What happened to the "thrift" in thrift store

[Nickleanddime]

Well I live in a town with 2 thrift stores. A goodwill and a independent. Both are way way overpriced. The independent is now looking up the prices of stuff on squeeze bay and doing the online and then their price lol. Example a set of half missing curlers from the 70's squeezebAy 70 there price 68. Pants with holes, squeeze bay 15 there's 12!! Use to be this place was hopping all the time now it's piled up can't even walk in the isles there so much stuff! Asked if they has new owners because of the prices and the lady told " no just keeping up with the times". What times?? I buy and sell all the time and make pod profits off what I sell, but I'm not greedy about it. They seem to not reliable this is used tossed away junk, no one is going to give full price, especially if there going to resale it. Heck a cookie sheet was 20 bucks and all the nonstick was wore off. You can get a new one for 5 or 8. Lol I just don't understand it, when I have items I'd rether sell 30 items and make profit, then try and sell one item for 50 and have 29 left just sitting there. Business 101 product sitting on your shelf is not money in the bank lol. I'd love to f d the stores most of you guys go to, I'd be in heaven. Have a great day.

Mods if this is wrong place for this post just move it please.

 

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[isabella1]

They will go out of business. The Goodwill down here fired an employee and then wanted to press charges on him for grand theft for giving discounts the homeless people. He thought that he could really help them out by giving them half off. Well once a broke news down here everybody was furious. They get stuff for free and then want to throw the book at somebody forgiven someone a discount. So after went on the news a lot of people said you know what we won't give you any more and we will stop coming there. Well charges are dropped now but he can't get his job back. By the way ours had a fruit juicer missing parts they wanted $60 for it!

 

[Lost&Found]

Same thing here. Over the past year my local store has jacked up the prices and made flipping many items impossible. I used to buy silver below melt and now they are selling it over melt. The funniest thing I called them on was for a remote control helicopter that they priced for $199 and showed them it was available on Fleabay, NIB, for $40 with free shipping. The clerk told me, "the manager makes up the prices". LOL

But there are still bargains to be found. Two weeks ago I picked a Perkins Brailler for $7.50 and it sells for $150 on Ebay.

 

[Nickleanddime]

Yeah I love the manager makes up prices thing lol. My response always is you need a new manager. I see alot of thrift stores going out of business soon, it's like CL I use to find good deals on everything there, now you see a aluminum bar for 300 bucks that's not worth 5. Or like was said the stuff missing parts for retail or higher. Seen a set of sterling earrings the size of a small pea gravel for 20 bucks I bet they weren't worth 4 in melt. I guess it's just the greed part that gets me, they get it for free and most is leftover junk from GS and they price it as gold. If there was anything good it had been gone at the GS.

 

[vpnavy]

I use to enjoy walking through Thrift Stores looking for that unreal deal. Overnight - they priced everything close to retail. Heck, you can do just as well buying new from WalMart...

 

[Dr. Syn]

Yep they went from being a charity making a few dollars for the needy to a business, and now so they have to make bigger bucks to pay the worthless management who now run the places.

 

[Tallone]

If memory serves, back in the day Goodwill's primary mission (or at least one of their main missions) was vocational training for the disabled. We recently took some items from my late mother-in-law's estate to Goodwill. They needed a little work but could be nice items when they were repaired. They wouldn't even take them! They wound up in the dump. I think with the advent of online sales options like ebay and Craigslist, Goodwill discovered they were sitting on a small gold mine because they don't have to pay to acquire their goods. That being said, there are still some deals to be found there but good deals are rare.

I have less of a problem with Thrift stores. Although I'm sure most thrift stores will accept donations, many of these places buy garage sale leftovers or purchase things at auction. If they price them too high, they wind up with storage problems and, probably, negative cash flow which means they are likely to be out of business soon.

 

[Nickleanddime]

That's the way goodwill was around here to till a guy bought our regions stores. Now they have a auction site even now. There's only 1 thrift store I know of in a 3 county area that actually helps the needy and sells stuff cheap just for that reason. My mom when she had some money use to kill the antiques there. It's run by the Oddfellows club, pretty cool place. But yeah like the place I was talking about in my first post the store is called helping hands, it's suppose to be for a homeless shelter now it's for profit. Oh well they'll be closed soon if try don't change there way.

 

[clovis97]

Goodwill wants $7.99 for a pair of kid's jeans. I can buy new, name brand jeans on sale for $10, and be able to get the style and colors we want.

Their prices are absolutely insane.

