BuyBay's smart solution for managing returns & overstock

We are here to help (r)e-tailers, manufacturers, distributors, and brands to give their returned products and overstock a second life. We process these items and sell them on the most suitable sales channels to new owners. We strongly believe that every product has value, as long as you can find a matching buyer for it. Through the smart use of pricing algorithms, software, and online marketplaces, we always find a perfect match with a suitable buyer for optimal profit.

We completely unburden our partners by taking over the entire logistical process – from product reception to evaluating, testing, cleaning, and data-wiping (“grading”), from repair to sales, and from fulfillment to customer service. We succeed because we know everything about every single returned item: its origin, original value, new value, and current opportunities on the global market. We provide our partners with real-time insight into the product flow, which enables us to achieve excellent buyer matching and pricing for them.

Our smart solution generates both financial and environmental benefits. (R)e-tailers, manufacturers, distributors, and brands make money out of their returns and overstock, while at the same time, they are contributing to a circular economy and the reduction of waste.

We have our own quality-, assessment- and logistics center and we operate from Amsterdam, Wijchen, and Cologne. We are now active in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. With more than 250 employees, we strive each day towards zero-waste E-Commerce.

The return market emerged several decades ago and gained momentum with the advent of E-Commerce. Nobody was putting time, money, or energy into the returns business – until BuyBay. We were the only company to do so on a large scale by investing heavily in business intelligence, software, and process development. This enables us to take on our partners’ entire logistics process, including product reception, grading, repairs, sales, and after-sales. Along the way, we continuously improve our processes. Data and machine learning matching tools enable us to solve our partners’ return problems with increasing efficiency.

On average, we achieve a significantly higher profit for the resale of returned products and overstock than our partners previously achieved. Before, returns often ended up in the trash, were offered to employees, given away or donated, or sold in bulk to buyers. By setting sales prices far too low and offering discounts that are too high, companies missed out on both financial and sustainable opportunities.

Last year, we sold over a quarter of a million valuable, returned products. Instead of waste and destruction, we ensure that those returned items are reused by new customers. We avoid the production of new products while generating the highest possible turnover for our partners.

The launch of our new B2B auction platform Beluga Auctions this year. Beluga enables us to offer companies in Europe a profitable and sustainable solution for their low-value returns and overstock on a large scale. Where remaining stocks are often difficult to sell, Beluga provides transparency, speed, and profitability. Beluga connects a European network of business buyers to suppliers and distributors. This way, we offer our partners a complete solution for all of their products and as a result, millions of valuable products get a second life.

Next to Beluga, we are currently in the process of implementing a full re-launch of our advanced ‘grading’ software. In this implementation, we take into consideration all learnings of the past years so that we can make our processes more reliable and efficient.

Working with BuyBay has allowed homeware and furniture shop FY! to resell large amounts of returned stock which were previously sitting in their warehouse. Kevin Davies (VP Commercial Operations): “It has been extremely easy to work with BuyBay. They are excellent communicators, and overall very flexible around the challenges we face as an early stage, rapidly growing start-up. We've been able to recover a large amount of revenue on the products they sold for us, and are looking forward to deepening the relationship with them.”

The largest e-commerce player in the Netherlands & Belgium, bol.com, is working with BuyBay for the processing and resale of customer returns that have traces of use. Arjan Leget (Manager Reverse Organisation): “bol.com has been working closely with BuyBay for 4 years for the valorization of return products. They check and test the products with traces of use. They repair or overhaul products and remove personal data from smartphones or laptops, for example. In the tender process, we did not only look at the competencies in the field of processing the products but also at the cultural fit and the dynamics in the organization. With BuyBay we have a perfect match.”

BuyBay is also working together with Blokker, perhaps the best-known Dutch retail chain in household goods. BuyBay is responsible for the processing and resale of online and offline returned goods that cannot be immediately stocked again. We evaluate, test, clean and if necessary, repair the products to guarantee quality. We sell the products online and on our own B2B auction platform Beluga. In this way, we are able to give all the returns a second life. Rens Besseling (Manager Returns & After-sales at Blokker): “We are pleased that with BuyBay we have found such a complete solution for our items. With BuyBay we no longer have to worry about returns and we can prevent destruction.”

BuyBay hasn’t gone unnoticed by the media and expert juries. We are proud to have won the Next Unicorn Award and the BIG Innovation Award 2021. Besides, we have been listed in the KVK Innovation Top 100 and nominated for the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 award & the FD Gazellen, as one of the fastest-growing companies in the Netherlands.

The European subsidy Horizon 2020, worth almost 2 million euros, helped us further expand our business outside the Benelux with our first stop in Germany. Within one year after our expansion, we have managed to become a thought leader in Germany in the field of sustainable returns management. We have been featured in key German E-Commerce and mail-and-order media like e-tailment, Onlinehandler, Versandhausberater, e-commerce magazin and Internet World, we have been speaking at different online and live events, we have been invited as a guest author in multiple magazines and have been invited as a speaker at webinars organized by the German E-Commerce association bevh (Bundesverband E-Commerce und Versandhandel e.V.). Alien Mulyk (European Affairs at bevh): “BuyBay is a very valued member of bevh. Together we have already been organizing and moving forward a couple of projects in the area of sustainability and returns management. We appreciate the cooperation very much and are looking forward to even more joint activities and projects in the future.”

The awards, recognition, and media coverage show that we are doing a very essential job towards zero-waste E-Commerce and that our innovations are meaningful. Currently, the huge value of the European returns market is estimated at between 30 and 60 billion euros. Thanks to smart remarketing and the growing trend of ‘Recommerce’, consumers are becoming aware of reuse options and are increasingly opting for our so-called second-chance products.

https://www.buybay.com