Short answer: pull the slow SKUs into a separate closeout list, set one closeout price per account tier, and offer it first to your best existing retailers as a short, invite-only event with a firm end date. Do it in early Q4, before holiday buying closes. Send only what's left after that to off-price buyers or liquidators.
Your retailers already know your product and their customers already trust it, so they can usually pay more than a closeout buyer will. If you want the price lists, minimums and live stock in one place, start a brand account on Ordrly (Core is $0/month).
This is a playbook for small wholesale brands, especially outdoor, sporting goods and golf, heading into year-end with more stock than they planned. It covers how to decide what's actually excess, how to price it, who to offer it to and in what order, how to keep it from hurting your full-price business, and when a liquidator really is the right call.
Why year-end is the moment to move it
Excess stock gets more expensive the longer it sits. You're paying for the shelf space, the cash is tied up, and every month the product gets a little more dated. RepSpark's September 2026 post on year-end excess makes the same point and says golf and outdoor haven't worked through their inventory as fully as apparel has. It also cites AlixPartners analysis showing retailers' interest costs on carried inventory up roughly 40% since 2021.
The timing matters for a second reason: your retailers' open-to-buy. In October and early November, many stores are still filling holes for the holiday season and gifting. A well-priced closeout lands as a margin opportunity. In late December, the same offer competes with their own markdowns, and in January it competes with your next season's line.
So the practical deadline isn't December 31. It's the point where retailers stop buying for holiday, which for many specialty stores is well before Thanksgiving.
Step 1: Decide what's actually excess
Not everything that's slow is excess. Before you discount anything, sort your stock into three groups:
Core, still selling. Leave it alone. Never put a style that's still in your active line on a closeout list.
Slow but salvageable. Carryover colors, last season's models, sizes that didn't sell through. These are your closeout candidates.
Dead stock. Discontinued, old packaging, product you're reformulating. This may go straight to a liquidator if your accounts won't want it.
Then ask one more question for the slow group: is this stock unwanted, or just in the wrong place? A cold-weather style that stalled in one region may be right on time somewhere else. RepSpark's guide on liquidating without damaging your brand calls this "reallocate before you reprice," and it's good advice. Moving stock is reversible. A price cut isn't.
Step 2: Build a separate closeout list and price it
Keep closeout SKUs apart from your regular line sheet. If they sit next to full-price products, every buyer sees the discount and starts wondering what else is negotiable.
A clean closeout list includes:
SKU, product name and variant (size, color)
Quantity available, from live stock, not last month's count
Regular wholesale price and the closeout price
MSRP or suggested retail, so the retailer can see their margin
Case packs or minimums
Condition and packaging notes (for example, previous packaging)
The offer's end date and whether sales are final
How to set closeout pricing for retailers
There's no standard discount, and anyone who quotes you one doesn't know your margins. Work it out from your own numbers:
Find your floor. What would a liquidator realistically pay, after freight? Ask for a quote early so you know. Your retailer price should beat that number, or there's no point.
Find the retailer's margin. At your closeout price, can the store still sell at or near your suggested retail and make a better margin than usual? That's what makes them say yes.
Use one price per tier. Pick a closeout price for each account tier and apply it consistently. If two stores compare notes, neither should find the other got a better deal.
Set minimums that move the whole size run. Pre-packs or case minimums stop buyers from cherry-picking the medium sizes and leaving you holding the extremes.
Protect MAP and your full-price accounts
Discounting doesn't usually hurt a brand. Other people seeing the discount does. If you have a minimum advertised price (MAP) policy, decide in advance whether closeout SKUs stay under it or are exempt, and put that in writing to the accounts that buy. A common approach is to keep MAP on anything still in the line and only relax it on discontinued styles. Pricing and resale policies vary by state and contract, so run any change past your lawyer.
Step 3: Offer it to your best accounts first
Order matters. Start with the people who'll value it most and can sell it without crashing your price.
Wave | Who | Why | Window |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Your best repeat accounts | Reward loyalty; they know the product and can sell it fast | About a week |
2 | Other active accounts and stores in regions where the style is still in season | Reallocation, not just markdown | About a week |
3 | Quiet or lapsed accounts | A good reason to get back in touch | About a week |
4 | Off-price buyers, closeout buyers or liquidators | Whatever's left, ideally as one lot | Before year-end |
Frame it as an invitation, not a fire sale. Something like: "We've got limited stock on a few styles from last season. Before we offer it anywhere else, here's first pick at closeout pricing through Friday the 14th." Short, specific, with a real end date. Our wholesale reorder email templates work as a starting point. Just swap in the closeout details.
