Thrift store pricing increases again?

[stonevintage]

Seems like the thrift stores are getting a little greedy.  Price increases averaging 15% per year for the last 3 years, especially on general clothing and speciality or NWT items.

A used pullover sweatshirt or pair of used sweatpants here was 3.95 three years ago.  Now, they're all asking 5.95-6.95.  Run of the mill, no name brands.

Decor items.. with the Ross "compare at 9.99 stickers",  yours for a great bargin of 4.99.   I guess here, half price of what item was new - is their best deal to offer.  Apparently, items fallen out of trend have no impact on their pricing considerations.  Lots of owl and elephant figurines of all shapes and sizes getting donated now cause they're over - but still marked at on trend prices. 

 Don't they know, before these new items were donated - they were likely offered at half price or better in the retail store before they did their shelf pull and donated them???

Anyone else notice yet another price jump in the last month or so?  The winter clothes just coming out now have about a 30% jump in last years pricing:(

[getitright1234]

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@dakotasmoke wrote:
Most of our thrift store prices are in line with what you would pay on eBay. Especially purses and Jewelry it makes it almost impossible to buy for resale now and their reasoning is is that if people are unable to buy for resale it's more likely to go to people that actually need it.

If any thrift store is charging the same prices as seen on eBay, their buyers should expect a 30 day MBG and a 6 month return if they use Paypal.  Yeah, all that poor person needs is a designer purse and some jewelry.  

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[retrose1]

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@emerald40 wrote:

Response from chain thrift manager  "Oh we love the resellers and count on their income to fulfill our mission.  They are a steady source of income.

_____________________________________________________

As to one of Roses finds, how can pricing an item for $ that she was able to sell for $$$, be anything but stupidity on their part.Whose mission does that benefit?

Why donate that item when you can sell it yourself and give them the money instead?

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Because the world (especially the US) is filled with people who are lazy or don't think.   And plenty of other people are there waiting to cash in because of it.  Years ago, I hit a garage sale and there was a wonderful designer blouse there for 50 cents, I brought it up to pay for it and the woman just lamented about how it was her favorite top and she paid a lot for it and she was heartbroken to get rid of it.  So I said that I didn't need it that bad if she wanted to keep it.  She said that it was damaged, it was missing a button and was no use to anyone anymore.  I said that the company puts extra buttons on the underside and showed them to her, and said that all she had to do was sew the replacement on and it would be as good as new.  Her response was this confused look on her face as she said 'sew?'  I tossed the 50 cents on the table and made $20 off the blouse a few weeks later at the consignment shop.

Lots of people consider selling something a waste of their valuable time, and they may not consider the item valuable, in the case of the sweater, it could have been just old clothes to them.  That SA has several people doing their pricing and so the $1.99 for the used sweater from the 90s, even with a good name, might have seemed like a decent price to the person with the tag gun.  And I paid their full price for it, and their full price for a 50s beaded sweater, but the vintage dresses, the mans coat and jacket, I paid 49 cents a piece.

[rolenboy01]

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@nowthatsjustducky wrote:

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@stonevintage wrote:

Lol,  huge difference between price fixing and price gouging. Thanks for explaining that to those that were confused.   Price gouging was not what I described.

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No problem.  I was primarily simply agreeing with the wall of text guy above and his assertion also that this is not price gouging.  In fact, I think that was where I first saw the G word used in this thread; though I could have missed an earlier instance when just quick scanning to see if anything stood out I felt I could address.

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I often use the term Highway Robbery.

[emerald40]

Rose, I only read the first line but imo a thrift is not the same thing as a garage sale.

A thrift is a place where people donate items wanting to help the poor.  So that sweater you bought, I am sure was donated by someone who wanted the thrift to either sell it to someone in need or to someone else who would pay its true value so that money could then be used to help the poor.

So to the thrift, all I can add is that maybe a few of you resellers should instead of taking advantage of pricing point it out to the clerks there so they can change the price accordingly.

[squinkercat59]

What I REALLY hate, is that I have seen free USPS mailing boxes FOR SALE in SEVERAL Goodwill stores. I haven't seen this in any other thrift stores. But Goodwill seems to think it's okay.

