eBay

keziak · ‎10-11-2017

I drive past a Goodwill at least twice a day but haven't stopped in for, what, 15 years? (we donate from time to time). I decided to see what books they had. I was quite surprised. I immediately found some bowls I wanted and there was a lot of nice china but I know nothing about that (or clothes or collectibles).

The book and media sections were pretty good. I tend to use "thrift store" as shorthand for old and crummy books and this wasn't fair about this store. Quite a lot of nice things. As a Friend of the library I wish people would donate to us instead, though!

There was a problem with the high prices , especially since I'm used to the buck-a-book pricing libraries tend to use. For example I found some Game of Thrones paperbacks. I would have paid 50 cents for them but they were marked $1.50. There were some DVD sets but priced high. The hardcovers were kind of high. I hasten to add that as a charity they should try to get the best prices but I have no idea if their books just sit due to high prices. I plan to check back from time to time. They explained they have a color system in which every week some things are half off. I signed up to get email alerts.

robot-hands · ‎10-12-2017

Goodwill is absolutely tectonic about change. They haven't quite figured out that DVDs won't even sell at garage sales for .50.

You won't see competetive pricing on goods there unless the manager has a brain and is allowed to use it. Otherwise Goodwill employees are robots given top down orders from corporate that are about 10 years out of date.

newview · ‎10-12-2017

I no longer visit my local Goodwill in Maryland.

They have become little more than shysters. They routinely box damaged items up with scads of tape, and then get upset if you cut the tape to actually view the item. They expect you to buy a "pig in a poke" ... and then of course. "No Returns".

They also write prices on the bottom of EVERY item with Permanent Magic Marker. Ever try to remove magic marker from Stoneware? They also write the prices on the TAGS of clothing, and INSIDE of shoes, obliterating important details like model numbers, sizing & material types. They routinely destroy the value of items with their pricing methods.

I've also seen items tagged with the Clearance price from the retail stores who donated it ... marked UP by Goodwill with their Permanent Magic Marker.

I save my time & my money to vist the three other Goodwill Stores in my area, located in the neighboring State of Delaware.

I'm ̶p̶r̶e̶t̶t̶y̶ ̶s̶u̶r̶e̶ certain the lunatics have taken over the asylum.

keziak · ‎10-12-2017

Fortunately this local store didn't mark anything I bought.

Enjoying this thread. I am frequently amazed at how candid some of you are. I have learned to be cagey (the hard way). Even with friends who are dealers, I will hold my cards tight against my chest due to competition. For example there is a booksale tomorrow which I believe a dealer friend considers worthless ( and he wasn't there last time). It would not be in my interest to tell him the sale was very good last time because he's as ruthless as I am about pulling books to buy.

llllady · ‎10-12-2017

@patd3283 wrote:
Goodwill of North Georgia has been upgrading their store locations and advertising on local stations and PBS.
They just hired a new president from a local mass transit company who made $500K in his last position. Wonder how much they are paying him? It would take a lot of books to make that amount!

@patd3283

They're not yet rated at Charity Navigator, but there is information on their net worth and sales. Good site to start at for anyone wanting to donate. Once a charity is rated, more info. is available like administrative salaries. The link below is specifically for the unrated Goodwill of North Georgia

https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.profile&ein=208351046

“It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent” ― Madeleine K. Albright

Great! 45.8% down over the same time last year with 2x+ items listed. Are you impressed? I'm certainly not!

retrose1 · ‎10-12-2017

There are a couple people in Indy that are trying to get Goodwill knocked out of the charity tax bracket. Over the years they have fired all their handicapped employees, leaving one to push a broom in the back room, out of site, and that is their helping program.

They are paying min wage to employees but the managers are pulling down 6 figures. We had one manager fence in the back by the donation areas, and using great weasel wording, saying it was because they discovered homeless sleeping in their donation box, but in reality it was to keep their Jag in a secure location.

