A manifest is a file — usually a spreadsheet — listing what is supposed to be in a lot. Item descriptions, quantities, and often the retail price each unit carried when it was last on sale. When a listing says a manifest file is attached, you can see that list before you buy.
Manifests are genuinely useful. They are also the single most misread document in liquidation, because of what people assume they promise.
What a manifest does tell you
- The mix. Whether a lot is 400 phone cases or 40 kitchen appliances changes your handling time, your storage needs and your channel.
- Unit count. Your cost per unit is the whole point of the maths, and you cannot do that maths without a count.
- Category concentration. Whether you are getting one category deep or a genuine mixed load.
- A sanity check on price. Not a valuation — see below — but a way to see whether a lot is plausibly worth what it costs.
What a manifest does not tell you
It is not a condition report. A manifest lists what the item is, not what state it is in. A manifested Customer Returns pallet is still Customer Returns. The grade on the listing governs condition, not the manifest.
Retail value on a manifest is not resale value. This is the one that costs people money. Manifest retail figures are typically the last ticketed price, which may be years old, may be a pre-markdown price, and bears no necessary relationship to what the item sells for today. Treat the retail column as a description of where the item sat in a retailer’s range, not as a number you can expect to recover. Price your lot on what you can actually sell the goods for in your own channel.
It is not unit-by-unit accurate. Lots get built by people, moved by forklifts and shipped across the country. Some variance is unavoidable.
The 5% rule
On a manifested lot we sell, up to 5% of the manifested units may be missing or different from the manifest. That is the stated tolerance, and it is normal for the industry.
Above that threshold it becomes a claim. If more than 5% of the manifested units are missing or are different items from those on the manifest, that is covered under our Returns & Refund Policy — we pay the return shipping and refund in full, refund pro rata, or send a replacement lot. You need to report it within 7 calendar days of delivery or pickup, which is why counting on arrival matters.
If you are going to claim, document as you unload
- Photograph all four sides of each pallet before you break the wrap.
- Count against the manifest as you go, and keep the count written down.
- Note the delivery receipt number and the date.
- Send it within 7 calendar days. We acknowledge every request within 2 business days and decide claims within 5 business days of receiving complete information.
So should you pay more for a manifest?
It depends entirely on what you do with the lot.
Pay for the manifest when you are buying a category you need to plan around — when you need to know you are getting 60 units and not 600, when storage is tight, when you are quoting someone else, or when you are new enough that surprises are expensive.
Skip it when you are buying a familiar category you can price by weight, pallet count and grade alone, and you are comfortable sorting whatever turns up. Unmanifested lots are cheaper for a reason, and experienced buyers in a known category often do better on them.
Either way, the lot price on our listings is the price for the whole lot, and shipping to the 50 states is already in it. There is no membership and no minimum order, so there is nothing stopping you buying one manifested pallet first to see how the category behaves before you commit to volume.
