Amazon is generally regarded as a bit of an evil empire these days. The treatment of workers in Amazon warehouses is questionable at best , and the combination of Amazon and big box stores like Walmart has all but killed small businesses in many communities.
Ethical issues aside, it’s hard to deny the fact that Amazon has an incredible selection of products available at reasonable prices. It’s little wonder that Amazon is so popular. For those who want Amazon products at even cheaper prices, a TikToker has the goods.
What do you think of Amazon’s prices?
This is purely anecdotal, but I feel like Amazon offered better bang for the buck ten years ago. Nowadays, prices are usually in line with other retailers. The shipping speed and cost is on point, but it isn’t as easy to find really good deals as it once was.
TikToker @waitwhoisdavid has a few tips.
We’re going to assume this guy’s name is David, since he gives his name as ‘#1 Liquidation Teacher,’ which doesn’t sound much like a given name.
Anyway, you can find David on TikTok @waitwhoisdavid , and virtually all of his videos deal with finding discounted goods in liquidation warehouses.
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Amazon sells books, you know.
Before it was a purveyor of everything including the kitchen sink, Amazon got its start as a humble online book seller back in the early days of internet retail.
This detail is largely forgotten today, but Amazon still has tons of books. As David shows us, many of these unsold books wind up at liquidation warehouses at a steep discount.
“Amazon is lying to you, guys.”
“Everything that you actually send back to [Amazon] ends up in these return warehouse liquidation pallets,” David said. “Anybody can buy pallets full of thousands of dollars worth of returns in each pallet for only a couple hundred dollars, and most people do not know about it.”
So that’s what happens to Amazon returns.
Speaking from personal experience, some Amazon products get repackaged and resold to consumers. But according to David, most of these returns wind up in big liquidation warehouses. He says he was able to buy thousands of dollars worth of cosmetics for his girlfriend for the relatively low price of $600.
It’s a fairly common practice.
Auctioneers have sold off storage units full of stuff for decades now, and the retail equivalent is these liquidation warehouses. Commenters pointed out that retailers like Walmart also offer bulk lots of returned items for low prices. You just need to know where to look.
Are the returned products any good?
It’s truly a luck of the draw situation. Some returns are made for no good reason, and a perfectly good product is sent to the warehouse. Conversely, some returns are made for very good reasons, and a busted or defective product is included in one of these pallets.
Take it with a grain of salt.
Buying cheap items and reselling them for a profit can be a good way to make money, but it requires significant effort. Also, these deals might not be all they’re cracked up to be. Some commenters were skeptical of David’s motivations and accused him of making the videos simply to promote his own liquidation business.
Where do you find your deals?
Do you wait until stores mark items down, or do you go the extra mile and check out liquidators? Do you ever resell stuff? Let us know your best shopping tips, Amazon or otherwise, in the comments section.
