Entrepreneurs are everywhere. Most specifically, they are waiting around in warehouses for stock inventory and piles of returned goods. As a business, you don’t always have to look at returned goods as losses. You don’t actually lose these goods. They have been returned to you. You still have the items. You just have to find a way to resell them to customers willing to take on a returned item.
That’s why return merchandise authority (RMA) management software is important for any business. The software keeps track of the returned goods. It manages the items in your inventory that should either be returned to the manufacturer or sold to resellers. You don’t have to worry about these items. You can still make quite a profit from them by selling them to eCommerce resellers. They will willingly take these items off your hands.
Offer Returned Goods for Discounts
You can offer these goods at a discount. That will still cover the amount you purchased the goods for plus a small profit. Although the profit margin isn’t as big as if you’ve sold the items at the regular price, selling them at a discounted price will at least regain your capital.
Remember that you cannot sell these returned items as brand-new. Once the boxes have been opened, you need to let customers know that these are returned items. In the U.S., it is illegal to sell returned goods as new. You can get into legal trouble for that.
If it’s a digital device, you can sell it as an open box. This means that the item has not probably been used, but it’s going to be sold unsealed. For customers, this means that they are not the first ones to “hold” these items. Many customers are willing to purchase items like these because they come with a large discount.
Let Resellers Handle It
But the real business in selling returned goods is in eCommerce resellers. An interesting estimate is this: during the gift-giving season, returns could reach a total of $37 billion. In 2017, for example, more than 28% of sales during the holiday season were returned. This creates a “gold mine” for resellers. They can get these returned items at a lower price.
In fact, one reseller said that in 2017, he was able to make $18 million in sales from reselling items on Amazon. Another said that he quit his job to resell products on the eCommerce platform. Many resellers buy Amazon pallets for $250, for example, and get items that are worth more than what they have paid for the box.
These items were returned. Amazon wants to regain their capital with a little bit of income. But, they don’t want to go into the trouble of reselling these again to customers. So they send the items to liquidation, where they will be packed into pallets and sold to resellers. If you’re lucky, you can get high-value items such as wireless headphones that you can sell for half the amount the box costs you.
This is an easy way to liquidate these returned goods and get your money back. It’s a foolproof business model. Moreover, you’re helping other budding entrepreneurs make a name for themselves.
