On a recent afternoon, televisions and laptops, power tools and fishing rods, kitchen supplies and toys overflowed at the receiving docks of a 250,000-square-foot warehouse in Fort Worth.
The warehouse belonged to ReturnPro, and the goods passing through it, worth millions of dollars, had been returned by consumers to major retailers including Walmart, J.C. Penney and Bass Pro Shops. Those retailers then shipped the items to ReturnPro, which has a dozen warehouses globally. Workers there sort, clean and repackage the items, then post them for sale on an array of websites where consumers, wholesalers and off-price retailers hunt for discounts.
The cycle is part of the sprawling “reverse logistics” industry that recirculates overstock items and returned goods. And with President Trump’s tariff war on China, ReturnPro and other reverse logistics companies are bracing for a surge in demand for refurbished goods in the coming months.
With fewer goods crossing the Pacific, retailers and wholesalers are expected to draw down their inventories of electronics, toys, clothing and other goods. And as they do, they will have to either order more goods from China at higher prices or look for alternatives, like ReturnPro.
ReturnPro handles 259 categories of goods returned to retailers, which may have otherwise sold the products to liquidators for pennies on the dollar or sent them to a landfill at a loss. By sorting them, ReturnPro can generate 25 cents or more on the dollar for the retailers, and far more for products it refurbishes.
“As there’s uncertainty in the market and the world is not sure what direction we’re going with tariffs, a lot of vendors and retailers have reduced the amount of inventory they’ve purchased or canceled orders altogether,” said Sender Shamiss, ReturnPro’s chief executive. “There’s an opportunity to bring these items back to life that are already here and put them back into the supply chain.”
Each day, ReturnPro has more than 500,000 Chinese-made items listed for sale on its various websites, including VIP Outlet, goWholesale and Direct Liquidation. There, wholesalers, mom-and-pop stores, retailers that sell overstock items like Five Below and T.J. Maxx, and even consumers can find refurbished products made by Apple, Milwaukee Tool, Hamilton Beach and other top brands.
ReturnPro sells more than 70 percent of the returns it receives on consignment from retailers, with up to 300 truckloads’ worth of goods sent every week to wholesalers and liquidators. Roughly half of the returns that ReturnPro receives are made in China, and ReturnPro tries to sell the products in its warehouses within 60 days.
“It’s a continuous cycle of one man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” said Zac Rogers, an associate professor of supply chain management at Colorado State University. When inventories plummet, “the sort of normal cycle of continuous replenishment is going away, and these goods will have to come from other places.”
The returns business has been booming. According to the National Retail Federation, an estimated $890 billion in goods were returned last year, more than double the amount in 2020, when retailers made it easier for stuck-at-home consumers to return products.
Mr. Shamiss, a gregarious Toronto native known as the Godfather of Returns, said his company’s software used algorithms to help retailers determine the potential resale value of returns. Low-cost items like cellphone cases, for example, aren’t worth shipping to ReturnPro. The company may deem some damaged items “beyond economic repair,” in which case they would most likely be sold to a liquidator or sent to a recycler.
But items like computers, hunting gear and coffee makers, which have higher resale values, are worth refurbishing, and ReturnPro will do the work. The company, which used to be called goTRG, charges retailers to use its software and collects commissions on what it sells for them. The company said it expected to move 67 million units through its facilities this year.
Mark Kingsley, a co-owner of 203 Trading, an electronics and computer wholesaler, has been buying Apple, HP and other brand-name goods in bulk from ReturnPro since 2008. He said that during the Covid-19 pandemic and financial crisis of 2008, consumers became more comfortable with refurbished goods, which also have advantages for wholesalers.
“One nice thing about dealing with refurbished equipment is that you’re not really subject to the pricing set by manufacturers, so you’re able to go out and find deals all the time,” he said.
Wes Berry, an executive vice president at ReturnPro, said retailers he had spoken to had been setting up war rooms to discuss whether or how much to raise prices to offset higher tariffs, and where to find alternative vendors for goods, including those made in the United States. In the past, retailers typically sold overstock items when new models arrived. Now, he said, they may hold on to them longer, which could drive up the value of goods in ReturnPro’s warehouses.
The mountains of goods stacked to the ceiling in Fort Worth are a tangible sign of consumer attitudes and preferences. A spike in returns can suggest that consumers are tightening their belts or that companies have flooded the market with products that turn out not to be popular, or that have defects.
A dozen Vizio televisions sitting on one bay were returned by retailers to make space for newer models. In one aisle, dozens of retro boomboxes were stacked on shelves next to ice baths, home safes, golf bags, Dutch ovens and 12-inch tricycles.
Not far from the loading docks, two women picked through boxes of returns sent back to Bass Pro Shops. They scanned Igloo coolers, fish finders and Coleman gas grills, items that would most likely be bought by sporting goods stores. There were crossbows and air guns, too. Buyers’ remorse is the most common reason for the returns.
Some goods arrive in damaged boxes and have to be repackaged. Many consumers buy big televisions for Christmas to watch the National Football League playoffs only to return them after the Super Bowl. More generators are returned after hurricane season, and Christmas trees and snowblowers come back after the winter.
About 15 percent of returns are classified as fraud, like clothing that was worn once — say, to a wedding — and then returned, a practice called “wardrobing.” Fraudsters may put broken or fake items in boxes that weigh as much as the original product, hoping the person refunding the purchase doesn’t check. One customer removed an iMac from its box and replaced it with a Bible, according to Fara Alexander, ReturnPro’s director of brand management.
In general, the most valuable items are electronics because they are in constant demand and retain their value. ReturnPro workers scrutinize dozens of brands of laptops and desktop computers, running diagnostic software, wiping their hard drives and looking for cracked screens and missing accessories. Software is reinstalled, and the machines are cleaned and repackaged.
Some are scooped up in minutes, which Mr. Shamiss sees as a sign that despite the economic turmoil — or perhaps because of it — the market for refurbished goods will remain strong.
“You can put tariffs in the world, but people are still going to buy,” he said. “We are a consumer society. Returns aren’t going away anytime soon.”
Ken Belson is a Times reporter covering sports, power and money at the N.F.L. and other professional sports leagues.
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