Walmart Return Pallets for Sale: Everything You Need to Know

Reselling can be an excellent side hustle or even a full-time venture if you know where to buy the best products at affordable prices. While you could source quality products from retail stores like Walmart, your profit margins can still take a hit. However, wise resellers have found a way to have their cake and eat it too: Walmart Return Pallets.

With the retail giant generating over $500 billion in worldwide sales each year, the sheer volume of returned items is mind-blowing. These pallets are a treasure trove of products, ranging from electronics and home appliances to clothing and toys, all waiting to be resold at a profit. 

In this guide, we will explore the ins and outs of buying and selling Walmart return pallets, providing you with the essential knowledge to navigate this booming market and turn it into a successful venture.

Quick Guide:

• What are Walmart Return Pallets?
• How do you buy Walmart return pallets?
• How much do Walmart Return Pallets cost?
• Where do you buy Walmart Return Pallets?
• What are the benefits of buying and reselling Walmart liquidation pallets?
• Tips for selling Walmart Return Pallets
• Final Thoughts

What are Walmart Return Pallets?

Walmart return pallets are a collection of excess inventory, customer returns, shelf pulls, or out-of-season merchandise from the retail giant. These merchandise can include apparel, shoes, electronics, furniture, appliances, bikes, appliances, apparel, and more, offering a wide variety of products for resale.  

These items are generally packaged into pallets or truckloads to be sold in bulk — usually by liquidation companies such as Walmart Liquidation Auctions or Direct Liquidation. 

Buyers usually buy these Walmart return pallets at a discounted rate, often at a fraction of the retail MSRP, and resell them for a profit. Walmart returns pallets are a popular option for resellers looking to purchase bargain inventory directly from Walmart. 

How do you buy Walmart return pallets?

Buying and selling Walmart Return Pallets can be a profitable business. However, to ensure profitability we recommend you follow these steps instead of purchasing pallets willy-nilly:

Step 1: Register a Business Account

A business account is an absolute must. You need a resale certificate to purchase the pallet from Walmart’s official liquidation marketplace. 

More importantly, you can avoid a ton of hassle by staying compliant with any regulations. Additionally, a reseller’s certificate exempts buyers from paying sales tax.

You’ll also need your certificate and documentation to apply to good liquidation platforms effectively. 

Step 2: Research and Compare Liquidation Platforms

There is a common misconception that buying directly is cheaper than buying via an auction. However, this is not true. Sometimes, auctions can be the cheaper option. Therefore, always research and compare the different selling platforms to find the best prices. You’d always find Walmart return pallets wholesale or even below wholesale prices.

Moreover, it’s important to note that this business is quite chaotic. New buyers tend to make the mistake of buying these return pallets from other resellers. Returns Pallets are exchanged hands between resellers and they do tend to cherry-pick off good items. 

By the time you buy Walmart return pallets not only is the margin higher but you won’t have enough sellable products for it to make sense for your business.

Step 3: Choose the Right Pallet

To choose the right pallet, you need to have a clear strategy. You need to decide if you’re looking to sell specific categories or if you want to go the refurbishment route. Once you’ve decided on your selling strategy, we recommend you go to a few liquidation sites and check out the manifest to see what works best for you. 

These pallets tend to vary in size and are usually unsorted. So, the manifest will come in handy. You can find Return pallets to entire truckloads of these pallets available online for auction and it can cost anywhere from $500 for a pallet to $50,000 for these Walmart truckload liquidation items.

Before investing in large quantities, make a small initial purchase to gauge the buying experience and understand the process. This helps you avoid costly mistakes and optimize your reselling process. 

Also read: Unlocking the Secrets of Optimizing Your Walmart Product Listing

Step 4: Consider Shipping Costs

When buying Walmart return pallets, Walmart clearance pallets, or Walmart overstock pallets, resellers tend to get blinded by the discount. Unfortunately, the shipping costs can affect your margin. So, always factor in the shipping costs before you make your purchase. 

Specifically, figure out if your new profit margin works for you. Of course, if you’re close to the liquidation site, you can consider cutting shipping costs by actually driving to the location. However, you’ll have to get in touch with the website to understand the specific process. 

