Reseller guide
Are liquidation pallets profitable after expenses?
A liquidation pallet can produce a profit or lose money. Liquidation means goods cleared out for resale, often in mixed groups on a pallet, a platform for moving and storing goods. Subtract every cost from actual sales, track unsold goods and review your time. A few good sales won't tell you how the whole pallet ends.
Start with three separate questions
#Gross sales is the total charged for goods before fees or refunds. Profit is what's left after the costs you've counted. A payout is money a marketplace sends from your seller balance to your bank; it may cover several sales and deductions. The glossary explains more trade terms.
Ask three questions about a pallet: How did the sold items perform? How much of the full purchase cash has come back? Does the result justify the unpaid work left? The sold items can show a profit while the full purchase still has a cash shortfall.
Keep this review apart from your tax return. IRS Publication 334 covers goods held for sale and business costs, with some small-business exceptions. These worksheets are planning tools, not legal, tax or financial advice. Ask a qualified tax professional which method fits your business.
Gather the full purchase cost
#Landed cost is what you paid to buy the goods and get them to your work space. Start with the invoice, the bill listing purchase charges, then add delivery and other buying costs paid separately. Check the bill so you don't add an included shipping charge twice.
You may pay a buyer's premium, an extra charge on a winning auction bid. Freight is transport of the pallet or truckload. Help lowering the pallet from the truck and other extra delivery services may cost more. Keep purchase tax visible and ask your tax adviser how to treat it.
The landed-cost guide walks through these charges. The pallet profit calculator can help with purchase arithmetic; keep later selling and work costs in your own review too.
Give the purchase a short ID, a reference such as P-01, and use it on item notes, receipts and your review sheet. Note how you split bills across purchases. Mark unknown charges as unknown until you find the bill; a blank cell can look like zero later.
Count the costs after arrival
#Use actual charges for completed sales. A commission is the marketplace's charge for a sale; payment processing is the charge for handling the buyer's payment. As of October 2026, Whatnot's fee structure varies by category, market and sales period, and processing remains separate. Use the fees charged to your order, rather than an old flat percentage.
Record buyer-paid shipping as money in and your postage label as a cost. You still have postage and packing costs when the buyer pays for shipping. If you start with a payout after fees, don't subtract them again. eBay's transaction reports help trace a deposit.
Add only costs you incurred, with receipts:
| Cost | What to record |
|---|---|
| Selling | Sale and payment fees, paid ads, seller subscriptions and later charge changes |
| Shipping | Postage, extra postage charges and return postage |
| Packing | Cartons, tape, wrap and cushioning used |
| Prep work | Cleaning supplies, missing parts and paid repairs |
| Space and operations | Rent, storage, utilities, insurance, equipment and finance charges; state your split for shared costs |
| Travel | Trip date, purpose, miles, parking and tolls |
| Paid help | Actual charges for work on the goods |
| Closing the purchase | Recycling or disposal charges |
For costs shared across pallets, choose a clear split, use it each time and note the rule on the sheet. Keep business driving records as you go. The IRS vehicle guidance covers proof and limits for tax use; don't claim a guessed trip total.
Work through a partly sold pallet
#Made-up example: you pay $400 for goods, $100 for delivery and $50 for purchase tax and other buying charges. The total is $550. After inspection, you have 25 sellable units, meaning 25 individual pieces you can offer to buyers. For this planning sheet, you split the $550 evenly: $550 divided by 25 is $22 per unit.
You complete sales of 15 units. Buyers pay $600 for items and $75 for shipping. You pay $90 in selling fees, $75 in postage and $30 for packing. You also assign $25 of shared storage costs to these sales. There are no refunds yet. Buyer sales tax is kept outside these figures.
| Completed-sale review | Amount |
|---|---|
| Item receipts plus buyer-paid shipping | $675 |
| Less fees, postage and packing: $90 + $75 + $30 | -$195 |
| Less assigned cost of 15 units: 15 × $22 | -$330 |
| Less assigned storage cost | -$25 |
| Result before unpaid owner time and relevant taxes | $125 |
Now review cash for the full purchase. You received $675 and spent $550 buying it, plus $195 on sales costs and $25 on storage. That's $675 minus $770, or a cash shortfall of $95. The ten remaining units carry $220 of assigned purchase cost, but no buyer has paid for them yet.
