ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The pallet flipping business is creating a new stream of first-time entrepreneurs. ROC City Overstock is a new e-commerce business based in Rochester.
ROC City Overstock sells products off of pallets that are customer returns and overstocks. For consumers who shop online sites like Facebook Marketplace, that means there are some good online deals to be had.
What You Need To Know
- ROC City Overstock buys overstocked items and returns from major retailers and sells them online at a discount
- ROC City Overstock sells a variety of products
- You can find ROC City Overstock on Facebook
Donnell Adler is an actress from New York. When the TV and movie industry shut down for six months there due to the pandemic, she joined her other half, Jeff Carlson, in Rochester to start ROC City Overstock.
"My brother has been doing pallet flipping probably for two years now, and I had always been really interested," said Adler. "There are so many wonderful things and yes it has allowed us to have this income during COVID-19 when my income got cut off completely but also we are able to sell all these amazing things like beds and mattresses and air filters. You name it, we probably seen it, and we can sell it to people for 30-50% of what they would even pay on Amazon," said Adler.
When her NYC tv/movie acting gigs paused for six months due to the pandemic, Donnell Adler and Jeff Carlson started flipping pallets. They buy overstocked items and customer returns and resell them. Their business, ROC City Overstock is keeping them busy for sure! @SPECNewsROC pic.twitter.com/43ILqNe4Bh
— Wendy Mills (@WendyMillsTV) January 4, 2021
They buy about a pallet a week from Rochester Pallets and another company called Buy the Pallet in Buffalo. They don’t always know exactly what they’re going to get in each pallet, but that’s kind of the fun of it. They sort, test, catalog, and list items for sale on Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, and OfferUp.
"I was fascinated with the idea," said Carlson. "It looked like it's a good business, especially if you can control what you purchase it makes it a lot easier to sell things."
Any food or beverage products they get, they donate to a food pantry in the South Wedge neighborhood where they live. Any socks and underwear goes to a halfway house in Rochester.
ROC City Overstock sells all kinds of products on FB Marketplace, Craigslist and OfferUp. Jeff says beds, guitars, furniture and bedding sell fast. They price items 30 to 50% less than what you pay at retail. Flipping pallets- hard work but profitable. @SPECNewsROC #SmallBusiness pic.twitter.com/BFK7bau8Wr
— Wendy Mills (@WendyMillsTV) January 4, 2021
"I am super blessed, and I’m not gonna get too emotional about this, but I have this incredible partner who, when in my industry got shutdown instead of saying, 'hey, let’s just figure it out and you’ll stay home said well what can we do,'" said Adler.
The online inventory is always changing. If you’d like to check out what’s for sale, you can find ROC City Overstock on Facebook.