This isn’t just a Goodwill problem, it’s other thrift stores as well. There’s a local place here that was established to raise money for a specific cause. It’s very well curated and organized but some of their pricing is…ridiculous. They look up a price of the item by googling and use that to price their stuff. I’ve basically stopped going there because I thrift out of frugality and to keep things out of landfills.
Anyway, my point is that these places are trying to take out the resellers. They’re inflating prices because they don’t think the resellers are actually doing anything but being middle men.
my family owns an antique store and I’ve grow up pricing things, it was insane and infuriating being told to charge MAX on whatever you could even for broken and compromised things…or there’s already 4 of them on the floor.
I think the town wide garage sale needs to be more popular. sometimes things should cost a quarter
Yeah, I went to Restore just once during the pandemic, just after Goodwill stopped selling furniture, and was so disappointed by their pricing; it was kinda junk for at least 2/3 of original new price
There is a restore by me that is obviously run by an insane person. He once had all these Harry Potter books at RIDICULOUS prices. I started laughing out loud ( not even kidding) and he heard me and he said “ These are rare!”… yeah. No they aren’t.
They don't care about taking out a middle man they want the cut of the money and have totally forgotten that extracting every bit of meat off the bone isn't what they're there for.
There's a store like that where I live but I don't go there because of their ridiculous pricing. It's a really nice store, but apparently they want to keep all their stuff
Resellers are their best repeat customers though, regular shoppers picking up a couple items and rando browsers aren't dropping hundreds of dollars several times a year.
They need to wake up and realize what butters their bread.
They got into the flipping side of it. A few dozen YouTubers convinced everyone here that it was the way to millions while hiding their actual failures and tricks.
Same thing happened to storage auctions after Storage Wars came out.
Source: Longtime flipper, don’t even bother with thrift stores anymore.
This is the correct answer. I'm in the same boat. God, storage units used to be so cheap. And everyone would have to physically be at the auctions, talking shit and carrying on, it was actually pretty fun. But greed reared its ugly head and here we are.
Not a flipper but I also don't really bother with them anymore.
You also said exactly what I was thinking too, they got wind that they could squeeze a bit more and sell at a higher price to normies instead of flippers clearing them out.
Says who?? You don’t get to decide what the purpose of a thrift store is. Most thrifts have a mission and their goal is to raise as much money as possible toward that.
Here in Poland it seems to be going the other way around - thrifting is getting more and more popular amongst teenagers and young aduls, but we are more aware of alternatives (like Vinted or other marketplaced), what the pricing should be and generally don't go to thrift stores just to resell - it's mostly buying for ourselves. We get what WE like, not just the expensive shit we would get the most money for; and if we don't find it at the right price - we get it online.
Obviously, you still have the expensive thrift stores, but most of the time it is older clients going to these and we'll just go somewhere else lol
That would explain why on Etsy, west Europe thrift boutiques like from Poland and Ukraine, have the most reasonable second-hand prices! Much love, and I tend to find they are better quality pieces as well.
Big chain thrift stores are just a business. Goodwill "helps the community" by "providing jobs"...
Last time I went to a Goodwill, there were a few shirts that I wanted. Not for reselling but for myself but they were asking like $6 a shirt. I wanted like three shirts but ended up buying nothing. If those were $3 a piece, I'd buy them even if they weren't on sale.
This particular store also started red tagging boxed DVD sets which means only on the 4th Sunday of each month they'll be on sale. They also priced those so high that even after 50% off, they're still higher than eBay prices. They used to be semi reasonably priced. Usually like $6 and would eventually go on sale for a whole week when it's regularly color tagged. Usually a boxed set would sell after a week or so. Now there's a whole shelf of these overpriced boxed sets just sitting there for like a month and it just keeps getting bigger. Family Guy season 3 is not worth $12!!! It'd barely be worth $6 at half off!
A couple of years back just prior to Covid, I would go to the thrift store and find some collectable items that I like (for my own personal collection); and the one time I went, there were two antique serving dishes by the same company (one was oval and one was a circular) and the oval one was priced higher than the circular one. This lead me to talk to the manager about the price and if they could be adjusted so that they were at least the same. She explained to me that (at the time) they took the approximate retail value and sold it for a third or so of that price (which still wasn’t great, but reasonable at least)- so they must have saw two different prices and the price is accordingly (she did adjust the price). Now these same thrift stores are selling the same collectables for either the exact retail price or a third more than asking price on Etsy eBay or even double the price of something on marketplace- it’s insane! If you ask about a price adjustment forget it! And the most frustrating part is that at least when you go to an antique store or a vintage market or somewhere similar, yes the prices are higher, but these people take the time and care to research the item for sale and take care and never put a sticker on top of it, never taping it and never Stapling things into fabrics. One time I discussed my concern with a manager at Goodwill, who had put the sticker on the cover of an old antique book and the sticker unfortunately, once pulled off, was going to pull off the leather it was attached to as it was old and brittle. I explained to her that you were charging the full retail price of this book, but you were treating it like garbage as once the sticker pulled off it will be ruined and she simply stated it’s not her problem! It’s so frustrating.
Edit for grammar
It drives me CRAZY when thrift stores deface items. I mean, how expensive can a price gun be (or whatever it's called, the things that attach the plastic tabs that the paper tags hang on) instead of WRITING ON IT IN SHARPIE? And don't get me started on BOOKS!
My goodwill uses those price gun tags and they do not care where they put it. I found a hand rolled silk scarf by Carlisle that was stunning but some troglodyte doubled the fabric and put that plastic tag through the scarf making two big holes. That scarf would have sold in the $100 range even preowned. Broke my heart it was so beautiful.
Ugh! Even if it was polyester it shouldn't have been treated like that! Why take something that was preowned and given to you for FREE and treat it like garbage and then expect someone to buy it??
I see this all the time with silk scarves! It’s so heartbreaking- if you absolutely must tag it, put it in the edge! I have one that I bought a few years back that has the same issue. They put the tag right through the middle, doubled up the scarf so that when I undid it, the tag had pulled and there’s a big hole right in the middle of my silk scarf and it just so frustrating.
It part greed of wanting to compete / part people donating so much useless crap that dump fees are a huge expense.
You’ll probably notice most donations have a full time attendant to literally deny peoples trash.
I agree, I've seen people dumping literally the bag out of their garbage cans by their front door. Lowest of the low. How freakin hard is it to put the trash where it belongs??
However, Greedwill and others have also been dumping undamaged merchandise that could have been sold into the dumpsters.
So, which is it, Greedwill? Lower your prices and actually SELL items, keeping them out of the landfill, AND make a profit...or overprice items in an attempt to cut into reseller's profits while selling NOTHING? They'll be empty of customers in a year if they don't change their ways.
That makes me think...I wonder what is the longest a particular store has let this price gouging go on? Have there been drops in the number of customers? I'd love to see some data on that.
I used to shop pretty much only at thrift or goodwill. I haven't stepped foot in one in over a year. we go to Gabe's or TJ Maxx now and it is actually CHEAPER to buy new there. I won't go back until they amend their ways and reduce their prices. I would love to see goodwills numbers. I hope they go under. it would be so deserved.
I agree with you. Same here, I refuse to shop at any of the GWs in my area on principle now, even though the price gouging hasn't hit here yet. I now only shop at consignment, thrifts that benefit local causes, or stores like TJ Maxx.
> I would love to see goodwills numbers
https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/search?q=
You can get the C Suite salaries here. My local GW CEO makes over $300k. For what, I ask.
In the case of Goodwill, they’ll flat out tell you their goal is to be the last reseller of the item. They price such that there’s no room for reselling. Like it’s a competition.
There’s a lot FOMO in it. Re final pricing. Meaning, if the thrift shop marks the T-shirt for $3 and a reseller buys it and then sells it for $8, then they’ve “missed out” on that $5 dollars. Solution: mark the shirt as $8 instead, so you don’t “miss out”.
And figuring the final would-be pricing gets borked along the way. Goodwill even keeps a reselling binder.
Not endorsing any of this, just offering up an explanation.
It’s a weird competitive thing. Similar to auctions that turn into a game to win instead of a place to find a deal.
It’s such a screwed up logic. Resellers can make money because they’re knowledgeable about products and selective about what they buy. They can sell for more than what Goodwill does because they have a curated selection that, for the buyer, is less work. Goodwill doesn’t have a very curated selection. The appeal of thrift shopping is that you put in extra work but it’s worth it because you get a better price. What’s the point of putting in that effort if you have to pay as much as you would for a new item, or a quality used item from a reseller?
It’s also access. Resellers are generally online which significantly broadens the exposure of the item, versus a random goodwill that may or may not attract the right buyer.
Yep. Even if a high priced niche item is a good deal, what are the odds that someone who is willing to pay that will walk into your thrift store? Most people who go to thrift stores are folks who are actively looking to spend less.
