New innovator: Surplus Stock Worldwide

Terry Reihill is an engineer with 30 years' industrial experience working in production, materials management and purchasing. Stocktaking was part of his job and over many years he had become aware of just how much stock becomes surplus to requirements and ends up gathering dust.

In 2004 an idea began to form in his mind to turn surplus stock into a business. When he was made redundant in 2010 this was the push he needed to see if his idea for a new global eCommerce website for industrial surplus stock could cut it in the real world.

Reihill spent around €30,000 getting Surplus Stock Worldwide off the ground and was supported by the Cavan County Enterprise Board in the start-up phase.

“My view was that there was a big market out there for companies with stock devaluing on their shelves and they would be delighted to sell it and generate cash,” he says.

Reihill acknowledges that well established sites such as eBay already provide sales platforms, but says Surplus Stock has a couple of key advantages over the competition.

“We are specialists in industrial equipment, we are more cost effective because we do not charge commission so every sale is profit and we know our customers,” he says. “We know where and how to source products and we know who is likely to buy. We have built the business through personal contacts, familiarity with stock levels and stocking practices in different industries and through the hard process of just knocking on doors.

"We have also deliberately kept things very simple for potential sellers," Reihill adds. "Ninety nine per cent of stock systems are on Excel spreadsheets. We can take the spreadsheets by email and upload them directly. It's a no risk, no hassle procedure for people that saves them time and money. The interaction between the seller and the buyer is direct. We don't get involved. We put a lot of effort into optimisation and our Google performance in parts search is excellent."

Surplus Stock (which has over 200,000 products on it site) makes its money by charging sellers an annual subscription. Buyers pay nothing. The subscription starts at €500 for the basic (Bronze) package that allows unlimited stock uploads. Silver and Gold packages offer extras such as promoting the products for sale through a newsletter and linked sites. Gold members also get their €800 subscription refunded if they don’t sell the value of their subscription in a 12-month period.

Surplus Stock Worldwide employs four people in Mount Nugent, Co Cavan, and Reihill is now talking to potential strategic partners and looking for investors to help fund the company’s next development phase.