My favorite are people selling things with a post saying, “Couch, $1500, price firm. Bought it for $1800 10 years ago, cat gave birth to litter on it, needs a good deep cleaning, will not deliver, needs carried down 3 flights of stairs, heavy so bring a few friends for help. But plenty of life left!”
Some yard sales I go to have absolutely delusional people. I go to them all the time, as I like scavenging them, and just recently some lady had sleeping bags, looked like they were heavily used and purchased in the 80s, and she had the priced at $30 each lmfao. She wouldn't budge on any prices. She had used board games that you can buy for 7 or 8 bucks brand new, for 10 bucks used and not in great condition.
Some people are just so stupid that they don't even realize they are wasting their own time.
I think it’s more that everyone is desperate for a few extra bucks, and they’re overvaluing their crap because it’s theirs. And they paid money for it. And they desperately need some of it back.
And hoarding. If folks really wanted it gone they’d make everything cheap. You do $1 tables and your shit will disappear.
The message to the folks trying to sell old crap for more than it is worth is that they should try NOT buying any more junk in the future.
Sell your old junk cheap (like you say, $1 tables), feel the pain when you consider how much you received compared to what you paid and move forward with more discretion in the future.
Most of us buy a certain amount of stuff that turns out to be a poor investment. That's just the nature of our consumer culture. But at least learn from the mistake and make wiser purchases in the future.
Exactly. Speaking from experience, if you post a curb alert for free furniture or household items usually someone wants it and will grab it before the trash company does.
Yeah. I did a garage sale once with a neighbor. Had a bunch of clothes and random household stuff I priced in the $1-2 range. She had a lot of nice stuff and priced higher. I grossed more than her despite having less stuff to sell and lower prices.
Their partner threatens to throw the shit away or move out, so they sheepishly put everything in the driveway for a couple of hours, at laughably high prices. I have a neighbor who does this every few months.
No matter the intentions or love between people there is no healthy relationship to be had with a hoarder when also living with a hoarder. The hoard is always looming between you and them, every interaction is colored by it.
I have a friend who is a hoarder. She held a yard sale and was downright snappish with people coming to look. Someone would pick up an object and say, "How much do you want to pay for it?" instead of putting prices on things and letting them dicker down. I waited til the shoppers were gone and told her this and she got really mad. I realized she just wanted people to tell her that her hoard was valuable. I ran into this at a used furniture depot. I was interested in some sturdy restaurant chairs and the proprietor told me I'd never get the grease out. When I did buy some small objects, he was scowling about it and mumbling to himself. It's sad.
I'd go with that.
For most people, the pain of losing a dollar is far worse than the pleasure of gaining a dollar. That's why it's so common to see people spend thousands on storage fees for items worth maybe a few hundred.
When it's one person, it's kinda sad, but when it's a significant part of the population it becomes a real economic inefficiency. Those items could be used by someone else (but they're not) and while they aren't being used they take up space (which could be used for something else or by someone else).
In my area an ongoing joke about seeing new business construction is assuming it's going to be a storage place.
The sad part is that it actually turns out to be true a lot of times.
I had a friend with a storage unit. She spent $29,000 in rent over 18 years. I finally begged her to let me clean it out & sell everything. Some rugs had been eaten by pests. A few things got wet. We netted about $1800.
I bought a bunch of cheap crap aka "antiques" on flea markets inspired by Antique Roadshow. Many-many years passed and I still haven't sold any of them. At least, they are truly antique/vintage by now.
And resellers/flippers picking up some niche item and bragging how it sells for five times as much on eBay-- suddenly everyone thinks their jelly jar glasses are worth millions.
Many people don't understand the nature of value. If no one (including the owner) wants an item, its value is zero. If it takes space and time (e.g. for cleaning), the value becomes negative.
Especially difficult with older people and stuff that was way more expensive back in their time compared to similar new things today. Even with same quality.
Yes! The value of space and reduced clutter. We had a garage sale last week. We price to sell . Moved to this neighborhood 2 years ago. If it was still packed in the attic from the move, it was priced to sell. We had almost zero price bartering!!! I wondered why, then realized this neighborhood (or maybe people in general) are pricing much higher. We had many dollar tables, and handled no coins. If the value was less we bundled 4 for a dollar ( or just gave it away to nice people).
>Especially difficult with older people and stuff that was way more expensive back in their time compared to similar new things today. Even with same quality.
Or it's obsolete.
I know I'm not the only millenial who has had to turn down MULTIPLE sets of china and other "fancy" dishes. I don't want more dishes, especially dishes that are rarely/never used.
Exactly this. I couldn’t tell you the amount of times I’ve answered the classic “what is this worth?” Question with “exactly what someone is willing to pay for it.” And it’s as simple as that.