By following these steps, you can successfully buy return pallets from Walmart and turn them into a profitable venture.

How much do Walmart Return Pallets cost?

When it comes to the exact cost of Walmart return pallets, it’s important to understand that it depends on several factors such as the category of products in the pallets, the quality of items (damaged items are cheaper), brand names, and, of course, quantity.

For instance, certain pallets consisting of such as electronics and home appliances will cost more than pallets with clothes or toys. 

Moreover, the price will also fluctuate depending on whether it’s an auction. Additionally, there may be a huge markup depending on how many middlemen have owned the pallet. 

Typically, Walmart Return Pallets can cost anywhere from $500 to over $2900. However, you can also find pallets for $5000 and outliers that are priced at more than $9000.

The price of the pallets will fluctuate and seasoned sellers consider the potential of the pallet before making the purchase. Therefore, do your due diligence and establish a maximum price point based on the estimated profitability of reselling the contents of the pallet. Strive to never cross this budget. 

Where do you buy Walmart Return Pallets?

When it comes to procuring a good quality pallet of Walmart returns, it’s always best to reach out to the source. Or at the very least a source close to Walmart. Here are some purchase pallets of Walmart liquidated merchandise:

Walmart Liquidation Auctions

Similar to how Amazon has its own Bulk Liquidation platform, Walmart sells its return pallets via Walmart Liquidation Auctions. However, it’s important to note that these auctions are primarily B2B in nature and you will require a reseller certificate to register as a user on the platform. 

Once, you’re on the platform, you can bid on pallets and truckloads of customer-returned and overstock merchandise across various categories like apparel, home goods, electronics, toys, and more. 

Prices on Walmart Liquidation Auctions range from around $400 to over $2,900 per pallet lot. We repeatedly stress that you buy as close to the source as possible, primarily because you can “check the condition of the merchandise being liquidated and assess what your potential profits would be before placing a bid” on the Walmart Liquidation Auctions website.

Most importantly, Walmart Liquidation Auctions is also part of the B-Stock Sourcing network. Which essentially means that they follow the same bidding and shipping process.

B-Stock Solutions

Technically there is an overlap between both B-Stock Solutions and Walmart Liquidation Auctions. To clarify, B-Stock is more of a B2B liquidation network that hosts the majority of popular marketplaces such as Walmart, Amazon, Home Depot, etc. So, you can access Walmart’s Liquidation Auctions through this network as well as through B-Stock. 

However, with B-Stock you can access Walmart store return pallets, Walmart overstock pallets, and even new-condition inventory from Walmart and other major retailers directly to business buyers. 

With B-Stock you can expect quality and trust. The possibility of being scammed is virtually nil unlike buying from other resellers. Moreover, B-Stock has a really good customer service team that can help you resolve all your issues as quickly and as effectively as possible.

DirectLiquidation.com

This website features liquidation auctions with Walmart surplus inventory sold in bulk wholesale lots by box, pallet, or truckload. Example pallets include apparel, home goods, and mixed general merchandise with prices ranging from around $1,000 to over $9,000.

DirectLiquidation.com is a personal favorite of the majority of the resellers out there in the market as the prices are incredibly favorable. This website allows you to purchase Walmart customer return pallets and any other liquidation inventory at wholesale prices that are significantly below the retail MSRP, giving you a wider profit margin when reselling these items.

Additionally, this website also offers detailed manifests and keeps everything as transparent as possible. You can access the quantity and the condition of the items, allowing you to make informed purchasing decisions.

Most importantly, DirectLiquidation.com allows you to purchase return pallets directly, without the need to participate in an auction, making it one of the best platforms for consistent sales. This makes it an easier and more affordable way to start a reselling business or test out new product lines without having to invest a large amount of capital upfront. 

What are the benefits of buying and reselling Walmart liquidation pallets?

Fundamentally, buying and selling return pallets can be an extremely lucrative business strategy for resellers. Here are some of the key benefits of these Walmart store return pallets:

Cost-Effectiveness

Walmart liquidation pallets are sold at significantly lower prices compared to their original retail value. Even the lowest margin is usually 25%-30%, allowing resellers to maintain healthy profit margins while offering competitive pricing to customers. Most importantly, it can help you start a business at a much more affordable cost. 

