What Is Amazon Warehouse and Why Should You Shop There?
Updated: Feb. 25, 2022Looking for great deals on DIY essentials? Be sure to check out Amazon Warehouse! Here's what it is and why it should be on your radar.
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When Amazon receives returns, or discovers items damaged in the warehouse or subpar in any way, they wind up on one of the most dependable resources for online bargains available to the DIY community: Amazon Warehouse.
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What Is Amazon Warehouse?
Presented as part of the Amazon Marketplace (the online retailer’s platform for third-party sellers), Amazon Warehouse processes the online retailer’s returned or damaged items, assigning each one a grade and a discounted price. The next time you’re browsing Amazon, look for a link that indicates there are items available from other sellers. Follow that link to find multiple options, many showing Amazon Warehouse as the vendor.
What’s the Catch?
Amazon Warehouse sells items at solid discounts, but it has pros and cons. Most items lack a manufacturer’s warranty. However, since Amazon owns and operates the Warehouse, items come with the retail giant’s standard 30-day return policy. Once you receive a product, examine it closely to make sure it’s in satisfactory condition. Likewise, pay careful attention to how Amazon grades the goods.
An item graded “used like new” likely has minor damage to the box or other cosmetic issues, while a “used acceptable” item may be missing parts or come without packaging. You’ll have to decide whether the price savings is worth the lack of certainty. To play it safe, look for items where damage is irrelevant to performance. Take the aptly-named Miss Muffet’s Revenge Spider Killer Spray, available at about an eight percent discount from new. Unless you care about how the jug looks, this is a solid buy.
Strategic Shopping
The biggest issue with Amazon Warehouse? You never know in advance what’s in stock. But the more popular an item, the more likely there are to be returns or warehouse damages, and the more likely it is to wind up in Amazon Warehouse.
A perfect example is this Black & Decker cordless driver/drill. If you check that listing or any other popular tool, you’ll see that the number available at Amazon Warehouse varies from day to day. In one 48-hour period, it dropped from 15 to two as bargain-savvy shoppers snapped them up.
So while there’s no guarantee that Amazon Warehouse will stock the exact tool you’re looking for, the savings and convenience mean it’s always worth checking.
