“Hello Rob, I have purchased your Liquidators Guide from another email address, but I prefer to use this one! I have been in business for a few years. I had been looking for Target and in your guide you listed a contact for Target truckloads; I called them, spoke to Sherry and they seem pretty legit. Apparently they have a Target contract and have trucks parked at the Target distribution center always and the merchandise is never touched by anybody else. I am very interested however, just like you, I have encountered good and bad sellers and I am trying to be cautious, have you ever bought from them? I have bought Target truckloads and they are wonderful, I just want to make sure this place is a good place to buy from. I had never found a direct source for this particular store, do you know of anyone else that has the contract?
Thanks for any information you can offer. I also found no reviews for them online but I know how secretive Target merchandise is.” Thanks, Suzzette
Hello Suzzette! First of all, thanks for purchasing our guide. After reading your email, I thought for some time about the response I wanted offer. I look at every email response as an opportunity to not only help the person emailing, but also help others who are considering purchasing liquidation merchandise. I like to think of my response as an opportunity to educate the masses. … At this point I’m stepping up to the podium.
To answer your question directly, I can tell you that our source for Target pallets and truckloads is legit, as you stated in your email. By legit, I mean they have held the Target liquidation contract for several years. To my knowledge, no one comes to Target with the intent to purchase liquidations without first going through this contracted liquidator to arrange a purchase. Kinda sounds biblical huh? – lol
Most of the big department stores use a third party service to facilitate the liquidation of customer returns and shelf pull items. As a matter of fact, I can only think of a few famous retail chains that actually liquidate their own stock, Macy’s being one such company.
OK, so I’ve answered the “are they legit” question, but let me go on to say this about liquidation purchasing: even with a direct source, please exercise caution when buying pallets and truckloads of secondary market goods.
In my experience, some loads are better than others. I recall buying back-to-back truckloads of returns and the consistency of quality varied with each load. Some loads were what I would deem awesome, while others contained a lot of throw away items. A manifest is a great way to figure out what is in a load, but a manifest in no way explains each items condition.
Can I say the source I provided you within our guide is legit? Yes, they’ve been around for a long time. Can I guarantee the first load you purchase from them will be a profitable move? Not without hesitation because we are dealing with customer returns, which are a mixed bag of product conditions. Some loads are good, while others might find us feeling lucky to break even.
Scary, huh? Some of us might run at the prospect of uncertainty, and I do not blame those that are overly cautious.
I’ve found that multiple purchases, one after the next, seem to offer more value to the reseller because one can piece together similar items from load to load that may have been broken or compromised in some way. It takes a lot of capital to purchase in this way. Most people who stumble into the world of buying salvage returns, tend to buy one load, become frightened, and as a result…quit.