Both views are correct for their stated purpose. The sold items show a $125 result. The full purchase still needs $95 of cash recovery before further costs. If some receipts remain held by a platform, also show what has reached the bank and what is still held there.
Put your time beside the result
#Track time spent buying, receiving, sorting, checking, taking photos, listing, answering messages, packing and keeping records. Include failed pickups and return work. Note the task and time when you stop so you don't have to rebuild the week from memory.
In the same made-up example, suppose those completed sales took 10 unpaid hours. You choose a planning allowance of $15 per hour for your own time. Ten times $15 is $150. The $125 result minus $150 leaves negative $25 in your time review. The allowance is your choice; it isn't a measured reseller rate or a cash payment.
Show the result before owner time beside the time review. Paid help is already a cost; don't count it again as unpaid work. A sole proprietor runs a business personally. Their own pay and personal withdrawals aren't deductible business wages under IRS Publication 334.
Keep leftovers and returns in the count
#Inventory is the goods you still hold for sale. Count what's ready to list, listed, awaiting work or due to leave another way. Include partial quantities of repeated items in the physical count. Asking prices on a shelf aren't collected sale receipts.
A write-off records an item leaving sale stock without an ordinary sale, perhaps through donation or disposal. Note the date, quantity, reason and destination. The full-purchase cash view already counts the buying cost, so don't subtract it again when discarding an item. Add any new disposal charge once. Review tax treatment separately.
A refund sends money back to a buyer. It may bring back no goods or a unit you can't offer again. Link it to the original sale, then update the money record and item count using the returns guide.
Only test what you can test safely. Set aside recalled goods, swollen or damaged batteries, damaged cords and gas appliances. Check the CPSC recall search and the manufacturer. Recalled products can't be offered for sale, including as a way to reduce your loss. CPSC's reseller guidance explains that rule.
Review the purchase before buying again
#Set a review date and show what's sold, still held and removed. Compare purchases at the same stage; a closed pallet gives different evidence from one that still needs hours of work.
What changed the result: higher delivery costs, missing parts, larger boxes or leftovers taking up space for the next purchase? Use your records to note a change to the next buying plan. Work through the first-pallet steps before buying again.
Give another price change or group sale a date and cost limit. Compare choices in the slow-stock guide. Trace missing deposits or fee totals with the bookkeeping guide before judging the purchase. Base the review on your completed records; this guide has no verified representative liquidation profit figure.
Keep item costs and expenses together
#Costs get lost when sale notes and expense receipts live in different places. A notebook or spreadsheet works. PalletPro lets you record sale price, fees and shipping; on paid tiers, you can record expenses and link them to pallets. Its pallet purchase cost plus tax splits evenly across sellable units, so keep other buying costs visible in your wider review. See the app
Sources
#- Publication 334 - IRS, 2025 edition (checked October 1, 2026)
- Publication 463 - IRS, 2025 edition (checked October 1, 2026)
- Whatnot seller fees - Whatnot, October 1, 2026 (checked October 1, 2026)
- Reconciling your eBay sales transactions - eBay (checked October 1, 2026)
- Recall search - CPSC (checked October 1, 2026)
- Online seller safety FAQs - CPSC (checked October 1, 2026)
Updated
More guides
- Liquidation pallet and resale glossary
Plain definitions of liquidation grades, manifests, freight, costs and resale terms, with sources and links to the guides that explain each topic.
- Start reselling liquidation pallets: your first purchase
Plan your first liquidation pallet with clear steps for buying, costs, freight, safe checks, listings, sales, and stock that stays unsold.