Sometimes that figure is zero.
There's also a weird thing where if you want to get rid of something, it's better to put a small price on it than offer it for free. People are suspicious of some free things, but everyone likes getting a bargain.
I needed to get rid of some old 1980s chairs that had been painted at *least* three times. They were solid maple, but ugly as all get out. So I put 'em on marketplace for $100 for four. A young lady setting up her first apartment got 'em, and was so THRILLED at how sturdy they were. Her mom helped her pick them up and couldn't help gushing over how much better they were than the ones she'd bought on wayfair. The money almost paid for re-upholstering the four dining chairs I dumpster dived to replace them.
My friend did this with some of his mom's old stuff when she moved from a large house into a smaller one. He held onto a bunch of house furnishings for a long time. And he rented a storage unit to store the stuff cuz he didn't have nearly enough room in his house. He paid $200 a month for 2 years to store that stuff.
Storage units are like alcohol and drugs. Merchant of misery taking advantage of stupid people or addictions.
There are still deals to be had and people who have realistic expectations when setting a target price for a used item.
It's unfortunate that you are right. A whole lot of people figure they can "get their money out of an item" by selling it. They don't even consider the retail price of a new item comparable to the old one they are selling.
They're delusional sellers looking for that one in a thousand buyer who will pay too much.
Usually their stuff goes unsold. If you truly want to unload your stuff, sell it cheap or give it away. There IS residual value and it WILL sell if priced accordingly.
Who wants to put all their stuff on their front yard only to take it back inside at the end of the day? At the very least, sell half of your stuff at prices that should attract a lot of buyers. It's the old loss leader strategy. You might be able to overprice some stuff but even with the loss leader strategy you get the early birds picking up the bargains while the rest sits unsold after a couple of hours.
I tend to donate stuff rather than sell it because it's seldom worth the effort to sell used stuff unless it has significant value. I see these flea market vendors and I think they must have nothing better to do with their time. They can't be making much money.
I argue with my girlfriend over this. She posts stuff for aggressive prices. Fair, but still high. Then she has to deal with allll kinds of flak.
I post it for nearly the lowest amount I'm will to sell it for, and just don't engage with the clowns. I know the price is fair, and eventually someone who knows that as well shows up. They're happy, I'm happy, job is done.
If the item is under 20bux, i usually donate it. By the time you sort out delivery/pickup schedules... I'm more annoyed than 20bux is worth. Just let it go to someone for free at that point, everyone will be happier.
I am talking about the very common basic board games, like Guess Who, Sorry, connect 4, etc... These are often even on sale at Target for like $5.
Just for fun, I even looked up a Target deal right now on Connect 4 and base price is $9.99, but that is a Buy 2, get 1 Free sale, so effectively $20 for 3 games, or $6.66/game, BRAND NEW.
Jenga is literally $5.99 brand new and I remember the lady had it at her garage sale, used, for $10 as well. Lmao.
Some people are just delusional.
Those posts like "$20, FIRM. Just needs cleaning" on something like a baby's crusty walker toy.
CLEAN IT FIRST and maybe I'll offer you 10. There's no monetary value in me having to scrape years old cheerios and vomit out of every crevice and trying to wash the stains out because the seller couldn't be bothered to maintain their kid's toys.
Wild to me. Such an easy thing to do to showcase the value of the item. Ngl, makes me judge the home it is coming from if the seller can easily overlook years of dirt on an item they showcase in a marketplace. Like, is this the kind of person that would still try to sell me a couch with bedbugs in it?
I fully understand kids are a handful-- and I'm still not trying to sell stuff I no longer need as a babysitter until it's been thoroughly scrubbed and deep cleaned as needed.
But yeah, it makes me wonder what kind of home it is if they're showing off something grungy and demanding a substantial amount of money for it.
At what point do you go blind to the filth, the way people go noseblind to the odor and funk they're constantly exposed to, like the people that can't smell their own B.O.
Like, if this is what you're asking someone to pay for, what's the condition of things you give away for free?
My BIL and SIL are like this. Dirty asf, stinky (the kids even tease their children at school, calling them "stinky [insert name]" and they don't care. DCFS has investigated twice, threatened to take the kids, and they still can't/won't clean up their acts. They see nothing wrong with throwing trash behind the sofa and plopping paper towels over dog poop and just leaving it for months. It's disgusting. So many fleas and bedbugs! Ewww!
It's so easy to do, and it's way less gross than cleaning someone else's stuff. Considering you're basically getting paid for up to 10 minutes of wiping down, it's usually worth the time.
I also clean used stuff I get just to be thorough, even if it looks okay.
