Meet Sufyan Shareef: How this reseller started by flipping houses

Where do you work when you don’t want to work for anyone? Sufyan Shareef, owner of Galaxy Home Supplies, has been a B-Stock buyer since November 2020. Coming from a line of hotel and restaurant family businesses in Iraq, Sufyan wanted to start from the beginning working for himself. He opened his first business after university, worked in Jordan, and then moved to the United States, where Sufyan started buying and flipping houses.

Galaxy Home Supplies was born when Sufyan decided to get into the resale and liquidation business. Now, with two to three employees working at his retail location part-time, he can say with confidence that, “I have never worked for anyone in my life—this is why I chose to do my own business.”

We chatted with Sufyan to hear more about his resale business, Galaxy Home Supplies. In this edition of our Reseller Community Spotlight: Meet Sufyan Shareef!

The beginnings of Galaxy Home Supplies

Q: How did you first learn about reselling?

In the United States, I started buying and flipping houses. I’d buy a house, remodel it, renew it and resell it. Until the market started getting so high – I have my own crew already, they don’t need me to be there. I needed something more established like all day working versus just getting a good deal on a house.

Q: Do you do this full-time or part-time?

I started full-time in it [reselling]. Me and my partner, we thought about it after hearing about B-Stock and other websites that sell this kind of merchandise. We said, let’s start, and see how the stuff comes when we buy it. We checked the prices and it was okay. So we started by renting a big space, about 15,000 square feet. It’s like a wholesale retail store. I work all the time here as an owner.

Interior view of Galaxy Home Supplies

Q: What is your favorite part of this business?

Engaging people. We work differently from other shops because we treat them as friends and family. We let them go happy, always. We don’t want them to feel taken advantage of, try to explain to them, give them the right time, help them put stuff in their car. It’s a different customer service.

Lessons learned along the way

From working the family business in Iraq, to starting his own resale business in the United States, there have been plenty of lessons learned along the way. Here are a few highlights:

Try out different conditions

“We tried to take different A/B quality, like-new, and we also took C/D mixed condition until we figured out how it worked; which one is better for me and my market.”

Liquidation, overstock, and customer returns come with different classifications. In order to find out what worked best for him and his market, Sufyan had to try a few different conditions first. Customer returns for example, may have missing pieces, while others may still even come with the original wrappings still intact! Some reasons why merchandise gets returned include: wrong measurements, item complexity, or no longer needed.

Since these conditions can vary from retailer to retailer, we recommend reading through each marketplace’s conditions section and FAQs.

Outdoor furniture and home goods on display

Customers will still expect a deal

“A/B quality sometimes is good but sometimes I consider it C/D if it’s heavily used and can’t sell it. You don’t know what’s right or wrong until you try it.”

Certain inventory draws customers in. If you don’t have the inventory, or you have it but not at the price they want, the burden is on you. If you advertise that your TVs are 50% less than the retail price at Costco, they will expect that deal at your store. If you have to increase the price to recoup certain losses due to defective or damaged merchandise, you risk losing your sale. That’s why when it comes to customer returns, you will want to carefully scan through the manifest so you have an idea of how these graded customer returns can impact your costs.

For retailers, return policies are a part of cost. For resale, your customers don’t know when the cost of business is increasing, they just know when they are not getting as good of a deal.

Quality can vary depending on the state

“I’m trying to learn from my mistakes; what to buy and what not to buy. I’ve even learned where to buy and from which states.”

As a reseller, you learn as you go. Eventually, you can start to see patterns; certain products that don’t ship well, or the warehouses that spend more time packaging liquidation merchandise than others. Quality is important when you need a steady supply of inventory to fill your store—no one wants to receive empty boxes or air fryers with food still inside of them!

Labor required to sort mixed lots

Certain pallets will arrive more mixed than others. 800 individual items will take time to unload, sort through, test, and price. This all translates to labor costs. Also consider that missing items and disputes may occur, in which case you have to document the issue and contact customer service within a certain amount of time. If you have three to four trucks coming at once, this can be a lot of tasks to get through without the appropriate help.

Distance impacts shipping

“If it’s far away, I am more likely to buy from West Palm Beach because I know they don’t change it from one truck to another. Maybe one truck will bring it to me. Sometimes I see stuff I like from Michigan or Virginia but I’m afraid to buy it because they’re going to move it from one truck to another.”

The longer the distance items need to be transported, the higher the risk of items arriving bumped or damaged. If you can find closer warehouses or distribution centers, you may be better off receiving inventory in the condition you expect. This is also a great way to save money on shipping!

Looking ahead for Galaxy Home Supplies

We asked Sufyan what the future of Galaxy Home Supplies looks like. Here’s what he had to say:

“My aim is to make my own brand some day. I am going to make it something close to TJ Maxx or HomeGoods. I have the space, the goods (if it doesn’t change a lot), and B-Stock always brings more brands.”

We at B-Stock hope to see Galaxy Home Supplies around for years to come!

Exterior view of Galaxy Home Supplies

Galaxy Home Supplies is located at 998 N Semoran Blvd, Orlando, FL. You can visit during their store hours Monday-Saturday 10 am-7 pm and Sunday 12 pm-5 pm. You can find the best deals in grocery, clothes, electronics, hardware, and more at their discount store. Check them out and give them a like on Facebook where they post new inventory alerts!

B-Stock’s Reseller Community Spotlight is an ongoing series that aims to highlight our unique buyers in the B-Stock network.

Are you a B-Stock buyer and want to tell us more about your reselling business? Let us know and we can feature you in B-Stock’s Reseller Community Spotlight series.