eBay

stonevintage · ‎09-08-2017

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:(

retrose1 · ‎09-13-2017

@possumpeddlar wrote:
What can you do about it??? Nothing!!!! They are an American Store like any other. Dont like it dont shop there. One store in Rock Springs, Wy. has raised prices 300% in the last year. They go through managers like old socks. If you dont perform you are out. Eventhough the good merchandise is not there as it was a year ago. The big wage workers left town after the gas and oil work. They donated all the good stuff over a year ago. No good stuff now, just yard sale left overs. Soon the comunity will not support high prices. So no donations. That will happen everywhere when prices go nuts for old used stuff. People get mad and will not donate. Rather throw it away or leave on curb side for free. I have been shopping thrift stores for 55 years. I have seen it all a few times over. Just wait for it! Greed is the American Way.

I am reasonably observant, And over the years I have been going to annual church rummage and fundraiser sales and have noticed that there is less and less older/good stuff. And it is pretty obvious why. As the people donated their older stuff, they don't/can't replace it. As time passes, they run out of old stuff to donate.

On top of that, the old people move or die and the younger ones take their place. The younger people don't have older things and tend to get rid of their stuff every year so they have room to buy new.

Right now the older stuff in sales and thrifts is from the 90s and not much of that since they have been getting rid of it on a regular basis up to now.

(*Bleep*)

bubbleman2010 · ‎09-13-2017

retro 68 fruit box estate clean out elderly lady no heirs and left it all to her neighbor. Neighbor wanted it gone and called me. I looked in one box and told her figure out a price per box and we'll just count them up. She felt $10.00 per box was fair. I gave her $700.00 so she wouldn't have to bother digging around for change.... What a nice guy I am.....

rixstuff · ‎09-13-2017

After my great grandma passed, one of my grandma's sisters was left her Limoge china and several antique clocks from the estate. They were nowhere to be found. A cousin (younger than me) chirped up, "Those dishes werent worth much anyway - I only got $120 for them at the flea market." (Yeah about $3K of COMPLETE china service for $120) She gave the clocks to her mother in law who of course turned around and sold them for beaucoup bucks and gave all the antique quilts to a woman at her church "because she ASKED for them..." Nobody can figure out what exactly made her think they were hers to dispose of or why and many in the family suspect that she had been "reallocating" stuff long before grandma passed. We dont speak to our cousin much anymore.

rixstuff · ‎09-13-2017

@retrose1 wrote:
@possumpeddlar wrote:
What can you do about it??? Nothing!!!! They are an American Store like any other. Dont like it dont shop there. One store in Rock Springs, Wy. has raised prices 300% in the last year. They go through managers like old socks. If you dont perform you are out. Eventhough the good merchandise is not there as it was a year ago. The big wage workers left town after the gas and oil work. They donated all the good stuff over a year ago. No good stuff now, just yard sale left overs. Soon the comunity will not support high prices. So no donations. That will happen everywhere when prices go nuts for old used stuff. People get mad and will not donate. Rather throw it away or leave on curb side for free. I have been shopping thrift stores for 55 years. I have seen it all a few times over. Just wait for it! Greed is the American Way.
I am reasonably observant, And over the years I have been going to annual church rummage and fundraiser sales and have noticed that there is less and less older/good stuff. And it is pretty obvious why. As the people donated their older stuff, they don't/can't replace it. As time passes, they run out of old stuff to donate.

On top of that, the old people move or die and the younger ones take their place. The younger people don't have older things and tend to get rid of their stuff every year so they have room to buy new.

Right now the older stuff in sales and thrifts is from the 90s and not much of that since they have been getting rid of it on a regular basis up to now.

On a related note do you ever see what gets tossed in dumpsters on Hoarders or those home organizer/remodeling shows? GORGEOUS dining chairs, antique bed frames and nightstands, lamps whose only crime is being the wrong style for the 20-something "designer" doing the show, etc. It makes me nauseous watching great stuff get tossed. I get that they often want to teach the disorganized or hoarder a lesson but must beautiful things go in a dumpster? Could they not teach a better lesson by helping them SELL OFF unused stuff for CASH? Drag it to an auction!! Hold a yard sale! Sell it to an estate sale company in bulk! JEESH!! Nothing feels as good as a sale, non?

lookng2015 · ‎09-13-2017

LOL They probably feel that if the hoarder gets money back for what they're telling them is "trash" it will just encourage them to keep (get) more?