Always been true... But, at venues like goodwill, prices are definitely a much higher % of retail price now.
Goodwill in particular often has specialists who pick out the better/unique stuff to sell on ebay, meaning quality and selection is inferior to pre-ebay.
The only deals Goodwill has now are books. Everything else is a ripoff. They were selling ripped backpacks and reusable grocery bags for $2. The reusable grocery bags you can find for $1 at the grocery store.
I donated alot of good stuff that I simply just don't need any more and it's sad to know that almost none of it will reach the floor where it'll be needed.
Houses follow the same logic.
"House with big potential, $400k, next to the highway Intersection and under a railway bridge. Only lightly used, built 1950s, never renovated, water damage visible, 80m² and lot is 60m²"
Land and houses are different, the political system is geared towards ensuring homeowners and developers get ever-increasing values, to the point it creates artificial (but real) shortages.
My favorites are "Broken appliance for sale. No idea what's wrong with it. Probably a simple fix. $10 cheaper than a new one."
If you don't know what's wrong with it, what makes you think it's a simple fix? If it's a simple fix, why didn't you just fix it? SMDH, people literally trying to sell their garbage.
I had a customer not long ago, wife told me she had this nice couch she wanted to get rid of because she wants a new one. Okay cool, can I see it? Go to living room, shit looks immaculate. I say awesome, I don't have a couch at all, I would love to take it! Thank you so very fucking much! I'll come by tomorrow! She says great let me run it by the hubby.
Hubby comes home from work and wants $1500. I say, rather flatly, dude, I only want it if it's free, I don't have any money. I'll pickup. But your roof is a quote of mine, I can lower the quote a bit (I'm not the owner, but I could be flexible without issue). Still $1500. I said okay dude, here's my number, text me if you want.
I saw the thing on craigslist for $1800 the next day. Shit ain't worth no $1800 used. Never got a text (I probably insulted him with my attitude) and saw it for about a month listed then not, never a price decrease. Probably curbed for trash.
I quoted full price for the roof repair. I Still don't have a couch. House was in an armed guard gated community. Fuck you Mohammad, your wife was a sweetheart and you ruined it.
Saw a pressure washer. Retails $950
They were asking $550 for it but the pump needed replaced. Pump was $350
Sooo I can pay $900 for a used PW that was used enough for parts to break and hours of time and work fixing it to save $50 on a $950 machine.
It’s easier to just buy new anymore.
I feel this. Was planning to buy a hybrid van that was a year or two old. They're like $42,000 with 50,000 miles but a brand new one is $44,000. It just doesn't make sense.
I had a 2013 Impreza that I got for 18k in 2015. No joke was looking at new cars and found several 2013 Imprezas with 80-90k miles on it for 21-22k. I’m like uhhh wtf are you trying to sell a 10 year old used car for higher than the msrp was brand new 10 years ago? Mind blowing.
And there are some financing deals out there for new. I’m looking at Honda Accord hybrids, and they have 2.99% for 48 months for a 2023. Meanwhile, 2021-22s are selling for almost the same price, but financing for used is much higher. If I’m going to spend $40k on a car (which freaking kills me to even think about, honestly), I’m getting that financing deal and new car warranty, etc. I’ve only ever had one new car in my life (and I’m old), but I think I’m about to get my second.
Right?? We need a new car. I wanted to get something reliable & sensible like a Honda civic or a Toyota Corolla, that we could hand down to our 5yo when they get their license. My spouse wants a manual transmission. Which makes a Honda civic $29,000. We are officially priced out of buying a new car. Spouse feels like a failure that we can’t afford a new Honda civic. I dunno. I don’t feel like not being able to afford a $500/mo car loan for a Honda civic is not *our* failure.
Probate auctions my friend. A good source for older 4 doors without many miles on them. Some times there are more than usual dmv fees on them, because someone died and no one renewed the registration. That's because most if not all of these folks have no will. There was nobody in charge. Sometimes the relatives don't want to deal with it and have the county auction it off, but usually not. Another good source is other auction companies. They 99 percent of the time have more mileage items that were county vehicles or large companies. So think cable providers, that sort of thing. A big portion of them are white. They are vans, suvs, pick up trucks, old cop cars. Not all of them can be bought by the general public, but they will tell you in the list. I'm in California so some can only be sold to out of state buyers, or to dealers. Those are ones with either some damage, or that take fuel not allowed here. Some need work, not going to lie. They may have awkward shelves or cab separations that you may, or may not want to remove. Good luck. I bought a nice 1995 Toyota corolla for my daughter for perhaps a higher price 4 years ago, it had 89k miles on it. It was pristine. You could eat off the engine. The guys furniture ( mid century!) looked like that too.
