Common Terminology used in the Closeout and Wholesale Industry - Alphabetized List

All Sales Final - no refunds, merchandise credits or exchanges are accepted.

As Is - When a property is sold as is, the seller does not warrant or guarantee that the property is free of defects. The buyer accepts the property in its present condition, without modification. May or may not be functional and has no associated warranty

Bill of Lading - A contract between a shipper and carrier listing the terms for moving freight between specified points.

Blind - Refers to a load or pallet that is un-manifested or or has no written inventory of contained merchandised, nor do they have a manifest

Bulk - Items that are sold in large quantities. When buying in bulk most of the time you will receive a significant discount. Make sure to inquire.

Case lot - Products packaged and sold by a predetermined quantity from the manufacturer.

Closeouts - Merchandise that is being sold below the original wholesale cost.

Discontinued - This category of product is most commonly found in electronics, automotive parts, and appliances. New models are manufactured with updated technology or features. The old or past models therefore become discontinued. Discontinued products can be purchased for very little cost and will contain little or no damage.

Drop shipping - A method of selling where the retailer does not stock goods, but instead takes customer orders and sends them to a wholesaler, who in turn ships out the orders.

Factory Overruns - A production run that went over the scheduled amount, resulting in excess inventory. Here is a great opportunity to purchase merchandise at a deep discount. I have personally bought merchandise for nickels on the dollar.

Factory overstocks - Stock that was left over after a particular selling season.

Federated - Refers to the Federated chain of department stores including Bloomingdale's, Bon Marche, Burdines, Goldsmiths, Lazarus, Macy's East, Macy's West and Rich's. When merchandise is described as "Federated" it is from this chain of fine department stores. Generally considered in the industry and at a retail level...Mid to high-end quality.

FOB - "Freight On Board" This refers to the location of the merchandise being represented and shipped from. This can be some indication that the merchandise is being "Brokered", obviously if the company you are dealing with is located in Texas and lists merchandise FOB Florida you can almost assume your broker has never seen the merchandise offered. Be careful, as this is not the case in all situations. A company may have multiple warehouse locations. This is a grey area and very hard to determine. You will notice many companies stating, "We have many FOB or warehouse points all over the US". This should not be construed as company owned facilities.

Gaylord Box - Corrugated cardboard shipping and storage boxes that are typically open to approximately 48″ x 48″ 48″ and are used on pallets for shipping large quantities of smaller items

Grey Market Goods - Licensed goods where the origin, authenticity, or method of distribution is in question. This has become a major problem with apparel and footwear. Unauthorized factory overruns, back door deals, knock offs, and more. Buying and selling them can result in civil and criminal penalties. It doesn't matter if they are authentic or not. If they did not come from an authorized factory distributor or a department store which is usually an authorized distributor you have exposure. Be extremely cautious when purchasing straight brand lots especially from small distributors.

HBA - Health & Beauty Aids. Can encompass several types of merchandise including: cosmetics, personal hygiene items and over the counter drugs (OTC)

IMASD - Internet Marketing Association of Surplus Dealers (Surplus.net). The site links Surplus and Closeout Companies from around the world. Users can search by relevant term to access merchandise currently for sale or wanted. Each IMASD member maintains a web page displaying merchandise available. Referred to as "Hot Sheet". IMASD is an advertising network.

Less-Than-Truckload (LTL) - Carriers are trucking companies that combine smaller shipments from multiple companies on the same truck and make multiple deliveries. These goods move through a network of terminals on route to their final destination. At each terminal, the shipment may be taken off one truck and transferred to another that is loaded with goods destined for the same region. LTL is used by companies without the volume to move full truckloads.

Lift-gate service - When the shipping or receiving address does not have a loading dock, manual loading or unloading is necessary. A lift gate is a platform at the back of certain trucks that can raise and lower a shipment from the ground to the truck. Additional fees apply for this service.

Liquidation Products - Products that were sold at a discount (many times less than the production cost) in order to turn slow-moving or stagnant inventory into cash.