An employee, who was one of my ex employees, told me that they hold all the valuable stuff back and send it out with friends - or it disappears, and it ends up on ebay on an independent id, not Goodwill auction.

Yeah a lot of that could just be a dishonest manager, but over the years of watching GWs move out of poor neighborhoods and into where the money is, and their policy of throwing away anything that isn't new or trendy (not sending it to fiber or other recycling) , GW hauls in a massive amount of money, but they give out and do even less than Wounded Warrier when they were busted.

(*Bleep*)

retrose1 · ‎10-12-2017

@tunicaslot wrote:
That's too bad Rose! Sales around here have been pretty bad - there's not the amount of people out and about garage saling like there used to be. Could be many sellers want Ebay prices - or the younger folks aren't into it. I catch a few sales from the paper - but most have already utilized Clist, gsalr, and yardsalesearch.

I actually went to 2 Church rummage sales last week, one of which I've been to before and walked out with nothing - that's rare for me but neither had clothes and any collectibles or vintage were priced way too high. The Knights of Columbus had a huge clothing sale for back to school - the prices were outrageous! $25 for a used JCP puffer jacket that will be on sale at JCP in a few weeks new for $15 for Black Friday - people were just walking in and walking out.

I am walking out with less and less every year when I hit sales.

Not because they are pricing too high, but mostly because the people who have the vintage stuff I am interested in have either donated it all OR have passed away and what is replacing them (if they get replaced) are young families who buy trendy new items and used them a few times and then buy more. I have little use for that and can get it anywhere if the price is too high.

In the 30+ years I have been hitting regular fundraiser sales, I have not kept what I am doing a secret. I don't brag, and I don't ask for special treatment, but being honest really helps. When I had my vintage store, I handed out cards and still get calls from church ladies asking if I am interested in taking a look at some stuff they think is vintage. I have helped out a few with pricing for their sale and they let me take a few items for my trouble.

Because I have been nice, and not the stereotype of a money grubbing dealer, people remember and more than once I have walked into a sale and someone has come up to me saying they hoped I would show up, they have things for me to look at. A church lady called me and today I get to go out and check out her stuff.

(*Bleep*)

keziak · ‎10-12-2017

that is good to hear but I had a bad experience with a bookstore. I used to take them books to get trade credit and use that to pick out books to re-sell. I was asked point blank if I was a dealer and cheerfully said I was. I was then put on a black list and no matter what I took them to trade they immediately handed it all back. So there went an important source.

Because I am a middle-aged woman at booksales I constantly get comments like "you must like to quilt" or "the children's books are in that room". I usually just nod pleasantly. Flying under the radar as a dealer seems the more prudent option.

rixstuff · ‎10-12-2017

Last weekend my friend had a table at the flea market so I dragged along some of my stuff. Oddly I didnt sell the sterling and gold filled like I hoped - even at rock bottom fire sale prices - but I DID sell the **bleep** I was ready to donate or that was thisclose to the trash for a buck a pop. I made tons of money off the stuff I didnt want but sold none of the nicer pieces I thought would make me some serious money. Go figure.

rixstuff · ‎10-12-2017

Our local libraries dont take new read-once books. They INSIST on money. So what do they do with the money? Buy books...a horrible shame too. They could spend their cash on so many other things if they took the best sellers as donations instead of having TWO copies and a waiting list of 400 people. Cant fix stupid.

pf9000 · ‎10-12-2017

I think the Thrift Stores were cheaper in the past. Maybe they really don't want to sell some of these items and they are priced high to discourage sales. This can happen when a Charity receives a sizable donation, and they want to keep up appearances, rather than generate sales.

rixstuff · ‎10-12-2017

@pf9000 wrote:
I think the Thrift Stores were cheaper in the past. Maybe they really don't want to sell some of these items and they are priced high to discourage sales. This can happen when a Charity receives a sizable donation, and they want to keep up appearances, rather than generate sales.