Reselling can and usually does involve research, testing, restoration/repair, and cleaning of items, none of which Goodwill is willing to provide the labor hours to do. Yet they want the highest possible price for items and will let it sit until it gets sent to Bins or landfill.
It's a classic tale of small shops turning into big corporations and getting greedy. I did hear about employees being pressured by superiors to meet imposed quotas, hence why we see things like 3$ rocks or 100$ shirts at GW. Yes, GW needs to pay for their location and expenses (electricity, heat), as well as employees' salary and all, but they aren't doing a good job at evaluating prices. Resellers carefully choose garments, take photos, list items online, and normally try to grind hard for their items to be viewed and purchased, along with shipping care. They are also exploiting the "oh but it's priced at 100$ online!!1" mentality that is exactly like the housing market - doesn't mean that it's the current shown price, that people pay that price, and that it's the right value. It's just proof they are on the price gouging and I hope calling them out more and more will cause a change.
So many goodwill employees and those having a yard sale will look up prices but fail to research what that item actually sold for. There are no truer words than an item is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.
I don’t think yard sales look up prices unless they are resellers. Most yard sales I go to will say all clothing $2 kitchenware $1 etc. they are just trying to get rid of their junk before sending it off to goodwill. Seriously who has time to look up each item before you have a yard sale?
You are right in that many people don’t care. I have been to many many yard sales in the last 35 years and since ebay, quite a few of the people having a sale will definitely look up the nicer stuff. I could never understand high prices for stuff at a yard sale or an estate sale. Keep the prices lower on everything and sell more stuff which balances out in the end. And you won’t have a ton of crap left to clean up.
When has Goodwill ever said anything about wanting to be the last reseller of items? I've been friendly with several Goodwill managers and not one of them has ever said this.
People just keep buyin over priced junk. People wait an hour in line at my GW to buy a few over priced items that most people would just throw out. As long as people buy they not gonna change and will keep upping prices until people stop buying.
Other people making money (resellers) should NOT be a problem for thrift shops. There is absolutely zero reason why Goodwill is raising prices other than corporate greed, just like all the other large corporations have done under the guise of “inflation”. The biggest clue- inflation fell to 3% but prices have not followed. Second biggest clue- record profits for the past 3 yrs.
I think blaming resellers is ridiculous. Why does it matter who is buying the stuff? If anything, they’re making it possible for Goodwill to be able to keep up with getting their donations out on the floor. I remember 6 or 7 yrs ago the manager at the Savers I frequented, who I’d become friendly with, complaining that they had too many donations and not enough floor space to get stuff out. I suggested that if they kept prices low they’d sell more and be able to get more stuff out thus continuing to selling more. I told her how as a dealer I often price things a bit lower than their worth so as to sell quickly and make room for more inventory. I make more money than when I used to price high and items would sit longer. She said she’d not fully in control of how things are priced.
Goodwill and Savers haven’t figured out yet that they’ll make much more with lower prices, as more will sell making room for more new inventory.
Edited to add something that just occurred to me. There is one part resellers play in the higher prices- these places caught on to the fact that resellers are making good money on some of their items, and instead of not caring what happens once the items sell, decided that they must be pricing too cheap and had to get in on the profits. They started looking everything up and pricing top retail, without considering that everything goes for more online due to accessibility, in that in many areas you cannot find certain items, but can find anything online without traveling all over your state looking for it.
Agreed. The scheme would make more sense if they actually hired resellers or someone with merchandising know how but just slapping huge price tags on literal trash is a very weird way to go about it.
I don’t think that’s a good approach either. I think they should just stop trying to eke out every last dollar and price everything low so anyone can afford it. They’d clear the floor every other day!
Yep. Thrift stores get more usable items than they can sell. Resellers taking all the stuff, or even all of the good stuff, is not the problem. And resellers don’t pay high prices either, so it’s not like they’re being catered to.
One thing I’ve learned as a longtime dealer is that I lose profit when space is taken up by sitting over priced items. They may eventually sell for top retail, but in the meantime I could have sold something else in that spot ten times over.
Thankyou, you speak my perspective perfectly!
Looking at the profits of places like goodwill already completely turned me off supporting them. Same with the wages and supports they have, or don’t have, for their employees. Is a grift no matter how I look at it.
Doesn't the final buyer get the lower price when they buy it from Goodwill rather than a reseller? Goodwill sells something for $9, the reseller sells it for $120. Which is the higher price, 9 or 120? Not a trick question.
A little math exercise for the noble champions of the downtrodden who flock to these threads.
You’re missing a major point: Goodwill is a reseller. They take donated goods, post them online for auction. Their auction is super shady and they screw buyers right and left using their sham practices and shill bidding.
They also put items in their boutique stores. They use volunteer and probation workers that get paid nothing or very little. A lot of their donations go straight to the bins where they get damaged then to the disposal process.
Goodwill is deflecting if they’re saying they’re combating inflation or resellers. They continue to change procedures to their favor to make money instead of the right thing to do. They charge around $20 for a used pair of jeans. Don’t fall for their shenanigans and don’t buy their auctions.
Partly resellers being too loud about deals, partly thrift stores trying to use ebay as a pricing tool without considering shipping/condition. I’m not sure they understand the difference between items listed at $100 vs sold at $100.
Another huge part though is that pricers have quotas they must fill each day/week. A certain monetary amount must be priced out or they receive a penalty. Threatened to be moved to another task or hours cut.
So for example, lets pretend at the local thrift shop the quota is $700 per day in electronics. Well doesn’t sound too bad, right? Oh look a nice laptop came in, that should help with quota right? Nope laptop immediately pulled for online store. Not part of quota. Someone drops off a box of xbox games, accessories, and a console. Pulled for online. Nice speaker set? Online. Another xbox. Full of dust and bugs, immediately trashed. By the end of the day the only stuff that made it to the pricer is a couple radios, dvd/vcr players, tv screens, accessories, and misc stuff. Nothing gets tested/cleaned and everything gets put out at a higher price. No bundles of stuff, everything is separated to maximize the amount going towards the quota. Congrats you met quota! Oh by the way next week the quota will be raised to $1000 per day because we need to compete with a neighboring store. The manager wants to get a bonus for it. You can keep up right?
Heck the big for profit thrift stores and their scummy tactics/upper management. Support local and small stores. Be kind to the employees, but firm when you see shenanigans afoot.
> I seriously think thrift stores are price gouging right now, riding on thrifting's popularity, rather than ajusting to inflation.
Shocker. It's been like this for years. Since Covid pretty much.
Before COVID. I worked at a VoA back in 2013 and it was starting then. Not as egregious as now, but furniture would be priced a bit higher than most people who needed to buy furniture from a thrift store could afford. Think a couch that has been sitting in a granny's basement for 30 to 40 years (with dust, must, ugly faded floral pattern, and the smell to prove it) being priced at $60 when most of our customer base couldn't afford to pay $40 for one. Most furniture as it was wouldn't sell until it was under $20. To be fair, this was a LCoL area and most of the population was under the poverty line, so everything needed to be cheap anyway.
The GM for that store was very clear that he wanted "his customers" to feel like they were walking into a department store and had some very "bright" ideas on how to achieve it. At one point he bought about 20 pairs of boots, not really work boots not really winter boots, but close enough that people could make do and priced them for $16-18 depending on size. About the same as what they retailed for, but hadn't been able to sell at the original store. We sold *maybe* five pairs and the rest sat on the shelf for 6 weeks until they were tagged out and thrown into the crates VoA uses to ship all that stuff (and this is a direct quote) "to Africa or something."
Plus there was the boutique areas where the nicer clothes went. Price stuff a few dollars more, then when it didn't sell we'd move it to the regular area with the rest of the clothes.
I guess the production crew aren’t going through hundreds, if not thousands, of items per day and having to deal with stuff like mold, rat poop, vomit, soiled underwear, sweaty socks, or any other the countless issues that come with sorting donations. Guess they don’t sort, hang, or roll the clothes out either. Resellers aren’t doing the physical labor of sorting the stuff. They aren’t putting in the work to find gold in a pile of shit. They’re searching for higher priced items among Shein and Walmart brands. It’s very different and it’s annoying how much the production crew is taken for granted by people who have no idea what their jobs are like.
I work for a charity shop and we have had to up our prices because we have to pay our rent, our staff, our heating, our logistics team etc etc. Everything has risen in prices thanks to inflation and we do not receive government grants. None at all. Many people don't know that. At the end of the day after covering our costs just to exist there is supposed to be money left for charitable projects. I will say that people in need get everything for free with a voucher system from our charity. Just wanted to share the other side not many see. Had we not raised our prices, we could no longer exist...
