Treat your first load as an experiment with a budget rather than as inventory. The data it produces is worth more than the merchandise.
What you are buying it to find out
You are trying to answer four questions. How long does a skid take you to sort. What share of it was genuinely sellable. What did the sellable share actually realise on your channel. And would you do it again at that price.
None of those can be answered by reading, and all of them vary enormously by person, channel and category. That is why the first load is worth buying even if it loses money.
Before it arrives
Pick a category you already sell
The experiment only measures the load if the channel is a constant.
Clear the floor space
A skid is roughly 48 by 40 inches and can stand five feet tall. You need somewhere to put it and a table to sort onto.
Confirm you can receive it
A dock or forklift is strongly recommended. If you have neither, ask us about the lane before you order.
Set aside the afternoon
Sorting in twenty-minute bursts over a fortnight ruins the timing data and the momentum.
What to write down
| Measure | How to capture it |
|---|---|
| Sort time | Start and stop times, honestly, including photography |
| Sellable share | Count of units you actually listed or shelved, over units received |
| Realised average | Total revenue divided by units sold, once the load has run its course |
| Dead stock | What you binned, bundled or gave away |
| Cost per sellable unit | Load price divided by units sold, not units received |
| Return per hour | Net revenue divided by every hour you touched it |
What the numbers tell you
If the return per hour beats what your time is otherwise worth, buy the same class of load again and get faster at it. Speed improves dramatically between the first and third skid.
If it does not, change one variable. Usually the channel is wrong for the goods rather than the goods being wrong. Do not respond to a disappointing first pallet by buying a truckload of the same thing, which is a surprisingly common instinct.
And do not judge the model on one load. Variance on unmanifested stock is real. Three loads is a signal; one is an anecdote.
Buy one and measure it
Single skids, freight included, condition stated on every listing.