Liquidations Vs. Surplus Merchandise – Which is more profitable?

If you’re looking for merchandise to sell in an online store, or to offer in quantity to retailers, you may be wondering what the difference is between a clearance sale and overstock merchandise.

I have written about this topic for training new liquidators and it is important to address it here as well. Let’s take a brief look at this head scratcher so you can go ahead and make the right decision for your business.

Let’s start by examining what we mean by:

clearance merchandise

A sale is a sale or discontinued price of products or merchandise. When products are discounted below their normal wholesale price to get them out and bring in new stock, they are often said to be on clearance. Some retail stores regularly advertise that they sell “clearance merchandise.”

What this means is that they buy through channels and from sellers who have discounted merchandise.

This is an indication that the merchandise may, at some point in the future, become available at a price suitable for your surplus liquidation business. This can happen if the seller has excess or leftover merchandise at the end of the clearance sale.

One way to find this type of post-closing surplus is to search for warehouse sales in your city. They often advertise in the online and print weekend classified sections of local newspapers.

Sellers will want to liquidate remaining merchandise at the end of these sales. In most other situations, when it comes to liquidation of merchandise, price negotiation is almost always necessary, since this price level is usually above the liquidation price.

Now, let’s take a look at what we mean by:

Surplus Merchandise Surplus means an amount or quantity greater than necessary. The excess inventory a business has, beyond what it needs or wants, is often called surplus merchandise. It is, in effect, surplus merchandise that must be moved or sold to make way for new inventory.

Merchandise classified as surplus offers potentially high returns on investment dollars to the surplus liquidator and to the ultimate retailer because this new, retail-ready merchandise can be purchased at a lower price than new merchandise in the normal wholesale channels.

Surplus merchandise, such as closeouts, can often be retail-ready, meaning it’s packaged and can be placed on a retail store shelf or listed on an online store for sale to the consumer market. .

This merchandise is also sometimes loosely described as clearance merchandise. But don’t be fooled. It is NOT the same for a serious business owner and when classified correctly it usually does not produce the same profits.

Of course, both clearance and surplus merchandise can be profitable for resale. And both types of merchandise encompass a wide range of retail products, such as those that can be found in almost any store or store.

The difference may simply be the price the seller is willing to accept for you to commit to their inventory. Surplus can be purchased for up to 90% less than wholesale. Find merchandise at this price level and you will have complete clarity on what you have discovered!

Enter a drug store, discount store, electronics store, gift store, jewelry store, clothing store, hobby store, hardware store, party decor store, dollar store, costume store, pet store, the list goes on. and go on. Name just about any type of merchandise, and there’s a good chance that at some point that type of merchandise will find something categorized as surplus, ready for liquidation.

As an astute entrepreneur you have to keep an eye on the ranking. If you’re looking for merchandise, you can find genuine surplus merchandise at a clearance sale… but only when that sale has concluded and there is some surplus merchandise that must now be liquidated.