The $0.10 Liquidation Quote and the Lesson it Taught Me

January 2023. My home office. 11pm.

The holiday rush is over. I am staring at my warehouse software watching a number that will not stop haunting me.

Hundreds of units of The Radiant Rhino shower steamers. Sitting in a warehouse. Going nowhere.

I had miscalculated. Overordered. Storage fees ticking up every day.

I pull up a liquidation quote. Pennies on the dollar. I close the tab.

I cannot bring myself to do it.

So I start Googling. Subscription boxes. Wellness. Beauty. US-based. I write to every single one that might carry a product like mine.

Most never write back.

A few weeks later, a small subscription box in New York responds. The deal is thin. I will break even at best. Maybe take a small loss.

I say yes. I ship the units out. I try to move on.

I am embarrassed. I had one job.

Six months later, I am at my trade show booth at NY NOW® in the Javits Center, pitching to every buyer who slows down long enough to make eye contact.

A woman stops in front of my display.

"I know you."

I pause. "Sorry?"

I have no idea who she is. I have never seen her before in my life.

"Your products. I've used them. I love them.”

My brain is still catching up.

“Where did you find us?"

She smiles. "A subscription box. A few months ago."

She pulls out her iPad and emails me the biggest purchase order I have ever received. On the spot.

The inventory I was ashamed of had traveled to her doorstep, into her shower, and back to me as the best day I'd had in five years of business.

What I thought was damage control was actually a distribution strategy.

Before you liquidate, consider subscription boxes. You move the inventory, cover your costs, and your product lands in the hands of a buyer who might just walk into your trade show booth and change everything.

You never know who is on the other end of that box.