How to Sell Shipping Containers From Your Lot

To sell shipping containers off a lot, stock the cans your buyers ask for, give each unit its own listing with photos, condition and delivery area, and track every visit and quote request. Answer each quote the same day and line up delivery before you take the deposit.

The pages that rank for this search are written for one owner selling one used can. This guide is for the dealer who sells many.

The steps, in order

1. Pick your stock

Start with the sizes your buyers ask for on the phone and on Marketplace. Most lots carry short cans, long cans and high cubes (the taller long can), and add only what keeps selling. Decide how much of the lot is new, one trip (shipped once, near new) and used.

Grade the used ones in plain words on every listing:

• Wind and water tight (WWT): doesn't leak, doors work, may have dents and rust.
• Cargo-worthy: passed a survey and can go back on a ship.
• As-is: sold with every flaw, priced to match.

A buyer who knows the grade before he drives out doesn't argue about it at the gate.

2. Set up the lot to load and deliver

A can only sells if you can get it on a truck. Decide how you move units before you buy stock:

• Tilt-bed or roll-off truck: slides the can off at the buyer's site. Ask your hauler how much room the truck needs to back in and turn.
• Forklift or side loader: stacks and loads cans on the lot. Cans are heavy, so check the rating before you stack.
• Buyer's own hauler: fine for pickups, but get the truck type confirmed before the buyer shows up.

Get your hauler's rate to each part of your delivery area first. Then quote the can and the delivery together, so the buyer sees one price and you don't eat the haul.

3. Give each unit its own listing

One page per unit on your own site. Put on it:

• Size and type
• Grade and condition
• Photos of the doors, floor, roof, corners and any dents
• Price
• The area you deliver to

A buyer wants a unit he can picture. A unit with photos and a delivery area gets the call. A line in a list doesn't.

4. Track every visit and quote

Put a Meta pixel, Google Analytics 4 or Google Tag Manager on the site. Then you can see which ads and Marketplace posts bring quote requests, and which ones bring nothing.

Many dealers can't see that. On 2026-08-01 we scanned the home pages of 220 sites from our research into lot-based dealers, and 182 loaded. Of the 182 sites that loaded, 48 (26.4%) had no Meta pixel, no Google Analytics 4 and no Google Tag Manager in their home page code. Separately, 132 sites (72.5%) showed no Meta pixel in their home page code, and a pixel loaded through Google Tag Manager wouldn't show in this scan, so the true share is somewhat lower.

This is why ads come last. Without tracking you can't tell which ad paid.

5. Answer the quote the same day

A pile of quotes that sits for two days goes to the next lot. Call back the same day and send the price with delivery included. Follow up on every quote that doesn't close.

When the buyer says yes, take the deposit and book the delivery date right then.

6. Run ads

Turn on ads once steps 4 and 5 work. More quotes only pay if you can see where they came from and call every one back. The same order applies on other lots, as in carport dealer marketing and shed dealer marketing.

Questions dealers ask

How do I price a can?

Add what the can cost you, what it costs to move it onto your lot, what it costs to deliver it, and your margin. Quote delivery as its own line so the buyer sees it, and so a long haul doesn't wipe out the sale.

How big should the deposit be?

Take enough that a buyer who backs out costs him something and doesn't cost you the slot on the truck. Put the amount and the refund terms in writing before you book delivery.

Should I offer rent-to-own?

It lets buyers who can't pay cash take a can home on a payment, and it comes with rules. According to the state statutes index kept by the Association of Progressive Rental Organizations, read on 2026-08-01, rent-to-own is regulated by statute in 47 states.

Before you offer it, ask your state attorney general's office or the office that licenses dealers in your state:

• Does your payment plan count as rent-to-own under state law?
• Do you need a licence?
• What must the contract disclose, and does the law cap the total cost?

What do I do about delivery fees?

Quote them up front, by area, off your hauler's rate. Give the buyer one number for can plus delivery and book the date at the deposit.