I think they have the same fear we all have - that they will accidently sell a valuable or rare item for peanuts and SOMEONE ELSE will make a small fortune off of it. We all hear the stories about the people who BUY a van Gogh at a yard sale for $3 but never about the poor slob who SOLD it to him...

keziak · ‎10-12-2017

@rixstuff wrote:
Our local libraries dont take new read-once books. They INSIST on money. So what do they do with the money? Buy books...a horrible shame too. They could spend their cash on so many other things if they took the best sellers as donations instead of having TWO copies and a waiting list of 400 people. Cant fix stupid.

I am thinking you mean the library won't take donated books to add to the collection. Our library system is the same though when I worked there a zillion years ago I think they did take some, perhaps if they were special (not best sellers). It sounds like your library is strapped for cash if they cannot buy enough copies for the collection to manage 400 holds.

I work for the Friends of the library and we sell donations, not hand them over to the library for the collection.

retrose1 · ‎10-12-2017

@rixstuff wrote:
@pf9000 wrote:
I think the Thrift Stores were cheaper in the past. Maybe they really don't want to sell some of these items and they are priced high to discourage sales. This can happen when a Charity receives a sizable donation, and they want to keep up appearances, rather than generate sales.
I think they have the same fear we all have - that they will accidently sell a valuable or rare item for peanuts and SOMEONE ELSE will make a small fortune off of it. We all hear the stories about the people who BUY a van Gogh at a yard sale for $3 but never about the poor slob who SOLD it to him...

Sometimes they think it's a Van Gogh. A few years ago I set up at a vintage clothing show and brought some of my store stuff that wasn't moving. I brought along a couple of carpetbag purses from the 60s and unknown to me, a few of them had sold on ebay for between $75 - 125 a week earlier. So while I set up and the dealers come over and check out what I got and buy them all for $20. Since I was going home every night, I brought a couple more back and promptly sold them for $30. On the last day, I checked out the dealers and what they had and I saw all my purses on their tables for between $75 - $100 and I kind of smiled and moved on. When the show was over a few of us went out for dinner and one of the dealers that bought my purses told me about ebay and how I was the smart one because she kept track of them all and I was the only one that sold any of the carpetbag purses.

(*Bleep*)

soh.maryl · ‎10-12-2017

As a resident of NE Ohio, I feel lucky to have quite a few SA and GW stores in the area to choose from. We also have a chain of thrifts called "Village" and there are several of those in Ohio, although a few have closed. Their prices are quite reasonable and every day, two color tags are half off. In addition, they have a mailing list and send out half price postcards about every 6 weeks. Their hard back books are almost all 90 cents and paper backs are 40 cents. I buy to read, not to sell, so this is wonderful for me. My granddaughter was collecting a particular series and found all except one on two trips to the thrift. I then pass them along to my library's frequent book sales.

As for clothing, most of mine is from thrifts except socks and underwear. I also am a seamstress and cannot resist fabric for a dollar a yard. Lots of smaller pieces, but hey, I sew for dolls, so it's a bonanza for me. Other good finds: 3 different Rowenta irons for less than $30 each. Bitty Baby Doll $2. Won't bore you with further details, but, needless to say, I love thrifts.

mistwomandancing · ‎10-12-2017

pf9000 wrote:
I think the Thrift Stores were cheaper in the past. Maybe they really don't want to sell some of these items and they are priced high to discourage sales. This can happen when a Charity receives a sizable donation, and they want to keep up appearances, rather than generate sales.

That reminds me of being in a Salvation Army in Colorado Springs a few years ago. I saw some wonderful items up on a shelf that wrapped across the upper walls and asked about a couple of the items. I was told those things were only for decoration. They were not for sale.

I'd be so ticked if I'd donated to a charity but they weren't willing to sell my donations to bring in cash to fund the works OF that charity! I don't donate to decorate your store. I donate items to be sold, turned into $$$ funds to use to help people!

When she told me those donations were only being used for decor and not being offered for sale, I was all and