Liquidation glossary

Every term in the liquidation and reseller world, defined.

Buyer Fee

The commission a liquidation marketplace charges the winning bidder.

COGS

The total cost of the inventory that sold in a period.

Comp

What identical inventory recently sold for on the same channel.

Customer Returns

Items customers returned to a retailer, resold in bulk pallets.

FBA

Amazon warehouses and ships your inventory for you.

FBM

You store and ship your own inventory.

Lot

One sellable unit at auction, ranging from a case to a truckload.

LTL

Freight lanes for shipments smaller than a full truckload.

Manifest

A manifest is a spreadsheet, usually CSV or XLSX, listing every SKU included in a liquidation lot: quantities, condition, MSRP, and product identifiers.

Mixed Lot

A lot containing multiple product categories on one pallet.

MSRP

MSRP is the ceiling. Recovered value is always a fraction of it.

Overstock

Overstock is new, unsold inventory a retailer needs to move.

Recovery Rate

The percentage of MSRP you actually collect after resale.

Reserve Price

A hidden minimum a seller will accept.

ROI

Profit divided by cost.

Salvage

Salvage lots are inventory the retailer has determined cannot be sold as new.

Sell-Through Rate

What percentage of your inventory actually sells inside a given window.

Shelf Pull

Retailer pulled the inventory from shelves before it could sell.

Truckload

A full 26-pallet truckload sold as a single lot.

What Is B-Stock? How Retailer Liquidation Auctions Actually Work

B-Stock is a wholesale auction platform where retailers like Amazon, Walmart, Target, Costco, and Home Depot sell returned and excess inventory directly to resellers in pallet and truckload lots. You bid, you win, you pay freight, and you resell.