Our charity is in Europe so I can't compare but I will say that we are very thorough with checking the quality of donations. We don't put broken things in our shops or disgusting shoes which have passed the end of their life. That's why we feel okay to charge about a third of the original price, sometimes less. It's just frustrating to read about people swapping price tags and celebrating themselves here for it. I understand that some shops may be taking the piss, but maybe they are only staffed by volunteers who don't know what they're doing (we don't let volunteers do the pricing anymore to stop bizarre pricing) or maybe they also have to cover their costs. I guess because people in need get everything for free in our shops I get very irritated when I read that bargain hunters swap prices because it's not to their liking. If it's cheaper on e-bay, buy it there but please stay honest... I don't know what happens with the money from Goodwill etc.? Is it for charity? I'm very interested
The only excuse I've heard that sort of makes sense is the fact that if they didn't price things higher, they would have no stock available for "normal" customers because resellers would buy it all up.
I'm sure that's part of it. Corporate greed is almost certainly at play as well.
Estate sales are where it's at but be aware that if you are anything like me it can be extremely frustrating to see the dozen or so people in a house scanning things and checking ebay prices for literally everything before they buy it. I'm there to buy things for my collection and it sucks seeing ALL of something get sold for a decent price knowing that the one of them you wanted will now cost you 3-4 times as much.
I don’t understand the price tags on literal garbage. I do understand their motivation to price collectable stuff higher. I don’t agree with it but I do kind of see why they are doing it. However it is completely undercut by all the trash. I’m not going to be willing to pay a little or a lot more on something that I collect when I turn around and there is a moldy yogurt container on sale for 3 dollars. I’m not going to think it’s worth it. I’m going to think it’s broken or will soon be broken based on the condition of everything else. If they want to position them selves as a higher end store stop selling broken dirty items. Also it won’t work you are a thrift store.
Greed. And also the employees thinking they understand the resellers/whats valuable. I think some of the problems also lie from whenever they changed to this “by the book” fee + style surplus guideline thing.
Goodwill does this and Saver’s has some kind of pricing guide. Like, t-shirts 7.00$ - doesn’t matter the condition or quality. Then they surplus on top of that for recognizable brands or styles (like vintage). So you have employees pricing who know all shirts are at least 7.00, but this looks old so mark it for 15, but it’s just a 7 year old Walmart t-shirt with stains that’s worth nothing. Or when they get plastic cups from the dollar store but the pricing guideline says 5$ so that’s what they mark it for. Then you get some employees who don’t surplus the brand name or true vintage because they missed it and actual deals squeak by, which is what I look for now at the chain thrifts.
I was at savers the other week and found a little mini purse with no price. Plastic and no brand, probably 9.99 brand new - I asked the manager who took it to their computer and looked whatever up, came back and said $20 bucks because it looks like a trendy style. But I’ve bought large coach purses from the same location for 9.99. Like okay.
I can instantly tell the independent thrift stores that have no pricing guideline and whoever is pricing is just like… idk 3 bucks?? lol. Or the ones that have a flat fee that’s reasonable, like 2$ shorts, 3$ pants and don’t triple the price because they recognize the brand name.
Also, you can definitely see the effect of this price gouging in the goodwill bins. Really, it’s meant for “unsellable” clothes that have holes or stains or can be used for scrap fabric, but now it’s filled with brand name perfectly fine clothes that they just couldn’t sell at their inflated prices. Like it’s absolutely insane that I’m able to find clothes that retail for 200-300$ regularly, in perfectly good condition, and goodwill refused to lower their price to the point I’m buying it for 30 cents as their last resort.
in the production room, one of the metrics that is tracked is APOP or average put out price which needs to sit at a certain number. if certain departments are under what corporate decides they need to be at sometimes were told to find certain things to raise the prices on even if we might end up repricing it later
I don’t understand either. The stuff isn’t selling at these prices! Either mark them lower or they just sit there I guess.
I’m so tired of looking at items and seeing ridiculous prices on old fashioned clothing and dollar tree items. It’s a waste of time.
These are all donations. Price them accordingly.
Price it low then the resellers who go in multiple times a day, buy all the good stuff to make a 500% profit. Then the regular customers get sick and tired of wasting their time going in because "there's never anything worth while". "Those workers must be hiding all the good shit for themselves". There's no winning.
At my location in hamilton ontario the manager has flat out said the prices are due to the resellers. He has said that collectors will pay more. That they want to lock out the resllers. Why should they get the money when the store could. He has been marking up all media and all electronics as well as toys to insane prices. Then over a couple of weeks the prices are marked down 5 to 10 dollars at a time. He has had store meetings to reinforce that resellers are going to be pushed out. No lie. No exaggeration. He goes around and double checks prices. He removes items from the floor and prices them higher. 130 dollars for a console only ps3. 50 dollars for console only wii. 250 dollars for older video cameras. vhs and beta tapes as much as 50 dollars. rock albums and cassettes are upwards of 40 dollars. video games that are 20 dollars are priced at 40 to as much as 60 dollars. They sell untested, broken, missing parts items for full retail. So at least this location, it is 100 % the resellers.
Which is total garbage, it is a thrift store. Prices should be as is prices and not ebay when the item is as is. The company should be more worried about the backlash and hemorrhaging money. In our area the stores have been messaging community wide sales asking to pickup any items not sold at yard sales. Shelves are full but donations are down. Prices are so high that most people leave the store angry these days. If they pay 22 cents for a vcr and have a problem selling it for 10 so someone else can test, clean, repair and sell it for 40....well that is a bad business model that will not sustain itself. My store used to have 4 or 5 vcrs, dvd players, audio equipment at a time on the shelf. Now they are throwing out 10 to 15 items in a day at least. what was 10 to 12 dollars 7 months ago is now 30 to 400 dollars. They have had a sony receiver sit for 3 months. going from 400 all the way down to 80 bucks. then out on the shelf for 22 dollars. Where a friend of mine paid 9 dollars for it to get a part. as the audio channels were all dead when we hooked anything up to it. capacitors all needed to be changed. He just wanted the tuning and volume knobs.
I hate Goodwill . Hate it with a passion . I used to be a reseller about 10 years ago . Stopped doing it because it’s a saturated market now . Everyone and their brother is a reseller .
Two reasons for price increases is: cost and resellers. The wages for low skilled workers keeps going up it seems like every year . You cannot keep paying employees higher and higher wages when their value stays the same and you sell cheap goods . Look what just happened to .99 only stores .
Second is resellers. Again, I hate Goodwill but they’re not stupid. They saw what was happening . I mean people make course and You Tube videos about how they bought something at Goodwill for $2 and sold it for $50. Goodwill wanted a piece of that action.
They have a guy in the back that’s whole job is to look up prices of things selling elsewhere like eBay, reverb and other sites to price things .
You cannot continuously run a business and keep paying your employees more and more money and your costs are going up whilst selling everything for .99 or 1.99 . Again look at .99 Only stores . Same exact thing.
They have also taken away things they used to have to make things cheaper :
50% off Sunday - gone
$1 day - gone ( now it’s $2)
10% off for donating - gone
20% off $10 or more - gone ( now the threshold is $20)
They also took away all the fitting rooms , which is actually a smart business move on their part .
This is also why you see them sell outrageous things ( at least IMO) like half - burned candles , empty boxes , used bottles of shampoo and conditioner. Half used bottles of lotion . Etc. they will stick a price on anything and see if they can sell it . It didn’t used to be this way , at least not in my area .
It also used to be easier as a reseller to get good stuff . I used to be able to make friends with the managers. , throw some coin a mangers way and then get a text right before good stuff was coming out .
That’s all changed now. They are super strict about holding stuff back and saving stuff . It’s impossible now . Again I can only speak for my area.
You forget though, they get all their inventory FOR FREE. This ought to defray some of their increased labor costs. They also get other benefits as a nonprofit that a for-profit business just doesn’t get.
Yall got discount days? The ones in my area don't do shit for discounts. No senior day, no half day, no dollar day, no 10% off for donating, no 20% for $10 or more. Never had that. At least we have dressing rooms. But hearing everyone tall about their GW discounts bums me out because we get like one discount weekend every other year :(
When I worked in recruiting I had Goodwill as an account . I was unaware that each region had different rules and can be run how they want .
Some locations do discounts some don’t . Most took away fitting rooms as well after covid . Even Savers took there’s away too .
It's kind of crazy to see the ways diff GWs operate. I will say. I'd rather live without and with dressing rooms than the other way around. Dressing rooms are crucial and I have fun in my little retreat, trying stuff on. I wonder how much longer they'll be around tho. I'm pretty much going tk stop thrifting if they go away
All the fitting rooms in my area are gone . They’ve been gone for about 2 years . It’s smart on their part . You’re less likely to return something after you’ve gotten home. If you try it on at the store and it doesn’t fit, you put it back. If you have to buy it and then try it on at home you’re less likely to return it because now you have to make a special trip just to return it this is the same reason why a lot of companies offer rebates the statistics are there that most people won’t take advantage of it same thing with Goodwill and all the other thrift stores.