Of course, these pallets are usually filled with products from brands that tend to sell themselves even without heavy marketing. 

Diverse Product Range

Liquidation pallets or Walmart Return Pallets often contain a wide variety of items, including electronics, clothing, home goods, and more. This variety can lead to a broader customer base. However, this is not an absolute. 

Some chances of selling multiple products instead of “niching” down can hurt your business.  

High-Quality Items

Pallets usually tend to contain overstock, seasonal items, customer returns, or products from store closures, which are often in excellent condition. This ensures that resellers can offer high-quality inventory at reduced costs.

However, our clients have had varied experiences with quality. Some swear by the quality, while others have mentioned that close to 35% of all Walmart return pallets are usually damaged. Similarly, location seems to be a factor as 

Sustainability

There is an environmental benefit as well. By purchasing a pallet of Walmart returns, you contribute to a more sustainable retail ecosystem by giving products a second life and reducing waste. Now, you can have a significant impact on the environment and business if you can lean into this factor when marketing your products.

Tips for selling Walmart Return Pallets

Here are some key tips for successfully selling Walmart return pallets:

Inspect and Categorize Items

Inspect and categorize the items as soon as you receive your pallet. When it comes to the actual inspection, must you refer to the manifest and make sure you have everything. Categorize the products as damaged and undamaged or based on your system. For example, damaged but can be refurbished or damaged and unsellable, etc.

Of course, you also need to assess the packaging and the condition of the actual item itself. This is more than just figuring out if it’s damaged or not, you’ll also need to determine if the products are authentic and understand if there are any manufacturer warranties. Depending on your location, you could potentially send the damaged items with warranties for replacements. 

Avoid Certain Categories

It’s always best to stay away from certain categories to minimize risk. For example, avoid baby items or cooking products as there will be safety concerns and you could potentially open yourself up to lawsuits. 

Additionally, avoid product categories that have multiple parts or accessories as these products tend to have missing or damaged parts that can affect your entire profit margin.

Refurbish for Higher Profits

However, if you do want to sell electronics, refurbishing them can lead to higher profits. Usually, the most seasoned resellers do this to increase their margins. However, this can take time as you’d need to find a professional to help you fix the product and you need to consider this additional expense. 

Until you have a system going for you, it’s not wise to resell refurbished products on marketplaces. However, you could always gather that crucial experience by selling it on your ecommerce site or offline in garage sales or to other resellers.

Compare Selling Platforms

The buying part is relatively straightforward. However, reselling the pallets can be quite challenging. Especially, if you’re looking to sell on a marketplace or your ecommerce site. We recommend that you research and refine a system that works for you. 

For example, a reseller has found success selling Walmart return pallets to flea market sellers. 

Therefore, we recommend looking at reselling to thrift stores, niche e-commerce sites/marketplaces or even setting up a yard sale or social media. Depending on your reselling strategy, you could potentially make a ton of money 

Start Small and Gain Experience

Reselling is a risky business and it does come with a learning curve. Therefore, it’s always best to start small before making large investments. Specifically, start with a small initial purchase to better gauge the auction process and overall return pallet experience. 

Then resell it to understand the selling process and repeat you’ve mastered everything and can consistently flip the products for a profit. Your goal should be to maintain a healthy profit margin.

Final Thoughts

Buying and selling Walmart return pallets can be a highly profitable business, but it is also chaotic and requires careful planning and execution. To avoid losses and maximize your returns, it is crucial to follow a structured approach. 

This guide has provided you with the necessary steps and tips to get started. However, you must ultimately stay up-to-date with market trends and adjust and optimize your strategy accordingly. 

If you have a specific question that you need to know the answer to, let us know in the comments and we’ll get one of our experts to answer it for you. 

Additional read:

Amazon Return Pallets for Sale: Your Guide to Buying Wholesale

Walmart Connect: Everything you need to know

Unlocking the Secrets of Optimizing Your Walmart Product Listing

Walmart Advertising Strategies You Should Know For Better Conversions

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