Idea on making money from salvation army or goodwill

[lincha]

I'm not sure if its the same in your state or not but in Iowa they have Quarter days. On clothes only, salvation has 5 items for a dollar. So I go three times a week to find the colored tags that are at that price. I only buy name brand, Levi's , Lei's Mudd, really nice items. Example I buy five pair of jeans for one dollar. Sell them at yard sales for $2 or $3, sometimes $5 on really nice items. Shirts the same way. Also find lots of household items double the price on them at the yardsales. Also took two bags to Mexico once and made an easy hundred and twenty dollars. Great return on my money. Only drawback is you need to have storage, I have an empty basement. I log in the stuff I buy, put under men, women or children and sizes that way when I put on craigslist for yardsale I can mention sizes of stuff and brands. Also keep track of what I pay out and what comes in. I am aiming to take a truckload to Mexico next year, the stuff sells really fast down there.

 

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[ivan salis]

there is money in the "rag" trade as used clothing is often "nick named"

 

[Blacksheep]

Good idea until they remodel. Our local goodwill store remodeled a couple years back and raised prices considerably, just a few dollars less than new for jeans/shirts etc. (and they lost a lot of business)

The SA is still reasonable as are several other smaller thrifts in the area, one other area to check is Craigslist, many people list for free, the items that went unsold at their garage sales.

 

[pinebarrens1]

same here .. the goodwill near me is out of control . you can get new stuff for a few bucks more .

 

[Silverhawk]

Just look for the FREE section of craigslist. A ton of good stuff is found on there from people moving and not being able to take the stuff, or tenants who moved and left stuff at their old rental properties. I have made a great profit on several free items and ALL of it is profit.

 

[Produce Guy]

What part of Mexico do plan on going to? With all the gun violence drug wars going on there I hope you can get back out without getting shot/

 

[cyberdan]

I am aiming to take a truckload to Mexico next year, the stuff sells really fast down there.

Why go all the way to mexico. come out to my neck of the woods. Just like mexico and you can drink the water.

I have seen entire lawns covered with jumbled clothes and a dozen illegals climbing all over to get what they need. The used clothes business is alive and well in SoCA every saturday morning.

 

[lincha]

I'm from the Midwest and we have yard sales where there is lots of white people climbing over each other to get things too, kind of like the Christmas sales also. Unless you are ID ing these people how do you know they are illegal?

 

[Historyhound]

same here .. the goodwill near me is out of control . you can get new stuff for a few bucks more .

Agreed. The Goodwill stores in the Albany NY area are selling at near retail prices. It's a joke. I get the best deals at the City Mission and 2 different Salvation Army stores. Quite a few of the other Salvation Army stores in the area are getting out of hand too.

 

[billjustbill]

At the local Goodwill store, the men's clothes are priced a bit high, i.e. $7 for a pair of faded jeans. Then, all the Sterling jewelry, 925 or plated, is cleaned, polished, and put behind glass. It is clustered or arranged in groups with lot numbers and then bid on during the week. The final bids start at 12:00 Noon each Saturday, so those listed in the store's book are the beginning point and the live guy/gal present get's the last try. Three weeks ago, one employee said a single lot sold for over $300.... The managers of the store are happy making so much money with so little work.

Can't find large, thick, or oddity Sterling pieces there or at the monthly flea market. The word is out about silver and gold, and it's getting as scarce as "Hen's Teeth"....

Wish I'd started looking for jewelry YEARS AGO.... (sigh)

Bill

 

[pinebarrens1]

i used to be able to go to the goodwill and buy big bags of custom jewelry for next to nothing . i guess they caught on , i used to pay like 10.00 for a five pound bag . and there was always gold or silver in there . know no luck . now i got like 30 pounds of custom stuff sitting here . soon i will send 4-h a bag of the stuff for the kids he helps in planted hunts .

 

[cdltpx]

You guys ever think maybe the people running these good will stores might be monitoring this section of TN and applying the methods mentioned in here? If they get near retail peple will just go to the outlet malls and get all their clothes for the only discount around. The only reason people donate to these places is they can write off the full purchase price on their taxes. My problem has been you go to goodwill and the employees nab things before they get on the floor I have seen people offering cash for items being taken in and they turn it down saying no way it has to be processed that person go in every day first thing expecting the item and it never goes on the floor it goes out the back door. I go to Salvion Army almost every day I am trying to get all the appliances my daughter could want or need for her first place and we will have back up should any appliance we have go bad. What you pay for one in walmart you can buy them all in the thrift store.

 

[Bum Luck]

Ours is also out of control also.

The typical price for used T-shirts is $4.50; I've bought new T-shirts on sale for less.

The one item that I've gotten a good deal on is a vacuum sealer for the kitchen; it was 2.50, a great deal.

 

[mojjax]

Keep your eyes open for "vintage" levis . Some go for $1000+ on Ebay .

http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?rt=nc&L...&_sop=3&_sticky=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m283&_vc=1

 

[SEANO]

Keep your eyes open for "vintage" levis . Some go for $1000+ on Ebay .

http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?rt=nc&L...&_sop=3&_sticky=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m283&_vc=1

Thanks for the tip on the Levis, never would have known. Still have my early 1970's "Jean Jacket" somewhere..

 

[mojjax]

Here's a good link on IDing old Levis -

http://www.levisguide.com/

 

[cdltpx]

Ok the LEVIS or Levis thing is plain nuts people that will pay that much for an old pair of jeans are crazy the jeans are worth more than what some of the miners got out the ground. People that have too much money will do almost anything to flaunt it but if I find some of these jeans I will see about stashing then cashing them all I can say is who knew.

 

[clovis97]

Very cool thread!!!! I knew that super old Levis had high values, but I had no idea that Levis made into the 1970's were commanding such crazy prices!

Here is a cool and informative website about vintage Levis:

http://www.levisguide.com/

I learned quite a bit from that site. Very interesting!

 

[boogeyman]

Good idea until they remodel. Our local goodwill store remodeled a couple years back and raised prices considerably, just a few dollars less than new for jeans/shirts etc. (and they lost a lot of business)

The SA is still reasonable as are several other smaller thrifts in the area, one other area to check is Craigslist, many people list for free, the items that went unsold at their garage sales.

Funny you mention that! I went looking for a 5 1/2 floppy drive for a project. Last stop was Good Will. They had one on the shelf for $25 I took it up to the lady and asked her if she knew it was a dinosaur & was worth $2 or $3. She wnet into a spiel about training people bla bla, and they had overhead. "I told her she had overhead, and I had a brain" and left. The Good Wills around here are getting killed by the other thrift stores.

 

[famous turtle treasures]

Yes goodwill charges WAY too much for most items, which is why I make it my duty to go in there and find all of goodwill's pricing failures, and resell for 100 to 1000% profit. Its really interesting to see how prices for different items vary store to store. I believe it really depends on the people pricing the items, and their knowledge. The value village I go to doesn't even look for sterling silver in their metawares, but they price their pendleton, and other clothes high. I go to the goodwill by my house, and a vintage pendleton shirt is $5.00. Either way, don't rule goodwill out, the pricers are people, and people make mistakes. I picked up that aurora lamp for $3.99 and I already have an offer for $250.00.