Once you actually buy something from Goodwill, the money is locked into their world and it’s never coming out. If you return something to Goodwill, you don’t get your money back. You just get a gift card to get something else so that $15 that you spent previously on a pair of pants that didn’t fit still stays with Goodwill and the odds of you buying something else for more money than what your gift card is is extremely high , so they actually wind up making more when you return stuff usually.
We don't even have returns or exchanges, sadly. All sales are final. I've overheard them taking back electronics that don't work though. They say they don't but I've seen it happen twice
Yes, my savers kind of has this policy too however, if you ask a lot of times, they will make an exception meaning, with electronics. I asked the guy once how can I be expected to pay 25 bucks for this item and I can’t even test it here because you don’t have the proper stuff, so he said you can return it bring me the receipt as soon as you buy it and then he turned it over and wrote on it. Return eligible with his initials. They don’t advertise the return policy a lot but if you ask someone a lot of times they will.
>They have a guy in the back that’s whole job is to look up prices of things selling elsewhere like eBay, reverb and other sites to price things .
Can you imagine how much money (and time) they would save by laying off this guy and pricing items in a range where people would actually buy them and they wouldn't sit on a shelf forever? That HAS to be time-consuming.
It’s the resellers I think and I hate it ! We have a animal rescue and used to go goodwill for bedding.. no more the bedding here is not less than 10.00 or higher, it awful 😢
It might be a hot take, but I think it’s totally fine when thrift stores sell high value and desirable items for near the going rate.
What I despise is them selling overpriced garbage that could benefit impecunious shoppers if it was reasonably priced.
It would be totally fine if they sold a collector’s item worth $5000 for $4000. I don’t understand people who say that thrift stores exist solely to provide affordable items for the unprivileged.
That said, with the profit they make from big ticket items, you should be able to buy a basic t shirt for like $0.50-$2. It’s ridiculous when I go thrift shopping and I see a Shein shirt that won’t survive a trip to the washing machine for $3 and that’s one of the cheapest clothes or when the more desirable items are priced higher than on eBay.
Them selling the worn out clothes for so much is what gets me. If a person is broke and in need of clothes, it's actually cheaper for new stuff at the Ross's down the road
I worked in a small charity thrift shop from 2022-2023. Here in the UK during that time inflation started going crazy (it still is.) During the time I worked there, my boss changed our pricing policy to raise the prices on all items with the justification “everything else is more expensive so we might as well do it too, people will expect it.” I found that really off putting, but in her defense, we were raising money for cancer research, not profit.
We were also given training to identify valuable items. Expensive stuff didn’t even make it onto our shop floor, it was flagged and sent to head office to be put on eBay.
There are many small charity shops in my town but reselling isn’t a profitable enterprise here because they’re all priced so high.
Price it low then the resellers who go in multiple times a day, buy all the good stuff to make a 500% profit. Then the regular customers get sick and tired of wasting their time going in because "there's never anything worth while". "Those workers must be hiding all the good stuff for themselves". There's no winning.
What I don’t understand is how they stay in business. When I can use my poor dollars to buy new clothes at a Ross or some retail sale better than thrift store prices for used, ripped, stained or new w/tags but smelly & dusty - and other goods the same scenario- why doesn’t the so-called free market take them out?
It doesn’t seem like resellers alone can keep them in business -and if the rest of us would refuse to shop there they would have to adapt. I dunno.
I’m finding good bargains in the places that sell Amazon pallets of returns. It’s like the Dig n Save thrift outlets but not as dirty or grizzled.
At least around here at the thrift stores have found the sweet spot to price out the flippers and still be full of customers. I bet pretty much everyone commenting here would be totally unhappy with the price. I’m happy to pay for most stuff.
I think perhaps we need to start a nationwide Goodwill BOYCOTT, demanding lower prices and better pay for their exploited disabled employees.
Part of the CEO,s’ pay cuts should go to the employees, and their “boutique” BS should be eradicated.
It’s a “thrift” store, for goodness’ sake! NOT a fancy, upscale “boutique.”
We shop for deals and those who are lower-income should be able to buy essentials that are actually LESS expensive than in standard retail stores! I am angry about the whole thing. I know that it isn’t just GW either, but we have to start somewhere, and they are one of the larger chains who need to be held responsible, and a major boycott would set an example!
I used to work for Goodwill. Now, I am a reseller. 😉 But, please don’t judge. I had my reasons for becoming one, including not being able to work a standard job (I was a female construction worker and proud of it, in school for it and working FT, toward my journeyman-ship) because of a Lupus diagnosis and two surgeries on my ribs from my rib cartilage failing.
I could only make money from home and I found that I could resell items I already owned and when I was just well enough, I started buying at thrifts to resell on eBay, Poshmark, Etsy, FB Marketplace, etc. I NEVER took advantage and scooped up all of one in-demand item as soon as it “dropped”to increase the price and gouge consumers. That is not and never will be “my way.”
I think that is wrong, and this is also why resellers are hated so much. These resellers give us a bad name and they deserve the boos, but for those who think all resellers are devious, just think about single mothers who have no current world work experience—for one example l—because of having worked to raise their kids for so long and then being forced to find money due to a divorce or other major life change. It is all capitalism, but there is capitalism at its best and capitalism at its worst…
I went off on a rant there. But I want to start a boycott of Goodwill (my Goodwill is NO exception! In fact, it is probably one of the best examples: Goodwill’s epitome of greed!
I live on the “Eastside” near Seattle, WA.vvThe prices at my local GW are outrageous! Ridiculous! Higher-than-retail prices abound there.
What do you all think of a boycott?
If I started one, would you follow?? I am curious. It seems to me that so many people are becoming fed up…
I don’t want lower prices just so I can profit from reselling, but for the personal items I buy, and for general “treasure-hunting” which I have ALWAYS just loved, as a hobby, since I was 14 yo. GW and other major thrift store chains are ruining this for everyone.
Also, as mentioned before: Low income folks should be able to shop for items they need at a discount! Especially for the fact that GW gets their items donated at NO cost to themselves! ALL FREE! Shame on them.
Lmk what you all think about a BOYCOTT!
Goodwill and other thrifts have seen that resellers are making profits because their sourced goods from thrifts are cheap. Goodwill wants a piece of that.
There needs to be rules for resellers. It’s obv who they are. I know someone who is and he goes to every goodwill store everyday! He’s a hoarder too so it’s just going to waste
It's kind of the resellers fault but not really. Resellers help set market value for items in their area. Thrift stores have caught up with the times and now charge as much or more than a reseller would. I say it's not really resellers fault because this is just how business works. It's not really a blame and label one group as bad situation.
Price gouging has a definition and it isn’t what most people in this subreddit think it is. Price gouging is when retailers and others take advantage of spikes in demand by charging exorbitant prices for necessities, often after a natural disaster or other state of emergency. That’s why it was illegal to price gouge hand sanitizer or masks during the pandemic. It does not mean prices that you think are too high.
Because a retail store has this to pay for
Rent
Electricity
Water
Business tax
Employee salary
Employee insurance
Insurance
Garbage Recycling School tax
Theft and loss that’s gone unclaimed
Supplies
Website domain / Franchise fees
And there’s more I missed for sure. Like 20,000$ a month at selling things for 15$
This isn’t just a Goodwill problem, it’s other thrift stores as well. There’s a local place here that was established to raise money for a specific cause. It’s very well curated and organized but some of their pricing is…ridiculous. They look up a price of the item by googling and use that to price their stuff. I’ve basically stopped going there because I thrift out of frugality and to keep things out of landfills. Anyway, my point is that these places are trying to take out the resellers. They’re inflating prices because they don’t think the resellers are actually doing anything but being middle men.
I volunteered at habitat for humanity re store and googling prices was the most infuriating part of my work. the model should be priced to sell.
Omg the Restore is the worst with the overpricing. I don’t even go in there anymore because it makes me angry.
my family owns an antique store and I’ve grow up pricing things, it was insane and infuriating being told to charge MAX on whatever you could even for broken and compromised things…or there’s already 4 of them on the floor. I think the town wide garage sale needs to be more popular. sometimes things should cost a quarter
Yeah, I went to Restore just once during the pandemic, just after Goodwill stopped selling furniture, and was so disappointed by their pricing; it was kinda junk for at least 2/3 of original new price
Around here Restore was the first to start it. It took a few years for the other thrifts to catch on.
There is a restore by me that is obviously run by an insane person. He once had all these Harry Potter books at RIDICULOUS prices. I started laughing out loud ( not even kidding) and he heard me and he said “ These are rare!”… yeah. No they aren’t.
