Grading and Shipping 60,000 Used Books Without a Warehouse
- Book & Media Fulfillment
- Grading & Inspection
- Sorting
The Challenge
Marlowe sourced books in bulk from estate sales and library liquidations. Condition was graded by whoever unpacked the pallet, so "Very Good" meant different things week to week. Returns ran at 9% and marketplace feedback had slipped below the threshold where listings stay competitive.
They also had 60,000 units and nowhere to put them.
What We Did
We built a written grading rubric with photo references and applied it at receiving.
- Documented grading. Every unit graded against the same rubric, with spot audits on each intake pallet.
- Sorting at intake. Unsellable copies pulled before they ever reach a listing.
- Media-rate shipping. Packed and routed for media mail where eligible, with rigid protection on higher-value titles.
The Outcome
Return rate fell from 9% to 2.6% within two months and marketplace feedback recovered above 98%. Marlowe closed its storage unit and now runs the entire catalog out of PrepFort.
“Consistent grading was the thing we could never solve ourselves. It turned out to be the thing that fixed our returns.”
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