That’s a fantastic story of flips! I could listen to you all day about that!
It’s sometimes crazy what people get rid of and also what people are willing to pay for some items!
I follow a few Instagram thrift store flippers so to speak - just out of curiosity are there any inspirational people you follow on social media??
That’s great, conmama! I’m thinking of all sorts of ways to earn extra money (maybe segueing into a part-time gig toward retirement). Good to know!!
I’ve shopped Goodwill since grad school and have gotten so many new with tags items and designer suits for work. My D is now a fan lol.
Do you all agree that not all thrift shops are created equal? We have a couple in town that really are not very worthwhile. I mean sure there will be a buried treasure in there somewhere but it can be hard to get past any clothing items that are better than say Old Navy. And I swear one store has the SAME household items on it’s shelves all the time!
I volunteer at a charity thrift store. The key to merchandising is to move things along. We use four color tickets…every week one color is $1, and one is half price. Things move! That way we can put out new merchandise.
Yeah the color sticker sale thing. I wish stores would make it more obvious.
No. I watched a few you tubes, but I belong to a Poshmark FB group and get lots of ideas there.
Everyone does well at selling different things. Also, it’s different in how much we want to profit. New tagged items are great, but I learned that doesn’t necessarily mean it has great resale value. I’ve done this for one year now and have made so many mistakes, but we all do. It’s a constant learning experience. Right now I have 530 items for sale, my goal is to get to 1,000. I’ve moved everything to my basement, bought a ring light and backdrop, body form. Mt stuff used to be all over the place, but I need to consolidate now. One bummer is that starting in 2022, if you’ve earned more than $600 on any platform, you will receive a 1099. Right now it’s $20k, but the loophole has been closed.
My husband sells on eBay. It has become his retirement obsession. One thing that seems to sell well for him - shoes. Men’s/women’s/children/s that are in near new shape or boxed or with tags - they fly out the door. One tip from him - find a similar item and see what other people are selling for or what a similar item has sold for (you can see this on ebay). Then post your item for at least 20-25% less than others. He feels it’s better to get things out the door than to sit on something trying to get the extra few bucks.
Also good pictures. Plenty of pictures. Include measurements if clothing. Lots of description.
At our place, it is very obvious. A sandwich sign outside the door with the colors of the week, plus a sign behind our register (in the center of the shop) that also notes the colors of the week…and any other specials we have going on.
Agreed … there is variation in the thrift shops. (The consignment shop is much nicer, and I’ve bought a few a few things there but there is a huge price premium. ) Most thrift shops here do make the tag-color/discount obvious.
I mostly now go to an ARC that is nearby and neatly organized. It is also the easiest place for me to drop off donations, so I often donate and shop in same trip on a Sat (most things half price) or Tues (half price for seniors). The pickings are probably better in more affluent Boulder, but I have only gone there for running clothes after daughter pointed out that the ARC there had really good selection. Her theory is some people discard “out of style” items, which we’d be clueless about. I suspect there is also a glut of interesting donations before students move.
I really do want to visit a thrift shop for international non-profit where a retired friend about an hour away volunteers. He says there are beautiful goods, organized nicely.
One of my acquaintances finds awesome things thrifting. She especially loves designer purses and leather. She found a leather coat that fit her perfectly that she said was practically new. She’s gotten other finds as well. The prívate HS Obama attended had a thrift shop I used to browse when I waited to pick my kids up from their 1 hour after school class. Sometimes they’d have all you can fit into a brown paper shopping bag for $1. It was handy to get the kids clothes because they kept growing out of them we also got a laser tag set (nearly hew) and other treasures. We were fine with donating them when we were done with them.
The problem with Poshmark is lowballers. If I priced 20% below what the going price is, people will offer way below that. It’s very annoying. I also list on Mercari and FB. I don’t get a lot on FB, I think it’s more geared towards really inexpensive stuff. I’m wary of EBay because of the 6 month return policy. Poshmark they have 3 days to put in a claim,
Lifelong thrift shopper. In the early 2000s I made a pretty good hobby income from eBay. A couple of my best finds were a St. John jacket that sold for $100+ and a Pendleton sweater just like from the Big Lebowski movie, that sold before Halloween for $206 (I didn’t know what it was when I picked it up- just that it was Pendleton).
My girls love it too because they can get a whole bag of stuff instead of having to choose one or two items. And once for Homecoming Week decades day, DD’19 wanted to be Peggy Carter from the 40’s. So the weekend before we stopped at the local thrift. She found a navy skirt suit in a size 2, retro Mary Jane heels in a 5.5, and a red fedora. In rural Iowa. I still think about that a lot LOL.
My daughter thrifts constantly. A couple of years ago she found a wool crazy quilt. She took the backing and the batting off and made it into a winter coat that is her everyday coat.