buying returned goods

cwrtcoed

Hi
I was in conversation with a youngster the other day, and he said that he buys returned/faulty goods from Argos and sells them at a knock down price ( 28 day guarantee). I've been thinking of doing this but i'm not sure as to where these people go to buy this stuff. He gave me his shop name but didn't tell me where he goes to purchase them, Im sure he said that they bid on pallets of items etc.
I'm not looking to go into competition with them, because they live in a totally different area. Anyone knows how this works and where it happens??

andy_little

Hi, I've tried doing this before and I've got to say you lose a lot more then you make as you will have to disclose all the problems if you sell on-line like eBay because of the eBay buyer promise and people are very very picky.

I prefer to just buy from boot sales and sell on eBay for a profit i found this a lot more profitable and a lot less hassle.

soolin

cwrtcoed wrote: »

Hi
I was in conversation with a youngster the other day, and he said that he buys returned/faulty goods from Argos and sells them at a knock down price ( 28 day guarantee). I've been thinking of doing this but i'm not sure as to where these people go to buy this stuff. He gave me his shop name but didn't tell me where he goes to purchase them, Im sure he said that they bid on pallets of items etc.
I'm not looking to go into competition with them, because they live in a totally different area. Anyone knows how this works and where it happens??

As has been said this might work if you are able to fix minor issues and sell on as seller refurbished through your own web site- and have the techie knowledge to drive traffic to your site as well. However, if you were looking at sales via places like eBay or Amazon then I think you will struggle. Even with your own website I something breaks it is very possible that a buyer could chargeback via a credit card if you refuse a refund .

You can say you have a 28 day guarantee but online sales have their own rules and laws and regardless of what you say buyers have rights when buying from a business. All return postage costs etc would need to be covered by you as well.

fishybusiness

He gave me his shop name but didn't tell me where he goes to purchase them

It's no secret, and has come up on MSE before, the Argos returns are on their website

https://www.argosclearance.co.uk/Default.aspx

There are middlemen, a couple of well known ones are Marthill and Gem, Google them.

he said that he buys returned/faulty goods from Argos and sells them at a knock down price ( 28 day guarantee)

Sounds easy? There are more and more ebay sellers popping up selling these goods, and the margins are gradually eroding away.

I know a trader selling working returns for a tenner a go at markets, 28 day warranty RRP £40 or there abouts. For his tenner he has to check, maybe repair, clean, package and replace faulty accessories, plus he has to get to market.

There is always a percentage of scrap which you have to dispose of - could mean paying the local council, and then there are the parts you would need to source to repair some of the returns.

I guess it really depends on the type of stock you are thinking of buying and selling, but for returns, expect a lot of work for minimal return.

droopsnoot

I see quite a lot of "returned stock" listed on sites like I-bidder, obviously no reason given for return, whether it's just a distance-selling return or a faulty one.


I would imagine you're opening yourself up for a lot of potential hassle, possibly needing to sell quite a lot of stuff to make it worthwhile. Doesn't mean you shouldn't do it - will your friend tell you how much he's making from it, that is - is it enough to make it worth doing, or is he just generally into trading and that's one of many places he gets stock?

stusarah14

I have used these sites before , although i have received a very good washing machine with just two scratches for very little money i have known one or two people to receive items that were not discripted very well :-(

patman99

There are a lot of sellers (mostly on ebay) who sell joblots of 'untested' customer returns.
Back in 201, having been made redundant, I started to buy a few of these lots and then check the items before re-listing as tested. Made a lot of money, but stopped after 4 months due to regaining employment.

Tried the same thing in 2013 after loosing my job again and I would say 75% of the returns listed as 'untested' have in fact been tested, found to be faulty and thrown in a boxe to be sold-on as untested.