内容来源：https://www.geekwire.com/2026/buywander-raises-21m-as-retail-returns-startup-expands-nationwide-from-new-seattle-hq/

内容总结：

美国拍卖式电商平台BuyWander于本周二宣布完成2100万美元A轮融资，由Madrona Venture Group和Inspired Capital领投。至此，该公司累计融资额已达2800万美元。此前，这家初创企业刚刚将总部从华盛顿州斯波坎迁至西雅图地区，以借助当地深厚的科技与零售人才储备，加速其全国仓储网络的扩张。

BuyWander成立于2023年，由首席执行官乔丹·艾伦和首席财务官布罗克·科瓦尔丘克共同创办，专注于将亚马逊、塔吉特、沃尔玛和家得宝等大型零售商的退货及积压库存与追求实惠的消费者对接。平台所有商品均以1美元起拍，采用固定七天拍卖模式，买家可直接从当地履约中心自提商品，从而省去运费。本轮融资将用于技术投入和全国市场拓展，此前该公司已在丹佛和芝加哥新设仓库。

艾伦在接受采访时表示：“这目前是一片蓝海。还没有人真正在零售退货领域建立起强大的消费者品牌。这些商品值得第二次机会，在人们不得不收紧钱包的当下，我们为他们提供了一个极佳的选择。”

BuyWander于今年8月正式将总部从斯波坎迁至西雅图地区，在华盛顿州肯特市设立核心枢纽，目前有45名员工在此办公。该公司最初以一个小型设施进入该地区以验证本地需求，近期已升级为一处5.2万平方英尺的仓库，处理能力提升至原来的三到五倍。目前，BuyWander在全美拥有八个履约点，员工总数已增至325人，其中绝大多数从事收货、上架和客服工作。

科瓦尔丘克表示：“斯波坎是创办公司的好地方，但发展到今天的规模并组建领导团队，确实需要西雅图所能提供的更高人才密度，尤其是在零售和科技领域的深厚积淀。”

艾伦此前曾创办斯波坎短期租赁公司Stay Alfred，该公司在扩展至30多个城市后于2020年疫情期间关停。

在技术层面，人工智能正在帮助BuyWander每月处理和上架数十万件独特商品。过去，人工录入和劣质拍照是转售平台的瓶颈，如今自动化工具可即时识别退货商品、调取零售估值并一键生成详细商品信息。艾伦表示，AI现已优化从拍卖排期到预约取货的各个环节。

为更好地覆盖区域市场，BuyWander计划在重点都市圈增加设施密度。艾伦指出，在普吉特海湾地区，交通和地理条件往往成为区域枢纽之间的障碍，公司计划未来几年在大西雅图地区开设四到五座仓库，以方便本地消费者取货。

除满足低价购物需求外，这一循环模式还帮助零售商解决了巨大的环保难题——许多退货商品仅因系统无法在本地重新处理而被直接丢弃。据美国零售联合会和Happy Returns的数据，美国年度零售退货总额约为8500亿美元，其中网购退货率接近20%。对零售商而言，每处理一件退货，在计入退货运费、检验和重新上架成本后，费用可达商品原零售价的20%至65%，这使得本地二级市场平台成为越来越重要的替代方案。

艾伦说：“有些品牌和零售商直接把这些东西扔掉，感觉简直是犯罪。”他指出，退货商品常常被卡车来回运输数千英里。“你买一件海鹰队球衣，退货寄到肯塔基州赫布伦，然后又被装上卡车运到迈阿密。当商品能够在需求本就存在的当地销售时，一切就都顺了。”

BuyWander的扩张伴随着快速的运营增长，全国范围内的年同比增长率达400%。平台目前拥有5万名活跃且成功竞拍的客户，累计节省金额达2亿美元，人均节省约4000美元。仅过去一个月，该公司在八个仓库共售出近50万件独特商品，平均售价较零售价低75%。

据科瓦尔丘克介绍，约80%的退货商品状况为“外观全新”，仅有轻微包装破损。约80%的买家是日常购物的终端消费者，20%为本地转售商。艾伦表示，这一客户群体几乎完全依靠自然增长，九成用户通过口碑推荐加入。

平台商品种类繁多且难以预测，从电子挤奶器、劈木机、商用冰淇淋机到吹风机和空气炸锅等日常用品均有销售。艾伦说：“这可能是最好的商品发现平台之一。”他预测公司最终将销售互联网上几乎所有品类。“我们会卖一些特别有趣的商品，比如春假过后上架的泡沫发射器，或者万圣节过后的12英尺高骷髅。这就是它奇特的地方，也是折扣如此诱人的原因。”

中文翻译：

BuyWander是一家以拍卖模式运营的在线市场，专门销售退货和积压的零售商品。该公司周二宣布，已完成2100万美元的A轮融资，由Madrona Venture Group和Inspired Capital领投。

