Sold at €14 per kilo: We explain the lucrative business of the mystery package

It’s a real phenomenon: sales of mystery packages are on the rise in Toulouse. The latest took place at LeBage 2 Shopping Centre. It attracted an early crowd of several hundred and queues of more than two hours. The sale, organized by the company Mon Colis Mystère, offered 7 tonnes of parcels from Europe, which sold at 14 euros per kilo. The sale was supposed to last a week but ended after a day because the stock was sold out. Customers who came on the first day of the sale were satisfied: “I got two small cameras, a speaker, computer parts and a sweater,” said Chantal. Others came simply to buy packages and “open them with the family to have a good time”.
Mystery package sales are increasing. On November 1, 2023, the roads of the United States also attracted many people.

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Parcel resale companies are riding on this phenomenon. They buy NPAI packages (not living at given address), lost or unclaimed. “We buy it by the ton from logisticians like DHL or Amazon. Then, we sell them at 14 euros a kilo,” explains François Jardin, manager of Mon Collis Meister and organizer of the Labage 2 sale.

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40 to 50 tonnes of packages were lost during pop-up sales

Companies like Mon Colis Mystère, Destock Colis, FlamingoBox and ColisPerdus have entered this lucrative market. Very discreet about their methods, they rely on the anti-waste law of January 2022, which prohibits the destruction of unclaimed or lost packages. They buy them by the tonne and resell them by the kilo on their websites even during temporary sales.

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Another player in the sector, Jeremy Martínez, manager of the company Daystock Collis, indicates that he “resells 45 to 50 tonnes per month at €14 per kg” without mentioning his turnover.
For a package to be considered lost, it must be impossible to return it to the sender. They are packages sent by e-commerce companies that promote business. Logistics companies like Amazon or UPS cannot afford to waste time and energy tracking the recipient or sender given the volume of packages handled.

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They sell it by the ton to clearance companies who themselves resell it to individuals. On the other hand, no parcel is lost at La Poste: “This situation almost never happens” explains Benjamin Tallard, managing director of La Poste Occitanie. Additionally, the operator does not resell lost packages. These sales are booming and this phenomenon is not going to stop. At the Espaces Fenouillet gallery, a mystery package sale has been organized since March 4 and will continue until March 9. Apart from stock out…