What am I buying???

Explanation of type of liquidated products

I see a lot of questions online about types of liquidated merchandise.  If you do not understand what you are buying you won’t receive the product you’re expecting and will probably be unhappy.  When you are looking at auctions you want to understand exactly what you are getting.  You are putting a lot of money on the table so let’s understand what we are getting into.

I mainly stick to returned items as I know 80-90% of the items will be in working condition or probably brand new.  If items are defective I usually try to fix them, or I will sell them as broken.

Definition Source: www.liquidation.com

New

• New assets are in original packaging and possess all of the characteristics, qualities and features as advertised by the manufacturer.
• Traditionally, they are overstock items that were never offered for sale in a retail environment or used in any way.

Refurbished

• Refurbished assets are used, but have been inspected, tested and restored to fully working condition. They rarely come in their original packaging and seldom contain any documentation or any additional parts and/or accessories.
• Due to their operational history, refurbished assets possess noticeable cosmetic defects and/or blemishes, including but not limited to dents, scratches and signs of age.

Returns

• Returned merchandise were assets sold to a customer, who then either physically brought the item back to a store or mailed it to a specified location. Reasons for returning a product may not have any correlation to its utility (i.e., size, color, model, etc.), and as a result may be in fine working order.

• The majority of returns, however, do have some operational and/or cosmetic problems. Depending on a company’s return policy, these items may also reflect a measurable amount of use. In addition, since most of these items are sent through a reverse supply chain (e.g. from a customer back to a store or a centralized warehouse), they can show signs of further handling.

• They generally do not come in their original packaging and often do not have any of the advertised documentation or additional parts and/or accessories. Accordingly, returns can exhibit a wide range of individual product and package conditions that can differ substantially from the original manufacturing.

Shelf Pulls

• Shelf pulls were assets previously available for sale in a retail environment, but were never sold. They usually possess one or more price tags and/or stickers, indicating multiple markdowns and have been exposed to appreciable customer contact.

• In addition, since most of these items are sent through a reverse supply chain (e.g. from a retailer back to a centralized warehouse), they can show signs of further handling. Accordingly, Shelf Pulls may exhibit a wide range of individual product and package conditions that can differ substantially from the original manufacturing.

Used

• Used assets were previously sold, put into use and possess noticeable cosmetic defects and blemishes, including but not limited to dent, scratches and signs of age. Since these assets are usually pulled from a working environment, they rarely come in their original packaging and rarely contain any documentation, additional parts and/or accessories. They are minimally tested to meet the basic requirements of functionality, and therefore may not be in optimal working condition as they may require additional maintenance and repair.

Salvage

• Salvage assets have been identified as defective for reasons concerning their functionality, appearance or both. Salvage assets usually can only be used for parts and are therefore recommended for professional buyers specialized in repairs or resale parts.

Please do your research as you’re buying these items, so you could turn your hard earned cash into profits!

-Chris
LiquidationOH@gmail.com