Stoopid Goodwill! (A Rant)

[Ryaan1234]

And an edit here I totally forgot about, one of the Goodwills by me is currently selling Gucci handbags for, get ready- $130 each.

Oooooh, you want to hear about underhanded? I have a local Goodwill that puts FAKE Louis Vuitton bags in their bid case, knowing they are fake. They would put them in the case with the item description reading "LV Purse" and people would spend good money on those things! They always seemed to end in the $100+ range. I know they are fake because I've looked at one of those purses, and said right to a lady working there (the one showing me the item) "This is fake" and she told me that she agreed and pointed out why it was fake (which I had already noticed).

Of course, there's ANOTHER local Goodwill that isn't exactly in the right, morally. This one put 2 FAKE Rolex watches in the bid case, with each one reading "Rolex Watch. We believe it to be real". I looked at them and they were really cheaply made, with no weight at all to them, and one even said Made in China on back. Goodwill started each one at $100 and someone had already bid on one.

I know, it serves the bidder right for not knowing a fake item, but I find Goodwill representing fake purses and watches as real and selling them as such to be completely despicable. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's experienced this happening. (Although I hope it doesn't happen elsewhere something tells me it does.)

[bangtango]

wah wah wah, you guys sound like a bunch of butthurt babies.

I'm sure you all would pass up a huge stack of rare factory sealed games you already owned at a thrift FOR THE GOOD OF THE HOBBY AND OH ALSO HAVE I MENTIONED HOW VIRTUOUS I AM?

If you want the good stuff at thrifts, find out when they restock and go there then. It's not hard; most stores restock around the same times on the same days. Hell, be nice to the old ladies and ask if they have any video game stuff in the back that's not ready to be shelved yet.

Those guys also assume they are the only ones who regularly go to a thrift store and come up empty while everyone else who goes to the same store always makes out like a bandit.

Doesn't work that way. If you went into the store and didn't find anything, then there are probably at least 5-10 other guys who were also in before you that same day or the day before looking for R8 NES games and didn't find shit.

And that is what happens when people put all their eggs in one basket and go to thrift stores only to look at video games and not much else.

On days I come up "empty" on video games, I still find books I've been dying to read, plug-and-play systems over in "toys", music albums I've been wanting to get ahold of, movies I've been wanting to get ahold of and even occasional audio, video or computer equipment I've needed for one reason or another.

[Porksta]

A thrift store near me actually got raided because a few of the kiosks that they rent out to were selling fakes. $15000 in merchandise I believe was taken.

[bangtango]

Lowballing/asking for a discount from a charity-driven thrift store is pretty pathetic.

Just so you know.

I agree.

Yet a lot of people "assume" that Goodwill and Salvation Army stores do business the exact same way that a yard saler, flea market vendor or pawn shop does, just because they all happen to sell "used" product that somebody else didn't want anymore.

The three or four times I've actually seen people try to name their own price at a Goodwill store, whatever clerk they pulled this on usually made a fool out of them and reminded them that Goodwill doesn't do things that way.

The chick who sold a stack of NES games for $20 cash is lucky she wasn't caught. Not just for pocketing the cash, which is the worst part, but because as Ryborg mentioned in another post, sooner or later someone was going to come along and gladly pay $5 a title for any of those games.

And the manager there would be none too happy about items getting sold for less than the marked price.

[Gameguy]

The Salvation Army near me has a pile of bootleg PS2 games priced about the same as regular games, I guess it's ok to sell bootlegs as long as it's for charity. Why don't thrifts just hire a bunch of pick pockets to steal customers wallets, as long as the money goes to charity it should be ok. There seems to be some people saying it's ok for them to gouge people because it's for charity, I really don't see it that way.

I would think the main reason why people go to thrift stores is because they don't have a lot of money to spend, why would anyone waste so much time constantly going to thrift stores on the slim chance they happen to have anything good if it's going to be priced around the going rate? If you're going to buy something for the going price just buy it online and be done with it.

Last week the Value Village near me got a bunch of electronic stuff with Goodwill stickers plastered on everything, now the new prices are less than half of the Goodwill prices. I guess Goodwill figured they might as well sell the stuff to Value Village since it won't sell at their stores. I haven't found anything well priced at Goodwill in years.

[fairyland]

Some craziness I just seen on Saturday at my Goodwill. $15.99 Atari 2600 carts with booklets. No idea how much for the ones without books. They had a pile of Atari booklets for $2.99 each, including those pack-in catalogs. I seriously wonder how can any person honestly believe they are going to sell anything at these prices? The games are dated 10/18, which makes them a month old, so obviously they made a horrible mistake with their pricing. They had a couple 50% off sales since then and they still did not sell. They should fire the person that prices these things as this store always has a history of insanely high prices and stuff hanging around for months and months.

