Selling guide · 9 min read
How to sell used pallets for what they are actually worth.
Last reviewed January 2026
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- Buy, sell, recycle or remove: tell us which way it flows
- Add the size, grade and quantity if you know them
- A partner supplier follows up
- Availability depends on partner suppliers
Staged
Clean pallets stacked and staged for loading.
First principles
What a buyer is actually valuing
A pallet buyer is not buying a pallet. They are buying an option on four outcomes: sell it as-is, repair it and sell it, dismantle it for lumber, or grind it. Each outcome has a different value, and the price they offer is a weighted average of what they expect your load to contain.
That is why the shape of a load matters more than its size. A trailer of nearly all whole 48×40 cores has one likely outcome and gets priced against it. A trailer full of odd sizes and broken units has four outcomes and gets priced against the worst realistic case, because the buyer is absorbing the sorting risk.
The entire art of selling pallets well is removing that risk before the truck arrives.
The method
Four things to do before you ask for a quote.
- Step 01
Separate 48×40 from everything else
This is the single highest-return activity available to you. GMA cores are the liquid product; everything else is a discount. An afternoon with a forklift sorting a load is usually the best-paid work in the whole sale.
If you do nothing else, do this.
- Step 02
Pull the obviously broken ones
Units with cracked stringers or missing deck boards. Stack them separately and price them separately. Mixing them into a good load drags the whole average down.
They still have value — just a different one.
- Step 03
Get them under cover
Wood above roughly 19% moisture loses a grade, gains weight and can grow mould quickly under a tarp. Indoors is best; under a roof on dunnage is acceptable; open yard is where money goes to die.
Rain is the most expensive thing that happens to pallets.
- Step 04
Count and photograph
One clear photo of a representative stack plus an approximate count is enough for any serious buyer to quote. Vague descriptions get conservative prices, because conservatism is how a buyer manages uncertainty.
A photo beats a paragraph every time.
Grading yourself
How to sort a stack the way a buyer will
| Look at | Whole core | Repairable | Damaged |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stringers | No cracks visible on any face | Hairline crack, no separation | Cracked through or broken |
| Top deck boards | All present, none split | One or two broken | Three or more missing |
| Bottom boards | All present | One missing | Two or more missing |
| Footprint | Full 48 × 40 | Full 48 × 40 | Any size |
| Moisture | Dry to the touch, light | Dry | Wet, heavy, dark |
| Relative value | Highest | Lower | Lowest, or a removal fee |
Mistakes
Three ways sellers lose money on pickup day
- 01Accepting a verbal priceA number given before anyone has seen the load is not a quote; it is an opening position. Get it in writing, with the grade definitions attached, before the truck is dispatched.
- 02Letting the count be settled after the factCount together on the dock and sign a ticket. A count reconciled at the buyer's yard, out of your sight, is a count you cannot dispute.
- 03Selling branded or pooled palletsBlue, red, brown and branded units are almost always the property of a pooling company. Selling them is a legal problem and a reputational one. A legitimate buyer will sort them out and return them; see pooling vs buying.
Questions
Selling questions
How many pallets do I need to make a pickup worthwhile?
Enough to fill a good part of a trailer makes the freight stand on its own. Below that, ask anyway: a buyer with a truck already passing nearby may still take them.
Should I sell to a broker or a recycler?
A recycler owns the downstream outcomes and can therefore usually pay more for mixed loads. A broker may pay more for a clean, single-size load because they have a specific buyer. Get both quotes if you have the time.
What if my pallets are worthless?
Then a good buyer will tell you so and quote removal instead, which is often simpler than arranging disposal and freight yourself. See pallet pickup and removal.
What are my odd-sized pallets worth?
Less than 48×40, and the spread is wide, depending on how common the size is and whether there is a buyer for it that week. Stack them separately regardless. Mixed into a GMA load they pull the whole average down by considerably more than they are worth on their own.
Send a photo and a count.
That is enough to start. A partner supplier follows up, including when the honest answer is that the load is worth nothing.