Sell or Ship Test Strips from Minnesota — Find a Buyer

Where the supplies came from matters more than what they are

Supplies obtained through a government-covered program cannot be resold. That is the rule, it has no exceptions, and it applies regardless of how new the boxes are, how many you have or how perfect their condition is. Everything else on this page is secondary to it.

What does not matter, and worries people far more than it should, is the pharmacy label. A label with your own name on it is fine. Nobody is asking you to explain how you came to have supplies, and a printed label is not evidence of anything in itself. The question is about who paid, not whose name is on the box.

In a state where the great majority of people are covered, that distinction does real work. Supplies bought retail, or filled through employer or private insurance, are in a different category from supplies filled under a government program, and only you can tell which of those you are holding.

How to work out which it was

If you filled the prescription yourself, you usually already know, and the pharmacy receipt or the explanation of benefits from the time will say which plan paid. That is the cleanest answer and takes a minute to check.

If you cannot find the paperwork, the pharmacy that filled it can tell you which plan was billed. You do not need to explain why you are asking, and it is a routine question for them.

The awkward version is inherited supplies — a parent's cupboard cleared after a move into care or after a death. If the person was covered by a government program, that is very likely how the supplies were filled, and the honest answer is usually that those boxes cannot be sold. It is worth checking rather than assuming in either direction, but do not talk yourself into a conclusion you would not want tested.

If you genuinely cannot establish it, say so when you ask for a figure rather than after the parcel has arrived. That conversation is much easier had at the start.

The expiry claim worth ignoring, twice

The article that ranks above everything else on this subject tells readers expired supplies have very low or no resale value. It is right about test strips. A strip past its date can return an inaccurate reading, and inaccurate glucose readings are a safety matter rather than a discount opportunity.

It is wrong twice, and both times about items people throw out on its advice. Expired Omnipod pods — the 5, DASH and Classic versions — hold value. Expired Dexcom G7 sensors hold value. Both are paid at a reduced rate rather than treated as scrap.

The exceptions stop there. Expired Dexcom G6 sensors do not qualify, and nothing else past its date does. If you are working through a cupboard in Duluth or Rochester with a bin bag open, those two are the ones to pull back out.

Minnesota is flatter than most states, including inside the Twin Cities

Statewide, 10.1% of adults have diagnosed diabetes on the CDC's 2023 BRFSS estimates, against 12.1% nationally, with 18.3% of the population aged 65 or over.

The internal spread is narrow. St. Paul reads 10.5% and Plymouth 7.0% — 3.5 points between the state's highest and lowest cities, where a comparable state might run to eight or ten. Minneapolis is 7.4%, lower than Duluth at 10.0%, lower than Blaine at 10.3%, and lower than Brooklyn Park at 9.7%. Rochester sits at 9.2%, Bloomington 8.9%, Woodbury 9.4%, Maple Grove 7.2%.

Two Minnesotan cities differ by less than the margin you would find between neighboring suburbs in Michigan or Connecticut. There is no concentrated pocket of demand for a buyer to build a shop around, which is a large part of why nobody has, despite the population.

Posting it, and the part to settle first

With no in-state option, everything from Minnesota goes by post. The label is prepaid and costs you nothing wherever in the state you are sending from. A buyer who wants you to pay postage on a sale of this kind is telling you something useful about themselves.

Agree the actual number before anything leaves. The figure for what you specifically have — brand, count, expiry dates — rather than a range or a published average. A buyer unwilling to commit before the parcel ships is one who intends to revise afterwards, when the boxes are 446 miles away and you have nothing left to hold.

Photograph the sealed boxes with the dates and lot numbers showing, and keep those photographs until you have been paid. Do not open a box to photograph what is inside it. An opened box cannot be resold at any price, so that single act destroys the value you were trying to document.

Payment follows within 24 hours of the parcel being received and verified. Verification is someone checking the boxes against your description, which is why the clock runs from arrival rather than from the day you posted it.