It’s been a month since I have cleaned and started selling the batch of customers raw returns I have bought before the new year. I have covered which items I brought and how much did I spend in the first part of this post right here PART 1. And now, when almost everything sold, it’s time to review how did my experiment with buying customers raw returns go. Did I make any profits? Will I try this ever again? I will reveal all the answers in this post.
Buying and selling raw customers returns
As we already know raw customer returns, it’s a customer’s returns, which were unprocessed, and the retailer did not evaluate the condition of returned items. Items may have missing parts, damaged or faulty.
Why would anyone buy raw customers returns? Well, because there might be perfectly working items as well. Customers often return items simply because they didn’t like the design or thing did not meet their expectations.
Retailers trying to please customers in every possible way, now introduced “Try before you buy” schemes, where you can order multiple items, try and leave only those which you like, returning the other ones free of charge.
Retailers cannot sell returned items as “New”; therefore, the value of returned items are significantly lower and often to keep them on the shelf cost more than liquidate. Here come the opportunities for people willing to profit from these liquidations.
How many working items did I bought?
As you might remember, I bought these items not in the pallet, but with a business which has sold these returns as an individual stock item on their website. I have purchased a range of small electrical equipment and total spent was £331.20 for all list of items.
It took me a good two days to test, clean and re-pack them all. Majority had original boxes, so the task wasn’t complicated. Below is the table, you can see what the result was, how many items were faulty, and how many in working order.
| Item | Quantity | Working | Faulty |
| Soup maker | 21 | 14 | 7 |
| Air Fryer | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| Cordless vacuum cleaner | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| Vacuum cleaner | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Lawnmower | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Slow cooker | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| High pressure washer | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Blender | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Juicer | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Milk frothier | 1 | 1 | 0 |
I am pleased that most of the working items were very clean and looking good. I’ve managed to “fix” few faulty soup makers by mix and match their parts. For example, I had a soup maker with damaged contacts on the jug but working lid, and opposite with another soup maker, working jug and burned lid. Swapping working parts I’ve managed to make one working soup maker from 2 faulty ones.
Another had blades stuck and not moving. But I could hear the noise motor makes by trying to spin them. It was a good indication that item actually is working just stuck for some reason. It took me 5 minutes of trying to move the blades manually, and finally, it started moving freely. As you can see, some faulty items were easy fixes and did not require a lot of knowledge for repairs.
Some items, which were burned and I could smell burning plastic when I open the box, went straight into the bin. Others didn’t show any signs of life, and I didn’t bother to find out why, so it was binned as well — only genuinely working items in good condition where kept for sale.
How long it took me to sell raw customers returns?
As with any sales on eBay, I did not want to flood the market with identical used items, and I have listed only small batches every weekend as an auction listing for each. I’ve sold all the items in one month. So far, only positive feedback and customers are happy using their newly purchased items.
How much money did I make re-selling raw customers returns?
As mentioned, total spend was £331.20, and I will not get into the details for each individual item; instead, I will give total amount for sales before eBay/PayPal/Shipping cost and net amount after all deductions.
There are few items to mention before that. Lawnmower is tested and working, but not sold yet due to off-season now. Same is with the high water pressure washer, it’s working, but I believe it’s not the right time to sell now. I will sell these items in the spring when demand should pick-up.
One of the cordless vacuums was so lovely that my wife wanted to keep it for us. It looked like brand new condition and fully working order, so it would be a sin to refuse my wife’s demands.
Total money received after everything rest was sold – £575.14! It looks so good isn’t? But after 10% eBay fees, 2.9% PayPal fees and shipping cost, all was left – £377.16
It gives us £45.96 or 14% in profit so far. I expect to sell lawnmower and pressure washer to at least double up my earnings at the end. Also, we have a cordless vac for free as a bonus! 🙂 We can close the case that profits will be close to 30% after all. I shall update this post in spring when everything rest will be sold.
Conclusions. Will I try to buy and re-sell raw customers returns?
So far, my experience dealing with customers returns was very pleasant. Profits from selling raw returns have matched and exceeded my expectations, and I am sure I will try this again at some point in the future.
The only negative is how much space these items have taken at home. I can’t see my self buying pallets of returns for this reason only. If this should turn in to business, you definitely need to have a storage space away from home. My shed unnecessarily clogged with extra lawnmower and pressure washer, and I am happy that all other items are gone and dusted for now 🙂
How this all started?