Overstock Trader Releases 2026 Excess Inventory Report Highlighting Structural Shifts in Secondary Markets

Northampton, MA, Jan. 05, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Overstock Trader today announced the release of its 2026 Excess Inventory Report, an in-depth industry analysis examining how excess inventory is being priced, placed, and recovered across secondary channels. The report outlines the structural forces reshaping secondary markets and provides a practical view into where inventory is moving, how pricing is shifting, and why excess inventory management has become a core operational consideration heading into 2026.

Based on real-world market activity observed throughout 2025, this report reflects how traditional inventory challenges such as overproduction and seasonal imbalance are now compounded by broader pressures. These include tariff uncertainty, rising costs of ecommerce, stricter marketplace policies, buyer behavior, and sustained return volumes. Together, these dynamics are altering how brands plan for liquidation timing, channel selection, and recovery outcomes.

"Excess inventory is no longer something brands address only at the end of a product’s lifecycle," said Emily Sanchez, Account Manager at Overstock Trader. "What we are seeing is a structural shift. Inventory recovery decisions are happening earlier and are increasingly tied to financial planning, forecasting accuracy, and distribution strategy."

Ground-Level Market Perspective

The 2026 Excess Inventory Report is informed by ongoing conversations with buyers and sellers operating across off-price retail, wholesale, export, and resale channels. Insights are drawn from active deal flow across categories including apparel, consumer goods, electronics, home, and consumables, reflecting pricing behavior and channel demand observed in real transactions rather than modeled assumptions.

Overstock Trader manages one of the largest overstock-focused professional communities on LinkedIn, with more than 9,000 members engaged across the excess inventory ecosystem. This position at the center of ongoing industry dialogue provides additional visibility into how inventory is being evaluated, priced, and placed, while keeping discussions private and controlled rather than exposed through public marketplaces.

This combination of transaction-level observation and private market dialogue allows the report to reflect how excess inventory is actually moving, rather than how it is theorized to move.

The report's methodology is rooted in market observation over the past 12 months, incorporating buyer engagement levels, bid behavior, pricing pressure, sell-through velocity, and seller decision points.

The result is a current, experience-based snapshot of secondary market conditions rather than a speculative forecast.

"Our goal with this report is not to predict headlines," Emily Sanchez added. "It is to document what is happening in secondary markets right now so brands can make better-informed decisions."

Key Findings for 2026

The report identifies major trends expected to shape excess inventory flows in 2026, including:

The continued expansion of off-price retail as a primary outlet for branded excess inventory
Tariff-driven margin volatility is causing brands to reevaluate and, in some cases, exit entire categories altogether
Increased marketplace enforcement changing how brands manage pricing exposure and channel risk
The growing role of discount grocers in absorbing surplus food and consumable inventory
Rising ecommerce costs pushing earlier liquidation decisions
The growth of resale, livestream commerce, and micro-retail channels for returns and mixed-SKU inventory

The analysis also highlights category-specific pressures, including electronics liquidation constraints, evolving return policies, and the impact of tariff volatility on sourcing and recovery planning.

Taken together, the findings point to a broader conclusion: excess inventory is increasingly being managed as a planned operating variable rather than an exception. Brands that address secondary market placement earlier are seeing more predictable recovery outcomes and fewer downstream channel conflicts.

About Overstock Trader

Overstock Trader operates one of the industry's largest excess inventory buyer networks, helping brands strategically place excess and discontinued inventory across off-price retail, discount retail, wholesale, export, and resale channels. By providing clear market insight and access to an established buyer network, Overstock Trader enables companies to recover higher value from surplus inventory efficiently while maintaining control over pricing, brand integrity, and channel strategy.

Emily Sanchez
Account Manager
emily@overstocktrader.com
https://overstocktrader.com/

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