4 Things to Look for When Sourcing Inventory

Whether you’ve been selling online for years or are brand new to reselling, this business comes with certain challenges. You have to worry about storage, shipping, customer service, marketing, pricing, and so much more. However, one of the most important considerations is inventory sourcing. This is really where your business starts, and if it’s not handled carefully, it could be where it ends as well. Fortunately, when you choose your inventory source carefully, you’ll find fewer headaches and greater success overall.

Here are 4 things you should consider when you’re sourcing inventory for Amazon, eBay, or just want to know how to buy liquidation merchandise from any other site.

Look for a Trusted Inventory Source

The first, most important factor to consider is trust. When you’re buying products in bulk, you need to know that the seller is a legitimate business that will deliver on what they’ve sold you. You want to be confident that the items will match the description in the manifest, and that the quantity will be accurate. Most importantly, you want to know that if something goes wrong, you have a way of contacting the seller for resolution.

In the liquidations space, there is a specific type of seller to beware. Unscrupulous individuals may buy liquidation lots, remove the best items (cherry-picking), and then resell lots of mostly unsellable products. These may be broken or out of date items, or simply inventory that is unlikely to move quickly. Unsuspecting buyers may then be taken in by these auctions and find themselves stuck with a warehouse full of inventory they can’t sell.

When you choose B-Stock liquidation auctions for your inventory sourcing, you can be assured that what you bid on is what you’ll get. We offer detailed listings and itemized manifests, so you’ll know exactly what you’re getting before you buy. What’s more, when you source from B-Stock, you are purchasing directly from stores and brands like Walmart, Best Buy, Unilever, and Target. You get products that are top quality and in demand; plus, you don’t have to worry about cherry-picking because there is no middleman handling the merchandise. And because there’s no middleman, you won’t have to pay a fortune in markups. Plus, If you should need help with your purchase, our awesome customer service team is here to help you by email or by phone.

Choose Product Types You Understand

When you resell products online, you need to understand your products and your market. You’ll need to be able to write detailed descriptions with appropriate keywords in order to get attention to your listing. You may also need to answer customer questions about your products.

This is why it’s often a good idea to specialize at the start. Pick one category of goods and stick with it. If you know about electronics and all the latest gadgets, that might be your niche. Interior design fans may want to start off with home decor. Fashionistas will do well to choose clothing for resale. If you love to go camping and hiking, stick to outdoor goods. If you love to spend time with your pets, consider buying pet supplies.

No matter your passion or hobbies, you can likely find goods to compliment them, so start out with products you know and understand. You can always add more variety later, once you’ve learned the ropes of the reselling business.

Consider Your Storage Options

The goal, of course, is to buy goods and then immediately resell them. But when you’re getting started with this business, you may wind up with a lot of inventory to store for a while until you perfect your marketing processes.

Make sure you have room to store the products you purchase. Avoid items that are excessively bulky or difficult to stack unless you have a good shelving system and a lot of space to work with. If your shelves only fit products with a height of 18 inches, buying a shipment of products that are each 2 feet tall will cause you all sorts of headaches.

Consider too whether your storage space is climate controlled. If not, be careful not to buy items that might be affected by heat and cold. You wouldn’t want an entire shipment to be spoiled before you can turn it around.

Think About Shipping Options and Costs

If you’re sourcing inventory for eBay or Amazon, you want items that are easy to pack and ship. Avoid heavy products that may cost a fortune to send. Be careful about purchasing fragile items that could be broken in transit. Products that won’t fit in a standard box size may not be worth the trouble. If an item takes too long to package, consider the cost of your time when figuring out pricing.

Remember, you want your business to be scalable. If your shipping process is so complex that you can only fill 2 or 3 orders an hour, what will you do when you scale your business to have 50 or 100 orders a day? Plan ahead with products that are easily packed and shipped.

Starting your own successful liquidation resale business will require planning and hard work. But if you do it right, you’ll have a scalable business that can help you reach your dreams. Want to know more? Check out our Buyer Education blog. It’s full of tips and advice on buying liquidation for resale.