How to Sell Overstock from a Old Business in Lot

Hi,

I had acquired a huge lot of wooden boards from a overseas supplier with a intention to sell it online. While that has not gone as planned, I have failed in the marketing part of this and may be not the best person on this business stuff.

In short i wanted to know what is the best way to sell wooden chopping boards fast in bulk which has costed me fortune and costing me each days its in my garage.

Some suggested drop-shipping, however i don't know much about it. Creating my own website and selling is not what i want to do since it sounds easy but i know it will require lot of my time/marketing which i don't have because of my 9-5 job.

Any ideas or forums where people buy lots or anything that helps me sell in bulk will be appreciated.

Thanks,
Gautam

Comments

  • what is it for ?

    • ^^this

      • Wooden chopping boards.

  • Dimmeys.

    • Thanks, added to my research list

  • BTW what i have is a 3 pcs set, something like this https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/3-Piece-Wooden-Chopping-Board-Se…

    but rectangle without any groove approx size are

    44cm x 32cm x 2cm
    38cm x 28cm x 2cm
    30cm x 20cm x 2cm

  • +7

    sell it for cheap on ebay and post a deal on Ozb?

    • i had thought about this, but ebay costs, and shipping just ruins it. but a point to think again may be. Want to avoid the one buy one sale.

      • fair enough, but you could do local pickup depending on where you are etc and ebay fees can be avoided by using their deals, but given the amount you have, that may not be possible for the whole stock!

    • +5

      Honestly, this.
      If you're in a jam and you want to flick things quickly — an outrageous deal on OzBargain will sort the stock out for yuo.

      Only problem you have to deal with is the logistics — which I imagine would be an absolute nightmare.

      Good luck OP.

    • +1

      List it on a sunday when eBay runs its $1 final value sales cap. Or list it on Facebook marketplace. Also make a reference to Facebook in your eBay ad.

  • Why there is no one buying it? Have you ever tried advertising it?

    • +1

      its pretty obvious

      it sounds like this is high quality gear

      i mean who is paying $90 for a set of chopping boards???

  • +8

    Glue all the chopping boards together to make a huge table

  • +1

    In WA there an auctioneer service company where they can buy it off you then they will resell it. I'm not sure if they have that in Melb?

    https://www.auctions.com.au/

  • You can try Alibaba. Grate platform for selling huge lots of items. Use to sell server gear on their like PCI-e card, HDD etc.

  • +2

    The central markets have casual stalls for rent (Paddy's in Sydney, I presume Queen Victoria in Mel).
    Spend a weekend selling them cheap enough and they will be gone.

    And if you really don't want to do it, go talk to a stall selling kitchen stuff. They will take them all if you are cheap enough, but likely only half what you could sell them for otherwise.

  • +2

    And do you have 10000 items, so potentially of interest to somebody like the reject shop, or 300 items, so too small for them.

  • +2

    You could try Grays Onlineor other auction sites that sell bulk lots.

  • those 3 x pack wood chopping boards may appeal to the party planning / event stylists
    as there's a current trend to platter food on wooden boards/planks as "grazing platters"
    FB has a lot of party wholesaler pages you could join and try a few posts asking for interest as (1) a reseller or (2) just to the members for individual sales
    no commission payable as in ebay, have a pickup location or add postage as an extra

    alternatively, if you want to sell on ebay, search on Airtasker for someone to sell the items with the logistics of listing, packing, shipping etc included
    some of these tasks go for around $250-300 for a job lot

    good luck!

  • +1

    gumtree, no pickup, express post, work out what will fit in a satchel and bingo.

    Or offer kids commission for each one they sell. Some call it child labor, i call it pocket money.

    • plus motivate them to sell on the internet and get them hooked on the easy money .

      Just make sure to have small % of any business and supervise(retire),
      and go on buying trips(Holidays).

  • +2

    Is Amazon fulfilment available on amazon.com.au yet? That would be the way to go for single item sales as they can handle the fulfilment.

  • +2

    You could try the Facebook laser cutting and engraving groups,I am sure if price is right some one their would snap them up

  • You could try the Facebook laser cutting and engraving groups,I am sure if price is right some one their would snap them up
    https://www.facebook.com/groups/439605296411167/

  • +1

    If you really want to just get rid of it quickly, put an ad on Gumtree for a cheap price and just cut your losses. Advertise it as "as is" " non negotiable"
    If it's a cheap price then it will sell quickly.
    Just make sure they pay cash upfront, pick up only and you'll be right.

  • I would do gumtree with pickup or via grays online.

  • +2

    It's not drop shipping if you already have the stock.

    • It's drop shipping if OP is on the fulfilment side.

      • +1

        That's just shipping.

      • The only drop part is the money that the OP has dropped on the deal.

        which has costed me fortune and costing me each days its in my garage

  • +1

    how much was the cost? that info might give you more ideas.

  • may be ring or visit some restaurants in the city, see if they want to buy some.

  • +3

    Oh my god I cant believe my luck !!!

    I was just thinking of buying some wooden chopping boards from overseas so I could make some money ! This might save me some time. Here is my business plan:

    1. Buy chopping boards.
    2. ?
    3. Profit !

    What do you think????!

  • How many boards are we talking about and what's the break even price?

    • Have around 1000 sets, with below dimension.

      44cm x 32cm x 2cm
      38cm x 28cm x 2cm
      30cm x 20cm x 2cm

      Each set costed close to $42, had paid too much for transport in country, fumigation, custom, cargo etc etc. Some say i paid too much but i am not sure, because i know few whose items were confiscated by custom since they were not properly fumigated.

      Just for information if you ever want to buy this from overseas, there are many variety of boards that you can get from overseas (Malaysia or China) and they call it workmanship. These are vertical workmanship which are heavy and costly since the material used is more. Dont just go with price they quote, what you get for that price is not going to sell unless you are kmart

      Horizontal Workmanship -> https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91GNuALL3dL.SL1500.jpg

      Vertical workmanship -> https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/A1TWa4F6WlL.SL1500.jpg

      So overall as you see that was lot of research, sample check and money spent for me :-)

      Thanks,
      G

  • Join a few neighborhood Facebook Buy/Swap/Sell groups - people frequently sell things they have excess of. Be aware though that Aldi had similar to these in their catalogue just recently for $7.99.

    Best marketing angle to take would be eco-friendly and doesn't leech chemicals into your food like plastic.

    You could also do the rounds of the various markets (there's so many these days), they're a good fit because of eco-friendliness and you can turn over a lot stock in those places.

  • Thank you all for lots of comments and some interesting points. Apologies i did not reply.
    i have around 1000 sets of above at this moment and will possibly try some tips above like going to these local markets.

    I am honestly thinking on listing this on ebay and put it at purchase price with, shipping paid by buyer. May be some will want it. Will take some pictures and share when i login again.

    someone with id 'Wallyt99' said that he/she wants to buy boards from overseas, note that it might sound and look easy there are too many players in the market and getting any wooden stuff to AU is not a easy job. Cost go up very fast and you will not be able to sell it.

    Thanks again to all.

    • Learn to make signs with wood chisels, sell hand made signs for $80ea, profit.

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