Inside how to sell used pallets
The buyback checklist we wish every dock had
None of this is compulsory and we will still buy your pallets if you do none of it. But each item removes labour from our end, and most of that comes back to you as price.
Request pricing
Everything marked with a star is required. The rest helps us quote faster.
Sorting by footprint, stacking square, keeping the load dry, separating pooled pallets and giving accurate dock access details are the five things that most increase what a pallet buyer will pay.
Across a typical 500-unit load in Denver, a well-prepared stack is worth roughly $0.75 to $1.50 more per unit than an unsorted, weathered pile — between $375 and $750 on one collection.
Before you contact anyone
- Count roughly. Stacks × height is fine. Nobody expects a unit count.
- Identify the dominant footprint. Measure one pallet. 48" x 40" covers most of North America.
- Pull out pooled pallets. Blue CHEP, red LPR, brown PECO — these belong to a pool operator and no legitimate buyer will take them.
- Take one photo of a stack. It is worth more than three paragraphs of description.
- Note anything unusual. Chemical spills, food residue, mould, fire or flood damage, unusual stencils.
Preparing the load
- Sort by footprint. Even rough separation adds around a dollar a unit on a mixed load.
- Separate obvious write-offs. Not to discard — we buy them too — but so the count is honest and grading is fast.
- Stack square, face the same way. Leaning stacks load slowly and damage in transit.
- Stacks of 20 – 25 match our banding and handling standard.
- Get them under cover if you can. A tarp for a week before collection is the cheapest money you will ever make.
- Clear the approach. A forklift needs a straight run at the stack.
- Remove strapping and film. Loose banding around a load is a hazard on a flatbed.
Winter note for Colorado: a frozen stack can weigh 40% more, will not band cleanly and grades badly because you cannot see the wood. Between November and March, covered storage is worth real money.
Access details that prevent a wasted trip
- Can a 53' trailer enter, turn and exit without reversing onto a public road?
- Dock leveller, ramp, or ground-level loading?
- Do you have a forklift and an operator available, or do we need a moffett?
- Real dock hours, including any closed lunch period.
- Site induction, PPE or gate-pass requirements, and how far in advance they are needed.
- Who the driver asks for on arrival, and where they park while waiting.
Ninety per cent of failed collections fail on one of those six lines. Send them with your first message and the scheduling conversation takes one email instead of four.
After the offer
- Get the rate in writing, including whether collection is free and what happens to unsorted or rejected units.
- Agree the count method. Ours is a deck count photographed at the yard; if you want to count at loading, say so.
- Confirm payment terms. We pay by ACH, typically within five business days of the confirmed count.
- Ask for the batch reference. Every load gets an RPC number you can look up on the Pallet Passport page for your own reporting.
- Set the next one up. If pallets accumulate continuously, a standing route beats calling every time.
A printable one-page version
This is the whole checklist compressed onto one page. Print it, laminate it, put it on the dock wall. Ask us and we will send a properly typeset copy — free, and we would rather it existed on more walls.
| Stage | Action | Done |
|---|---|---|
| Before contacting | Count the stacks (stacks × height) | ☐ |
| Before contacting | Measure one pallet, length along the stringers | ☐ |
| Before contacting | Pull out pooled pallets (painted blocks) | ☐ |
| Before contacting | Take one photo of a representative stack | ☐ |
| Before contacting | Note mould, staining, fire or flood damage | ☐ |
| Preparing | Sort by footprint | ☐ |
| Preparing | Separate obvious write-offs | ☐ |
| Preparing | Stack square, 20 – 25 high, same orientation | ☐ |
| Preparing | Get the stack off the ground and under cover | ☐ |
| Preparing | Remove loose banding and film | ☐ |
| Preparing | Clear a straight forklift run to the stack | ☐ |
| Access | Confirm 53' trailer can turn without reversing to road | ☐ |
| Access | Confirm dock type: leveller / ramp / ground level | ☐ |
| Access | Confirm forklift and operator availability and hours | ☐ |
| Access | Confirm real dock hours including lunch closures | ☐ |
| Access | Confirm induction, PPE and gate pass lead time | ☐ |
| Access | Name the person the driver asks for | ☐ |
| After the offer | Get the rate per grade in writing | ☐ |
| After the offer | Agree the count method | ☐ |
| After the offer | Confirm payment terms | ☐ |
| After the offer | Ask for the batch reference | ☐ |
| After the offer | Set up the next collection | ☐ |
Seasonal timing, in one table
| Period | Grading | Demand | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| January – February | Poor (frozen, wet) | Low | Sell only if you must |
| March – April | Improving | Rising | Good |
| May – June | Good | High | Best for price |
| July – August | Best (dry) | High | Best overall |
| September – October | Best | Good | Best overall |
| November | Declining | Moderate | Sell before the freeze |
| December | Poor | Low | Avoid if you can wait |
The single most valuable line: sell before the first hard freeze. A stack that is gone in November cannot be damaged in January, and autumn grading on dry wood is materially better than spring grading on the same pallets.
Questions people actually ask
Is it worth sorting if I only have 200 pallets?
Probably not exhaustively. Pull the pooled pallets and the obvious write-offs, and leave the rest. Below about 300 units, deep sorting costs your team more time than it earns.
What if I have no forklift?
Say so. We can send a moffett-equipped flatbed that carries its own truck-mounted forklift. It is a slightly smaller load and a slightly higher cost, but it turns an impossible collection into a routine one.
Do you take pallets with our branding on them?
Yes. If you want the branding removed we can plane, paint over or saw off the stencilled area — just flag it up front.
How do I know the count was fair?
We photograph the deck count at the yard and send the photographs with the paperwork. If you prefer to count at loading, tell the driver and sign the ticket.
Can you send me a printed version?
Yes, free. Email us and say how many and where, and it goes in the post. We would rather it existed on more dock walls than on fewer.
How much of this actually matters?
The five highest-value items are: pull the pooled pallets, sort by footprint, get it off the ground, confirm trailer access, and sell before the freeze. Everything else is worth a little; those five are worth a lot.
We have no forklift — does that change the checklist?
Only the access section. Say so and we send a moffett-equipped flatbed that carries its own truck-mounted forklift. It turns an impossible collection into a routine one.
Do I need to count exactly?
No. Stacks times height is genuinely fine, and the final count is verified at the yard with photographs anyway. Precision at the enquiry stage buys nothing.
What if I am not sure whether a pallet is pooled?
Photograph it and ask. It takes us ten seconds and it is a much better outcome than either selling something you should not or discarding something valuable.
Let's keep your pallets in the loop
Whether you have 40 broken cores behind the dock or need 4,000 Grade A pallets a month, the conversation starts the same way.