They don't care about taking out a middle man they want the cut of the money and have totally forgotten that extracting every bit of meat off the bone isn't what they're there for.
Look, the CEO really needs his $500k salary because reasons, OK?
I know right. What's worse is that they have lots of CEOs because they're independently owned by region.
There's a store like that where I live but I don't go there because of their ridiculous pricing. It's a really nice store, but apparently they want to keep all their stuff
There are two places I go to and gift to in my area. Both are nonprofits. I also do not donate crap. I wash and sort everything.
This is the way.
Resellers are their best repeat customers though, regular shoppers picking up a couple items and rando browsers aren't dropping hundreds of dollars several times a year. They need to wake up and realize what butters their bread.
Thrift stores forgot some of the charity they provide is suppose to be low cost goods for the community they reside in.
They got into the flipping side of it. A few dozen YouTubers convinced everyone here that it was the way to millions while hiding their actual failures and tricks. Same thing happened to storage auctions after Storage Wars came out. Source: Longtime flipper, don’t even bother with thrift stores anymore.
This is the correct answer. I'm in the same boat. God, storage units used to be so cheap. And everyone would have to physically be at the auctions, talking shit and carrying on, it was actually pretty fun. But greed reared its ugly head and here we are.
Just like Macklemore ruined thrifting with his “Thrift Shop” song. 😠
Not a flipper but I also don't really bother with them anymore. You also said exactly what I was thinking too, they got wind that they could squeeze a bit more and sell at a higher price to normies instead of flippers clearing them out.
Because of flippers, who are talentless leeches on society.
That is actually not the purpose of most thrift stores.
Then they ain’t “thrift” stores
Says who?? You don’t get to decide what the purpose of a thrift store is. Most thrifts have a mission and their goal is to raise as much money as possible toward that.
Google "define thrift"
Right but as the thrift store prices rise, buying new from Ross for the same price new is looking better and better.
Websters.
Here in Poland it seems to be going the other way around - thrifting is getting more and more popular amongst teenagers and young aduls, but we are more aware of alternatives (like Vinted or other marketplaced), what the pricing should be and generally don't go to thrift stores just to resell - it's mostly buying for ourselves. We get what WE like, not just the expensive shit we would get the most money for; and if we don't find it at the right price - we get it online. Obviously, you still have the expensive thrift stores, but most of the time it is older clients going to these and we'll just go somewhere else lol
That would explain why on Etsy, west Europe thrift boutiques like from Poland and Ukraine, have the most reasonable second-hand prices! Much love, and I tend to find they are better quality pieces as well.
Same in the USA, youth realized that there’s millions of high quality goods already made and with things like cotton and not polyester
Big chain thrift stores are just a business. Goodwill "helps the community" by "providing jobs"... Last time I went to a Goodwill, there were a few shirts that I wanted. Not for reselling but for myself but they were asking like $6 a shirt. I wanted like three shirts but ended up buying nothing. If those were $3 a piece, I'd buy them even if they weren't on sale. This particular store also started red tagging boxed DVD sets which means only on the 4th Sunday of each month they'll be on sale. They also priced those so high that even after 50% off, they're still higher than eBay prices. They used to be semi reasonably priced. Usually like $6 and would eventually go on sale for a whole week when it's regularly color tagged. Usually a boxed set would sell after a week or so. Now there's a whole shelf of these overpriced boxed sets just sitting there for like a month and it just keeps getting bigger. Family Guy season 3 is not worth $12!!! It'd barely be worth $6 at half off!
A couple of years back just prior to Covid, I would go to the thrift store and find some collectable items that I like (for my own personal collection); and the one time I went, there were two antique serving dishes by the same company (one was oval and one was a circular) and the oval one was priced higher than the circular one. This lead me to talk to the manager about the price and if they could be adjusted so that they were at least the same. She explained to me that (at the time) they took the approximate retail value and sold it for a third or so of that price (which still wasn’t great, but reasonable at least)- so they must have saw two different prices and the price is accordingly (she did adjust the price). Now these same thrift stores are selling the same collectables for either the exact retail price or a third more than asking price on Etsy eBay or even double the price of something on marketplace- it’s insane! If you ask about a price adjustment forget it! And the most frustrating part is that at least when you go to an antique store or a vintage market or somewhere similar, yes the prices are higher, but these people take the time and care to research the item for sale and take care and never put a sticker on top of it, never taping it and never Stapling things into fabrics. One time I discussed my concern with a manager at Goodwill, who had put the sticker on the cover of an old antique book and the sticker unfortunately, once pulled off, was going to pull off the leather it was attached to as it was old and brittle. I explained to her that you were charging the full retail price of this book, but you were treating it like garbage as once the sticker pulled off it will be ruined and she simply stated it’s not her problem! It’s so frustrating. Edit for grammar
It drives me CRAZY when thrift stores deface items. I mean, how expensive can a price gun be (or whatever it's called, the things that attach the plastic tabs that the paper tags hang on) instead of WRITING ON IT IN SHARPIE? And don't get me started on BOOKS!
My goodwill uses those price gun tags and they do not care where they put it. I found a hand rolled silk scarf by Carlisle that was stunning but some troglodyte doubled the fabric and put that plastic tag through the scarf making two big holes. That scarf would have sold in the $100 range even preowned. Broke my heart it was so beautiful.
Ugh! Even if it was polyester it shouldn't have been treated like that! Why take something that was preowned and given to you for FREE and treat it like garbage and then expect someone to buy it??
I see this all the time with silk scarves! It’s so heartbreaking- if you absolutely must tag it, put it in the edge! I have one that I bought a few years back that has the same issue. They put the tag right through the middle, doubled up the scarf so that when I undid it, the tag had pulled and there’s a big hole right in the middle of my silk scarf and it just so frustrating.
It part greed of wanting to compete / part people donating so much useless crap that dump fees are a huge expense. You’ll probably notice most donations have a full time attendant to literally deny peoples trash.
I agree, I've seen people dumping literally the bag out of their garbage cans by their front door. Lowest of the low. How freakin hard is it to put the trash where it belongs?? However, Greedwill and others have also been dumping undamaged merchandise that could have been sold into the dumpsters. So, which is it, Greedwill? Lower your prices and actually SELL items, keeping them out of the landfill, AND make a profit...or overprice items in an attempt to cut into reseller's profits while selling NOTHING? They'll be empty of customers in a year if they don't change their ways. That makes me think...I wonder what is the longest a particular store has let this price gouging go on? Have there been drops in the number of customers? I'd love to see some data on that.
I used to shop pretty much only at thrift or goodwill. I haven't stepped foot in one in over a year. we go to Gabe's or TJ Maxx now and it is actually CHEAPER to buy new there. I won't go back until they amend their ways and reduce their prices. I would love to see goodwills numbers. I hope they go under. it would be so deserved.
I agree with you. Same here, I refuse to shop at any of the GWs in my area on principle now, even though the price gouging hasn't hit here yet. I now only shop at consignment, thrifts that benefit local causes, or stores like TJ Maxx.
> I would love to see goodwills numbers https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/search?q= You can get the C Suite salaries here. My local GW CEO makes over $300k. For what, I ask.
no doubt! does he sh+t golden eggs or something? and they wonder why we are so "angry" and fed the eff up.
In the case of Goodwill, they’ll flat out tell you their goal is to be the last reseller of the item. They price such that there’s no room for reselling. Like it’s a competition. There’s a lot FOMO in it. Re final pricing. Meaning, if the thrift shop marks the T-shirt for $3 and a reseller buys it and then sells it for $8, then they’ve “missed out” on that $5 dollars. Solution: mark the shirt as $8 instead, so you don’t “miss out”. And figuring the final would-be pricing gets borked along the way. Goodwill even keeps a reselling binder. Not endorsing any of this, just offering up an explanation. It’s a weird competitive thing. Similar to auctions that turn into a game to win instead of a place to find a deal.
It’s such a screwed up logic. Resellers can make money because they’re knowledgeable about products and selective about what they buy. They can sell for more than what Goodwill does because they have a curated selection that, for the buyer, is less work. Goodwill doesn’t have a very curated selection. The appeal of thrift shopping is that you put in extra work but it’s worth it because you get a better price. What’s the point of putting in that effort if you have to pay as much as you would for a new item, or a quality used item from a reseller?
It’s also access. Resellers are generally online which significantly broadens the exposure of the item, versus a random goodwill that may or may not attract the right buyer.
Yep. Even if a high priced niche item is a good deal, what are the odds that someone who is willing to pay that will walk into your thrift store? Most people who go to thrift stores are folks who are actively looking to spend less.
Reselling can and usually does involve research, testing, restoration/repair, and cleaning of items, none of which Goodwill is willing to provide the labor hours to do. Yet they want the highest possible price for items and will let it sit until it gets sent to Bins or landfill.
exactly!! and the precise reason I am boycotting until they get real.
