What Does Amazon Do With Returns?

What does Amazon do with all of those returned items? It’s the question we’re all asking. Do they resell these items online? Do they donate them to charity? Turns out a lot of returned Amazon items are available for consumers and entrepreneurs. Now you can stop guessing.

Amazon return policy benefits

Amazon has a lot of the items on the site that they don’t own, as you might know. The items are owned by third-party vendors in most cases. Still, Amazon is extremely generous with returns. Items can be returned within 30 days of purchase. They are even more generous during the holidays, when they allow items bought by November and December to be returned until January 31.

The catch is that they usually can’t sell the products to other customers. Behind the Amazon returns is a multimillion dollar business that can be of use to those who know about it. Letting returns go to waste isn’t a smart business model for Amazon or the many other alternative retailers, which is where liquidation marketplaces came in.

Where do the returned items go?

The items go to a liquidation site that also could resell Walmart returns along with other stores. What is a liquidation site? It’s where pallets full of returned Amazon products go to be sold in bulk. At these sites, the products are often sorted by category such as home, beauty, construction or technology. These categories allow companies or individuals to sort and watch liquidation sites for products they need. For example, this could be a great deal for an interior design company looking for surplus tools etc. These items can be bought in bulk for a fraction of the previous cost.

One crazy part about liquidation sites is that some boxes of stuff contain a collection of items that fall within a category like “technology.” This might be full of half-useful items for your situation and the other half not at all useful, but could add up to $5,000 worth of things. You could end up bidding and paying $200 for a box full of things to resell or use.

How you can benefit

Companies and e-commerce sites can definitely benefit from these liquidation warehouses. You’ll find tons of products to buy and resell on eBay or other sites. The catch is that you don’t know exactly what is wrong with the returned product until you get your package from the liquidation service. Most of the times there might be a product in an open box or with a scratch on it. Still, the products still can be fixed and used.

It is a good idea to buy Amazon returns if you are an entrepreneur looking to repurpose products and sell them. For example, you could purchase a refurbished home goods box. There might be an item that can be turned into an art project to be resold. Etsy artists who specialize in furniture or home goods might find an effective new business opportunity through a liquidation service. You do have to have the money to bid on these products to be able to purchase and resell them, but it all could benefit you in the long run. The ability to make an astounding profit could kick-start your Amazon-return fueled career.

Liquidation sites for Amazon returns are only gaining power as Amazon performs amazingly. So make sure you’re on the lookout for some Amazon return pallets to bid on. The products will only increase in bid prices as this trend takes over the e-commerce industry.