Wave 3 deserves a mention. A store that's gone quiet often just got busy. A time-limited offer on products they already know is an easy way back in, and a reorder on your current line can follow. If that's a problem for you all year, our guide on how to get retailers to reorder walks through a 90-day plan.
Make it an event, not a permanent clearance section
An open-ended clearance page becomes part of your price list, and buyers learn to wait for it. A closeout that runs for a week or two, to an invited list, then ends, doesn't train anyone. When the window closes, take the prices down.
Running a closeout on Ordrly
Ordrly is a wholesale ordering and reorder network for brands and the retailers they sell to. It doesn't have a dedicated "closeout event" feature, but the tools you need to run one for connected accounts are live today, according to the Ordrly wholesale platform page, the for-brands page and the pricing page:
Per-connection pricing and dealer types. Set what each connected retailer pays, so your closeout price goes to the accounts you choose.
Pricing groups and custom discounts. Apply one closeout price per tier instead of editing every order by hand.
Collections. Group your closeout SKUs in their own collection, away from the full-price line.
Minimums enforced in the cart. Variant, product and connection-level minimums are checked at checkout, so case packs hold.
Live stock. Retailers order against real-time inventory, with Shopify sync, so buyers see what's actually left and you're less likely to oversell your last units.
Retailer chat. Questions about a closeout order stay with the order.
Net terms, if you offer them. You can give approved retailers net terms. Ordrly's trade finance (AR, credit underwriting and collections, subject to eligibility) supports you, the brand. It isn't Ordrly lending to retailers.
On cost: orders from retailers you already sell to pay the Network Fee from the first order, which is 1.5% on Core at $0/month. Lower-fee paid plans are monthly and include the same software. Card and ACH processing are billed at cost. Vendor-managed inventory and starting POs from a retailer's register sales are on Ordrly's roadmap and aren't live yet.
Set up your brand on Ordrly (Core is $0/month) and invite your current accounts before you send the closeout list.
When liquidators make sense
Liquidators aren't the enemy. They're the last step, and sometimes they're the right first one. Closeout buyers like MAC Wholesale and Big Willy's Wholesale buy excess, discontinued and previous-packaging stock in bulk. MAC describes negotiating a take-all offer and picking up quickly, and Big Willy's focuses on commercial quantities such as pallets and truckloads of new merchandise.
Go to a liquidator when:
The quantity is far more than your accounts could absorb.
You need the cash or the warehouse space this month.
The product is discontinued, damaged or in packaging your retailers won't shelve.
You've already run your retailer waves and what's left isn't moving.
When you do, prepare a clean manifest (SKU, UPC, quantity, case packs, condition, photos, location) and set your conditions in writing: which channels and marketplaces are off limits, whether your brand name can be advertised, and a hard rule that nothing in your current line is included. Every restriction narrows the buyer pool and lowers the price, so ask for the ones that protect your full-price business and drop the rest.
Don't end up here next year
Year-end closeouts are normal, but you can make them smaller. Watch sell-through by account and style during the season, not after it. The earlier you see a style stalling, the more options you have: reallocate it, bundle it, or offer it while stores are still buying. A store that reorders steadily is also a store you can call when you've got stock to move.
FAQ
How do I sell excess inventory wholesale without hurting my brand?
Keep closeout SKUs on a separate list, offer them only to accounts you invite, use one price per tier, and set a firm end date. Keep anything still in your active line off the list.
Should I offer overstock to existing retailers or a liquidator first?
Existing retailers first, in most cases. They know the product and can usually pay more. Use liquidators for large lots, damaged or discontinued stock, or what's left after your retailer offer ends.
What discount should closeout pricing for retailers be?
There's no standard number. Price above what a liquidator would pay you, and low enough that the retailer earns a better margin than usual at your suggested retail.
When should a brand clear excess inventory before year-end?
Usually October to early November for specialty retail, while stores are still buying for holiday. After that, your offer competes with their own markdowns.
Can I sell brand overstock below MAP?
Your wholesale price to retailers is separate from MAP, which covers advertised retail prices. Decide whether closeout SKUs stay under your MAP policy, tell buyers in writing, and check any change with your lawyer.
Clear your overstock through the accounts you already have
Before you call a liquidator, give your best retailers first pick. Sort what's truly excess, build a separate closeout list, price it by tier, run it as a short event, and send only the leftovers to closeout buyers.
Brands: create your Ordrly brand account. Core is $0/month, and you pay the Network Fee only when an order runs through Ordrly.
Retailers: join Ordrly free to order from connected brands in one place.