Choosing foreign trade tail goods (i.e. foreign trade inventory or surplus goods) requires comprehensive consideration of the quality of the source, market demand, profit margins, and potential risks. The following are key steps and precautions to help you make a wise choice:
—
- Clarify the target market and demand
– **Target customer groups**: Buyers of foreign trade tail goods may be offline wholesalers, e-commerce sellers, discount stores, or individual consumers. Choose categories based on the consumption capacity and preferences (such as style, size, and function) of the target group.
– **Popular categories**: Clothing, shoes and hats, household goods, electronic product accessories, toys, etc. are common foreign trade tail goods, but you need to pay attention to current market trends (such as environmentally friendly products, sports and outdoor products, etc.).
- Find a reliable source of goods
– **Upstream suppliers**:
– **Foreign trade factories**: Contact export-oriented factories directly and ask about inventory tail goods (usually due to order cancellations, overproduction, or minor defects).
– **Foreign trade companies**: Some foreign trade companies will deal with overstocked inventory, and the price may be slightly higher than that of the factory, but the categories are richer.
– **Professional tail goods market**: There are concentrated tail goods wholesale markets in Guangzhou Baiyun District, Yiwu International Trade City, Dongguan and other places.
– **Online platform**: Alibaba 1688 (search “foreign trade tail orders”), Xianyu, professional tail goods websites (such as “tail goods network”), and you need to pay attention to distinguish the authenticity.
– **Key to inspection**:
– Request to provide photos/videos of the actual goods to check whether the goods are consistent with the description.
– Ask about the source of the goods (Is it the remaining OEM of a big brand? Is there original packaging and labels?).
– Defect description: Clearly indicate whether it is a brand new tail goods, a slightly defective product or a defective product.
- Strictly control product quality
– **Sampling inspection**: Especially when purchasing in bulk, be sure to conduct sampling inspection (or entrust a third-party inspection company) to avoid mixing in a large number of defective products.
– **Quality inspection standards**:
– **Clothing/textiles**: Check fabrics, color difference, stitching, buttons, etc.
– **Electronic products**: Test basic functions and confirm whether they meet safety standards (such as CE, ROHS certification).
– **Packaging**: Unpackaged (lump goods) have lower prices, but may affect sales; original packaging is more likely to be overpriced.
- Evaluate price and profit
– **Cost calculation**: Tail goods are usually sold as “lump goods” (mixed batches) or “clearance prices”, and the cost of each piece (including logistics and warehousing) needs to be calculated.
– **Compare market prices**: Search for the prices of similar products on Taobao, Pinduoduo, and cross-border platforms (such as Amazon and AliExpress) to estimate profit margins.
– **Negotiation skills**: Large quantities can lower prices, but small batches are recommended for trial orders for the first cooperation to reduce risks.
- Pay attention to legal and compliance risks
– **Intellectual property**: Avoid purchasing counterfeit and infringing goods (such as unauthorized leftovers of big brands), which may be seized by customs or face lawsuits.
– **Export restrictions**: If you do cross-border sales, you must comply with the standards of the destination country (such as EU REACH and US FDA certification).
– **Contract terms**: Clarify the return and exchange policy and quality dispute resolution with the supplier.
- Sales strategy suggestions
– **Fast turnover**: The core of leftover goods is to sell them quickly at a low price to avoid backlogs (can be combined with promotional activities, live streaming, etc.).
– **Differentiation**:
– Slightly defective products can be marked as “special clearance”.
– Unbranded leftovers can be repackaged to create your own brand.
– **Multi-channel distribution**: Combine offline wholesale, e-commerce platforms (such as Pinduoduo’s “clearance channel”), community group buying, etc.
—
Common traps and avoidance
– **False tail orders**: Claiming to be “tail goods of big brands” but actually being knockoffs, the supplier’s qualifications need to be verified.
– **Not the same goods as the pictures**: Insist on inspecting the goods before paying, and avoid placing orders based on pictures alone.
– **Inventory trap**: Some tail goods may have been in stock for many years, and may be outdated (such as expired cosmetics) or aging (such as expired batteries of electronic products).
—
Summary of steps
- **Choose product category** → 2. **Find the source of goods** → 3. **Inspect quality** → 4. **Negotiate price** → 5. **Sign a contract** → 6. **Determine sales plan**.
Through systematic screening and risk control, foreign trade tail goods can become a high-profit business, but the key to success lies in strict control of the supply chain and accurate judgment of market demand. It is recommended to start with a small order to test the waters and gradually establish a stable channel.