The other thing that is odd about my Goodwill is that their inventory is about 75% cast offs from Target and they price most of it at near retail price. Is Goodwill Target's personal scratch and dent store or something?

[ryborg]

And that is what happens when people put all their eggs in one basket and go to thrift stores only to look at video games and not much else.

Yeah exactly. Hell, video games aren't even in the top five for reasons I go to the thrift stores anymore. They are, in order: books, music (cds/vinyl), vintage t-shirts, art and other bullshit to put on the walls of my house, and old board games. If I happen to see some old video games with value, great, but at this point, I pretty much own everything I really want. Most everything I've bought recently has gone to friends, family or ebay.

Is Goodwill Target's personal scratch and dent store or something?

Short answer, yes. I've bought band-aids and dish soap from GW recently. Not exactly things you would expect to find in a thrift. The packaging was a little dinged, but they were still factory sealed.

[Emperor Megas]

Some craziness I just seen on Saturday at my Goodwill. $15.99 Atari 2600 carts with booklets. No idea how much for the ones without books. They had a pile of Atari booklets for $2.99 each, including those pack-in catalogs.

Madness!

[bangtango]

Yeah exactly. Hell, video games aren't even in the top five for reasons I go to the thrift stores anymore. They are, in order: books, music (cds/vinyl), vintage t-shirts, art and other bullshit to put on the walls of my house, and old board games. If I happen to see some old video games with value, great, but at this point, I pretty much own everything I really want. Most everything I've bought recently has gone to friends, family or ebay.

Just off the bat, it would seem like a crapshoot buying board games there sometimes, mostly because of missing pieces and all. Does that tend to happen a lot?

The only board game I've really bought on a regular basis at Goodwill is the variations of Monopoly because at worst, you can always take two sets that are each missing some pieces and "combine" the money, houses, hotels, tokens or cards to complete it.

What I like is seeing people in the Ebay subforums who only sell video games complaining about never making any serious money when on a weekly basis they pass up an ungodly amount of other stuff or "junk" (in their opinion) in a Goodwill store that would keep the cash flowing in when games are moving slow.

A few months ago I found a treasure trove of unused/new, never worn NFL jerseys with the store tags still on them. A Mark Brunell Jags jersey, a Keyshawn Johnson Bucs jersey, an Eddie George Titans jersey and a Reggie White Packers jersey. Not to sell, though, those were for me to wear.

[ryborg]

Just off the bat, it would seem like a crapshoot buying board games there sometimes, mostly because of missing pieces and all. Does that tend to happen a lot?

I inspect every game I might buy, when possible. Some stores tape up the boxes before they put them on the shelves, which means I'll pass unless it's something unbelievably rare. For some of those old Avalon Hill war games with hundreds of tiny pieces, yeah, it's kind of a crapshoot, but you can usually tell if a lot of pieces are gone. It's also not the hardest thing in the world to make new ones.

Not to sell, though, those were for me to wear.

Good, because those are all worthless. Except for Reggie White, you can't give away jerseys of those other guys.

[bangtango]

Good, because those are all worthless. Except for Reggie White, you can't give away jerseys of those other guys.

I believe that. As a rabid football fan who follows all of the teams in the NFL, I just couldn't resist at $3 a pop. Running around in a Mark Brunell Jaguars jersey is definitely a conversation starter for some of my friends who do fantasy every year (I don't).

But it always surprises me how many so-called "big football fans" have no idea who Green Bay Packers "White" or Titans "George" is when I wear those jerseys. If I had a dollar for every time I've been asked "Who's White?" or "Who's George?" I could buy a jersey or two from you

I did have one decent Goodwill find a few days ago, though. "Fat" PS2 with all the hook-ups, first party controller, first party memory card and a random game for $15. Works great. I'd say somebody went and bought a PS3 or even a slim PS2 and dumped their old system. Was marked $29.99 but I happened to find it with a red tag on the "red tag half price" sale. Worth about $15 just for the memory card, controller and hookups alone.

[KingYoshi]

Damn, these are some jankity Goodwill stories. I've never saw a game priced over 3.00 bucks at the one around here. I got a PS1 console the other day for 2.95 The only problem is, small town and not a whole lot of game merch being donated.

[peeingas]

Oooooh, you want to hear about underhanded? I have a local Goodwill that puts FAKE Louis Vuitton bags in their bid case, knowing they are fake. They would put them in the case with the item description reading "LV Purse" and people would spend good money on those things! They always seemed to end in the $100+ range. I know they are fake because I've looked at one of those purses, and said right to a lady working there (the one showing me the item) "This is fake" and she told me that she agreed and pointed out why it was fake (which I had already noticed).

Of course, there's ANOTHER local Goodwill that isn't exactly in the right, morally. This one put 2 FAKE Rolex watches in the bid case, with each one reading "Rolex Watch. We believe it to be real". I looked at them and they were really cheaply made, with no weight at all to them, and one even said Made in China on back. Goodwill started each one at $100 and someone had already bid on one.

