What's My Excess Inventory Worth? A Checklist for Manufacturers and Distributors

Two pallets of the same size can be worth very different amounts. What a buyer pays for excess and obsolete stock comes down to a handful of things you can check yourself in an afternoon. Tick each one that's true of your stock to see where it stands.

Condition and packaging

• Most of it is new in the original box
  Factory-sealed and new-in-box stock gets the strongest offers. Opened-box is next, and pulled-from-service parts come after that.
• Labels and part numbers are readable
  Buyers price by the manufacturer part number. A missing or damaged label means someone has to identify the part by hand.
• It has been stored indoors and dry
  Water, rust, crushed boxes and sun damage cut value fast, especially on electronics.

Demand

• It is from brands plants still run
  Allen-Bradley, Siemens, Schneider, Mitsubishi, ABB, Eaton, SMC and similar brands have deep resale demand. Unbranded or private-label parts are harder to place.
• It is automation, electrical or MRO, not custom-made
  Standard catalog parts fit thousands of machines. Custom-made parts built to one company’s drawings usually fit only that company’s equipment.
• Some of it is discontinued or hard to find new
  When the factory stops making a part, plants still running it buy spares. See our discontinued automation lines guide.

Quantity and mix

• You have a few of many part numbers, not hundreds of one
  A wide mix sells through faster. Very deep quantity of one part number takes longer to move, which lowers the price per unit.
• You are selling the whole lot
  One offer for everything beats selling the best parts and getting stuck with the rest. Buyers pay more when they can see the full list.

Paperwork and timing

• You have a spreadsheet with part number, quantity and condition
  A clean list gets you a faster, firmer number. An ERP export is fine.
• You are selling now, not after another year on the shelf
  Obsolete stock is usually worth more this year than next. Each year it sits, more plants migrate to the newer platform and fewer buyers need it.

What your score means

Three quick examples

A distributor's dropped line card

A distributor drops a brand and is left with 300 part numbers, mostly new in box, with a clean ERP export. That's 9 out of 10. It is the kind of lot buyers compete for.

A plant's closed production line

A manufacturer shuts down a line and pulls the PLCs, drives and HMIs. They are used but working, from major brands, and some are discontinued. With a parts list, that's around 6 or 7. Demand for the discontinued pieces makes up for the used condition.

A storeroom no one has touched in years

Mixed boxes with some labels missing and no list are stored in a damp outbuilding. That scores 3 or 4. It is still worth having a buyer look before it goes to scrap, because a few good part numbers can carry the lot.

For the full cleanup process, see the Excess and Obsolete Inventory Guide for Manufacturers.

Published by VB Industrial Supply, Ventura, California. Scores are a rough guide, not an offer; actual value depends on the specific part numbers and market demand.