The summer season is near and ladies apparel should sell well. My only concern is the ability to select the styles that will sell in my targeted market. Kentucky women have different needs and tastes than the ladies in California or Boston. Choosing the wrong fashions could prove to be costly financially and in time wasted. How do you resolve this challenge? Thank you for your help.

My Response

Hello, and thank you for your compliment regarding our guide. I can tell you that my wife and I have held retail liquidation sales and experienced a great deal of success. I am not familiar with your market, but our sales were held in a smaller bedroom community sandwiched between to cities with a combined population of about 170,000 people. Our liquidation sales were very fun and profitable as we created a true sense of excitement and a feeling of urgency that caused people to spend without much thought.

A liquidation Event Sale is simply a one day offering of merchandise that is merchandised for a preset period of time…and then the doors are closed! Any kind of inventory can be retailed in this manor, but apparel worked the best for our sales.

Now we come to your real question, “how to select styles that will sell in your target market”?

My answer? Are you ready for this…….You don’t. Honestly, if you are buying wholesale liquidation pallets of apparel, you have no choice as to styles/sizes or brands. If your intent is to chose styles you should open up a 6-7 day per week retail clothing store.

A liquidation sale works with a great assortment of styles and brands because your clientele will not be shopping [necessarily] for anything in particular – they will buy because of the great deals found. Again, this is where the impulse purchasing factors in.

Having stated the above, I will say that in our retail liquidation sales, I purchased some stock lots of apparel from traditional wholesalers. This stock was hard to sell as I had to price it based upon current retail pricing. This did not work as people who came to our sales wanted to buy clothing at 80-90% of retail.

We were highly successful sticking to one price point per sale, meaning everything was $5 or $8. This shadowed the concept similar to the dollar store we are all familiar with. There was no need for our customer base to worry about pricing, they simply would count the number of items in their arms or cart and then multiply by the price point we were using that particular day. When you take away a need to put much thought into how much customers are spending…you have just created what I call a buying frenzy. Cha Ching!

Our event sales caused panic and urgency; when our doors opened lines of people streamed into our warehouse with one thought in mind…buy and buy quickly before the doors closed again!

While you may not be able to order specific styles and sizes for your event sale, you can purchase liquidation pallets of clothing from specific department stores and most of the time you will be able to ascertain what season you are buying.

In the coming week I will post an audio commentary about retail “Event Sales” as there is much more to consider when trying to put one together. I truly believe this is one Niche area that can prove to be very successful no matter where you are located. You may decide to fill a store front with apparel or other merchandise for your own liquidation Event Sale, but remember… excitement and urgency is really what you will be selling!

Related Posts

Warehouse or Retail Liquidation Event Sale
Holding A Retail Liquidation Sale – Event Sale

Shelf Pull Handbags

If you are looking to buy shelf pull handbags at liquidation pricing make sure you are buying direct from the original retail source. This will guarantee authenticity and give you the profit margin your business needs to be competitive.

There are a great number of eBay resellers who scramble to and from retail outlets to try and buy handbags at clearance pricing. The intent is to buy on clearance and then resell on eBay. While this is a viable way to amass inventory…it is exhausting.

Large big-box stores will liquidate shelf pull handbags at pricing that will allow the small reseller to realize a decent profit. You have two choices when buying liquidated handbags:

Buy handbags from a wholesale liquidator – Pay a higher per handbag price, but you can typically purchase in smaller quantities to get your business started.

Buy handbags direct from the source – Pay the lowest cost per handbag, but you must purchase in larger quantities. Buying direct will give you more profit potential, but minimum purchases are often $8,000 – $15,000 in a single purchase.

Everyone knows that popular name brands sell really well on eBay and when you buy wholesale shelf pull clothing you can find brands like DKNY, Calvin Klein, Nine West, Jones of New York, Baby Phat, L.E.I, Angels, Overdrive, Mudd, INC, E.C.I New York, Cable & Gauge, Joseph A., Vanilla Sugar, August Silk, XOXO, BCBG and many more.

Shelf pull apparel is simply clothing that spent some time on a rack or shelf of a retail store and was “pulled” off the floor for various reasons. Usually articles of apparel are pulled from the retailers shelf due to end of season left overs or maybe too many of one particular style. Once pulled from the sales floor this apparel is placed into a pallet and then resold to small store owners, flea market vendors and of course, eBay sellers.

Some retail big box stores have their own liquidation department that is in charge of reselling wholesale pallets and truckloads of this merchandise way below wholesale. Other retailers will use a third party reclamation center to process and resell all excess inventory. Either way buying from the direct source, ie. the store or the contracted liquidator is the best way to purchase this apparel.

Shelf Pull apparel should be considered retail ready with a small percentage of each pallet or truckload damaged. Usually damages are simply due to handling in the warehouse. It is not uncommon to find at least 3-5% minimal damages when buying this category of Liquidated merchandise.

