Poughkeepsie Amazon Liquidator is ‘Best and Worst’ Place to Shop

A new store selling surplus Amazon items in Poughkeepsie could be a goldmine for shoppers, but is it worth the hunt?

Fly Deals recently opened up at the former Bed, Bath & Beyond location on Route 9 in Poughkeepsie. I have heard stories about people who had visited the store and paid pennies on the dollar for brand-new items from Walmart, Home Depot, Amazon and other online retailers. Curious if this was true, I visited the store for myself and was surprised at what I found.

The concept isn't new, but one that hasn't been seen in the Hudson Valley before. Large pallets of surplus items are sold to the store, which then resells those items for a small fraction of their retail cost, giving customers the chance to uncover expensive treasures at a steep discount.

How Poughkeepsie's New Amazon Liquidator Works

Products at Fly Deals aren't individually priced. Instead, each item costs the same depending on what day you visit. New items are put out for sale on Friday, when everything is listed for $10. Whether it's a laptop, jewelry, a smart watch or a box of pencils, everything is just $10. On Saturday, the price drops to $8 and continues to fall each day until all items are only $1 each on Thursday.

Presumably, everyone purchases the most valuable items starting on Friday, when $10 is considered a huge bargain. As the items get picked through, the price drops so that more items get sold until they're practically given away on Thursday to make way for Friday's new inventory.

There are some items that are priced individually, like large refrigerators, power equipment and bedding, but most of the items are placed in large troughs where people dig like animals on the farm at feeding time in hopes of hitting the jackpot.

Following the Rules at Poughkeepsie's Fly Deals Store

There's really just one rule at Fly Deals and visitors would have a tough time not hearing about it as they enter the store. Huge signs and recorded messages constantly remind customers that they are not allowed to open boxes. To avoid people making a mess of the store and leaving things in shambles, the owners have instituted a policy that states if you open a box, you must purchase what's inside.

Most items are in plain, cardboard Amazon boxes, so buyers need to scan them with their phones or do a search on the Amazon app to discover what treasure may be hiding inside. Those who are concerned about broken or missing items can have employees open boxes for them to check the contents.

Is the Fly Deals Experience Worth the Reward?

I can't answer whether a store like this is for you or not, but I can tell you that my experience was both terrible and exhilarating. Digging through boxes of discarded items was a bit unsettling. The vibe in the room is like being at a seedy casino at three o'clock in the morning. Greed, desperation and hope hung in the air as an eerie silence was regularly interrupted by a blaring megaphone that warned against opening the boxes.

While many shoppers appeared to be people looking for deals, there were a few who looked like they were professional resellers. A store like this also has the potential to attract a seedier element.

I saw a mother with a young child get stopped at the register and kicked out of the store for attempting to steal multiple items by shoving them all in a larger box. Apparently, this is a regular occurance. The manager told me he usually calls the police when this happens, but let her go because she had a baby with her.

After briefly searching through a couple of bins, my son found a brand new USB hub for his computer that was being sold on Amazon for $115. The item appeared to be returned, but in perfect condition. For $8 it was an incredible bargain.

Would I shop here regularly? Probably not. While it was thrilling to find such a good deal, the experience was just too creepy and unsettling for me. I'm not a big gambler, but I can see how the promise of striking it big can be attractive to some people. However, the thought of spending hours sifting through boxes and boxes of unwanted items in hopes of hitting the jackpot was just too depressing for me.