I know, it serves the bidder right for not knowing a fake item, but I find Goodwill representing fake purses and watches as real and selling them as such to be completely despicable. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's experienced this happening. (Although I hope it doesn't happen elsewhere something tells me it does.)

The fact that they have a "bid case" should have raised caution flags with you.

[Jimmy Yakapucci]

One thing that really gets me about my local Goodwill is that they have set prices for categories of stuff. All DVDs are $3.33 and all CDs are $3.00. This includes the DVDs that come direct from the Dollar Tree with the price stickers still on them. Also, I get a kick out of seeing paperback books with little 25 or 50 cent price stickers on them from someone's yard sale and also have the Goodwill's $1.67 price sticker on there as well.

JY

[Ryaan1234]

The fact that they have a "bid case" should have raised caution flags with you.

I'm not sure why that should raise caution. All of my local, and even the Goodwills in the nearby big cities (Austin, Roundrock, Dallas, etc) have auction cases in their stores, heck I went to one in Roundrock that had a whole auction area. At the time they had an Elvis pinball machine up for auction! They put the antique-y sort of stuff and the things the employees think have value in them, and an ongoing auction is held in the cases every week which ends Saturday. I can't say I've ever bought anything from the cases in recent years though. 3-5 years ago it was actually possible to get deals from the cases, but lately the only things I've seen in them are fake purses (and watches) and crap that belongs in antique stores.

[Emperor Megas]

I've never heard of Goodwill stores having auction cases until now. I would have been suspect as well, honestly.

[Jaruff]

Just off the bat, it would seem like a crapshoot buying board games there sometimes, mostly because of missing pieces and all. Does that tend to happen a lot?

The only board game I've really bought on a regular basis at Goodwill is the variations of Monopoly because at worst, you can always take two sets that are each missing some pieces and "combine" the money, houses, hotels, tokens or cards to complete it.

What I like is seeing people in the Ebay subforums who only sell video games complaining about never making any serious money when on a weekly basis they pass up an ungodly amount of other stuff or "junk" (in their opinion) in a Goodwill store that would keep the cash flowing in when games are moving slow.

A few months ago I found a treasure trove of unused/new, never worn NFL jerseys with the store tags still on them. A Mark Brunell Jags jersey, a Keyshawn Johnson Bucs jersey, an Eddie George Titans jersey and a Reggie White Packers jersey. Not to sell, though, those were for me to wear.

Yea, that makes me laugh too. I've learned to do my research and take chances on other things. It always helps to have a little extra money to devote to a new game.

Damn, these are some jankity Goodwill stories. I've never saw a game priced over 3.00 bucks at the one around here. I got a PS1 console the other day for 2.95 The only problem is, small town and not a whole lot of game merch being donated.

Try $14.99 for a LOOSE PlayStation 1.

I'm also in a small area so game finds are rather hard. Found a 3DO once (how in the hell I have no idea) and I can find some PS2/PS1 games every once in a while. If I want old Nintendo/Sega stuff, I have to hit the yard sales or flea markets.

I've never heard of Goodwill stores having auction cases until now. I would have been suspect as well, honestly.

http://shopgoodwill.com

It's not limited to cases anymore. But, in their defense, I found a great Osborne (early 80's) computer on there once for $40 and sold it on eBay for $100 after playing with it for a few hours. If you really look, you can find some great obscure deals when people mess up listing descriptions.

[pseudonym]

I've seen auctions cases too. They're usually filled with "old lady antiques" and not of any real interest to me.

[portnoyd]

I decided to stop going to Goodwills altogether. Goodwill Hunter's godly Goodwill has to be a total illusion. Absolutely no chance to get anything even at a fair price. They had 2 two slot Wii mote chargers which we already have one of. I was like 'Sweet, I can get one for the other two'.

Not so fast. The unopened one? $40. The opened one? $30. Brand new price from Gamestop? $25.

Fuck them. I really don't give a shit if you're helping the community. At this point, you are gouging. With these kind of prices, lowballing isn't pathetic; it's necessary just to pay going rate for things.

[BetaWolf47]

Goodwill is actually a half-decent place for modern PC games. I just got Splinter Cell Conviction, Borderlands, Dawn of War 2, Wolfenstein, and Metro 2033 there for $5 apiece. Most of those retail $20+. Heck, Best Buy still sells Metro for $50.

The trick is not to limit yourself. If you go in and don't see video games, look at the music and movies. Found some great 20th century animated films I've been dying to see for chump change. Sometimes you'll actually see video games shelved with them. If you still don't see anything there, check out the toys section.

That's my routine. Head straight for the music and movies section and look for video games. If there's no games, look for some good movies. If there's no good movies, check out the toys. Take a quick scan of the books section for stuff that might have gotten mixed in there, and then leave. I usually see something halfway decent.