I received an email from her last week and she told me that she had made two purchases on Liquidation.combuying children’s shelf pull apparel. She was even gracious enough to send along some photos of her purchases so we all could review the merchandise she purchased:

I will share the first purchase with everyone today and on another date we can review her other purchase. I always like to get feedback from our community members who start making purchases. I have developed dozens of ongoing conversations with many who read this blog.

This reader made a purchase on Liquidation.comfor an offer that advertised as:

INFANTS-TODDLERS APPAREL: NEW ARRIVALS: NAUTICA- CARTERS- AND MORE

This lot consisted of shelf pull apparel from a 5 start department store with sizing from 0/3 Months to 3T. Brands advertised were Nautica, Green Dog, First Impressions, Organic Cotton, Flowers By Zoe, Carters and other name brands.

She bid on this lot and the auction closed with her high bid of $110.00-

In addition to the closing bid she paid a 5% buyers premium of $5.50 and ground shipping of $40.25. Here total cost came out to $155.75 for 50 pieces.

This is a great way to get started reselling shelf pull clothing with a very, very small investment!

Here are the actual photos from her purchase:

Assorted Brands & Sizes

Shelf Pulls Have Retail Tags Attached

She Paid $3.10 Per Piece Delivered!

Would you like to buy a small lot of kids, women’s or men’s Shelf Pull Clothing?

This is Where She bought this lot from

If you want to get started buying smaller quantities of shelf pull apparel there are a few liquidators I might suggest including Via Trading, AML (American Merchandise Liquidators) & DLM Off-price. I have purchased from all three of these companies and each transaction was honestly described and I was happy when the clothing arrived at my door.

For larger pallet and truckloads purchases I would suggest buying direct from the prospective department store or their contracted third party liquidation partner.

Here is a sample shelf pull manifest for your review

For an in depth discussion of shelf pull apparel, please listen to the mp3 file below…..

There are several factors which will influence a buyer to bid on your ebay auctions. Before you even begin to source merchandise to sell on eBay, you must first become proficient in eBay marketing. If you have spent anytime researching a part or full time income selling on eBay you already know that inventory is just one part of the equation.

If you want to take your eBay business to the next level I encourage you to follow the expert advice of Skip McGrath. Skip is a well known eBay Powerseller (since 1999) who has authored seven books relating to eBay success. In his Complete eBay Marketing System, Skip coaches new and experienced eBay sellers showing various ways to build a profitable eBay business. “Working part-time you can earn extra income for yourself or your family,” McGrath goes on to say “Work full-time and you can build your business into a complete web-based enterprise with an above-average annual income.”

Sourcing Overstocks and Shelf Pull for your auctions

We have all searched through ebay and noticed that some ebay sellers seem to have an incredible inventory of new retail merchandise including BIG Name Brands. Where are the successful ebay sellers getting this merchandise to resell? Most, if not all, ebay powersellers are buying closeout merchandise including overstocks and shelf pulls. Selling on ebay is a competitive sport, if you want to be successful you must be able to buy merchandise far below traditional wholesale pricing. You can accomplish this buy looking for inventory deemed to be categorized as “Closeout Merchandise”.

The internet is filled with so called wholesale suppliers, but when you get eBay research and see merchandise pricing and research closed auctions, you will quickly see there is a slim chance to turn a profit. So, how do the successful eBay Power sellers find unique inventory to resell? They simply seek out little known sources for merchandise. By little known I mean suppliers who are almost invisible online.

There are tons of wholesale liquidation suppliers who have a website, but do little in the way of internet advertising. There are many wholesale suppliers who have long-standing accounts with customers and have no need to spend thousands of dollars in search engine marketing, pay per click advertising etc.

If you can find some of these liquidation wholesalers who are reliable and trustworthy you can score big selling on eBay!

I want to share a source that I have known about for almost ten years now. It is a company called Simon & Simon Offprice Apparel based out of San Francisco, Ca. Simon primarily supply’s wedding and formal gowns to small and large retail stores Nationwide, but always has a few “odd lots” of liquidation merchandise.

As of writing this post, I viewed some of the offers from Simon & Simon and found handbags, wallets, belts, home décor and other merchandise. Some brand names offered for sale are: Mudd, Perry Ellis, Sean John, Geoffrey Beene, XOXO, Gymboree and more!

If you are buying and reselling shelf pull apparel on eBay, suppliers like Simon & Simon can provide some additional unique items to round off your eBay inventory. I have purchased from this company and have had in-depth phone conversations with Gail, the owner. She has been in the off-price industry for years.

What are catalog overstocks?

Major catalog companies continuously have last season’s stock that must be liquidated. Overstocks are considered new and 99% of the time still wrapped in the manufacturers original poly bags! When buying catalog overstocks you will be dealing with brand new merchandise!

