Original research · Maintained analysis
The State of Surplus MRO Inventory
In an anonymized analysis of roughly 11,000 surplus MRO and industrial line items across six facilities, about four in five items had no invoice or market comparable and had to be modeled, only ~9% were high-confidence invoice-backed, and fair market value ran 20–50% below reference price by category. Most operators cannot see what their surplus is worth — and scrap recovers only 5–15% of it.
Maintained analysis · Updated July 2026 · Figures are de-identified aggregates.
Most operators can't see what their surplus is worth
The headline finding is visibility. Across the pool, only about 9% of surplus line items had a high-confidence, invoice-backed value. Roughly four in five had no direct invoice or market comparable at all — their fair market value had to be modeled from category, make, condition, and demand signals.
That is the core problem in one number: if you can't value surplus, you can't decide what to redeploy, what to sell, or what to stop buying. It sits in a yard as an unknown, and unknowns get scrapped for pennies.
The invoice-backed few hold most of the value
Here is the twist: while only ~9% of items were invoice-backed, those items held roughly 40% of the total fair market value. A small, knowable set of surplus carries most of the recoverable cash — if you can find it.
Fair market value is 20–50% below reference — and category matters
FMV discounts to reference price varied widely by category, driven by condition, demand, and obsolescence risk:
Typical FMV discount to reference, by category
| Category | Typical FMV discount |
|---|---|
| Fasteners | ~20% |
| Fittings, flanges & pipe/tubular | ~25% |
| Gaskets & mill supplies | ~30% |
| Safety supplies | ~35% |
| Valves, power transmission & tools | ~40% |
| Production, drilling & instrumentation | ~45% |
| Electrical | ~50% |
Service and freight lines carry no resale value and are excluded.
Value concentrates — a Pareto tail worth finding
About 16% of total fair market value sat in just the top 20 line items, and roughly 37% in the top 100. A small set of high-value assets is worth finding and monetizing first, while a long tail of low-value items is best handled in bulk.
Data quality is the quiet tax
Roughly 3% of items were flagged for data-quality issues — ambiguous units, category outliers, or zero-value records. Every one of those is a decision that can't be automated until the record is trustworthy, which is why cleaning and valuing go hand in hand.
Key takeaways
- Value first — you can't redeploy, sell, or stop over-buying what you can't price.
- Don't scrap the tail blindly: scrap recovers 5–15% of cost; documented fair-market resale recovers far more.
- Find the concentrated value — a small set of assets carries most of the recovery.
- Fix records as you value; trustworthy data is the precondition for automating any of it.
Methodology
Figures are de-identified aggregates from a Maintained analysis of a multi-site industrial and MRO surplus pool — roughly 11,000 line items across six facilities. Each item was valued on a three-tier basis: invoice-comparable, market-comparable, and modeled. Results are reported as ranges and shares to protect the source; no client, facility, or item-level data is disclosed. Category discounts reflect standard fair-market-value practice for surplus industrial equipment.
Frequently asked questions
How much surplus MRO inventory is invoice-backed?
In this anonymized analysis of ~11,000 surplus line items, only about 9% carried a high-confidence, invoice-backed value — yet those items held roughly 40% of the total fair market value. About four in five items had no direct comparable and had to be modeled.
How much value do you lose scrapping surplus instead of selling at fair market value?
Scrapping typically recovers only 5–15% of original cost, while documented fair-market resale recovers far more — usually a mid-six- to seven-figure difference across a surplus pool.
What is the typical FMV discount on surplus industrial parts?
Fair market value ran 20–50% below reference price depending on category — around 20% for fasteners up to ~50% for electrical — reflecting condition, demand, and obsolescence risk.
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