这笔新资金到位之际，这家初创公司正将总部从华盛顿州斯波坎迁往西雅图地区，以借助该地区深厚的科技和零售人才储备，并加速其全国范围的仓库扩张。

BuyWander由首席执行官Jordan Allen和首席财务官Brock Kowalchuk于2023年创立，致力于将有捡漏需求的消费者与亚马逊、塔吉特、沃尔玛和家得宝等大型零售商的库存对接。

所有商品均以1美元起拍，采用固定七天拍卖制，买家可直接从当地履约中心提货，从而省去运费。此次新融资使公司累计融资额达到2800万美元，将用于技术投入并推动全国市场扩张——此前该公司已在丹佛和芝加哥新开设了仓库。

“这现在是一片蓝海，”Allen在接受GeekWire采访时表示。“在这个零售退货领域——我们称之为‘奇葩与惊喜交汇的错配库存’——还没有人真正打造出一个极其强大的消费者品牌。这些商品值得第二次机会，而在人们不得不勒紧腰包的当下，我们是他们购买心仪好物的绝佳选择。”

BuyWander于8月正式将公司总部从斯波坎迁至西雅图地区，在华盛顿州肯特设立了中央枢纽，目前有45名员工在此办公。这家初创公司最初进入该地区时，仅有一个狭小的设施来验证本地需求，但最近已升级为一座52000平方英尺的仓库，可为本地消费者处理的货量提升了三到五倍。

在其不断扩展的全国布局中——目前已有八个履约点——BuyWander的员工总数已激增至325人，其中绝大多数从事收货、上架和客服工作。

“斯波坎是创办公司的好地方，”Kowalchuk说。“当时我们就住在那里，能够通过反复迭代获得大量反馈。但发展到今天的规模、搭建起这样的领导团队，确实需要更高的人才密度，而西雅图在零售和科技领域都有着深厚的根基，能够提供这一点。”

Allen此前曾创办Stay Alfred，这是一家总部位于斯波坎的短租公司，在扩展到30多个城市后，于2020年疫情期间关闭。

在幕后，AI正在帮助BuyWander每月处理和上架数十万件独特商品。过去，手动录入数据和糟糕的拍摄质量是转售平台的瓶颈。如今，自动化工具可以即时识别退货商品、调取零售估值，并一键生成详细的商品列表。

“由于所需技术的限制，这个行业历来存在天花板，”Allen说。他补充道，AI现在优化着从拍卖排期到预约取货的一切环节。“感觉就像是二战和《星际迷航》同时发生，我们正在把这两个世界融合在一起。”

为了更好地覆盖区域市场，BuyWander计划在重点都市区增加设施密度。在普吉特海湾地区，Allen指出交通和地理往往成为各区域枢纽之间的障碍，并提到计划在未来几年内在大西雅图地区开设四到五个仓库，以保持本地消费者取货的便利性。

除了捡漏购物之外，这种循环模式还解决了零售商面临的一个巨大环保难题——它们往往仅仅因为自身系统不支持在本地重新处理退货商品，就将其直接丢弃。

根据美国零售联合会和Happy Returns的数据，美国全年零售退货总额约为8500亿美元，其中网购退货率高达近20%，是主要推手。对零售商而言，一旦算上退货运费、检查和重新上架的成本，处理一件退货的费用可达商品原零售价的20%到65%——这使得本地二级市场成为越来越重要的替代方案，避免全盘损失。

“有些品牌和零售商直接把这些东西扔掉，感觉简直像犯罪，”Allen说，并指出退货商品往往被卡车拉着在全国来回运输。“你买一件海鹰队球衣，退货寄回肯塔基州希伯伦，然后被装上卡车，最后到了迈阿密。当这些东西能在需求本就存在的当地直接售出时，一切就完美对上了。”

BuyWander的扩张背后是强劲的运营势头，随着全国布局的推进，公司实现了400%的同比增长。该平台目前拥有5万名活跃且成功竞拍的客户，累计节省了2亿美元——平均每位客户节省约4000美元。仅在过去一个月里，该公司就在八个仓库网点售出了近50万件独特商品，平均售价较零售价低75%。

据Kowalchuk介绍，大约80%的退货商品到货时状态为“看起来全新”，仅有轻微的包装破损。约80%的买家是使用该平台进行日常购物的终端消费者，另外20%是本地转售商——Allen表示，这一客户群体几乎完全依靠自然增长，每10个消费者中有9个是通过口碑推荐加入的。

该平台提供的商品种类繁多且难以预测——从电子挤奶器、劈木机、商用冰淇淋机，到吹风机和空气炸锅等日常用品，应有尽有。

“这可能是市面上最好的商品发现平台之一，”Allen说，并预测公司最终将销售互联网上列出的几乎所有品类。“我们会碰到各种搞笑好玩的东西，比如春假刚过就上架的泡沫发射器，或者万圣节刚过就出现的12英尺高骷髅。这就是它奇特的地方，也是为什么折扣这么给力。”