"If a product doesn't sell, raise the price" - Reese Palley
"If it sold FAST, it was priced too low" - also Reese Palley

emerald40 · ‎09-13-2017

@lookng2015 wrote:
@emerald40 wrote:
@lookng2015 wrote:
Good GRIEF. Enough already.
There are so many other threads out there that may be more to your liking, so why not leave this one and go to one of them.
Excuse me? I don't have an issue with this thread topic, but you seem to. Perhaps follow your own advice?

_____________________________________________________

Come again?

femmefan1946 · ‎09-13-2017

I agree.

Hoarding is a type of mental illness.

It's hard enough for the hoarder to get rid of anything.

And a lot of that 'good stuff' is filthy and bug infested by the time the TV show gets there.

(What hoarder type show uses any designers? Mostly they just keep the best of the stuff the hoarder has and clean up the house. )

It's also worth noting that for much of this stuff, even the older items are not particularly valuable.

I was at a local* antique auction and bought two 18th century walnut side tables for $200 Canadian each. Better than IKEA, but we were the only ones interested.

The estate did have a lot of Chinese and Chinese export tchotchkes. The Chinese family sitting in front of us with their translator spend over $250,000 while we were there, and were still bidding when we left. All the Chinese stuff was going back to China, or at least Vancouver.

The English antique furniture, the sterling silverware, and the porcelain tea sets were of no interest event to the Canadians in the audience.

*Victoria BC.

retrose1 · ‎09-13-2017

@bubbleman2010 wrote:
retro 68 fruit box estate clean out elderly lady no heirs and left it all to her neighbor. Neighbor wanted it gone and called me. I looked in one box and told her figure out a price per box and we'll just count them up. She felt $10.00 per box was fair. I gave her $700.00 so she wouldn't have to bother digging around for change.... What a nice guy I am.....

I've done that. Usually make my money back the first month.

(*Bleep*)

retrose1 · ‎09-13-2017

@rixstuff wrote:
@retrose1 wrote:
@possumpeddlar wrote:
What can you do about it??? Nothing!!!! They are an American Store like any other. Dont like it dont shop there. One store in Rock Springs, Wy. has raised prices 300% in the last year. They go through managers like old socks. If you dont perform you are out. Eventhough the good merchandise is not there as it was a year ago. The big wage workers left town after the gas and oil work. They donated all the good stuff over a year ago. No good stuff now, just yard sale left overs. Soon the comunity will not support high prices. So no donations. That will happen everywhere when prices go nuts for old used stuff. People get mad and will not donate. Rather throw it away or leave on curb side for free. I have been shopping thrift stores for 55 years. I have seen it all a few times over. Just wait for it! Greed is the American Way.
I am reasonably observant, And over the years I have been going to annual church rummage and fundraiser sales and have noticed that there is less and less older/good stuff. And it is pretty obvious why. As the people donated their older stuff, they don't/can't replace it. As time passes, they run out of old stuff to donate.

On top of that, the old people move or die and the younger ones take their place. The younger people don't have older things and tend to get rid of their stuff every year so they have room to buy new.

Right now the older stuff in sales and thrifts is from the 90s and not much of that since they have been getting rid of it on a regular basis up to now.
On a related note do you ever see what gets tossed in dumpsters on Hoarders or those home organizer/remodeling shows? GORGEOUS dining chairs, antique bed frames and nightstands, lamps whose only crime is being the wrong style for the 20-something "designer" doing the show, etc. It makes me nauseous watching great stuff get tossed. I get that they often want to teach the disorganized or hoarder a lesson but must beautiful things go in a dumpster? Could they not teach a better lesson by helping them SELL OFF unused stuff for CASH? Drag it to an auction!! Hold a yard sale! Sell it to an estate sale company in bulk! JEESH!! Nothing feels as good as a sale, non?

I can not stand any of the redecorating, change your life , there's money in quick flipping stuff shows. They are all fake. My favorite was when the Pickers showed up at a barn and the 6 ft+ skinny picker fell in love with a 50s bomber jacket that the 5'9' owner said he wore a lot back in the day. There was no way that guys jacket would ever fit the tall skinny guy's arms BUT skinny stuck his hand in the pocket and pulled out a handful of vintage condoms which he announced that he was throwing away. Condoms had to be worth a grand at least.

Then when they were doing wrapup announcing how much they 'made' the pronounced the coats value as between $35 -$50. At that time, and long enough to fit a 6 ft guy, it was worth at least $450 and then thre is the money they threw out in the form of the condoms.

