Garage Saling and Goodwill: SUCCESS.

[unpetitagneau]

http://unpetitagneau.blogspot.com/2011/07/garage-saling-and-goodwill.html

It was an okay goodwill day, but an absolutely wonderful garage saling day! I usually never find anything decent!

[azia88]

My husband and I never find anything worth putting on yardsellr.com or ebay..Goodwill's have junk and garage sales are priced way too high.. We use to find lots of good stuff at Goodwill. Now the prices are too high or nothing there..I like to shop for my kids. They stuff too many clothes on a rack that it is hard to look through them..Sigh...

[Big Daddy Audio]

I agree - despite shelves, racks, and bins that are overflowing with stuff, most of the goods at Goodwill are real garbage.  You will look long and hard to find anything of value these days.  I don't know where the good stuff goes, but it isn't to my local stores.

[azia88]

I never find anything good at GW either. I think everyone is selling on craigslist and an auction site. I do the same  lol..There is just junk mostly at goodwill..I use to like the store,now prices are too high..$6.00 for a board game that they don't know if all the pieces are there or not..

[Jay2TheRescue]

BDA:  Have you seen www.shopgoodwill.com ?  In my area anything halfway decent is sent to the website for sale.

[azia88]

I have seen that site too. A few years ago I did buy a Barbiedoll. It is not worth anything though. I like it..I don't like that they sell stuff from the stores on there.. I did email them about that. They said they start the auctions very low..hahaha  Still not right..The site is for ppl that can pay more, and the store has junk..

[valleythriftshopper]

I don't think the Salvation Army stores around here do online auctions, luckily.  They have been sparce lately though.  Many donations are going down to Springfield where they had a major tornado last month- so strange for this state (MA)!  I don't bother with Goodwill because the two around here are a longer drive and are located in college towns, where ironically the students will pay higher prices for stuff.

Collectibles, which I mainly look for, have been scarce lately.  Today I did find a set of four Fire King dogwood mugs in mint condition for 2 bucks.

Does anyone go to church sales?  If thrifting is slow I recommend looking out for church rummage sales in your area.  Many churches have websites too and you can look at their events calender.  I always have good luck at rummage sales and they are charitable like thrift stores.

[Big Daddy Audio]

BDA:  Have you seen www.shopgoodwill.com ?  In my area anything halfway decent is sent to the website for sale.

I took a quick look through the site - I don't know what to say.  It looks to me like Goodwill is helping themselves more than they are helping the community. 

And the stuff that people bid on - "fabric grab bag?"  C'mon, this should be in the stores for people to look at.  There was one Lionel Locomotive that was clearly broken in one of the photos, yet it's listed as "in good condition."  The bidding was up in the high $40.00's - someone is going to get smoked on that auction.

Just because there is a saying - Caveat Emptor - "Let the buyer beware" - doesn't give the seller carte blanche (ESPECIALLY a "charity" sale site) to blatantly lie about the condition of the goods.

I won't be buying from there.

[Good Buddy]

I've not bought anything from ShopGoodwill.Com, but I've been aware of it for a long time.
I'd like to see the train set that you're talking about BD, can you post the link?
I have bought, just recently actually, two books from Amazon.Com that were sold from Goodwills. Goodwill of Middle Tennessee had "The Secret History of Kate Bush" at a fine price and I honestly forget the other seller, but it was also a Goodwill and the other book was Walking Point by Chief James "Patches" Watson, USN SEAL.
Both books were in fine condition and what's interesting about Goodwills selling on Amazon or Ebay is the fact that they have to answer to all complaints. So bacially they are forced to be very accurate with descriptions and such.
I'm sure the sellers on ShopGoodwill.Com are trying to list everything correctly, but some apparently might not be trying so hard.

[Jay2TheRescue]

Over the years I've purchased about 20 items from Goodwill's online site.  I have had good and bad experiences. 

My best experience:  I purchased a rare Singer sewing machine for $10 + $40 shipping.  The machine was worth several hundred, so I got a very good deal.

My worst experience:  I purchased a Hamilton Beach milkshake mixer described as "Vintage".  Knowing that these are still being made, but with plastic housings, I emailed the seller asking if it was a metal, or a plastic housing.  I got a reply back saying that the machine was "very heavy" and the housing was metal, not plastic.  Based on that information, I bid $40 on it, and won the auction.  When it arrived, I found a cheap plastic model in poor condition, which I could buy brand new for $25.  After emailing them back & forth several times, they agreed to credit me back the charges on my credit card, and instead of shipping it back, I was asked to donate it to my local Goodwill.

At times items have been poorly packaged for shipping, and other times items were packaged very well.  Goodwill's site does not use a feedback system to rate the buying experience from individual Goodwill's, so in that respect you don't know what you're getting.

[Big Daddy Audio]

I'd like to see the train set that you're talking about BD, can you post the link?

It may have sold already, and I don't have an item number or anything.  I can tell you it was an O-Scale Denver & Rio Grande Steam locomotive, and it absolutely looked like the front truck and part of the cow-catcher had been broken off.

[mccoysnina]

Does anyone go to church sales?

I do and had good luck this past Saturday at a local church sale.  I found 10 skeins of a very high end wool yarn for $5.  Another dollar got me a vinatage hand embrodiered pillowcase the seller said had been made by her great aunt.  And $1 more bought a marble cutting board.  So you are right.  Church sales can be very good.
Jeannie

[brianrhc]

I've bought about 3 items on shopGoodwill and have bid on about 3x that number. Their opening bid prices are usually decent and I'd bid more except that their shipping rates are usually exorbitant e.g. $14+ for ONE Pound or less!?   This approach of "low" price but huge shipping went out of favor on eBay in 1999! Some of the GWs are using eBay instead for their better items, and have gotten with the low shipping program.