[lookng2015]

And an awful lot of people donate because it's an easy way to get rid of what they would otherwise trash.

[emerald40]

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@lookng2015 wrote:
And an awful lot of people donate because it's an easy way to get rid of what they would otherwise trash.

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Yes, and that is a shame because I am sure it costs the thrifts money to have somewhere to dump it.

And that is why if these thrifts really wanted to make money, they would not accept garbage.

[lookng2015]

Just because people would trash it, doesn't mean it IS trash - sheesh

[emerald40]

Some things left at Good Will is unsellable imo, which is why they have to haul it off to the dump.

Sometimes another man's trash is trash imo.

[nowthatsjustducky]

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@lookng2015 wrote:
Just because people would trash it, doesn't mean it IS trash - sheesh

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This to the 10th power to the tenth power.

Just a few months ago, I rescued this cute little Atom based Netbook from the dump.  Got it working great with 32 bit Windows 7, LibreOffice for record keeping, and Opera as its browser (in the process of firing Firefox across the board).  It now serves as my inventory and library computer (as well as one I would take with me out camping or whatever, or for short day or overnight trips.)

Definitely not trash by any definition of the word, and works perfectly.

[emerald40]

You are not understanding what I am saying.

Not everything someone puts in the trash is trash.  Some people have money to burn and can afford to keep replacing things.

But some things that people cart to good will or list here is trash, and not sellable imo.

So no that computer is not trash even though that is where you found it.

But dirty, stained, ripped clothes is trash even though someone has not had the good sense yet to put it where it belongs.

[nowthatsjustducky]

Actually, I intended my post to simply serve as an example that illustrates your claim of "Just because someone puts a thing in the trash doesn't mean it is trash."  I was essentially agreeing with you.  🙂

[emerald40]

Actually my lazy finger did not reach up far enough because my reply was to lookng.

[ersatz_sobriquet]

Thrifts don't want to do the hard work of figuring out the value of items, so they are now pricing everything higher and higher every few months raising the prices to see what the public will pay. If their bottom line is increased sales then they are doing it right I suppose. Near me people are balking at the higher prices and walking away and letting stuff sit on the shelves and then snatching it up when the item is half off. Store shelves get too full and then they are filling carts with a 25 cent sticker on everything in it. I find it hard to believe the thrifts are making more money this way, but they are clogging up the shelves to make it look like they have a lot of merchandise. It's just stale merchandise is the problem, and yes it is getting trashed by all the pawing through. Something that was nice a few days ago I go back to that store and there's a big chip in it or ruined pulled threads on clothing. 

I think we send them a good enough message with our feet and our closed wallets. If their stuff doesn't sell until it's half off that tells them something. And the empty thrifts get what they deserve too....you're empty while the thrift down the lane is busy for a reason. You want to stay empty, keep doing what you're doing. 

I'd fire most of these thrift store managers and pricers if I ran them. Merchandise would be priced to move before it gets trashed and pawed over and destroyed. I wouldn't care if resellers made a buck. The point is to get the merchandise to move, to have the registers busy, and keep the items flowing out the door so that there's room on the shelves/racks for new items everyday. 

[mistwomandancing]

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shoppingbomc2014 wrote:
Since they get their merchandise for free, there is a difference between making a profit and gouging the customers.

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Most thrifts price their merchandise to MOVE.  Product that remains on the racks and shelves because it's overpriced doesn't benefit anyone.  If very little is selling, obviously the stuff is priced too high... *gouging* the customers, as you put it.  If the thrift is still selling plenty and filling the cash registers each day, then obviously many of their customers don't feel the prices are up to gouging level.    

The truth of it is... if not for the pickers who scoop up a lot of thrift shop merchandise for resale, most secondhand stores would suffer greatly.  And they know it.  There is a balance between pricing at what you can actually sell it for, which is what their goal should be and either (1) holding prices DOWN to benefit the resellers, when the store could be bringing in more money for their charitable works, and (2) overpricing merchandise to the point where it isn't selling, isn't bringing in money, and is of no benefit to anyone.

Doesn't matter whether the seller is a thrift store or a seller on eBay.  Offer good merchandise and price it right.. and watch it sell and move out the door.