Wholesale liquidators are suppliers who have huge selections of wholesale, closeout, overstock, and surplus merchandise in their own warehouses. Frequently, they do buy directly from large retailers. These large retailers, however, add markups since they house hundreds of thousands of products and need to remain profitable. They distribute their inventory to large buyers.
Auction Liquidators auction off their excess inventory and merchandise. The prices are not fixed, as buyers are able to bid and compete amongst other bidders. They distribute inventory to smaller buyers or consumers. Auction liquidators typically hold auctions in a physical location and charge potential buyers a fee to bid on the auctions.