I was excited to see two fantastic liquidation lots of excess, brand new inventory available on www.bstocksupply.com today.

We have a full truckload apparel lot of women’s clothing. The items have an original retail price of $20 and up per unit. The listing started at $.90/unit. It contains around 19,000 units.

We also have listed a small lot of TV’s for a new seller to B-Stock. Six brand new 42″ Proton Pro-X LCD TV’s. These are fantastic 1080p TV’s selling for between $600 and $1,000 at retail according to this Google search. Starting bid is only $289 per unit! What a buy! And that includes shipping the pallet to your continental US address!

Enjoy!

We also launched a few tool accessories lots including Milwaukee Roman Ogee bits, half round bits and matched rail and stile bit sets.

Lastly, we have a truckload…yes, 26 pallets, 4,992 units, of Mr. Clean Autodry Car Wash devices. Brand new! Who can’t use those?

Check it out…get registered..and bid!

Register now to get approved to bid!

We are thrilled to have her on board with us.

Given that most returned product cannot be resold in the store, it often ends up in liquidation. The fact that B-Stock Solutions has been able to increase recovery rates on unsorted, raw returns by as much as 100% suggests that the companies out there that are still using liquidators the ‘old fashioned way’ are leaving substantial value on the table.

Posted: Apr 26, 2010 09:52 AM by Will Ashworth
Here is the text of the article:

According to the National Retail Federation, customers returned merchandise valued at $185.5 billion in 2009, approximately 8% of total sales. Of those returns, 8% or $14.8 billion were considered fraudulent in nature. While this is a huge amount, investors might want to consider how much retailers stand to lose in future revenue by mishandling returns. The 2007 NRF report Customer Returns in the Retail Industry concluded, “broad policy-based returns initiatives can adversely impact good customers, not just abusers, and consumer satisfaction suffers as a result.” How certain are you that your retail stock’s return policies and the people managing those returns aren’t killing future sales?

Customer Service Continues to Suffer
Every interaction with a customer is an opportunity for retailers to cement the relationship, including returns and exchanges. No one knows this better than Bruce Temkin, the head of customer experience research at Forrester Research (Nasdaq:FORR). He’s spent the last 13 years researching and writing about the customer experience. If anyone knows customer service, it’s him. He wrote a particularly interesting blog post last year about an insurance company that will go nameless. Essentially he switched companies after 17 years because his existing insurer treated him so poorly. His last words were “Try not to turn good customers into detractors.” That’s what can happen when retailers spend less time helping customers return items then they do selling them in the first place.

Danish customer experience consultant Telefaction suggests that 90% of unhappy customers never buy again from a firm that’s given them poor service and that it costs businesses between three and 10 times less to keep an existing customer than finding new ones. If this is the case, why do retailers seem so oblivious to the situation? (Read more on retailers in 3 Hot Home Furnishing Stocks.)

Financial Consequences
In the 2007 report on customer returns referenced above, home centers like Home Depot (NYSE:HD) and Lowe’s (NYSE:LOW) experienced a 9% return rate that year. Retailers generally reduce both gross sales and cost of goods sold to account for its historical return rate. Thus, the number you see on the revenue line in the 10-K is net revenue after returns and sales taxes. Therefore, it’s a bit of guesswork generating a gross sales number. For the sake of this discussion, I’ll leave out sales taxes and focus on returns.

In 2009, Home Depot and Lowe’s net revenues were $66.2 billion and $47.2 billion respectively. Grossing them up by 9% (the average for home centers in 2007), Home Depot’s returns for argument sake were $6.6 billion and Lowe’s $4.7 billion. Now imagine that just 20% of these returns and/or exchanges went badly in one fashion or another. That’s $2.2 billion in merchandise. If half of these customers choose to stay away permanently (not the 90% mentioned previously), you’re talking about a billion dollars in potential lost sales each year indefinitely. It’s a lot of money to throw away due to poor execution.

Return Policies That Work
Zappos.com was bought by Amazon.com (Nasdaq:AMZN) in 2009. Part of the allure for the world’s biggest online retailer was Zappos’ incredible customer service. Nobody does it better, and returns play a big part in its fabulous reputation. It accepts returns 365 days a year providing free two-way shipping. The result: the company’s best customers return the most products. They also spend the most money resulting in higher profits. It makes me wonder why bricks-and-mortar retailers don’t do the same.

