Turning Holiday Overstock Into Trade Value

We share a fast, practical way to turn post-holiday overstock into real value using barter, consignment, and smart capacity planning. A 3D printing maker, a nonprofit partner, and a trade network show how to avoid clearance losses and keep cash in the bank.

• converting unsold holiday stock into trade value
• using consignment to move kiosk surplus
• leveraging 3D printing for prototypes and rare parts
• timing trade to fill off-peak capacity
• protecting margins by avoiding clearance discounts
• using community networking to speed movement
• spending trade credits on needed services

Come on out to Suzy Q’s Kids second Monday of the month and come say hi and do some networking and then pack some bags for the kiddos

Chapters

• 0:02 Welcome And Barter Thursday
• 0:31 Meeting The 3D Printing Pro
• 2:06 From Kiosks To Prototypes
• 3:13 Consignment And Nonprofit Partner
• 5:32 Sell Post-Holiday Stock On Trade
• 6:39 Using Trade To Fill Capacity
• 7:34 Wrap-Up And Quick Sign-Off

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:02

Hello and welcome to the Trading Post Podcast, where we unlock the secrets of business-to-business trade, dive into powerful networking strategies, and share my exciting journey of using a podcast to market my business instead of relying on SEO. I'm your host, Trader Stew. Hello everybody, and welcome to the Trading Post with your host, Trader Stew, and it is Barter Thursday. And I wanted to talk about a new member that I just signed up and met him at a I guess a trade show swap. Not like a trade show, like what we host in October, but it was over at the bamboo, which is a small business co-op situation, pretty much where business owners get together and we talk about the different things that is going on and how we can help each other. So what is what's he does? What he does is uh 3D printing. And we talked a little bit and he was selling toys there because you know that's like the ideal thing to sell at you know a situation like that. But he's actually got two storefronts and he does kind of like prototyping, I guess you want to say, uh, where he talks to engineers and I give him maybe the blueprints and he can rip rip up a prototype for them. Manufacturing, he told me he made a uh small part one one time for a 19, early 1900s, I guess, radio. And you know, they don't make the part no more, of course. So it was like it was a little gear, I think it was for the tuning. He's able to manufacture that little gear so the guy could use his you know relic of uh of a radio, and it probably works better than today's, you know. But uh I was talking to him on the on my ride to a networking event, which have you if you haven't been to yet, come on out to Suzy Q's Kids second Monday of the month and come say hi and do some networking and then pack some bags for the kiddos. That's what we do from five to seven on second Monday of the month at Suzy Q's Kids on Mound Road. Anyway, so I was talking to him on the way ride there, and I was like, you know, I don't really know what I can do for you because I was telling him, you know, he loves the idea of trade. He was like, Oh, I want to, you know, talk talk more about that. And I was like, I just don't think I have a market for you, bud, except for these toys, you know, and I you maybe you can sell them like on our trade show one day a year, and then make it maybe hopefully enough trade to like kind of get you through or have some fun with it at least at minimum. And then of course get you know, word-of-mouth marketing and get the uh the name out there a bit better. And as we were talking, he was like, you know, I got a bunch of supplies left, a bunch of you know, toys we're gonna call it from my two kiosks that I shut down, you know, from the holidays. So he rented the kiosk for probably two months, I'd imagine, right? So November, December for Christmas shopping. My stepmom buys a lot of these 3D printed gadgets, like gadget spinners, like fidget spinners, fidget toys for my stepson, and you know, he loves them. So he's got a bunch of that kind of stuff. I was like, dude, why don't we do that on consignment? You know, because I also I just signed up another uh company, uh nonprofit, uh it's called For All God's Children. And anyway, they do things where they get these clothes and shoes given to them. And if they can't sell or give away, I guess it's giveaway, the shoes, then because the kids in inner city can't wear non-name brand shoes, like not Nike's or not Jordan's, I guess, and because they'll get teased to death for I guess it's called what are those? And it's this trend where I guess you say what are those and it's winging at people's shoes because they're not a name brand shoe. It's terrible, it's crazy that these kids can't even wear free shoes because it's not worth the teasing, you know. Any rate, so we'll sell those shoes and they got nice, they got boots and everything, like caterpillars, and I'll buy some some cats, most likely. I love cats, because they said you can't wear those because those are blue-collar shoes, like for working man shoes. I was like, really? Okay, well, I mean, I could get it. I was in sixth grade once too, but I don't know. The time I the Reebok pumps was big, and I had like one of the first and only pairs of Nike pumps in school, but I had to pay the difference on those suckers. They were like 120 bones back then. This is like a 19 I don't know, how old are you in sixth grade? Let's see, at 12. So in 1992, 93, something like that, I had Nike pumps, and my mom stopped at 50 bucks. She's like, that's it, 50 bucks, and uh rest is up to you. So you know, you mow lawns and do whatever you gotta do to get the extra 70. And uh I did it though, you know, and I I had these cool shoes. Anyway, we'll sell those on consignment for them. And he's doing the same thing with their excess toys that they have from their two kiosks that they had for the holiday seasons, Christmas and you know, New Year's and birthdays or whatever, I guess, in that time frame. And whatever's left is left, and there's gonna sit there probably until maybe the next season. Or who or he said he also does, I guess, farmers markets and what do you call it, like craft shows? Yeah, he said craft shows. So you know he'll sell them at craft shows and stuff like that, but that's not gonna be February, March time frame. So I might as well get something for him, and that's what I want to, you know, just kind of touch on base with if you have anything, if you're listening to this and it's post-of course Christmas, it's January now, January 13th, and you have excess supply from the holiday seasons, then hey, guess what? If it didn't sell for Christmas, sell it now and get something for it. I mean, you're only you know, you're gonna lose if you don't, so might as well, or don't clearance it, you know, and sell it for at a loss or break-even, sell it at full price on trade, or at least try. You know, the only thing you have into it is uh 12%, you know, commish my you know, our way for doing all the running around legwork and emailing and you know, whatever else we do for you, the texting and the email or whatever. So, you know, you get a lot for your money for that 12%. They don't pay for it until you after you sell it. So what else? Yeah, so overbuying. So you overbought for the peak season. I'm just kind of reading some notes here, making sure I hit everything. Yeah, and then usually you get the discounts of 50 to 75% off for clearance sales. So just trade the unwanted toys or decor or apparel for services or repairs and supplies like MTA for MTA, and you can recover up to 65% of the product value through efficient exchanges and avoid liquidation losses. Something smart to do. You don't get if you join a trade exchange, see, people think that it's like, oh, I'm committing. I'm not committing. You are trading excess, time, and capacity. We have you know a winto window tinting place that takes trade in the off season because in the peak season, spring, when everyone's like, oh man, the sun's back out again. I gotta get my windows tinted. You know, he's not really taking much trade, right? Because you don't need to. The cash business is he's backlogged six, eight weeks. So why take trade? But in the offseason, his employees are sitting around, take the trade. Why not? What else we got here? I'm excited to see how this sounds because I adjusted my receiver volume and haven't really touched that in months. Just a suggestion that I saw from AI. So, what else we got here? I don't know. I'm not gonna really talk to talk. That's it. It's under 10 minutes. There you go. Just something to say real quick about bartering. And and me and this Anthony hit it, and I hope to be able to sell some of these fidget toys for him. And my stepson will love coming in here to work and see what we got, because he can buy some of this stuff on trade, of course. That's it. Whatever you guys do out there, be good or be good at it. Bye.