What information buyers need to make an offer on excess inventory

What information do buyers need to make an offer?

A buyer needs a line-item manifest, your written condition definitions, real photos, and pickup facts: location, dock access, pallet count and weight. Add packaging and date details, compliance documents, restrictions, your deadline and payment terms. With all of that in one message, a buyer can price the lot. Without it, you get questions or a low offer.

Think of it from the buyer's chair. They are about to pay for goods they have not touched, carry them across the country or the ocean and resell them. Every fact you leave out is a risk they have to price in. The checklist below removes those risks one by one.

The checklist

1. The manifest

A spreadsheet, one line per SKU (or per SKU per condition). The fields buyers look for:

• SKU or item number
• UPC or EAN (the 12- or 13-digit GS1 barcode number; each size and color has its own)
• Description, in plain words a buyer can search
• Brand
• Quantity
• Unit retail, and where that figure came from
• Extended retail (quantity × unit retail)
• Condition, using your defined labels
• Category
• Pallet or carton ID, if goods are split across pallets
• Lot or batch code and expiry date, where relevant

Make the totals add up and match the floor. The guide to building a manifest walks through format and common errors. A manifest that matches the goods on arrival is the best reference you can give a buyer for your next lot.

2. Condition, with definitions

Write down what each condition label means: sealed or opened, tested or untested, cosmetic marks, missing parts, retail stickers. "Grade A" means different things to different sellers. If the lot mixes new goods, shelf pulls and returns, keep them on separate lines. For standard terms, see condition terms explained.

3. Photos

• Several representative units, out of the box where that is how they sell
• Outer cartons with labels visible
• Each pallet as it stands, from two sides
• Close-ups of any damage, stains or missing parts
• A sample of date codes or lot codes for food, health and beauty, and OTC goods
• For returns, a few cartons opened at random

4. Pickup facts

• Pickup address (city and postal code at first; full address when terms are agreed)
• Dock-high door, or liftgate needed, or forklift on site
• Number of pallets, pallet size, and whether they can be stacked
• Approximate total weight, and the weight of the heaviest pallet
• Floor-loaded cartons, if any
• Loading days and hours, appointment rules

5. Packaging

Retail-ready or loose, master cartons and inner packs, case pack quantity, any damaged outer packaging, any retailer-specific tickets or labels.

6. Dates and lot codes

For food, health and beauty, supplements and OTC goods, the earliest and latest expiry or best-by dates and how many units fall in each range. OTC drugs in the US must carry an expiration date; food "best by" dates are quality dates. Marketplaces and importing countries can set their own rules. See expiry dates for food, HBA and OTC.

7. Compliance documents

Whatever the category needs: safety certificates for children's products, battery and hazmat information for electronics, voltage and plug type for appliances, ingredient lists for cosmetics, country of origin. Say if a document does not exist. Recalled goods should not be offered.

8. Reason for sale, if you can share it

Discontinued, canceled order, overstock, returns, store closing, 3PL abandoned. It sets expectations about condition and whether more stock may follow. If it is confidential, say so.

9. Deadline, restrictions and terms

When the goods must leave; any channel restrictions such as no online or export only; how you want to be paid; and if you need the whole lot taken or will split it.

What you send, and why it changes the offer

Worked example: a thin data pack versus a full one

Illustration only — hypothetical lot and figures.

A distributor has 16 pallets of mixed health and beauty goods.

Thin pack: "16 pallets HBA, mostly new, some short-dated, Ohio, make an offer." The buyer has to guess the brands, the dates, the share that is short-dated and whether there is a dock. A cautious buyer assumes the worst on each, or asks eight questions and waits.

Full pack: a spreadsheet of 140 lines with UPC, brand, quantity, unit retail and expiry date; a note that 3 of the 16 pallets are dated within a stated window; photos of every pallet and a sample of date codes; a dock door, a 2:00 pm loading cut-off, 16 standard pallets at about 900 lb each.

From the full pack the buyer can calculate freight (16 pallets, around 14,400 lb, fits a standard trailer with room to spare), separate the short-dated goods, check UPCs for current prices and make a firm offer. The simple arithmetic: 16 × 900 = 14,400 lb. That one line answers the freight question that would otherwise have been the first email back.

Mistakes to avoid

• Sending a PDF manifest. Buyers need to sort, filter and look up UPCs; send a spreadsheet.
• Catalog photos instead of real ones. They prove nothing about the goods in your building.
• One condition label for a mixed lot. It drags the good goods down to the worst grade.
• Leaving out weight and dock details. Freight is the first cost a buyer calculates.
• Raising restrictions after the offer. It restarts the negotiation; see the guide to liquidating without hurting your brand.
• Totals that do not add up. If the quantity column does not match the pallet count, the buyer trusts neither.

Next step

When the pack is ready, get an offer for your inventory from Skyline Dealz through the sell page, or check the category notes for what else to include, for example health and beauty or electronics. For how buyers turn this data into a number, read how much liquidators pay, and for how a complete pack shortens the whole sale, read how to sell excess inventory fast. For every route and a decision checklist, see the complete guide to selling excess inventory.