It's a classic tale of small shops turning into big corporations and getting greedy. I did hear about employees being pressured by superiors to meet imposed quotas, hence why we see things like 3$ rocks or 100$ shirts at GW. Yes, GW needs to pay for their location and expenses (electricity, heat), as well as employees' salary and all, but they aren't doing a good job at evaluating prices. Resellers carefully choose garments, take photos, list items online, and normally try to grind hard for their items to be viewed and purchased, along with shipping care. They are also exploiting the "oh but it's priced at 100$ online!!1" mentality that is exactly like the housing market - doesn't mean that it's the current shown price, that people pay that price, and that it's the right value. It's just proof they are on the price gouging and I hope calling them out more and more will cause a change.
So many goodwill employees and those having a yard sale will look up prices but fail to research what that item actually sold for. There are no truer words than an item is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.
I don’t think yard sales look up prices unless they are resellers. Most yard sales I go to will say all clothing $2 kitchenware $1 etc. they are just trying to get rid of their junk before sending it off to goodwill. Seriously who has time to look up each item before you have a yard sale?
You are right in that many people don’t care. I have been to many many yard sales in the last 35 years and since ebay, quite a few of the people having a sale will definitely look up the nicer stuff. I could never understand high prices for stuff at a yard sale or an estate sale. Keep the prices lower on everything and sell more stuff which balances out in the end. And you won’t have a ton of crap left to clean up.
When has Goodwill ever said anything about wanting to be the last reseller of items? I've been friendly with several Goodwill managers and not one of them has ever said this.
Buddy worked there.
People just keep buyin over priced junk. People wait an hour in line at my GW to buy a few over priced items that most people would just throw out. As long as people buy they not gonna change and will keep upping prices until people stop buying.
Not all nonprofits are really nonprofit for the higher ups. Goodwill CEO is making bank.
Other people making money (resellers) should NOT be a problem for thrift shops. There is absolutely zero reason why Goodwill is raising prices other than corporate greed, just like all the other large corporations have done under the guise of “inflation”. The biggest clue- inflation fell to 3% but prices have not followed. Second biggest clue- record profits for the past 3 yrs. I think blaming resellers is ridiculous. Why does it matter who is buying the stuff? If anything, they’re making it possible for Goodwill to be able to keep up with getting their donations out on the floor. I remember 6 or 7 yrs ago the manager at the Savers I frequented, who I’d become friendly with, complaining that they had too many donations and not enough floor space to get stuff out. I suggested that if they kept prices low they’d sell more and be able to get more stuff out thus continuing to selling more. I told her how as a dealer I often price things a bit lower than their worth so as to sell quickly and make room for more inventory. I make more money than when I used to price high and items would sit longer. She said she’d not fully in control of how things are priced. Goodwill and Savers haven’t figured out yet that they’ll make much more with lower prices, as more will sell making room for more new inventory. Edited to add something that just occurred to me. There is one part resellers play in the higher prices- these places caught on to the fact that resellers are making good money on some of their items, and instead of not caring what happens once the items sell, decided that they must be pricing too cheap and had to get in on the profits. They started looking everything up and pricing top retail, without considering that everything goes for more online due to accessibility, in that in many areas you cannot find certain items, but can find anything online without traveling all over your state looking for it.
Agreed. The scheme would make more sense if they actually hired resellers or someone with merchandising know how but just slapping huge price tags on literal trash is a very weird way to go about it.
I don’t think that’s a good approach either. I think they should just stop trying to eke out every last dollar and price everything low so anyone can afford it. They’d clear the floor every other day!
Oh I totally agree with you I’m just saying they seem to have picked the worst of the available strategies.
Yep. Thrift stores get more usable items than they can sell. Resellers taking all the stuff, or even all of the good stuff, is not the problem. And resellers don’t pay high prices either, so it’s not like they’re being catered to.
Exactly my thought - plus they'd sell much more if they lowered their prices indeed!
One thing I’ve learned as a longtime dealer is that I lose profit when space is taken up by sitting over priced items. They may eventually sell for top retail, but in the meantime I could have sold something else in that spot ten times over.
Thankyou, you speak my perspective perfectly! Looking at the profits of places like goodwill already completely turned me off supporting them. Same with the wages and supports they have, or don’t have, for their employees. Is a grift no matter how I look at it.
Thrift stores saw resellers making decent money, so they decided they needed to raise prices so THEY could get that money instead.
Doesn't the final buyer get the lower price when they buy it from Goodwill rather than a reseller? Goodwill sells something for $9, the reseller sells it for $120. Which is the higher price, 9 or 120? Not a trick question. A little math exercise for the noble champions of the downtrodden who flock to these threads.
You’re missing a major point: Goodwill is a reseller. They take donated goods, post them online for auction. Their auction is super shady and they screw buyers right and left using their sham practices and shill bidding. They also put items in their boutique stores. They use volunteer and probation workers that get paid nothing or very little. A lot of their donations go straight to the bins where they get damaged then to the disposal process. Goodwill is deflecting if they’re saying they’re combating inflation or resellers. They continue to change procedures to their favor to make money instead of the right thing to do. They charge around $20 for a used pair of jeans. Don’t fall for their shenanigans and don’t buy their auctions.
End stage capitalism wants to wring blood from a stone.
Partly resellers being too loud about deals, partly thrift stores trying to use ebay as a pricing tool without considering shipping/condition. I’m not sure they understand the difference between items listed at $100 vs sold at $100. Another huge part though is that pricers have quotas they must fill each day/week. A certain monetary amount must be priced out or they receive a penalty. Threatened to be moved to another task or hours cut. So for example, lets pretend at the local thrift shop the quota is $700 per day in electronics. Well doesn’t sound too bad, right? Oh look a nice laptop came in, that should help with quota right? Nope laptop immediately pulled for online store. Not part of quota. Someone drops off a box of xbox games, accessories, and a console. Pulled for online. Nice speaker set? Online. Another xbox. Full of dust and bugs, immediately trashed. By the end of the day the only stuff that made it to the pricer is a couple radios, dvd/vcr players, tv screens, accessories, and misc stuff. Nothing gets tested/cleaned and everything gets put out at a higher price. No bundles of stuff, everything is separated to maximize the amount going towards the quota. Congrats you met quota! Oh by the way next week the quota will be raised to $1000 per day because we need to compete with a neighboring store. The manager wants to get a bonus for it. You can keep up right? Heck the big for profit thrift stores and their scummy tactics/upper management. Support local and small stores. Be kind to the employees, but firm when you see shenanigans afoot.
> I seriously think thrift stores are price gouging right now, riding on thrifting's popularity, rather than ajusting to inflation. Shocker. It's been like this for years. Since Covid pretty much.
Before COVID. I worked at a VoA back in 2013 and it was starting then. Not as egregious as now, but furniture would be priced a bit higher than most people who needed to buy furniture from a thrift store could afford. Think a couch that has been sitting in a granny's basement for 30 to 40 years (with dust, must, ugly faded floral pattern, and the smell to prove it) being priced at $60 when most of our customer base couldn't afford to pay $40 for one. Most furniture as it was wouldn't sell until it was under $20. To be fair, this was a LCoL area and most of the population was under the poverty line, so everything needed to be cheap anyway. The GM for that store was very clear that he wanted "his customers" to feel like they were walking into a department store and had some very "bright" ideas on how to achieve it. At one point he bought about 20 pairs of boots, not really work boots not really winter boots, but close enough that people could make do and priced them for $16-18 depending on size. About the same as what they retailed for, but hadn't been able to sell at the original store. We sold *maybe* five pairs and the rest sat on the shelf for 6 weeks until they were tagged out and thrown into the crates VoA uses to ship all that stuff (and this is a direct quote) "to Africa or something." Plus there was the boutique areas where the nicer clothes went. Price stuff a few dollars more, then when it didn't sell we'd move it to the regular area with the rest of the clothes.
I’m stopping. No need to buy used items at retail.
I guess the production crew aren’t going through hundreds, if not thousands, of items per day and having to deal with stuff like mold, rat poop, vomit, soiled underwear, sweaty socks, or any other the countless issues that come with sorting donations. Guess they don’t sort, hang, or roll the clothes out either. Resellers aren’t doing the physical labor of sorting the stuff. They aren’t putting in the work to find gold in a pile of shit. They’re searching for higher priced items among Shein and Walmart brands. It’s very different and it’s annoying how much the production crew is taken for granted by people who have no idea what their jobs are like.
I work for a charity shop and we have had to up our prices because we have to pay our rent, our staff, our heating, our logistics team etc etc. Everything has risen in prices thanks to inflation and we do not receive government grants. None at all. Many people don't know that. At the end of the day after covering our costs just to exist there is supposed to be money left for charitable projects. I will say that people in need get everything for free with a voucher system from our charity. Just wanted to share the other side not many see. Had we not raised our prices, we could no longer exist...