Manifest - term used for a written inventory of goods in question. A manifest can list the following information; Item model numbers, quantity of items, wholesale value & retail value of individual items. A manifest usually does not list actual item conditions. Manifests can be emailed or faxed if they are available...ask when you call your dealer.

National Branded Product (N) - Product that is not manufactured or specifically sold at a single retail store. National brands are products like GE, Whirlpool, Sony, Panasonic, etc.

NWT - Acronym for "New with Tags". Refers to an item having the original Retailers price tags

Pallet - Wood or plastic flat transport structure that supports goods in a stable fashion while in transit. A pallet also allows for ease of product movement in a warehouse setting by the use of a forklift or pallet jack. Pallets are sometimes referred to as a "Skid". A standard wooden pallet is 40″ by 48″

Pre-pack - Assorted merchandise with pre-determined colors, styles and/or sizes. Typically will refer to apparel.

Private Label (Y) - Product that is manufactured and sold at a single retail organization. The brand name is identified with a specific organization

Reclamation Centers - Warehouses set up for the purpose of liquidation or wholesale. A company who wants to sell off Surplus inventory or stock will open reclamation centers and wholesale these products to Ebay Sellers, Clearance stores and shops and / or companies that specialize in off-price or wholesale. These centers can be found in many states. Reclamation is a way for a company to bring additional capital back from stock they no longer have use for or product that would normally take up valuable space in their warehouse.

Refurbished or Reconditioned Products - Products that have been used (and possibly previously defective), but have been restored to full working condition. However, they may or may not come in original packaging or include instructions and accessories.

Residential Delivery - If you do not have a commercial location that actually opens and closes at set times each day within a commercially zoned area, you will be considered a residence and extra fees will apply for pickup and delivery.

Customer Return - Merchandise that has been purchased at a retail level and then returned to the original store for various reasons. Some returns are defective, broken or simply returned for no apparent reason at all. A consumer might return merchandise because it was bought in haste or by impulse. In this scenario if the original packaging is not intact or missing a component the retailer will deem it salvaged. Defective or broken merchandise is a tricky area, often products can be repaired if you have the skill required.

Retail - Price set for items sold to the general public. The last mark-up in the cost to bring an item to a particular consumer store. Please note, many items will have a suggested retail price set by a manufacturer. This price does in no way constitute a products' value as "suggested retail prices" are often overlooked by retailers and priced according to market and/or trends.

Salvage and Surplus - Discounted products that vary in functionality, appearance or both. Typically, salvage products are junk and only good for parts, while surplus products may be new (though rare), used or defective.

Seasonal Product - items such as Christmas or Halloween decorations that are heavily discounted right after the season ends

Shelf Pull Merchandise - Products that were previously on the shelf in a retail store but were never sold. They may have multiple price tags/stickers on the packaging or they may have been display models showing use and missing parts.

Skid - See definition of a Pallet

Stock Lot - Term used to describe multiples of the same items. Example: a Stock lot of apparel would be one garment in various sizes (Same style). Ask for clarification when inquiring.

Store Codes - Store codes are numbers, one or two digits, that represent actual retail stores. Most companies will refer to merchandise as being from Store Code (fill in the blank) to give you an idea of quality and contents of lot or pallet. Store codes are not usually posted on websites so you must request a listing breakdown. There are roughly 12-15 codes you will see all the time, as they are the most popular. They are standard codes used in the industry, however some companies may have their own coding system.

Truckload - A standard 53′ truck will hold 24-26 pallets single stacked. Some pallets can be double stacked thereby allowing twice as much (48-50 Pallets)

VERO - EBay's Verification of Owners Rights Organization. This is a group of companies that provide information when they feel their intellectual property rights have been violated. Many of these companies do not like to see their products sold on eBay which undercuts their normal retail distribution channels. Some have employees and computer programs that search for their products daily looking for violations. The apparel, footwear, and accessories companies are especially active. If one of these companies sees one of your listings and they believe there is a violation, they contact eBay and your listing can be pulled. You will be asked for documentation that your products are not violating intellectual property owners rights. If you can't produce the documentation, you are probably out of luck.