Goodwill? (value, sell, sale, items)

[asitshouldbe]

It's the same way here in MN, I only go on Tuesday during the $1.49 tag sale. There are a lot of OVERPRICED items, I was shocked many times at how high the prices are, you can do much better at garage sales.

[Huckleberry3911948]

not all thrift stores are created equal. u gota shop around. but i have made some great purchases.

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by wrcousert

Start complaining to the management. If that doesn't help, call their HQ.

Btw... I've noticed that for some reason Goodwill stores in California don't charge sales tax. Every other thrift store I've been in does. Why does Goodwill get special treatment from the state? Are Goodwill purchases tax free in other states?

They aren't getting special treatment.... Goodwill doesn't sell anything new, it's all used. As such, the sales tax was paid already on the first purchase.

The state shouldn't double dip.

[TRosa]

Originally Posted by wrcousert

Start complaining to the management. If that doesn't help, call their HQ.

Btw... I've noticed that for some reason Goodwill stores in California don't charge sales tax. Every other thrift store I've been in does. Why does Goodwill get special treatment from the state? Are Goodwill purchases tax free in other states?

Both here in FL and NC all these kinds of stores added taxes to the items. Including the Salvation Army.

[brocco]

Originally Posted by Huckleberry3911948

not all thrift stores are created equal. u gota shop around. but i have made some great purchases.

At the one by my parents' house the prices are a lot more reasonable. I've also found the salvation army by me to have good prices. I got a cute little framed mirror the last time I went for 51 cents. I was just so shocked today. I don't understand how they make any money that way.

[chuck_steak]

Originally Posted by Cinebar

Not at my little local Goodwill. I was looking at a very nice couch today for $30.00. A couple of months ago, I bought a very nice dresser (one of the older, sturdier ones) for, I think, $30.00. Might have been $20.00.

Occasionally I find something that's overpriced, but for the most part, those are few and far between.

If I need something - clothes for the kid, something for the house - I always check Goodwill first. If we can't find what we're looking for, we'll break down and go to K-Mart (which happened today).

Of course I'm also addicted to the Goodwill auction site. That's where you have to be really careful - sometimes the competitive nature of bidding against other, anonymous people can really jack the prices up.

I wasn't aware they had an auction site. Thanks for letting us know.

[michgc]

Goodwills are run by local areas and each area has different rules and pricing policies (such as books and clothes). The ones in Baltimore are priced differently from all the ones in DC for example. When we go to Florida, we visit the "Gulfstream" Goodwills which are also priced differently. Then, of course, within each store there are different people doing the pricing of items. Some price low. Some price high. Which of course is half the fun of going to a thrift store - searching for the low-priced item worth a lot of money. :-) Having said that, the last GW I went to stunk as well.

[Cinebar]

Originally Posted by chuck_steak

I wasn't aware they had an auction site. Thanks for letting us know.

LOL Are you sure you WANT to know?

shopgoodwill.com - Welcome

I started out bidding on stuff from the "national" site but found out pretty quickly that the shipping costs will KILL you. The final straw for me was when I bid on (and won) a neat little pocket knife. The knife itself was $6.99 - but the cost to have it mailed to me was almost $13.00!

Then I found out that if I bid on stuff from the Tacoma (Wa.) part of the site, they will truck it down to my local Goodwill - and it doesn't cost me a dime in shipping (I live in S.W. Washington).

So, now I limit myself to only bidding on stuff from the Tacoma store. I'm sure I've missed out on a lot of great stuff from other stores, but even so, I still manage to find plenty of stuff (too much) to bid on.

So, you might want to keep that in mind. I don't know where you're at but you might want to check and see where the closest store to you that participates in the auction is and see if there is the same arrangement with your closest Goodwill store.

I've bought lots of great stuff - but I'm not sure that I really needed the antique ice cream maker, or the violin, or the marionettes - but I'm sure my granddaughter will LOVE the Tickle Me Elmo.

[icecreamsandwich]

Originally Posted by wrcousert

Start complaining to the management. If that doesn't help, call their HQ.

Btw... I've noticed that for some reason Goodwill stores in California don't charge sales tax. Every other thrift store I've been in does. Why does Goodwill get special treatment from the state? Are Goodwill purchases tax free in other states?

Not in GA.

[Gandalara]

Originally Posted by wrcousert

Btw... I've noticed that for some reason Goodwill stores in California don't charge sales tax. Every other thrift store I've been in does. Why does Goodwill get special treatment from the state? Are Goodwill purchases tax free in other states?

Originally Posted by Tallysmom

They aren't getting special treatment.... Goodwill doesn't sell anything new, it's all used. As such, the sales tax was paid already on the first purchase.

The state shouldn't double dip.

Different reason ... according to the CA Board of Equalization they don't pay because "Sales at thrift stores operated by Goodwill and Salvation Army are exempt from sales and use tax under the provisions of Section 6375, as the premises of these organizations’ thrift stores qualify for the “welfare exemption” under Section 214 (because of the fact these organizations rehabilitate persons on the premises of their thrift stores)"

I consider this special treatment. CA does double-dip at used book stores and other thrift stores though.