I can totally understand that. Are the prices comparable to what's currently at Goodwill, Salvation Army, and other big donation centers?
Our charity is in Europe so I can't compare but I will say that we are very thorough with checking the quality of donations. We don't put broken things in our shops or disgusting shoes which have passed the end of their life. That's why we feel okay to charge about a third of the original price, sometimes less. It's just frustrating to read about people swapping price tags and celebrating themselves here for it. I understand that some shops may be taking the piss, but maybe they are only staffed by volunteers who don't know what they're doing (we don't let volunteers do the pricing anymore to stop bizarre pricing) or maybe they also have to cover their costs. I guess because people in need get everything for free in our shops I get very irritated when I read that bargain hunters swap prices because it's not to their liking. If it's cheaper on e-bay, buy it there but please stay honest... I don't know what happens with the money from Goodwill etc.? Is it for charity? I'm very interested
The only excuse I've heard that sort of makes sense is the fact that if they didn't price things higher, they would have no stock available for "normal" customers because resellers would buy it all up. I'm sure that's part of it. Corporate greed is almost certainly at play as well.
But if you price out resellers you’ll lose half of your customer base.
But maybe add more who have stayed away because of so many resellers?
They took all the fun out of finding a deal. Haven't had a good experience here in arizona since before COVID.
Estate sales are where it's at but be aware that if you are anything like me it can be extremely frustrating to see the dozen or so people in a house scanning things and checking ebay prices for literally everything before they buy it. I'm there to buy things for my collection and it sucks seeing ALL of something get sold for a decent price knowing that the one of them you wanted will now cost you 3-4 times as much.
How do you find estate sales? I'm sure there's some good ones here in the city
Usually Craigslist and then stop at ones I see on the way. You can sign up for their email lists too when you go to them.
Thanks! I haven't been on Craigslist in years but I'll have to check it out.
It's under garage sales.
I don’t understand the price tags on literal garbage. I do understand their motivation to price collectable stuff higher. I don’t agree with it but I do kind of see why they are doing it. However it is completely undercut by all the trash. I’m not going to be willing to pay a little or a lot more on something that I collect when I turn around and there is a moldy yogurt container on sale for 3 dollars. I’m not going to think it’s worth it. I’m going to think it’s broken or will soon be broken based on the condition of everything else. If they want to position them selves as a higher end store stop selling broken dirty items. Also it won’t work you are a thrift store.
Greed. And also the employees thinking they understand the resellers/whats valuable. I think some of the problems also lie from whenever they changed to this “by the book” fee + style surplus guideline thing. Goodwill does this and Saver’s has some kind of pricing guide. Like, t-shirts 7.00$ - doesn’t matter the condition or quality. Then they surplus on top of that for recognizable brands or styles (like vintage). So you have employees pricing who know all shirts are at least 7.00, but this looks old so mark it for 15, but it’s just a 7 year old Walmart t-shirt with stains that’s worth nothing. Or when they get plastic cups from the dollar store but the pricing guideline says 5$ so that’s what they mark it for. Then you get some employees who don’t surplus the brand name or true vintage because they missed it and actual deals squeak by, which is what I look for now at the chain thrifts. I was at savers the other week and found a little mini purse with no price. Plastic and no brand, probably 9.99 brand new - I asked the manager who took it to their computer and looked whatever up, came back and said $20 bucks because it looks like a trendy style. But I’ve bought large coach purses from the same location for 9.99. Like okay. I can instantly tell the independent thrift stores that have no pricing guideline and whoever is pricing is just like… idk 3 bucks?? lol. Or the ones that have a flat fee that’s reasonable, like 2$ shorts, 3$ pants and don’t triple the price because they recognize the brand name. Also, you can definitely see the effect of this price gouging in the goodwill bins. Really, it’s meant for “unsellable” clothes that have holes or stains or can be used for scrap fabric, but now it’s filled with brand name perfectly fine clothes that they just couldn’t sell at their inflated prices. Like it’s absolutely insane that I’m able to find clothes that retail for 200-300$ regularly, in perfectly good condition, and goodwill refused to lower their price to the point I’m buying it for 30 cents as their last resort.
in the production room, one of the metrics that is tracked is APOP or average put out price which needs to sit at a certain number. if certain departments are under what corporate decides they need to be at sometimes were told to find certain things to raise the prices on even if we might end up repricing it later
I don’t understand either. The stuff isn’t selling at these prices! Either mark them lower or they just sit there I guess. I’m so tired of looking at items and seeing ridiculous prices on old fashioned clothing and dollar tree items. It’s a waste of time. These are all donations. Price them accordingly.
Price it low then the resellers who go in multiple times a day, buy all the good stuff to make a 500% profit. Then the regular customers get sick and tired of wasting their time going in because "there's never anything worth while". "Those workers must be hiding all the good shit for themselves". There's no winning.
At my location in hamilton ontario the manager has flat out said the prices are due to the resellers. He has said that collectors will pay more. That they want to lock out the resllers. Why should they get the money when the store could. He has been marking up all media and all electronics as well as toys to insane prices. Then over a couple of weeks the prices are marked down 5 to 10 dollars at a time. He has had store meetings to reinforce that resellers are going to be pushed out. No lie. No exaggeration. He goes around and double checks prices. He removes items from the floor and prices them higher. 130 dollars for a console only ps3. 50 dollars for console only wii. 250 dollars for older video cameras. vhs and beta tapes as much as 50 dollars. rock albums and cassettes are upwards of 40 dollars. video games that are 20 dollars are priced at 40 to as much as 60 dollars. They sell untested, broken, missing parts items for full retail. So at least this location, it is 100 % the resellers. Which is total garbage, it is a thrift store. Prices should be as is prices and not ebay when the item is as is. The company should be more worried about the backlash and hemorrhaging money. In our area the stores have been messaging community wide sales asking to pickup any items not sold at yard sales. Shelves are full but donations are down. Prices are so high that most people leave the store angry these days. If they pay 22 cents for a vcr and have a problem selling it for 10 so someone else can test, clean, repair and sell it for 40....well that is a bad business model that will not sustain itself. My store used to have 4 or 5 vcrs, dvd players, audio equipment at a time on the shelf. Now they are throwing out 10 to 15 items in a day at least. what was 10 to 12 dollars 7 months ago is now 30 to 400 dollars. They have had a sony receiver sit for 3 months. going from 400 all the way down to 80 bucks. then out on the shelf for 22 dollars. Where a friend of mine paid 9 dollars for it to get a part. as the audio channels were all dead when we hooked anything up to it. capacitors all needed to be changed. He just wanted the tuning and volume knobs.
I hate Goodwill . Hate it with a passion . I used to be a reseller about 10 years ago . Stopped doing it because it’s a saturated market now . Everyone and their brother is a reseller . Two reasons for price increases is: cost and resellers. The wages for low skilled workers keeps going up it seems like every year . You cannot keep paying employees higher and higher wages when their value stays the same and you sell cheap goods . Look what just happened to .99 only stores . Second is resellers. Again, I hate Goodwill but they’re not stupid. They saw what was happening . I mean people make course and You Tube videos about how they bought something at Goodwill for $2 and sold it for $50. Goodwill wanted a piece of that action. They have a guy in the back that’s whole job is to look up prices of things selling elsewhere like eBay, reverb and other sites to price things . You cannot continuously run a business and keep paying your employees more and more money and your costs are going up whilst selling everything for .99 or 1.99 . Again look at .99 Only stores . Same exact thing. They have also taken away things they used to have to make things cheaper : 50% off Sunday - gone $1 day - gone ( now it’s $2) 10% off for donating - gone 20% off $10 or more - gone ( now the threshold is $20) They also took away all the fitting rooms , which is actually a smart business move on their part . This is also why you see them sell outrageous things ( at least IMO) like half - burned candles , empty boxes , used bottles of shampoo and conditioner. Half used bottles of lotion . Etc. they will stick a price on anything and see if they can sell it . It didn’t used to be this way , at least not in my area . It also used to be easier as a reseller to get good stuff . I used to be able to make friends with the managers. , throw some coin a mangers way and then get a text right before good stuff was coming out . That’s all changed now. They are super strict about holding stuff back and saving stuff . It’s impossible now . Again I can only speak for my area.
Except they aren’t looking up sales on Ebay, they’re looking up asking prices on Ebay, which isn’t the same thing.
Yea , I know that . They’re shooting their shot. It’s obviously working because people still buy from them.
Are we totally sure it’s the minimum wage workers getting some extra pennies and not the overlords being paid millions?
It’s probably both . Greed is a big part of it , yes. However, in states where higher wages are mandatory they have to compensate. No choice .
You forget though, they get all their inventory FOR FREE. This ought to defray some of their increased labor costs. They also get other benefits as a nonprofit that a for-profit business just doesn’t get.