Most of the time pallets of overstocks are available and you will have the opportunity to review manifests when buying direct from the catalog retailer. The only drawback is simply the minimum purchase requirements’ imposed by the catalog liquidation department. Most catalog retailers will not sell in small lots and the typical order must be multiple pallets, if not truckload quantities.

There are a few liquidators who specialize in reselling smaller quantities of catalog overstocks and while researching this blog post today I found a great deal on small lots of Chadwick’s (Women’s apparel) catalog overstocks. In fact most 100 piece lots can be purchased for about $1-$1.50 per item!

Here is a link, but please follow my instructions to find this seller:

1. Once at Liquidation.com, go to the search field and search by Product Category (Chose Apparel)
2. Scroll down and look for a listing that looks like the picture below stating Catalog Overstocks and the seller STR_NationalSupply

This apparel would be great as a clearance item in your small clothing store or on eBay. I did some research on eBay today looking at the completed auctions for Chadwick’s apparel and there were a a few that were selling in the $7 – $12 range. This is not huge, but I think a small lot of Chadwick’s mixed in with other branded apparel would make a great inventory for eBay sellers.

If you are looking for other sources for small lots of catalog apparel you might check with Via Trading who sells Victoria Secrets and United Auction, who distributes catalog overstocks from the Haband and the Blair apparel catalog.

Most shelf pull apparel should have the original retail tags still attached showing the actual retail price of each item.

Here are a few questions you should ask before buying shelf pull apparel from a liquidator:

• What department store is this apparel originally from?
• Will this pallet contain any accessories such as underwear, socks, belts, jewelry and other items other than apparel?
• Will there be any customer returns in with the shelf pulls?
• Are you shipping this apparel from your warehouse or is this a brokered purchase?
• What is my actual cost per piece?
• Are you shipping current season clothing?
• Do you offer a quantity discount for larger pallet purchases?
• Will I receive any damaged pieces?

Nervous about your first shelf pull apparel purchase?

Here is a Liquidator who sells shelf pull and catalog apparel online through eBay with a 100% feedback rating. If you are nervous about making your first shelf pull apparel purchase..take a deep breathe and place your order online through this eBay sellers store.

Here is just one of their auctions:

This is a 100 pc. lot of children’s Spring/Summer apparel. These lots are full of great brands!

These are overstocks and shelf-pulls from a famous department store. You will see a variety of styles and sizes. These lots include boys and girls; sizes infant to up to size 22. See below for more pictures of this children’s apparel. Buy Now, these lots always go FAST!!

Brands you could see include Ralph Lauren, First Impressions, Carters, IZOD, Green Dog, Hannah Montana, Guess, Sean John, Baby Phat, Apple Bottoms, Epic Threads, Timberland, Nike, Little Me, Puma, Roxy, and more!

Here is another reputable shelf pull apparel seller based out of Los Angeles, CA:

DLM Offprice is located in Los Angeles, Ca. They have a massive warehouse with a huge variety of shelf pull apparel – over one million units. What separates DLM from other liquidators is the ability to call and order based upon your business needs. You can order tops, bottoms, dresses, jackets, evening wear, suits and other types of clothing. If you want all suits, they can accommodate. All dresses, no problem. How about particular sizes…you got it!

Having this ability to pick and chose will cost more than the traditional liquidator who ships out an “Assorted lot”, many of you have experienced the blind shipments not knowing what you are going to get.

You can source Couture from DLM – Labels like Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren Black Label, Max Mara – Give them a call to find current availability.

Shop online at www.bestlabelsonline.com

Shelf pull apparel, especially higher end name brands are the key to successful eBay sales. If I was going to start selling clothing on eBay I would sell in lots combining coordinating separates.

A really popular niche area of apparel reselling on eBay is children’s clothing. Kids name brand clothing is always in demand and I know of several eBay Power sellers who make a handsome living auctioning brands like Osh Kosh, Carters, Union Bay, Nike, Mudd, LEI, Levis, Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger.

If you do some research on eBay looking at closed auctions for children’s apparel you should find some sellers who not only combine NWT (new with tags) shelf pull apparel with gently used clothing!

Where do you find gently used apparel? Not tough at all- Plan to visit yard and garage sales for excellent apparel bargains, in fact you can purchase children’s apparel for next to nothing! It is not uncommon to buy kids clothing for ten to twenty-five cents per piece. If you dig around you should be able to find higher ends brands.

Once you have a good supply of gently used apparel go ahead and buy a small pallet of name brand children’s shelf pulls. I found a great deal today surfing the web at DLM Offprice advertising “Assorted lot of boys and girls clothing from a major department store”. DLM listed a price of $2.75 each with a minimum purchase of 1,000 pieces.