1. Learn
  2. Wholesale & eBay Forum
  3. Supplier Reviews, Complaints and Scams

I was wondering if anyone has bought pallet lots from either B-Stock Solutions or GENCO Marketplace, especially the home depot or Walmart ones?

Hi Jason,

I have not personally but the chances of ever getting two loads of the same genre from one supplier, exactly the same, are extremely limited. It is the nature of the business that loads will vary. Most suppliers work on ratios, so X amount of 1'st class, X amount of working, but missing parts, X amount of garbage that are only good for parts.

Okay, that may not be the exact division of how a load is put together but it is how most general loads in the surplus industry are done. If there was not a system in place to level out loads, then it would be all over the place as to what went out. When first getting into this market it can feel like a lucky dip as to what you end up with, and that's true to a certain level, but there is more of a system in place for general surplus loads than some people realize. With experience behind you, you can start to work out ratio splits if you are buying the same general stock from the same supplier. A lot of suppliers will even tell you the ratio split if you ask them as well, so I would always recommend getting that info upfront if at all possible so you are prepared as well as you can be.

Some suppliers will also put together tailored loads for you to meet your specific requirements. Just bare in mind that if you go in and ask for a load that is all 1st class, the price you pay will reflect your load.

The one thing about dealing in the surplus market is to remember it is a long term profit goal. Yes, you can make good money on your first load, but you can also lose on your first load - It's the whole lucky dip thing in action. In my opinion, to be really successful in the surplus market you have to stay in and push through. There are highs and lows, but as you gain the experience, you increase your chances of ultimate success.

In regards to the two suppliers mentioned, I'm not personally aware of B-Stock Solutions but GENCO Marketplace have been around forever and are one of the big players in the surplus market.

The thing about B-Stock is that it is a gateway, not a seller -- if you click through the marketplaces listed, you'll notice that almost all of them go to the actual company represented, eg. liquidations, walmart.com, and wholesale.gamestop.com. They are a big deal and for most of the companies listed, the sole or main company handling liquidation.

You have to register through B-Stock to bid on the auctions advertised, and in some cases you will have additional registration necessary to get onto specific company's auctions. But as far as quality assurance goes, you can bet that the major companies aren't going to post misleading load descriptions on their own websites. Prices also tend to be higher, but again, you are buying directly from Wal-Mart, Gamestop, etc. with B-Stock acting as a facilitator.

Frank

Sorry I forgot to mention regarding GENCO - almost everything on the site has a detailed manifest available so it is hard to go wrong there. I mean, take a close look at the loads and see what you're really getting. For example, I saw a toy load there which is almost never a bad idea. I have some experience with flea market toy sales so I pulled up a few load manifests. One seems like a very good deal - it's priced well and it's a premium load which per GENCO's guidelines means it's all new and opened stuff. But on the manifest, fully 2/3 of all of the stated value of the load is a single item (over 300 quantity of that item). It's a cute little item, a kid's craft kit that makes badges but can you sell over 300 of them? Looking around, WalMart has the product for $14.53 online and in store,and dozens of other retailers online have it between $10 and $22. So while you're getting a pretty good price on it, you're getting rather a lot of it and the product is very well-represented almost anywhere one would expect to find craft kits for kids -- so that particular load, I'd personally avoid.

The point is not to sort out a load for you but to illustrate that the info that GENCO puts right out front about their loads tends to be head and shoulders over many other liquidation sites, you can really filter out a lot of stuff when shopping there, which helps tremendously when it comes to jealously guarding your capital.

Frank