Pallet flipping—when people ask us what we do for a living, we usually get very interested looks or very confused ones. Many folks envision us as masterful crafters of pallet furniture, but our reality is quite different. It’s not about crafting with pallets themselves, but rather about what lies on top of them.
So, let’s dive into the world of pallet flipping by unraveling how we acquire the pallets we work with:
1. Retailers and Manufacturers Deal with Unsellable Items
The retail industry grapples with an issue: unsold products translate to financial losses. Many large retailers won’t resell items returned by consumers because they can’t guarantee the quality once the item leaves the store.
Unsold seasonal decor, overstocked goods, and items damaged in transit become a liability for these major retailers. If consumers pay top dollar, they expect brand-new, pristine items—even the original packaging.
So, what happens to those less-than-perfect or surplus items? How can retailers quickly offload them without incurring storage or disposal costs?
Enter liquidator businesses! They’re the solution. Liquidators pay to take these excess goods off the hands of retailers, creating a mutually beneficial arrangement.
Liquidators Purchase Large Pallets of Unsellable Goods
Liquidators act as intermediaries, striking deals with major industries. These contracts commit liquidators to purchase a specific number of pallets. Manufacturers gain a means to recover some value from items they would otherwise store or discard.
Liquidators Supply Resellers
Once liquidators acquire these pallets of goods, they resell them to folks like us, the pallet flippers!
Each liquidator operates uniquely, so it’s essential to research individual ones to understand their pallet processing methods. Some facilities sell pallets at flat rates, while others auction them to the highest bidder.
Resellers then receive these pallets, meticulously process each item, conduct testing, grade products, and reintroduce them to the market. You’ll encounter resellers in various places, both online and offline:
- Online reseller businesses (think of e-commerce platforms) – eBay, Amazon, Mercari, and many other online platforms are commonly saturated with resellers who purchase these items, test them (and repair them in some cases), and then sell them to you for a fraction of the cost of purchasing new.
- Brick-and-mortar stores (consider discount retailers) – larger discount stores such as Bargain Hunt and TJ Maxx follow this model, but smaller mom-and-pop stores exist with this model as well.
- Bargain bin shops
- Flea market stalls – though not all flea market sellers are resellers (people who make custom products are not considered resellers, I have yet to go to a flea market and not recognize most of the booths that belong to resellers. This business model is only successful if the reseller carefully curates products that sell well in their region.
- Online marketplaces such as Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist – these are great low-cost ways to buy and sell goods locally without a ton of overhead, so you’ll inevitably find resellers selling their products on these types of platforms.
So, where do you fit into this landscape? Are you a hobbyist, a full-fledged career reseller, or something in between? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Happy reselling!
