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How to Turn Dead Stock into Cash (Even When the Supplier Says No)

Practical guide for stores and spare parts · 30 October 2026 · about 8 minutes to read

You have a list of dead stock. Now what? Most advice is written for shops: run a sale, bundle it, sell it to a liquidator. A store full of spare parts needs different answers. This guide covers the five ways to get money back from dead and non-moving stock, in the order that usually recovers the most: how to ask a supplier to take stock back, and what to do when they say no.

Start with the list

You can't sell or return what you haven't found. You need one row per item with the quantity, value, last issue date and, ideally, the supplier and the quantity still on order. If you don't have that yet, our guide on finding slow-moving, non-moving and dead stock shows how to build it in Excel, or the free Dead Stock Finder builds it from your stock export in a few minutes.

Then sort by value, highest first. A handful of items usually hold most of the money, and those are worth a phone call or an email. The small lines can be handled in batches.

Option 1: Return it to the supplier

For new, unused items this usually recovers the most cash. Many suppliers and dealers accept returns, but on their terms. As an example, the published parts return policy of Finning, a large equipment dealer in Canada, says:

• no restocking fee within 30 days, and 10% after 30 days
• returns older than 6 months are "surplus returns", accepted at their discretion
• parts must be new, current and in their original packaging, with the original purchase documents
• seals, gaskets, O-rings, filters, hoses, fluids and made-to-order parts can't be returned
• total returns are capped at 3% of your annual purchases with them

Source: Finning Canada, Customer Parts Return Policy (PDF), read on 30 October 2026. Shown as one example only: policies change, and each supplier sets its own terms. Always ask your supplier for their current policy.

Those terms are for recent purchases. Other suppliers will be stricter or more flexible, and old stock is not automatically refused, especially by a supplier you have worked with for years.

How to ask for a return

1. Group the list by supplier. One request per supplier, with all their items on it, is easier to agree than ten separate emails.
2. Check what can go back. Keep only items that are new, unused, in their original packaging and still a current part number. Take out anything cut to length, made to order, past its shelf life or opened.
3. Find the purchase documents. The original order and invoice numbers, dates and prices. Suppliers credit at the price you paid, so this is your proof.
4. Ask before you ship. Send the list and ask for their return policy and a return authorisation number. Never send stock back without one: it can sit in their warehouse with no credit.
5. Give them options. Full credit, credit less a restocking fee, or an exchange against items you do need (see Option 2). A supplier who says no to a refund may say yes to a swap.
6. Close it in your system. Once the credit note arrives, book the return so the stock record and the value match what is physically on the shelf.

Be realistic about the fee. For stock that has been on your shelf for years, getting around 60% of the price back is a good result, and it can be lower: the older the item, and the fewer other customers the supplier could sell it to, the less they will offer. On stock you would otherwise write off, it is still money you would not have had.

Option 2: Swap it for items you do need

If a supplier won't give money back, ask for credit against your next orders, or a straight exchange for parts you buy from them regularly. For the supplier, the money stays in the business, so it can be easier to agree than a refund. For you, a credit you will use is as good as cash.

Get the credit amount and any expiry date in writing, and make sure the buyers know it exists. A credit note that nobody uses is worth nothing.

Option 3: Transfer it to another site or store

A part that is dead in your store may be needed at another site, another branch or a sister company that runs the same equipment. A transfer brings no cash in, but it stops the other site buying the same part new, and the stock keeps its value instead of being written off.

Share the list of dead items (code, part number, description, quantity) with the other stores before they place their next orders. Agree who pays the transport and at what value the item moves.

Option 4: Sell it, or sell it for scrap

Some items can't go back to the supplier and no other site uses them, but someone else still might:

• Other users of the same equipment: other companies in your area or industry that run the same machines
• Dealers and surplus buyers that specialise in industrial spares and surplus stock
• Auctions and tenders, often the simplest way to clear many small lines at once
• Scrap buyers, when the part itself has no use left: steel, copper, brass and aluminium are sold by weight. Copper cable, motors and heavy assemblies like gearboxes can be worth more than you expect.

Expect to sell below cost. Set a minimum price for the high-value items, and follow your company's rules for selling assets: who approves the price and how the buyer is chosen.

Option 5: Write it off properly

When nothing else works, write the item off. Do it properly, not by quietly throwing it away:

• get the write-off approved at the right level, with the list, values and reason for each item
• if nobody would buy it as a part, sell it for scrap (see Option 4) and record the amount
• keep a disposal record: what left the store, when, and who signed it out
• block the item code in your system so nobody buys it again

How a write-off is booked, and whether it was already covered by a provision, is a question for your finance team.

A worked example

The same eight lines from the made-up spares store in our slow-moving stock guide (stock date 30 September 2026). Five lines are non-moving, dead or never issued, holding 10,348 of the 11,278 total. The route for each, and the result, are made up to show how the options work together.

Made-up data and made-up outcomes. Cash or credit back: 2,597. Value kept by transfer: 4,850. Order cancelled: 10 × 62 = 620 not spent.

Out of 10,348 at risk, 2,597 comes back as cash or credit, 4,850 moves to a site that will use it, and 620 is never spent. Nothing is written off yet. The seals stay, for a reason that is recorded. The two biggest wins, the gearbox transfer and the cancelled order, needed no buyer at all.

Stop it coming back

Clearing dead stock once is good; not rebuilding it is better. Four habits help:

• check for dead and slow items still on order every month, not once a year
• set the reorder point to zero when an item is no longer used, or when the equipment it fits is retired, and reset the reorder levels of the items you keep
• once an item is cleared from the shelf, make the code obsolete or inactive in your system, so nobody can order it again by mistake
• run the dead stock check again every quarter, so the list stays short and every decision stays fresh

The Stock Health Check is built for this routine. Run it every quarter on your new export and it shows what changed since last time and which decisions were carried out. It also lists the codes to make inactive and the duplicates to merge, and suggests reorder levels for the items you do use.

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