Value and worth are in the eyes of the beholder. The Pickers, who are supposed to know what they are doing, didn't have a clue about what they had. How are thrifts supposed to get everything right? They put it out and hope that someone who knows what the item is and the best place to get the money for it will see it and buy it.

(*Bleep*)

retrose1 · ‎09-13-2017

@lookng2015 wrote:
LOL They probably feel that if the hoarder gets money back for what they're telling them is "trash" it will just encourage them to keep (get) more?

Isn't that what most of us are doing?

(*Bleep*)

yuzuha · ‎09-13-2017

@emerald40 wrote:
@rolenboy01 wrote:
@retrose1 wrote:

Some thrifts are not there to have their donations help the poor, some are there to get money. And some of that money goes to help the poor.
I could have swore that was the mission of the vast majority of thrift stores, get items for free sell them at a profit to anyone and everyone use said profit to help a certain cause or charity, I agree with most everyone here and I'm sticking to my guns I honestly feel these places would go out of business without resellers and hoarders.
If a reseller is making 3X, 5X, 10X off of it, then that mission is totally lacking in business sense.

Hardly. Reselling works because the resellers are targeting specific buyers by listing the items in places where those buyers are going to be looking for them, like eBay. Thrift stores, meanwhile, can't be that specialized. Their audience is whomever walks in off the street, and most of the time those people aren't going to be collectors who are looking for a specific piece to add to their collection, they're just average Joes who might buy that piece of glassware because they think it will look pretty on their table, not because they know what it is. If the thrifts price things for collectors, they're going to lose all of those average Joe buyers who might very well have bought the thing on impulse because they liked it and it was there for a reasonable price. They price things so that they have a steady flow of things going out the door, giving them room for new stuff.

emerald40 · ‎09-13-2017

@yuzuha wrote:
@emerald40 wrote:
@rolenboy01 wrote:
@retrose1 wrote:

Some thrifts are not there to have their donations help the poor, some are there to get money. And some of that money goes to help the poor.
I could have swore that was the mission of the vast majority of thrift stores, get items for free sell them at a profit to anyone and everyone use said profit to help a certain cause or charity, I agree with most everyone here and I'm sticking to my guns I honestly feel these places would go out of business without resellers and hoarders.
If a reseller is making 3X, 5X, 10X off of it, then that mission is totally lacking in business sense.
Hardly. Reselling works because the resellers are targeting specific buyers by listing the items in places where those buyers are going to be looking for them, like eBay. Thrift stores, meanwhile, can't be that specialized. Their audience is whomever walks in off the street, and most of the time those people aren't going to be collectors who are looking for a specific piece to add to their collection, they're just average Joes who might buy that piece of glassware because they think it will look pretty on their table, not because they know what it is. If the thrifts price things for collectors, they're going to lose all of those average Joe buyers who might very well have bought the thing on impulse because they liked it and it was there for a reasonable price. They price things so that they have a steady flow of things going out the door, giving them room for new stuff.

Actually the thrifts here ask when calling about specific items that they are in need of. And plus sized clothing is one of them.

rixstuff · ‎09-14-2017

The only time I really buy anything old or collectible is if I already have the rest of the set at home that someone gave it to me. I keep buying replacement beer mugs to complete the set my grandma gave me or when I broke a mixing bowl I found a replacement on Ebay - I just needed that ONE in that size not the whole set of four. And my roommate is always losing the silverware (he takes his lunch to work and our silverware with it - I hope he has a desk drawer full of forks at the office...) Its easier to buy 4 or 5 second hand replacement forks than to replace the whole set just to GET forks.

rixstuff · ‎09-14-2017

Follow up - discussed with a co-worker. Why cant the "designer" plan the design around what people HAVE rather than scrapping it all and throwing perfectly good stuff away? Or COVER the ugly sofa or PAINT the dining chairs? The scorched earth nonsense irks me.

retrose1 · ‎09-14-2017

@rixstuff wrote:
The only time I really buy anything old or collectible is if I already have the rest of the set at home that someone gave it to me. I keep buying replacement beer mugs to complete the set my grandma gave me or when I broke a mixing bowl I found a replacement on Ebay - I just needed that ONE in that size not the whole set of four. And my roommate is always losing the silverware (he takes his lunch to work and our silverware with it - I hope he has a desk drawer full of forks at the office...) Its easier to buy 4 or 5 second hand replacement forks than to replace the whole set just to GET forks.

Have a solution for you. My dad has me run out to get carryout for him at least once a week and he never uses the packaged up utensils. I could make up a box full of them for you and make up a listing that will basically cover shipping and fees.

(*Bleep*)