Over the last ten years I have purchased hundreds of customer returned pallets and at least 60-70 truckloads of wholesale liquidation merchandise. It all started was back when my wife and I started a small business at home selling on eBay. Selling from our kitchen table we were able to turn a part time income into a large successful retail business!
The first small loads of wholesale merchandise we purchased were 100-300 piece Shelf pull apparel lots. Often known or referred to as New With Tags. I have to admit that clothing was not my first choice, but my wife had a passion for clothing and this is where we started.
Our first purchase was a 110 piece lot of Macy’s womens apparel and we bought it from a liquidator here in California. Being new at that time we really did not know what to expect. We paid for the lot and it was to be shipped by UPS. A few days later my wife called me at work to advise the shipment had arrived. She was excited to say the least.
By the time I got home that night she had already sorted all the apparel looking for damages and even photographed a few of the items to prepare for eBay listing. Within two to three days she had all of the clothing listed on eBay and low and behold we were off on a great adventure from there.
I think if I recall we ended up selling 42 of the 100 pieces on the first go round of auctions and then re-listed the remaining. After about a week and a half we had enough money in our Paypal account to re-purchase another load of clothing. This time we purchased fro ma different liquidator and must say that when this apparel arrived we were not very happy as roughly 20-25% of the load was damaged.
I placed a call to the company we bought from and no one would return my call. Message after message was left, but it seemed as though this particular company did not care to make us a repeat customer. After days of researching the company we bought from and researching shelf pull apparel in general I came to the conclusion that each and every load would probably be different. Kind of a “craps” shoot, if you will.
Back in that first year of getting our feet wet we ended up trying 4-5 different sources for shelf pull apparel and found two reliable suppliers that consistently provided excellent service and loads which were reasonably priced.
How did you get started buying and selling shelf pull apparel?
What the heck is Shelf Pull merchandise? Just as it sounds, shelf pulls are retail products that have been on display in a retail store and then subsequently “Pulled” from the shelf for various reasons. Big Box retailers will pull items from the sales floor for several reasons, including:
- End of season model/style
- Initially purchased too much of an item and therefor have excess unsold stock
- Product no longer being manufactured or distributed
- Product being recalled due to a safety hazard
Most of the time, retailers simply pull items from their retail sales floor to bring in newer items. Think about it, most stores rotate stock to keep their inventory looking fresh and new. Due to this reason, there is an abundance of merchandise which can be purchased on a wholesale level and resold for a great profit. There is no better way to “tap” into major name brands on a wholesale level. The great thing about buying shelf pulled merchandise is simply cost. often, shelf pull merchandise can be purchased for “pennies” on the original wholesale dollar!
Are you looking for name brand merchandise to resell on eBay or through your ecommerce store? Shelf pull merchandise can also be sold through your store front and exported throughout the world!
Ok, I have convinced you…I can tell. Where do you find Shelf Pull merchandise?
Shelf pull merchandise can be purchased through Wholesale Liquidators or buying directly from each department store. Some department stores have their own liquidation department where they sell pallets and truckloads of shelf pull and customer returned merchandise. Most big box retailers will contract a ‘Third Party” liquidation company to move excess or unwanted merchandise. In this case, dealing with this third party is considered buying direct.