While it’s true that internet-only retailers don’t have the problem of fraudulent returns due to shoplifting, it is also true that the percentage of returns because of fraud generally runs between 6-8% annually with some small deviations. This is acknowledged by the NRF in its annual report on customer returns. Would it not make sense then to introduce a severely relaxed return policy that treats customers as adults? I believe the result would be greater customer satisfaction and ultimately higher revenues. Two examples of companies that do this are Macy’s (NYSE:M) and Kohl’s (NYSE:KSS). Both maintain generous return policies despite the fact the recession has slowed sales. Long-term, this under-appreciated component of customer service could pay dividends. (Read more in Retailers Getting A Bit Too Big For Their Britches.)

Bottom Line
If you currently own stock in a retailer or are thinking about investing in one, it’s important to understand that how a company handles its returns is equally as important as how it handles its sales. To me, it’s a lot like dropping the football at the other team’s five-yard line on a surefire kickoff return for a touchdown. The first 95 yards don’t mean much if you don’t make it into the end zone.

By Will Ashworth

You can find the interview here. http://bit.ly/bcx26k

If you like what you hear REGISTER now and we’ll alert you to new marketplace opportunities as we launch them.

For buyers of excess inventory who are interested in hearing more about how B-Stock Solutions can help you, listen to my recent interview on eBay Radio.

Then, get registered with us so we can let you know when we have new buying opportunities that might be interesting for you. It’s free to sign up!

Mike and I worked at eBay at the same time and, although we did not work together very closely, I have always had enormous respect for his knowledge and experience. He clearly understands marketing like few others. In addition, his deep experience in our target markets of retail and consumer product manufacturing gives him a unique perspective on our business. He understands the liquidation challenges facing retailers and manufacturers from an insiders perspective. As we continue to add major brick and mortar and e-commerce retailers to our customer list, Mike’s views on how we can create even more value for them will be increasingly valuable.

Mike’s most recent experience was as eBay’s Chief Marketing Officer. He joined eBay after 7 years as the first Chief Marketing Officer, and EVP, for Best Buy. He is a charter member of the Marketing-50, was elected to the Retail Advertising Hall of Fame in 2008 and was named by Ad Age as one of the most influential 30 marketers in 2003, 2004 and 2005. He is currently writing articles on marketing for Forbes that you can (and should) find here.

Mike’s full bio is available on our Advisors page and is worth a read.

Monthly auctions, hundreds of listings, great deals! Overstock, shelf pulls, customer returns, store stock all available. Inventory includes:

• High end, designer handbags
• Fine jewelry and gold
• Women’s coats
• Bed & bath
• Men’s & women’s clothing
• Fragrances
• and more!

MENLO PARK, Calif. – September 1, 2009 – B-Stock Solutions, the leader in delivering private auction marketplace solutions to Fortune 2000 retailers and manufacturers, has launched a new wholesale liquidation marketplace providing resellers with access to one of the largest library’s of previously viewed DVD’s available anywhere. By selling lots of 1,000 to 100,000 DVDs spanning many titles and genres, the new marketplace, BStockDVDs.com, will create a powerful opportunity for sellers in online marketplaces, like eBay and Amazon, to source deeply discounted inventory to grow their businesses. Resellers with their own websites or retail stores can also benefit from access to this rich source of high quality inventory at great prices. Initial lots will be starting as low as 3.3 cents per disk with no reserves.

Announcement Highlights/Key Facts:
• The marketplace is located at www.bstockdvds.com
• The marketplace is open to any business with a valid resale/sales tax certificate and a U.S. shipping address
• Lots will range from 1,000 units to 100,000 units
• All disks will come complete with case and cover art
• Starting prices on the initial lots will be as low as 3.3 cents per disk with no reserve prices
• The initial lots will close on September 3rd

According to Howard Rosenberg, B-Stock Solutions’ CEO, “We are very excited about the launch of the BStockDVDs.com marketplace. We are successfully transforming the liquidation process for a major DVD rental company into a win-win situation for both the vendor and the resellers taking advantage of these previously inaccessible buying opportunities. We’re extremely proud of the efficiency our marketplace services bring to the liquidation process and how they drive significant revenues for both buyers and sellers. Having watched small resellers struggle to find sources for quality inventory during my years at eBay, I get great satisfaction out of making that search easy and affordable so these sellers can more effectively grow their businesses. ”

About B-Stock Solutions
B-Stock Solutions is the leading provider of liquidation optimization solutions to Fortune 2000 retailers and manufacturers. The company brings efficiency to the traditional process of liquidating excess inventory, including overstock, returns, end of life and obsolete products. Results are achieved through the use of B-Stock’s proprietary private auction marketplace platform and the companies unparalleled auction strategy and marketplace management expertise. The company was founded by a group of eBay veterans and currently powers marketplaces for some of the largest retailers and manufacturers in the world.

Editorial Contact:
Stacey Schneider
Silicon Spark
415-867-1606
Stacey(at)siliconspark.com