Sell excess pet food and pet supplies

What pet products can I get an offer on?

• Food: dry kibble, wet food in cans and pouches, fresh-frozen is generally not a fit (ask first)
• Treats and chews: biscuits, jerky, dental chews, rawhide and alternatives
• Litter and bedding: clay and clumping litter, pellets, small-animal bedding
• Toys, beds, crates and carriers
• Grooming and health: shampoos, brushes, supplements, flea and tick products
• Aquarium, bird and small-animal supplies

Common sources: packaging or formula changes, short-dated stock rejected by a retailer's distribution center, discontinued flavors, retailer resets and e-commerce returns of non-food items.

Dating: the first question on any pet food lot

Pet food and treats carry a best-by date and a lot code. Retail chains often want a long remaining date on delivery, which pushes perfectly good food into closeouts once it gets shorter. Closeout buyers can still use it, if it reaches pets in time.

Where a lot falls depends on how fast each buyer type turns stock, so give the best-by date for every lot code and let the lot be split by bracket. Pricing a whole load at its earliest date undersells the longer-dated pallets.

Give us best-by and lot per SKU, not one date for the load. Our guide on how expiry and best-by dates are handled covers the wider rules.

Bags, pests and storage

The biggest risk in a pet food load is not the date; it is the bag. Kibble and treats attract stored-product insects and rodents. A few torn bags on a pallet become an entry point, and the problem spreads. Buyers inspect for:

• Torn, punctured or resealed bags
• Webbing, larvae or insects in seams and folds
• Rodent damage or droppings
• Grease staining from crushed bags
• Odor from damp storage

Keep damaged bags off the good pallets, and tell us about any pest activity. A clean warehouse photo set is worth more than any description.

Weight and freight

Pet food and litter are dense. A truck of litter or large kibble bags fills by weight long before it fills by space, and the weight limit on a trailer caps how much fits. Freight cost per unit is high, and a load far from buyers can lose much of its value on the road. Pallet height and stacking matter too: heavy bags crush the layers below if double-stacked.

Regulated products in pet

1. Pet food is regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Veterinary Medicine, along with state feed control officials who often follow model regulations from the Association of American Feed Control Officials. Labels must stay intact.
2. Flea and tick products. Many collars, spot-ons and sprays are EPA-registered pesticides; oral products are often FDA-regulated animal drugs. Some require a veterinary prescription. List them with names and registration numbers.
3. Supplements for pets fall under FDA oversight and carry dates.
4. Recalls. Pet food recalls are common enough that lot codes matter. Check before selling.

Prescription diets and prescription flea and tick products can only be dispensed through a veterinarian, and raw or frozen foods need an unbroken cold chain, so these have very few closeout buyers. List them separately and ask before shipping.

Condition guide for non-food pet items

Who buys pet closeouts

Pet closeouts go to a mix of buyers:

• Independent pet stores and groomers want branded food, treats and supplies with good dating.
• Farm and feed stores take larger bags of dry food, litter and livestock-adjacent items.
• Discount and dollar chains take treats, toys and accessories, and some food.
• Rescues and shelter suppliers can use shorter-dated food; some buy, others take donations.
• Online resellers sell branded supplies where the brand allows.
• Export buyers take some dry food and supplies, though many countries regulate imported pet food closely.

Premium and veterinary-channel brands often limit resale to avoid undercutting their stores and clinics. They may ask for no online resale, or no resale to particular channels. We agree that before the offer.

Pet offer checklist

• Product, brand, size or weight and UPC per SKU
• Quantity in units and cases
• Best-by date and lot code per SKU (per lot if several)
• Bag or can condition; damaged units counted separately
• Flea and tick, supplement or drug items flagged with names and registration numbers
• Storage conditions and any pest control records
• Retail price per unit
• Photos: bag fronts, date codes, pallet sides, any damage
• Pallet count, gross weight, height, location, dock access
• Channel conditions you need: no online, no resale near your stores

Mistakes pet product sellers make

• Waiting until dating is very short, when the buyer pool is smallest
• Double-stacking heavy food pallets in storage
• Leaving torn bags mixed with sound ones
• Not disclosing pest activity in the building
• Mixing flea and tick products into general supply pallets
• Sending one best-by date for a load with several lots
• Treating litter like any other product, when its weight per pallet often needs a forklift rather than a pallet jack and limits pallets per truck

A worked example

For illustration only, not market data: a pet food brand changes its bag design and has a couple of truckloads of old-design dry food in a 3PL, with the best-by date listed for each lot. A smaller group of pallets of treats is shorter dated.

The load is heavy, so it goes on trucks loaded to weight rather than cube. The brand asks that old-design bags not be sold on online marketplaces, which is written into the deal. Some sellers compare this with a donation route; read donation compared with liquidation.

To see the buying side, visit wholesale closeout pet products. Human food is on our food and beverage page. Send your SKU list with dates through the offer form here.