First, Can We Talk About How Overpriced Goodwill Is?
Because it is and it has gotten out of control.
I know it is because of people showing off their finds on Youtube and whatnot, but it has gotten to the point that things are the same price online as they are in the store! The point of the store was to SAVE money.
Even if you are just shopping for yourself and not a reseller, why bother going to the store when you could pay the same price and buy it on eBay?
Let's just look around, shall we?
IP9 iHome Clock Radio
Goodwill wanted $12.99 for this iHome clock radio. I don't normally look for things like this as they get obsolete so fast and so lose value just as quickly. But just to show what is going with the prices at Goodwill I will show you. (People don't even buy these at the Outlet when they cost $0.89 per lb)
As you can see, they sell for $15-25 or so with shipping. They also have a remote that this Goodwill one didn't have. Shipping would also cost around $10-13 for something like this. Then there are fees.
Sony Wireless Headphones Model TMR-RF960R
These headphones were marked $29.99 and the foam covering is flaking off and there is no AC adapter. They must be really expensive then, eh?
So what do these sell for on eBay? Around $30, minus flaking and with the power supply!
Texas Instruments TI-30Xa Calculator
Some calculators are worth a chunk of cash. What about this one? It doesn't turn on and they want $6.99 for it.
Good stuff, Goodwill....
So I Didn't Go To The Outlet Today
The Wife and I decided to go to the retail stores and see what was going with them. It had been MONTHS since I last went. I went to 3 Goodwill stores and one independent thrift store.
One Goodwill we bought absolutely nothing due to the prices.
One Goodwill I bought only the Fishin' Game. $2.29
One Goodwill we bought the Xerox toner and Nerf guns. $27.15
At the independent store, I found a pair of swim trunks and these sterling silver candlestick holders. The wife found the bangles and bracelets. She wants the ones on the swim trunks for a craft project of hers and the two near the candlestick holders are for sale. I never heard of them, but they are Alex and Ani and sell for $10 or so. Spent $35 there.
Total Spent: $64.44
The toners sell for $40-45 with shipping and the Fishin' Time game will be something we play for a few games and then could sell for $30-35. The Nerf guns are Rough Cut 2X4's and as a pair would sell for $30-40.
Now for the good stuff, silver.
These were a bit tricky to guess the value as they are weighted, but I still think I came out ahead. The two larger ones are marked "Sterling Weighted." I paid $18 for the pair.
The smaller one is marked "Sterling reinforced with cement." I may have paid a bit too much, as they wanted $12 for just the one.
I know most of this weight is just garbage, but the scale tells me they weight 791 grams.
Looking online, I will break even if the sterling silver content is 68-69 grams.
That's less than 10% and so I might have just squeezed out a profit as the silver content of weighted silver is about 10-11%.
Of course, silver is so cheap right now and I expect to sell these once the price rises during the next recession.
How do they plan on selling those products if prices are so similar? I guess some people are very hyped and buy simply because it is a goodwill store...
Who knows...
Most people are very uninformed consumers.
Preach on about the pricing. I cover 15-20 stores sometimes and some of the prices I see are mind boggling. Many stores now have a dedicated pricing person who uses a computer for research. Of course many of these people simply suck at this. It's a numbers game though, so I chalk it up to needing to go often enough and/or cover more ground to find the appropriately underpriced items I need to resell.
One of my earliest thrift store buys years ago was a silver plate thing. ...I still have it. I don't really come across sterling silver when I do look at the stamps, but usually tune that stuff out completely. It's generally overpriced here anyway. I just found a Roughcut 2x4 in the recycling the other day. They're pretty fun guns.
Yeah, silver plate is crap. We all make rookie mistakes.
You really don't seem to need the thrift stores as you find the best stuff on the curb!
There was an entire shelf of silver plate at a store today, and I did actually try to look for some rarer marks since my brother's friend is an expert, and told him that these limited marks can make some pieces worth hundreds.
As for the curbs, this is a debate I'm starting to have regularly now. Nothing better than free to $$, while helping Mother Earth. It just feels smarter.
Last night, I found a mint condition HP 8600 Plus printer full of ink with the plug in a box for a newer model. It was obvious that they replaced their good unit with an upgrade, so I snatched it and carried the prize home. I could sell it for $150 for about $100 profit (or part it out to sell the print head and various parts for more), but it works perfectly and is better than the other $100 printer I found on the curb a few years ago I use for my labels, so I might keep it. Not a big win, but a win. I usually find a few hundred each night I go out, and that's on low effort just around my neighborhood. If I went to another recycling zone or two within the city, I could completely destroy it, but I'd need help.
I've found so much free stuff I haven't shared because it's not that practical or popular now, but I'll try to show more for the fun of it. So much stuff I don't find in the thrift stores too and nearly all in perfect working condition, or with perfect parts to take off for just as much if I sold them whole.
Just this week, I found a perfectly working charged iRobot Braava 240, a working Polaroid 8x10 Model 81-12 Land Film Processor, college textbooks, a Dyson DC40 vacuum to part out, high end stroller parts, a working Bose speaker, popular blender parts, the printer above, and a bunch more. Several are already in the mail.
Jeez, how could I forget... I also found a complete Yamaha electronic drum set on Tuesday. I took all of the drum pads, the module, and the clamps with me. As a drummer, it's an easy few hundred there. Also a complete Wii with ~4 remotes and all adapters/accessories.
Does this mean more stuff will end in the Goodwill outlet stores when it doesn't sell? I have one that's in Canada-i live by the border-but it's in the middle of nowhere. Aka I'm not going.
Goodwill wasn't really a place I was finding stuff around me so this doesn't impact me unless Goodwill goes under or savers gets more stupid on prices.
By stuff, are you talking about silver plate? There are no Savers by me, but my brother does very well with them near his city.
The Lady of The Bunker will buy the Weighted Pieces in the Store but she is really Good with the Tin Snips and Tares those puppies open to get to JUST the SILVER..........@getonthetrain
I would expect nothing less from the Lady!
We have a similar situation with our charity shops @getonthetrain. Everything used to be really cheap but now they've got wise to the value and sell, as you say, at the price you would buy on line.
Some of them have even set up separate areas within the shop for vintage stuff and you know, if they have, it's going to be pricey.
Well, I have thrifted in the charity shops and know how hard it is there. But I have still come away with a thing or two from them. You just have to keep looking.
I like the auction houses in England as they are often just full of normal stuff. Oh, and car boot sales.
Yeah. We've just been sorting out a load of stuff for my daughter who's doing a boot sale in a couple of weeks. She usually makes close on £200 so it's worth doing every now and then.
Funny you should mention the auction houses, I saw a new one today when I was on the bus but I've already forgotten where it was. 😂
@getonthetrain, Yes, sometimes it happens means, the actual price is different but when we talk about overall aspect inclusion of fees and etc. then the picture changes.
In my opinion, you've hold some cool stuff and particularly i liked that Sony Headphone which is really awesome.
And those silver stuff holds some unique design and it's reflecting as cool stuff and also to some extent it's reflecting as piece of Trophy.
Wishing you an great day and stay blessed. 🙂
Thanks, Chiree. I am out looking for profit and if there is no profit I don't like! Haha
Ha ha welcome. 🙂
so expensive stuff o.o