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I guess I don't understand why the employees of the store would go hunting online for the people who buy products from their store, see what they are getting for it, and raise their prices
If the thrift store operates by receiving donations and resells them and the proceeds from sales support a charity, soup kitchen, etc., then anything that store gets for the item is essentially gravy.
I guess I don't understand why the employees of the store would go hunting online for the people who buy products from their store, see what they are getting for it, and raise their prices for no other reason then to cut into the reseller's business.
The sellers are doing the legwork of listing on ebay or other sites and paying a lot of fees to these entities, PayPal and other payment services get their cut, shipping supplies and bubble wrap, packing peanuts, and whatever else goes with selling online also costs money.
Let the thrift store research individual items, take photos, write descriptions, list the items online and cover all the time and expense that goes with that if they want to maximize their take. Thrift store items are not mass produced, idential items. So if a seller comes in and buys a vase for $15. and store folks see that he got $55 for it, the next time that seller comes in, all the vases are going to be jacked in price just in case it's worth more than the $15 that it's priced at in the store?
Sorry, that's a very myopic point of view. Do you think charities are run by volunteers? While we do have many, we also have salaries /benefits to pay, buildings to maintain, major trash hauling expenses because people treat charities as dumps, and still need to raise the funds to support local families. Our expenses have risen along with everything else.
I don't go online to see what resellers are asking, I don't have the time. In the case I mentioned, it was a volunteer wondering if the prices he was using were too low. They were. Our business hasn't suffered at all by raising the prices slightly.
And, from what I've seen on Ebay, shipping expenses by sellers are certainly passed on to the customers.
Are they rehabbing the stuff at all? There's a woman in my town that buys furniture of certain styles and refinishes it or paints it and flips it. That takes time, and adds value.
Or are they just truly buying low and selling high?
If you're a charitable organization then you should be selling the items for a quick turnover so you can use that money immediately to help those that need help. A good business practice wants a quick turnover and not sit on some high priced items that are doing nothing for them. Charitable organizations by default usually have reasonably priced items to keep their clientele coming back. Overpricing does no good for your reputation, especially since you're not guaranteeing your sold items or accepting returns.
Are they rehabbing the stuff at all? There's a woman in my town that buys furniture of certain styles and refinishes it or paints it and flips it. That takes time, and adds value.
Or are they just truly buying low and selling high?
I'm sure many do, especially the ones who run booths in the various antique malls around us. Power to them, we keep furniture prices low because we don't have the physical space to allow large items to sit.
In my original post, I was referring to sporting goods. We have a regular group of customers who come in several times a week to see what we've put out on those shelves. And while we had priced an average set of golf clubs at less than $20.00, the volunteer found them listed online later at $85. So now that set of clubs is priced at $30.00. Obviously still a good deal for the flippers, sales haven't suffered at all.
If you're a charitable organization then you should be selling the items for a quick turnover so you can use that money immediately to help those that need help. A good business practice wants a quick turnover and not sit on some high priced items that are doing nothing for them. Charitable organizations by default usually have reasonably priced items to keep their clientele coming back. Overpricing does no good for your reputation, especially since you're not guaranteeing your sold items or accepting returns.
Our reputation is stellar, and we're still priced lower than the national charities. If something isn't selling we do reduce the prices. But we also have to be mindful of our donors, who, funny enough, don't like seeing their family heirlooms priced at a tiny fraction of their worth. Our clientele come back because we provide clothing and food for free to those in the community that need it. Other "needs", like linens and household goods are priced to be affordable to all. We use the money raised by "wants" to fund operations and housing assistance. So while we have plenty of flat screen tv sets for under $25, the 50" set is going to be priced at $100.
What do you consider a fair markup? I manage a charity thrift store, and often find items I've priced marked up 400% for resale on local FB sites. I don't want to turn off the resellers, they definitely add to our bottom line, but I want to maximize the money we bring in for our own services. I was, perhaps naively, figuring that 100% profit was the expected turnaround price, but lately I'm seeing resellers asking far more. Should I raise my prices by 50%?
Tldr; Wrong approach. Don't price based on "jealousy" of your customers. Set prices based on market conditions.
100% profit is what you make from those donated goods since you pay nothing for them. (Minus overhead, of course.) 100% increase would be a reseller selling for 2X the purchase price. 4X is very reasonable, and well below what I mark up my items. 5X is my minimum limit, but I've been at this game for a long time, I have a lot of options of high-quality thrift stores, and I know which stores underprice which items.
I suggest you train your employees (or yourself) to quickly google search bigger ticket items and anchor your prices to less than 30% the market rate. Most resellers will buy at that. If you are the only game in town you can raise prices, but if you're competing with other thrift stores, your reseller business will evaporate in a flash if you are consistently higher priced.
Further, if you are going to raise prices, you need to be very sneaky and ease them in. Resellers are very in-tune with your prices and can smell your greed.
If a thrift store raised its prices across the board by 50%, I would certainly notice and not bother shopping there for a few years. Maybe a spot check every few months to see if they've come down, but I don't have time to be jerked around. Same deal with certain categories of goods being raised, wholesale. I would just stop buying those goods from that store.
Here's a tip; if you want to disrupt resellers greed radars, but still attract us, experiment with massive discount color sales. Some thrift stores in my town do 50% and even 75% color sales. They get absolutely cleaned out and move huge volumes of materials. I know I'm not going to get much quality stuff from those stores or even make much profit, but the hunt is a lot more fun when there's the potential for a big "score" so I go anyway, just for the fun of it.
Also, those stores with deep color sales never have the same stuff on the rack twice. Everybody who thrifts--and not just resellers (because I, personally, use what I buy too, and I refuse to wear clothing--outerwear at least--that costs more than $3) loves that. That's why I won't step foot in a retail store anymore. What's the point of looking at 30 copies of maybe 200 overpriced articles of clothing, all from the same era (today) when you can shop through 5,000 unique articles of the last three eras of clothes?
I quit shopping at thrift stores a while ago because their prices were not realistic. In many cases Walmart has lower prices for new clothes than not-new thrift store clothes.
But will never forget when friends visited over Memorial weekend years back and we stopped at side-of-the-road garage sale he found a book printed in early 1800's for $1 on a topic he was interested in.
Tldr; Wrong approach. Don't price based on "jealousy" of your customers. Set prices based on market conditions.
TLDR means "too long, didn't read"
you typed 6 paragraphs responding to a 1-paragraph post...
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