Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Economics > Frugal Living
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 08-05-2013, 09:02 PM
 
Location: Pennsylvania
31 posts, read 362,544 times
Reputation: 25

Advertisements

I only recently started shopping at thrift stores, but it seems like the prices are somewhat expensive. The main thing I've been shopping for are pairs of jeans. I shop at a local thrift store and they do have a lot of brand name jeans that typically are priced $6-7, some a little more if it's an expensive brand. I thought it was a little much, but better than buying brand new for $30-$50 and they were in good condition. I noticed the furniture here was very overpriced. $275 for a little breakfast table and chairs that probably didn't cost that much new.

Today I went to Goodwill and the same type of jeans there were going for $10-12. Definitely pricey to me. I did take a look at their furniture and it was a little cheaper, but not by much.

Do you notice this at your local thrift stores or Goodwill?

Last edited by eriwriter; 08-05-2013 at 09:44 PM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 08-05-2013, 09:12 PM
 
Location: near bears but at least no snakes
26,636 posts, read 28,427,436 times
Reputation: 50438
Yes, women's shirts are now $5.99 unless it's some brand they think is special and then it's more. A down vest was $25.00 and some men's shirts are $27 depending upon the brand. I haven't noticed the furniture prices going much higher than before.

I walked out of one thrift store and went to a T.J. Maxx type of place and paid just a little more for something new. I do well in the real stores with sales too.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-05-2013, 09:44 PM
 
Location: Pennsylvania
31 posts, read 362,544 times
Reputation: 25
Quote:
Originally Posted by in_newengland View Post
Yes, women's shirts are now $5.99 unless it's some brand they think is special and then it's more. A down vest was $25.00 and some men's shirts are $27 depending upon the brand. I haven't noticed the furniture prices going much higher than before.

I walked out of one thrift store and went to a T.J. Maxx type of place and paid just a little more for something new. I do well in the real stores with sales too.
It's funny you say that. There's a T.J. Maxx right by Goodwill and I bought a nice brand name shirt there new for the same price Goodwill was selling a lot of their shirts.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-06-2013, 07:16 AM
 
Location: Pennsylvania
30,229 posts, read 15,988,536 times
Reputation: 43918
not all that much, esp the furniture. But the local ones don't really sell a lot of furniture, mostly a few shelves and such. Rarely stuffed furniture (sofas, chairs, etc). I assume because of the decontamination laws.

Don't forget too that these organizations use their money to help other people. How much of course depends on the charity and bears investigation.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-06-2013, 08:32 AM
 
Location: Beachwood, OH
1,135 posts, read 1,824,783 times
Reputation: 987
Blame Macklemore, IMO.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-06-2013, 10:16 AM
Status: "Octopi tastes like snake" (set 12 days ago)
 
Location: in the miseries
3,573 posts, read 4,483,688 times
Reputation: 4400
Very pricy. I decided for a few pennies more I could buy new.
And not worry about bed bugs which can be in anything.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-06-2013, 02:39 PM
 
Location: San Marcos, TX
2,570 posts, read 7,710,581 times
Reputation: 4059
Quote:
Originally Posted by L2DB View Post
Blame Macklemore, IMO.
LOL right!

I am noticing an increase too.

For jeans for my kids I will pay the higher price but that's because they all wear hard to find sizes (one son is skinny with LONG legs, another heavy set with short legs, and our daughter is in pre-teen plus sizes) and certain brands/cuts fit best so if I come across those in the thrifts, I'll pay even if they are asking what I think is too much.

Sometimes eBay is a better deal though in that regard and I can search from home.

When it comes to thrifting to re-sell stuff, I have to dig deeper and hit yard sales, go to the smaller thrifts that are run by churches and so forth, to get good enough deals to make it worth the trouble.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-06-2013, 03:35 PM
 
Location: USA
1,818 posts, read 2,674,623 times
Reputation: 4172
Yes they are high. Seems they have forgotten they're selling used items and many are a non-profit corporation
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-06-2013, 04:48 PM
 
15,630 posts, read 26,110,200 times
Reputation: 30907
Yes. They've caught on that a lot of people are shopping there and then reselling on eBay. For a higher price. So they mark it up to get a little bit of that profit.

But that means it might sit there longer, till they mark it back down, too. Frankly, if they want to take advantage of eBay prices , then do the eBay work.

But by far the worst thing we've seen (and reported) is shoplifting. Shoplifting at a thrift store seems way more wrong than shoplifting at a retail store.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-06-2013, 07:33 PM
 
Location: San Marcos, TX
2,570 posts, read 7,710,581 times
Reputation: 4059
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallysmom View Post
Yes. They've caught on that a lot of people are shopping there and then reselling on eBay. For a higher price. So they mark it up to get a little bit of that profit.

But that means it might sit there longer, till they mark it back down, too. Frankly, if they want to take advantage of eBay prices , then do the eBay work.

But by far the worst thing we've seen (and reported) is shoplifting. Shoplifting at a thrift store seems way more wrong than shoplifting at a retail store.
I agree 100% with that!

I sell that stuff on eBay, and the advantage to the buyer is that they don't have to go digging through 1000 pairs of jeans or whatever. Furthermore, I still have to inspect the item with a fine toothed comb and if I am not super careful before leaving the store with my stuff, I take a loss when I find that the 'great find' that the thrift store priced high because they recognize the name brand is actually damaged somewhere that wasn't obvious. They certainly don't do the kind of inspection work I have to do to sell on eBay.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Economics > Frugal Living
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top