英文来源：

BuyWander, an auction-based online marketplace for returned and overstocked retail items, announced Tuesday that it has raised $21 million in a Series A funding round led by Madrona Venture Group and Inspired Capital.
The fresh capital comes on the heels of the startup relocating its headquarters from Spokane, Wash., to the Seattle area to tap into the region’s deep pool of tech and retail talent and accelerate its nationwide warehouse expansion.
Founded in 2023 by CEO Jordan Allen and CFO Brock Kowalchuk, BuyWander connects bargain-seeking shoppers with inventory from major retailers like Amazon, Target, Walmart, and Home Depot.
Bidding on all items starts at $1 in fixed seven-day auctions, with customers picking up their winning purchases directly from local fulfillment centers to bypass shipping costs. The new funding — which brings total raised to date to $28 million — will fuel technology investments and power nationwide market expansion following recent warehouse launches in Denver and Chicago.
“This is blue ocean right now,” Allen said in an interview with GeekWire. “Nobody’s really built an incredibly strong consumer brand in this retail return space — what we call the intersection of the weird meets the wonderful underneath this misfit inventory. These items deserve a second chance, and as people have to tighten up their wallets, we’re an incredible option for them to buy the things they want and love.”
BuyWander officially relocated its corporate headquarters from Spokane to the Seattle area in August, establishing its central hub out of Kent, Wash., where 45 of its employees are based. The startup initially entered the region with a cramped facility to prove out local demand, but recently upgraded to a 52,000-square-foot warehouse that can process three to five times more volume for local shoppers.
Across its expanding national footprint — which now spans eight fulfillment locations — BuyWander’s total workforce has surged to 325 people, with the vast majority working in intake, stocking, and customer service.
“Spokane was a wonderful place to start the company,” Kowalchuk said. “It was where we were living at the time, and we were able to get a lot of feedback very iteratively. But getting to the size where we are today and building out that leadership team really requires a little bit more talent density that Seattle can provide with deep roots in retail and deep roots in tech.”
Allen previously founded Stay Alfred, a Spokane-based short-term rental company that shut down in 2020, amid the pandemic, after expanding to more than 30 cities.
Behind the scenes, AI is now helping BuyWander process and list hundreds of thousands of unique items each month. Historically, manual data entry and poor photography created a bottleneck for resale platforms. Today, automated tools instantly identify returned products, pull in retail valuations, and generate detailed listings with a single click.
“There’s been a ceiling on this business historically because of the technology required,” Allen said, adding that AI now optimizes everything from auction scheduling to appointment bookings. “It feels like World War II and Star Trek at the same time and we’re merging these two worlds together.”
To better capture regional markets, BuyWander plans to increase facility density in key metro areas. In the Puget Sound region, Allen noted that traffic and geography often create a barrier between regional hubs, pointing to plans to open four to five warehouses across the greater Seattle area over the next few years to keep pickup convenient for local shoppers.
Beyond bargain hunting, the circular model addresses a massive environmental headache for retailers, who often dispose of returned goods simply because their systems aren’t built to re-process them locally.
Total U.S. retail returns reach roughly $850 billion annually, driven heavily by online shopping, where return rates hover near 20%, according to data from the National Retail Federation and Happy Returns. For retailers, processing a single return can cost between 20% and 65% of the item’s original retail price once return shipping, inspection, and restocking are factored in — making local secondary marketplaces an increasingly vital alternative to taking a total loss.
“Some of these brands and retailers were throwing this stuff away, and it just feels kind of criminal,” Allen said, pointing out how returned items often get trucked back and forth across the country. “You can buy a Seahawks jersey, and it gets returned in the mail back to Hebron, Kentucky, and ends up loaded up on a truck, ending up in Miami. The stars really align when the stuff can be sold locally where the demand already was to begin with.”
BuyWander’s expansion is backed by rapid operational momentum, hitting 400% year-over-year growth as it expands nationally. The platform now counts 50,000 active and winning customers who have saved a cumulative $200 million — averaging roughly $4,000 in savings per customer. Over the past month alone, the company sold nearly 500,000 unique items across its eight warehouse locations, with goods selling for an average discount of 75% off retail prices.
According to Kowalchuk, roughly 80% of the returned goods arrive in “appears new” condition with only minor packaging damage. About 80% of buyers are end consumers using the platform for everyday shopping, while 20% are local resellers — a customer base Allen says grows almost entirely organically, with nine out of 10 shoppers joining via word-of-mouth referrals.
The platform offers a sprawling, unpredictable lineup of products — having sold everything from electronic cow milkers, log splitters, and commercial ice cream machines to everyday staples like hair dryers and air fryers.
“It is probably one of the best product discovery platforms out there,” Allen said, predicting the company will eventually sell a bit of everything listed on the internet. “We’ll get hilariously fun items, like foam blasters right after spring break or 12-foot tall skeletons right after Halloween. That’s why it’s odd, and that’s why the deals are so good.”