Surplus Bulk Overstock Discontinued sellers listing items,

 as "New In the Box",

'Tested works great",

"Cream Of the Crop"

and many other headings in the description line are unfounded and false.

The truth is the items are in one way or another  "Shelf Pulls" or "Customer Returns".

This is the most important thing to consider when bidding on these items.they Are no Longer considered Retail... ( The Retail Market have basically recycled the items.)

They are purchased through Bids...Items on pallets Are Bulk Buys in 40 foot semi truck trailors... The bidder wins All the items in the trailor no matter how it is packed or the condition of items....

I will not say what the going price is.... But it is a bargain.

Items are Rarely Truly "NEW IN BOX" unless discontinued (shelf Pull) items.

Most have been Opened, Used, Returned And should be tested and inspected to ensure quality and workability.

I Do surplus sales my self ,and I Also buy from surplus sellers here on this site.I truly test and inspect everything I list,

Yes it is time consuming and can be frustrating at times when large quantities of items go to the recycle or disposal... it is disapointing.

A $0.99 item with a 12.00 shipping.

 This means the buyer has bought the item for $13.00 not $0.99 and that is the real issue,

Shipping business even in this great country is not always at a very low cost.

The Sellers should always be looking for the cheapest (safest ) way to send items Plus offer insurance more often than not...

I have found that the large Surplus sellers have a tendency to mis describe the items,

Charge a high shipping cost,

And if an Item is received By the customer as "not as described"

The Seller may offer a refund Minus shipping, Plus the customer usually has to pay for return shipping.

 When Leaving  negative feedback for the Poor Service. The seller in return gives negative feedback in retaliation.

    Not that this is always the case ,But in my experience as a buyer i have had over 30 negative feedback in retaliation from the same Surplus seller. ( I purchased 43 items in 4 days no combined shipping offered )

Because the seller was doing over 3000 items per month; The only thing i recieved from safe Harbor was a letter about Buyer Beware, I had no other recourse than to file my complaint with the legal system.

You can check this out by going to google.com and searching  "Marty Fike" "Consumer Depot"

His company alone has over 5,000 negative feedbacks and also over 5,000 given negative feedback.

Contact the seller and ask about the validity of the description.

Unable to contact the seller or get an automated response, Then you must Bid understanding it is a gamble.

You may not recieve the item you won... You May receive  Damaged or non working items, PreRegistered software, Missing Pieces, Poor condition....

The pictures even though stated they are of the item, In some cases are not...  Do not expect the picture to be what you bid on.

    There are some truly honest Surplus sellers whom take the time to inspect, test, And describe items properly and Honestly.

The Only Gauge for success is to view the Seller's feedback  who seems to sale in large numbers of listed items.

Make sure to read all policies in the description page,

  If you are redirected to another site or page to view Policies... My suggestion would be do not bid on that item or with that seller.

I have found that when you have to view several different links to discover the policies,payment,returns,warranties...

You are usually dealing with a seller who takes the item off the pallet,pictures it (sometimes) and lists it via a pool of typist.

The item does not get tested,or even a decent inspection,

This is how as the buyer would recieve items won and have to return due to "not as described "status, In some cases this too can be very difficult to go through.

 The sellers RMA Procedure may not be easy or convenient.

When the items are returned and the seller gives a refund for the Winning Bid...  Usually the seller retains all the money collected for shipping.

For the seller this is Win,Win.

The item was sold for a low price...

Inspected by buyer and found not as described...

 Buyer Returns Item back to seller usually at buyers expense... Wich is the standard Dispute settlement Through filing with the Auction site. 

The Seller may even Relist the item...

The Seller Keeps the Profit above oroiginal shipping cost from the Transaction. 

A number like $5.00 (generally what the overage will be) each time this happens,

   Now add it up just for the negatives the Seller has ...let's say the negatives over the past 12 months are 5000 negatives and  20,000 feedback

    5000 x 5.00  Nets $25,000.00 of profit with refunds given... What still remains is others who lost money and left positive... due to fear of negative and recieved a refund for item price won.)

The nerve of Some Sellers Who have truly wronged the Buyer.... to leave negative retaliation feedback...

What about the Buyers who chose not to return the item and take the full loss.

BUYER BEWARE it is the best advice that anyone can give potential buyers

It is very sound advice for any purchases made on auction sites.

And exactly what the buyer will recieve from the SafeHarbor and SquareDeal sections of this site.