Different stores do different things...Wal-Mart bundles them and puts them on sale at a really reduced price and so does big lots and the dollar store..our local plant place just keeps them in stock till they are all gone...When they go on sale, I buy all my fall seeds and my seeds for the next year...

But are the seeds that remain unsold sent back to the supplier?

also, try collecting seeds - I have collected from many places - even grocery stores or anywhere you see seed pods. Don't do them at a nursery, that isn't fair to them. ask your neighbors and friends if you see flowers you like at their house.

I am not simply looking for more cost-effective ways to obtain seeds. I am specifically wondering what happens to the seeds packaged for each season that are not sold.

I know through working in a Smith & Hawkin store that at least there, we sent back the left over packets to the supplier arround midsummer.

I would imagine retailers send unsold seeds back to the wholesaler for a rebate.

I went looking for flower seeds in July (well past the spring planting time) and was told the seed companies pick up their seeds, cardboard display racks and all. I was not told but I have thought the seed companies may then combine certain seeds for their wildflower mixtures etc. for the next year.
I wish the seed companies would market their seeds in time for Christmas. I would like nothing better than a variety of flower seed packets in my Christmas Stocking!!!!!!!!

I am told thru retailers that the companies do pick up the seeds at a certain time in each area. Then it is up to the indiv. company on what they do with them. Big Lots seem to get some of them. I got this years seeds for 5 cents a pack/ Now some small greenhouses sell off the seeds at a discount also. Menards sells theirs off at a small price.I have cherry tomatoes-green peppers-sqash-lavender and a load of flowers already/ cathy

I work as a vendor in Lowes - weekly. Week of July 4th they were inventoried and dumped into an empty refrigerator box to wait on the seed company to issue credit - they were then sent back.

I wondered what they did with them as they couldn't sell them the following year. But I wondered what the seed companies did with them.

I only saw this once, but onetime Home Depot in the fall was selling $1.98 a pack seeds for 5 cents a pack. I bought 39 packs of assorted vegetable, herb, and flower seeds for what one pack would have regularly cost. Most of the tomato seeds and some other seeds were good the next spring and several years afterwards, but now 5 years later they aren't sprouting anymore.
The other best deal I got was Home Depot was clearance selling 1 pound bags of slow release fertilizer for 5 cents a bag. I bought everything they had and it lasted me several years.

Being in the right place at the right time sure helps if you are a frugal shopper, thrift store browser, or garage sale junkie.

"It doesn't hurt to ask." is the best advice I can give anyone looking for a bargain.

This year I couldn't afford to put out the annuals that I am now growing. Didn't start as many indoors as I would have liked to but I have plenty of American Seed packets unopened yet.

I got them by asking at the local hardware store last fall.
He gave me all the unsold seed packets in the cardboard rack. About a brown grocery bag full for $2. Lots of veggie seeds in there plus annual flower seeds. I think it was worth the expenditure.

Most online seed suppliers offer the current season’s seeds at discounted prices later in the year.