If you’ve done much surfing on the eBay site, you’ve probably come across refurbished items up for sale. I occasionally get a catalog though the mail that has refurbished electronic items as well as other items that were popular a year or so back. So what are refurbished items? Refurbished items are products that have been sent back to the manufacturer because they were damaged in shipment, didn’t work properly when they arrived, the color was wrong, etc. Basically the customer was unhappy with the product so they returned it for exchange or refund. When the manufacturer gets these items back, they are many times sent to their repair departments, checked for problems, repaired (when required) and them sold in bulk lots to various companies in an effort to recoup a portion of their expenses due to the return.
While you generally have to purchase by the pallet load, there is a significant opportunity for profit in areas of the market where competition is stiff (such as electronics). However, electronics is not the only area where items are returned and resold. Ever received a shirt or pair of pants that just didn’t fit quite right. You generally took them back and exchanged them. In the old days, they’d be placed back on the shelf and resold. Today, many stores simply toss them into a box and return them to the manufacturer or sell them to companies that specialize in getting rid of returned items.
So how can you get in on the purchase of remanufactured or refurbished products? Start by contacting the original manufacturer. Ask them if they allow individuals to purchase their remanufactured products. If not, as them for contact information for companies they deal with who purchase their remanufactured products for resale. Then you simply contact those companies to determine how to get in on the deals.
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One company who deals strictly in remanufactured, refurbished and overstock products is Liquidity Services. Their site is an auction site similar to eBay, however they specialize in lot quantities of remanufactured, refurbished and overstock products such as:
Generally with many wholesalers you have to buy a pallet of items, however, some lots at Liquidity Services are sold in quantities that can cost as low as $100, making it a bargain for you and your customer.