Last year, Britons spent 110 billion pounds on stuff online: a 46% jump from 2019. After all, it’s easy, you push the ‘buy now’ button and wait for the goods to be delivered to you. While most purchases hit the mark, some returns are inevitable. But what happens to all of those purchases after you send them back?

Just in the first three months of this year nearly six million items, worth an estimated 2.5 billion pounds, were returned. In many cases, retailers take those returns and resell them to businesses looking to get their hands on returned goods. And it’s a booming business. B-Stock’s Head of EMEA, Giorgio Vitale, and B-Stock buyer, Neil Barker, explain in this BBC Radio interview.

Author

Editorial Team

Author

B-Stock Editorial Team

More from the B-Stock Blog

What Back-to-School Shoppers Want—And How Resellers Can Deliver
What Back-to-School Shoppers Want—And How Resellers Can Deliver

Back-to-school season is here! For resellers, it’s one of the best times of year to move inventory, attract new buyers, and position your business as a smart way to save on popular products. This year, budget-conscious shoppers are getting their…

Jul 02 2026 · 5 min read

How Jim Rowe Filled a Shopping Desert—With Costco Returns
How Jim Rowe Filled a Shopping Desert—With Costco Returns

Jim Rowe has always been an entrepreneur. From 2002 onward, he and his wife built a sizable chain of restaurants across Washington with nine locations in total. Then COVID hit, and like so many others, everything stopped. Luckily, Jim’s not…

Jun 18 2026 · 9 min read

When Consumers Pull Back, Where Does Your Excess Inventory Go?
When Consumers Pull Back, Where Does Your Excess Inventory Go?

Sustained inflation has compressed consumer spending across categories, resulting in softened sell-through rates and climbing aged inventory ratios. For retailers, brands, and manufacturers, the downstream effects are distinct, but the core problem is the same: the excess inventory is there,…

Jun 17 2026 · 4 min read

Like what you see?

Subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest news from B-Stock.