistics processes, it might reduce transportation and processing expenses by 10 percent. If the average value of returned items is $20 per piece, the company saves three to 20 cents per unit processed.
Yet because they do not fully understand liquidations potential, many companies leave this money on the table.
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Because No Liquidator Has A System Or Process In Place Like I Do And No One Gets The Same Results I Do Either
That being said depending on my schedule because all my clients work directly with me I can sometimes make adjustments to accommodate a client.
But sometimes there is nothing I can do to help them because they need everything sold yesterday.
These are the retailers that did not have an exit strategy in place and failed to see the indicators soon enough that it was time to close.
- There are other clients who have lost their lease through no fault of their own and only have a few weeks to figure out how to move all their inventory out.
- There have been clients that were able to buy more time with the landlord, especially if they were current with their lease.
- Then they showed the landlord that they are working with a professional liquidator to clear out the space.
- Most landlords want nothing to do with the inventory and just want the space clear to rent quickly.
- Most of the time this happens when they decide to raise the rent on the retailer unexpectedly.
When you watch my videos of client testimonials you will all hear them convey a similar message.
They will tell you that I know exactly what and when things would happen during their sale.
That Is When Many Of Them Will Turn To Me
Unfortunately I can not help them at that point because in this case a well run and marketed going out of business sale is impossible. Here is why.
- The needs to be a well thought out process.
- Retailers can not try it on their own and then hire someone to help them.
- This is because all the best merchandise will go first and it will go fast.
They have no idea which merchandise to mark down and what to mark it down to in price for the best profit.
There is a whole psychology to this liquidation process that I have studied for 20 years.
If the sale has started it can not be restarted again for at least another 6 months and have the same effect.
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Sell To Your Competitors
When facing liquidating inventory, turn your competitors into your friends.
Your closest competitor would much rather lose money to you by buying out your product than lose money competing with you.
Theyll be more than happy to see you out of the game, so you could likely negotiate a decent selling price for your product.
A Comprehensive Guide To Selling Your Surplus
Surplus inventory is an inevitable byproduct of dealing with physical merchandise. At some point retailers, distributors, wholesalers, manufacturers, and even commercial offices can end up with inventory they need to liquidate. Often times companies with surplus will try to liquidate their inventory on their own. However, the process is often more complex than anticipated and consumes a lot of resources. Surplus liquidators are hired to sell off surplus inventory and extract the maximum possible value. In this brief guide, well walk you through the ins and outs of selling your surplus and how a surplus liquidator can help.
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Get Influencers To Review The Product
You can save your inventory woes through the power of social media and influencers.
Influencer marketing is one of the fastest-growing marketing strategies. Influencers make their money through sponsored products and leverage their audience to advertise products. You can venture off pure social media and even find bloggers, YouTubers, and podcasters in your niche that you can send the product to.
Its two birds, one stone. You get rid of product easily via the influencers while giving your brand valuable exposure.
I Knew A Lot Of People Were Going To Get Hurt Going Through This Process
However I decided I would throw my hat in the ring and try to help other retailers avoid the pain my Dad went through.
The second answer to the question why do some retailers choose to hire a liquidation company vs. closing stores themselves is because they were smart enough to know that every store has a natural life cycle and an exit plan is part of that cycle.
Whether its retirement or because of online competition, they realized that at some point they will need to exit the business and they began to plan ahead.
Many of these independent retailers have contacted me over the years asking for my help in closing their stores after seeing the many ecstatic client testimonials I have on my website.
I then begin by asking them to tell me about their situation and they dive into telling me their story.
I have seen many independent retailers panic when the landlord raises the rent.
They frantically try to sell their merchandise at discounts to raise the extra funds and in the end it isnt enough.
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The Future Of Surplus
Excess inventory isnt going anywhere anytime soon. As long as businesses exist as we know them there will exist surplus and there will be a need to sell it. Although some surplus marketplaces have emerged, they are geared to large retail businesses with returns and dont provide a quality solution for other surplus.
The future of surplus is in the hands of surplus liquidators. There is a buyer for almost any type of surplus good. A surplus liquidator often already knows that buyer and can help sell your surplus quickly.
If you or your company either have surplus or are anticipating having surplus it can be beneficial to begin reaching out to a surplus liquidator. By initiating contact and building that relationship now, you are setting yourself up for a smoother experience when the time comes to sell your surplus.
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Mr. Crowley, who turns 54 next month, focuses mostly on discounted home improvement goods, which he resells to local contractors, like multiple pallets of discontinued garage door openers, tiles and flooring.
But on a sweltering day earlier this month, he stood outside the warehouse in his U-Haul loading up on items from Target.
I saw its stock got tanked, said Mr. Crowley, a cigarette dangling from his mouth and sweat pouring down his face. Its an ugly situation for them.
He bought several cribs, a set of sheets for his own house and a pink castle for a girl in his neighborhood who just turned 5.
I end up giving a lot of it away to my neighbors, to be honest, he said. Some people are barely getting by.
The buyers bid for the goods through online auctions and then drive to the warehouse to pick up their winnings.
Its a diverse group. There was a science teacher who stocked up on plastic parts for his class, as well as a woman who planned to resell her purchases neon green Igloo coolers, a table saw, baby pajamas in the Haitian and Jamaican communities of New York. She ships other items to Trinidad.
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How Are Estate Liquidators Paid
As a seller, you do not pay the estate sale company directly. Instead, estate liquidators receive a portion of the sales gross proceeds. Typical estate sale service fees, or commissions, range from 30 to 40 percent. Naturally, the estate liquidator and the seller both benefit when items bring the highest possible prices.
Salvage Value Vs Liquidation Value Of An Asset
There is something known as the salvage value of assets. It, again, is different from the liquidation value of the asset. The salvage valueThe Salvage ValueSalvage value or scrap value is the estimated value of an asset after its useful life is over. For example, if a company’s machinery has a 5-year life and is only valued $5000 at the end of that time, the salvage value is $5000.read more is the assets estimated value at the end of the assets useful life. At the time of liquidation, the asset may or may not have reached the end of its useful life, and it may fetch more than the salvage value.
E.g., The office furniture in the above example has a useful life of 10 years, after which its salvage value is expected to be $ 5000. But as clearly seen above, the market value is $ 90,000 for the given asset. It will be considered the liquidation value.
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Ways To Liquidate Amazon Inventory
Sarah Nuttycombe Updated on June 1, 2022
Liquidation strikes fear into the hearts of many business owners.
It conjures up memories of large signs outside businesses exclaiming a liquidation sale or commercials promising rock bottom prices when a store is going out of business.
Seeing a business go through liquidation may bring up images of a sinking ship instead of anything remotely positive.
But in the world of ecommerce businesses, liquidation is much more commonplace. For in particular, liquidating inventory is sometimes a natural part of inventory management.
Lets explore why Amazon sellers face the constant question of how to liquidate inventory and the challenges and advantages that arise from it. Well also dig into how FBA sellers miss out on the chance to save their bottom line with a liquidation solution no one talks about.
How Much Do Estate Liquidators Charge
Is an estate sale worth it? How much do estate sales companies charge? Read on to learn everything you need to know here.
There are many reasons why someone might hire an estate sale agent to liquidate their estate.
They may be responsible for the estate of a recently-passed love one they may be on the verge of retirement and looking to sell up and downsize, or they may be looking to clear their debt obligations.
Regardless of the reason, the cost is largely predictable. If youre wondering how much do estate sale companies charge, the answer varies.
The type of company, their experience, and the complexity of the sale will all affect the cost.
Lets take a closer look at how much estate sale brokers typically charge.
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