Customer returns, shelf pulls and overstock compared

Three phrases do most of the work in this industry, and they are not interchangeable. The condition basis is the single most useful thing on a listing.

Customer returns

Goods a customer bought and sent back. Some went back unopened because the size was wrong or they changed their mind. Some went back because they failed. Both end up in the same load, and nothing has been opened to tell them apart.

Cheapest of the three. Highest share of unsellable units. Best suited to people who can test, repair or part out.

Shelf pulls

Stock removed from a shop floor for reasons that have nothing to do with a customer. A line was discontinued, a display was reset, a season ended. The goods are generally unused.

Packaging is the usual casualty, because boxes sat on a shop floor where customers handled and opened them. Expect scuffed and reopened packaging around goods that are themselves fine.

Overstock

Stock that never sold at all. Ordered in volume, did not move, came to liquidation still packaged. The most predictable condition basis of the three, and priced accordingly.

Side by side

Customer returns

Lowest price. Highest variance. A real share will not work.

Shelf pulls

Mid price. Goods generally unused. Packaging often opened.

Overstock

Highest price. Most consistent. Breakage is the risk, not function.

None of the three is inspected or tested here, and all of them are unmanifested. The basis narrows the range of what you will find. It does not tell you what is in the box.