Returns are part of selling, especially online. What most businesses underestimate is how quickly returned and cancelled stock piles up, and how much it costs to leave it sitting in a corner of the warehouse.
This guide covers what counts as returns stock, the hidden cost of a backlog, and the realistic ways to clear it, including selling to a specialist retail returns buyer.
What counts as returns stock?
- Customer returns from online and in-store sales
- Cancelled orders that were already picked, packed or shipped
- Rejected deliveries refused by a retail or trade customer
- Open-box and ex-display stock that's unused but can't be sold as new
The hidden cost of a returns backlog
A returns pile is easy to ignore until there's time to deal with it. That time rarely comes, and the pile keeps growing. Meanwhile it's costing you:
- Floor space taken up by stock nobody's working on
- Staff time spent checking, testing and repackaging items one by one
- Falling value as returned models are replaced by newer ones
- Messy stock records when returns sit outside your normal system
Your options for clearing returned stock
Process and resell as new. Only works for returns that are genuinely unopened and undamaged. Even then, checking each item takes time.
Sell as open-box or graded yourself. You keep more of the value, but you take on listing, customer service and the risk of returns on your returns.
Send it back to the supplier. Worth checking if your agreements allow it. Many don't, especially for opened goods.
Sell in bulk to a returns buyer. Graded or ungraded, the stock goes in one collection for one agreed price. It's the fastest way to clear a backlog and get the space back.
Do you need to grade returns first?
Not necessarily. Grading helps a buyer price accurately, but it costs you time. Most buyers are happy to work with what you already know. As a rough guide, returns usually fall into three groups:
- Unopened: sent back sealed and unused. Usually the best value.
- Open-box: opened but unused, or checked and working. Packaging may be marked.
- Mixed or unknown: unsorted pallets straight from your returns process.
If you haven't sorted your returns, don't hold off on getting a price. Tell the buyer what you know and let them value it as it is.
Set up a regular route for returns
If returns arrive every month, a one-off clearance only fixes the problem for a while. A regular arrangement, where the same buyer takes returns off your hands on a set schedule, means the backlog never builds up in the first place.
Returns are rarely the only problem stock on site. If you've also got excess stock from over-ordering or leftover seasonal lines, we can value them together. Read more about how we buy overstock.