A Guide to Buying Liquidation Home & Garden Inventory

Home and garden is a huge category to get into if you’re starting your reselling journey or looking to branch out. There’s been a big demand for home and garden by DIY-enthusiasts or those simply looking to make upgrades around the house. A great way to get quality home & garden inventory to resell is by sourcing through B-Stock. Liquidated home & garden inventory is deeply discounted and in-demand all year. Of course, you’re likely to see big spikes with summer and winter seasons, but building materials for home renovations, decor, small appliances, and tools are a good opportunity year-round.

We recently sat down with our in-house home & garden experts to gather the top tips and best practices for buyers when it comes to buying and reselling home goods and outdoor/ garden equipment. Let’s dive in!

The Home & Garden Category

What makes up the home and garden category? Some of the most popular H&G items we see across our B-Stock marketplaces like The Home Depot Liquidation Auctions, Costco Wholesale Liquidation Auctions, Signature Hardware Liquidation Auctions, Walmart Liquidation Auctions, Target Auctions Liquidation include:

Why is Home & Garden Inventory Returned?

There are several reasons why home and garden inventory gets liquidated, and in turn, sold in the secondary market. Between excess inventory at the end of the season and new trends in home decor, perfectly good merchandise is then brought back to stores. However, it’s more of a hassle for retailers to store the inventory or put it back up on their site than it is to liquidate it.

Over purchasing/ preventative measures

It’s not uncommon to have leftover building materials for homes. This inventory isn’t always able to be stored by contractors and builders so may be returned to retailers. Inventory like generators and water heaters may also be overstocked depending on weather patterns, storm seasons, and region. For example, snowstorms, hurricane season, tornadoes, and more, influence buying trends that result in overstock and customer returns.

Non-functional reasons

Shoppers may take home their purchased items and realize the pillows don’t match the couch at all, they already have a pan that size, or they bought the wrong lightbulb. For various reasons, these items may be returned and still fully functioning, just no longer needed.

Benefits for Business Buyers

Huge category

A huge benefit for buyers in this category is the sheer breadth of it. H&G encompasses a lot of different items. Everything from the typical home inventory you’d expect like decor, bedding, housewares, and kitchen items, to power tools, garden equipment, and vacuums can be found in most of our H&G auctions on B-Stock. Even materials and fixtures like sinks, shelves, carpet, and tile are included here! It is extremely diversified which adds to its value.

Steady demand

H&G isn’t subject to as many quickly changing trends. With electronics and apparel, you can potentially lose value by the month! These items are typically more steadily in demand throughout the year. Building materials and fixtures like tubs, sinks, lighting, plumbing, blinds, doors, etc. will always be around with not many changes to these items.

High returns

Home decor may slowly phase in and out of style but you will still make a good profit. But when you consider the other items in this category, there’s a ton of potential. A simple fix on items like lawnmowers or power tools that are being liquidated at 10-15% of retail, you can get a really good return. With certain items, like flooring and blinds, it’s easy to build up an arsenal of deeply discounted materials. It takes longer, but if you’re a buyer that has space and time to do that you’ll make a great return.

Best Practices for Buying Liquidated H&G Inventory

It’s important to remember this inventory has been liquidated—so it’s either a customer return, overstock, or excess. When purchasing liquidation H&G, you should have a few considerations in mind!

As our B-Stock H&G expert, Joanie Stolos said, “It can be a treasure hunt when you’re buying mixed merchandise, one-diamond-in-the-rough-type deal.”

Savvy with repairs

If you’re handy and have a knack for fixing things, you can do really well in the H&G category. Sometimes, inventory is sold as non-functional, and therefore deeply discounted. If you can get it working again you will make a good return!

Storage space

Storage is essential within this category. It’s not as easy to store as inventory like consumer electronics and apparel. You oftentimes have heavier and bulkier items that take up more space. So if you don’t think you’ll be moving it right away, or have a complete set of something, make sure you have enough storage space for this kind of inventory.

Shipping

Shipping is a little tricker with large furniture. Having some muscle around to help receive and store shipments can be necessary. It’s also not uncommon for pallet overflow, since you’re dealing with bulkier and oftentimes, clunky, inventory that doesn’t usually fit on one basic pallet. Overhang may sometimes cause your shipment to take up more space than the number of pallets listed on the auctions. Always read the lot manifest for full details on what inventory is included!

Best Practices for Reselling Liquidation Home & Garden Inventory

Whether you’re a new buyer or an experienced H&G small business, we’ve compiled some of our top pro tips for reselling returned home and garden inventory.

Be explicit with functionality

Repeat buyers will help your resale business thrive. If you are crystal clear about the liquidated item’s functionality, you’ll get happier customers. You don’t want to unintentionally mislead anyone into buying an item they think is in perfect condition.

Do your own pre-testing

We can’t stress this tip enough! Prior to listing your inventory for resale, test every single unit. Did it come with batteries? Is the charger for the power tool still working? Many tools won’t come tested, so it’s up to you to determine if each one is functional before listing items on selling platforms like eBay, Amazon, and Mercari. Whether you buy Amazon return pallets or Home Depot pallets, you always want to test your home and garden inventory.

Be specific with listings

With home and garden, you always want to provide the model number and/or the universal product code (or UPC). Remember, since this will mostly be customer-returned inventory, they won’t always come with product manuals. Give as much information as possible to buyers so they can find more detailed product specs and instructions themselves.

Selling online vs physical store

Bigger items are a bit tough to sell online. The size definitely poses a challenge, you can’t as easily ship a tub as you can a power drill. Small appliance items and power tools work well online, plus any smaller home items. Storefronts are popular in this space, as you have more physical space to work with, can offer a larger variety, and allow customers to find their own matches and pick up items themselves.

Be patient and make matches

If you can wait to find matches for items like flooring, blinds, windows, and vanities – do it. They are likely to sell better that way. Look at auctions that have more than one of the same units if you want to avoid the wait. Remember, if it’s a customer return with a sectional for example, one part might be missing and may not come with every piece. Get thrifty and inventive with returns to work it out in your favor.

Source home & garden inventory at the right time

Building material for consumers was up 40% last summer. This inventory is bigger than ever with more and more people renovating, building homes and dream patios, and working on other improvement projects.

Keep in mind when you want to offer this inventory and when you can get the best return or recovery. Late winter and spring will ensure you’ll be just in time for summer activities and when more people are tackling to-do lists and home projects. Inventory like plumbing, small appliance, and flooring tend to be steady year-round as these aren’t particularly seasonal.

Find the best liquidation home and garden inventory on B-Stock. This category has much to offer for your reselling business. Check out all of the current B-Stock home & garden marketplaces and begin your buying journey today!