Key word “should” . Yes it “should” but it doesn’t .
Yall got discount days? The ones in my area don't do shit for discounts. No senior day, no half day, no dollar day, no 10% off for donating, no 20% for $10 or more. Never had that. At least we have dressing rooms. But hearing everyone tall about their GW discounts bums me out because we get like one discount weekend every other year :(
When I worked in recruiting I had Goodwill as an account . I was unaware that each region had different rules and can be run how they want . Some locations do discounts some don’t . Most took away fitting rooms as well after covid . Even Savers took there’s away too .
It's kind of crazy to see the ways diff GWs operate. I will say. I'd rather live without and with dressing rooms than the other way around. Dressing rooms are crucial and I have fun in my little retreat, trying stuff on. I wonder how much longer they'll be around tho. I'm pretty much going tk stop thrifting if they go away
All the fitting rooms in my area are gone . They’ve been gone for about 2 years . It’s smart on their part . You’re less likely to return something after you’ve gotten home. If you try it on at the store and it doesn’t fit, you put it back. If you have to buy it and then try it on at home you’re less likely to return it because now you have to make a special trip just to return it this is the same reason why a lot of companies offer rebates the statistics are there that most people won’t take advantage of it same thing with Goodwill and all the other thrift stores. Once you actually buy something from Goodwill, the money is locked into their world and it’s never coming out. If you return something to Goodwill, you don’t get your money back. You just get a gift card to get something else so that $15 that you spent previously on a pair of pants that didn’t fit still stays with Goodwill and the odds of you buying something else for more money than what your gift card is is extremely high , so they actually wind up making more when you return stuff usually.
We don't even have returns or exchanges, sadly. All sales are final. I've overheard them taking back electronics that don't work though. They say they don't but I've seen it happen twice
Yes, my savers kind of has this policy too however, if you ask a lot of times, they will make an exception meaning, with electronics. I asked the guy once how can I be expected to pay 25 bucks for this item and I can’t even test it here because you don’t have the proper stuff, so he said you can return it bring me the receipt as soon as you buy it and then he turned it over and wrote on it. Return eligible with his initials. They don’t advertise the return policy a lot but if you ask someone a lot of times they will.
>They have a guy in the back that’s whole job is to look up prices of things selling elsewhere like eBay, reverb and other sites to price things . Can you imagine how much money (and time) they would save by laying off this guy and pricing items in a range where people would actually buy them and they wouldn't sit on a shelf forever? That HAS to be time-consuming.
Most higher priced items in my area only sit for about a week or two at most . They either wait til discount day or half price color day.
I had never heard of the concept til I joined this sub. The GWs in my area don't do any sort of sales or returns.
It’s the resellers I think and I hate it ! We have a animal rescue and used to go goodwill for bedding.. no more the bedding here is not less than 10.00 or higher, it awful 😢
It might be a hot take, but I think it’s totally fine when thrift stores sell high value and desirable items for near the going rate. What I despise is them selling overpriced garbage that could benefit impecunious shoppers if it was reasonably priced. It would be totally fine if they sold a collector’s item worth $5000 for $4000. I don’t understand people who say that thrift stores exist solely to provide affordable items for the unprivileged. That said, with the profit they make from big ticket items, you should be able to buy a basic t shirt for like $0.50-$2. It’s ridiculous when I go thrift shopping and I see a Shein shirt that won’t survive a trip to the washing machine for $3 and that’s one of the cheapest clothes or when the more desirable items are priced higher than on eBay.
Them selling the worn out clothes for so much is what gets me. If a person is broke and in need of clothes, it's actually cheaper for new stuff at the Ross's down the road
Greed.
I worked in a small charity thrift shop from 2022-2023. Here in the UK during that time inflation started going crazy (it still is.) During the time I worked there, my boss changed our pricing policy to raise the prices on all items with the justification “everything else is more expensive so we might as well do it too, people will expect it.” I found that really off putting, but in her defense, we were raising money for cancer research, not profit. We were also given training to identify valuable items. Expensive stuff didn’t even make it onto our shop floor, it was flagged and sent to head office to be put on eBay. There are many small charity shops in my town but reselling isn’t a profitable enterprise here because they’re all priced so high.
No shit.
Price it low then the resellers who go in multiple times a day, buy all the good stuff to make a 500% profit. Then the regular customers get sick and tired of wasting their time going in because "there's never anything worth while". "Those workers must be hiding all the good stuff for themselves". There's no winning.
Of course they are.
What I don’t understand is how they stay in business. When I can use my poor dollars to buy new clothes at a Ross or some retail sale better than thrift store prices for used, ripped, stained or new w/tags but smelly & dusty - and other goods the same scenario- why doesn’t the so-called free market take them out? It doesn’t seem like resellers alone can keep them in business -and if the rest of us would refuse to shop there they would have to adapt. I dunno. I’m finding good bargains in the places that sell Amazon pallets of returns. It’s like the Dig n Save thrift outlets but not as dirty or grizzled.
At least around here at the thrift stores have found the sweet spot to price out the flippers and still be full of customers. I bet pretty much everyone commenting here would be totally unhappy with the price. I’m happy to pay for most stuff.
I think perhaps we need to start a nationwide Goodwill BOYCOTT, demanding lower prices and better pay for their exploited disabled employees. Part of the CEO,s’ pay cuts should go to the employees, and their “boutique” BS should be eradicated. It’s a “thrift” store, for goodness’ sake! NOT a fancy, upscale “boutique.” We shop for deals and those who are lower-income should be able to buy essentials that are actually LESS expensive than in standard retail stores! I am angry about the whole thing. I know that it isn’t just GW either, but we have to start somewhere, and they are one of the larger chains who need to be held responsible, and a major boycott would set an example! I used to work for Goodwill. Now, I am a reseller. 😉 But, please don’t judge. I had my reasons for becoming one, including not being able to work a standard job (I was a female construction worker and proud of it, in school for it and working FT, toward my journeyman-ship) because of a Lupus diagnosis and two surgeries on my ribs from my rib cartilage failing. I could only make money from home and I found that I could resell items I already owned and when I was just well enough, I started buying at thrifts to resell on eBay, Poshmark, Etsy, FB Marketplace, etc. I NEVER took advantage and scooped up all of one in-demand item as soon as it “dropped”to increase the price and gouge consumers. That is not and never will be “my way.” I think that is wrong, and this is also why resellers are hated so much. These resellers give us a bad name and they deserve the boos, but for those who think all resellers are devious, just think about single mothers who have no current world work experience—for one example l—because of having worked to raise their kids for so long and then being forced to find money due to a divorce or other major life change. It is all capitalism, but there is capitalism at its best and capitalism at its worst… I went off on a rant there. But I want to start a boycott of Goodwill (my Goodwill is NO exception! In fact, it is probably one of the best examples: Goodwill’s epitome of greed! I live on the “Eastside” near Seattle, WA.vvThe prices at my local GW are outrageous! Ridiculous! Higher-than-retail prices abound there. What do you all think of a boycott? If I started one, would you follow?? I am curious. It seems to me that so many people are becoming fed up… I don’t want lower prices just so I can profit from reselling, but for the personal items I buy, and for general “treasure-hunting” which I have ALWAYS just loved, as a hobby, since I was 14 yo. GW and other major thrift store chains are ruining this for everyone. Also, as mentioned before: Low income folks should be able to shop for items they need at a discount! Especially for the fact that GW gets their items donated at NO cost to themselves! ALL FREE! Shame on them. Lmk what you all think about a BOYCOTT!
If you delete this comment and start your own thread with it, you'll get hundreds of times as much attention.
Goodwill and other thrifts have seen that resellers are making profits because their sourced goods from thrifts are cheap. Goodwill wants a piece of that.
Price gouging is only for essentials. I mean this is shitty still though
There needs to be rules for resellers. It’s obv who they are. I know someone who is and he goes to every goodwill store everyday! He’s a hoarder too so it’s just going to waste
It's kind of the resellers fault but not really. Resellers help set market value for items in their area. Thrift stores have caught up with the times and now charge as much or more than a reseller would. I say it's not really resellers fault because this is just how business works. It's not really a blame and label one group as bad situation.
Price gouging has a definition and it isn’t what most people in this subreddit think it is. Price gouging is when retailers and others take advantage of spikes in demand by charging exorbitant prices for necessities, often after a natural disaster or other state of emergency. That’s why it was illegal to price gouge hand sanitizer or masks during the pandemic. It does not mean prices that you think are too high.
Because a retail store has this to pay for Rent Electricity Water Business tax Employee salary Employee insurance Insurance Garbage Recycling School tax Theft and loss that’s gone unclaimed Supplies Website domain / Franchise fees And there’s more I missed for sure. Like 20,000$ a month at selling things for 15$