 

[randazzo1]

I have to agree with pretty much everything said. Thrift store prices have gone up - significantly. Most of it appears to be a result of the constant democratization of knowledge regarding the value of second hand goods - especially antiques and collectibles. There is one store in my area that hires "researchers" - computer savvy high schoolers who spend a few hours each night researching items and helping set prices. I can't object to the thrifts trying to maximize profit. If they are charities - then they have more money for charity. If they are for-profit business -- then I would be the last person who could throw a stone at someone for trying to make a profit. The unfortunate condition for many of them is that they view the online prices as realistic in a single brick and mortar location. For example, a William Sonoma Brasserie Blue Line Soup Bowl may well bring $15.00 on ebay as a replacement piece. The chances of it selling for more than a buck on a thrift store shelf are 100 to 1. On ebay -- anyone looking for the replacement can simply google the name, and if described correctly, the ebay listing will come up. It's a simple matter of having a broader market and the ability to bring up a wanted good on demand. The thrift has to wait for someone to come to them (a customer who happens to have that pattern and who happens to need a bow) as oppossed to the other way around - where you have such broad reach that you effectively come to the customer.

The High School pricers haven't caught on this dynamic yet. So the bowls, dishes, forks, cheap paintings, etc. just keep staking up and up and up with their ebay prices on them.

The only way to consistently realize those higher prices is to actually sell the items in the same marketplace - online. Goodwill has mastered that.

One tip --- with the exception of thrifts that have an in-house expert -- most of them are just "mark lookers". If it can't be googled, they don't catch it.
Think -- non-anglo silver and gold hallmarks, period pieces that are unsigned, art with illegible signatures, unmarked precious metals, and those oddball things no one even thinks to look up -- old signs, cutco knives etc. It makes an already difficult game more difficult, but these are the items i have the most luck encountering in thrifts these days.

 

[deserdog]

The treasures are still out there to be found. Sold a book just this week for $39.99, bought for $3.59. Have a bunch more books I have to take pictures of and sell. Sometime you have a treasure, and it just takes the right buyer to come along. Ebay just recently let you list up to 1,000,000(Like I could even get close to that many on!!!) auction style listing in a 10 day period for free, just had to pay final value fee if the sold. So I list things until the right buyer comes along.

 

[isabella1]

I can tell you what though if Goodwill is selling pants for eight dollars apiece and you need a text right off taking 30 pairs kids jeans to Goodwill might not be a bad idea. So now I have a $240 right off. Or 100 old shirts, they sell them for $5, so there's $500 more!

 

[namster]

In my AO there are small church operated stores, these have good deals. The GW stores around here are selling Chinese crap to bolster their stock, no kidding !

 

[augoldminer]

Goodwill where i live seams to use the internet to price there items.. and prices them about half the new price.

The problem i find is many times the items are missing parts or with computer items they are missing software.

Another problem i find it the thrift stores do not check items in boxes like cd/dvd drives or power supplies ECT and seal the boxes with tape. in many cases you will find that the items in the box are not the items listed on the box.

People have upgraded or repaired there computers and put the old part in the box and donated it.

 

[penman77]

Knowledge is power. The internet has spread a lot of knowledge around. They still have their blind spots. A Goodwill may put premium pricing on an item of Tommy Hilfiger clothing while selling Kiton or Oxxford for cheap.

 

[austin]

The thrift stores, goodwill and salvation army are still super cheap here. Think the reason is all the poverty here in south Texas. I give a lot of stuff to Goodwill and they sell it pretty cheap. I very seldom buy, but it's still fun to look. Bought a 20" TV with great picture and sound for $5. There were a dozen or more TV's there. Most expensive was $25 for a 36" RCA. Then if you want really, really cheap, there are the pulgas(flea markets) on the weekends. We just have a huge poor population here...

 

[jerseyben]

I have posted some info on GW before.

Take a look here for sources:
Goodwill Industries - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

Yea, I have noticed they oveprice alot of stuff....But still, i find things that seem way Underpriced.

I picked up a Wenger Swiss Lap Top case that was Brand new with tags still for $7.49 not to long ago...I looked it up and on Amazon it sells for 80 bucks....But it seems on most there basic stuff...WAY overpriced...I have more luck on buying clothes and reselling.....pants are always 7 bucks and shirts are 2.49 no matter what style or brand

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

Knowledge is power. The internet has spread a lot of knowledge around. They still have their blind spots. A Goodwill may put premium pricing on an item of Tommy Hilfiger clothing while selling Kiton or Oxxford for cheap.

I saw a BRAND NEW Tommy Bahama Mens shirt there for 4.99....and had the120 dollar Retail still on it