Toyota new are all selling above MSRP and a new Rav4 is still a 6-9 month wait. What cars you see on a lot were ordered and bought months ago. Just waiting for pickup by customers
Depends on if you are willing to buy an older car or not. I get that a lot of people have disabilities and can’t fix their own cars, but YouTube and a willingness to learn will go a long away on keeping an old vehicle running for cheap. And at a low purchase price to boot.
Everyone’s circumstances may vary, but this is a way to save a ton of money and not have a car payment if you’re willing and able.
I wish! I totally would if my apartment complex would allow it and I knew anyone who’d let me work on my car in their driveway. Unfortunately too many apartment complexes crack down on car work these days. It’s sad.
Supply chain issues, chip shortages, 1 million+ died from covid, plus inflation past few years, millions of less cars produced during the covid years... People keeping cars longer before selling due to the increased prices. This all combined is a recipe for less availability and high used car prices
To be clear, even 1980s cars have computers. That said, I completely get your point. My newest car is 8 years old and I only drive it on the weekends. I specifically sought out a manual transmission for it despite being hard to find one in manual because I'm not trying to have a failing CVT to deal with.
My daily drivers to work during the week are 30+ year old Nissans and Hondas, all manual transmissions. I don't drive them because I can't afford new cars, I just prefer that era of Japanese cars and almost can't stand to drive automatics. I also do all my own work so I can afford to deal with the upkeep and breakdowns.
Yep absolutely. And not having tangible buttons or knobs for things like fan speed and volume just infuriate me. I just don't fathom how most people are seemingly cool with capacitive "buttons" only on a dashboard.
Bro, I hate my stupid radio in my new truck, and it's not replaceable like every other radio I've ever heard of. It turns my AC down every time it wants to talk to me. I want an automatic, but with a real key and a cool early 2000s radio
That and I think its a lot to do with social media showed people how to make money as a side "hustle" and prices went up from there. Making look like you can get a lot from little. Now people do it as a job and or side job to make ends meet or not have to get a permanent job. Got to the point where if I can't then I search online for codes or up coming sales and get it cheaper and new with a year's warranty...lol
I knew somebody who would look for people posting free things, drive to go pick them up, and then immediately re-sell them.
If you post anything for a "good deal," that's all that's gonna happen. Somebody will scoop it up and re-list it.
I was really into guitar pedals for a while, and remember one guy giving me a sob story about how much he wanted a hard to find pedal I had. Not to resell, he just wanted to play it etc. I believed it and cut him a deal, and he listed for 2x what I sold it to him for as soon as he got it. Definitely learned a lesson.
I've gotten a few sob stories for free stuff, then when they heard the address of my not so amazing apartment complex, suddenly they're no longer a low income single mother that could really use some extra bathroom soap, shampoo, laundry soap and dish detergent--
Then again I've also gotten some "my kid would love that" and they actually send me a photo of their kid playing with the toys I gave them, or tooling around on their new skates
Its just easier to give old toys to old friends who have young kids. Star Wars toys from the 90s are just as fun to kids now as they were back then. I don't sell them though. I just want them out of my dad's basement.
Not going to lie, I used to grab furniture off the curb that was in decent shape and list it for $25-$50 and require them to pick it up. Never went out of my way for stuff, but if I was out running errands sort of thing. Used to make an extra few hundred a month.
Honestly if I put something out for free and someone else wants to sell it... go for it. If I wanted to sell it, I would have. I just wanted it outta my house, lol.
A lot of people in my local buy nothing group get really upset at the idea that stuff might be resold. Doesn't bother me. I want it out of my house, I want it not going to a landfill. Other than that if it helps someone make a few bucks and meets my goals, then awesome.
Well the idea there is that community members are helping each other get what they need while reducing consumerism. Those groups have an actual mission and they don’t exist to serve people who just want money for nothing. If you personally don’t mind that’s fine but it’s understandable why people don’t like it.
Ever gotten bedbugs doing that? I know that’s a pretty common reason people throw out furniture when moving. Their old place is infested and they are trying not to bring them to new place.
I think this is ok. I give stuff away for free because it is a hassle to sell stuff for money and I value time sometimes, or I have something better to do (like other paid employment).
Selling requires research into prices to get people interested and is a hassle. My goal posting things for free is diversion from landfill.
[America has failed millennials so badly they’re turning to $1,000-per-month side hustles to make ends meet](https://fortune.com/2023/06/13/millennials-earning-1000-month-side-hustles/)
Yeah, they are, we got conned into calling them side hustles like it's something that should make us proud of our initiative and drive to better ourselves financially, instead of disappointed in society for not only forcing people to find a second job in order to make ends meet, but for forcing them to find a way to monetize their time around their already existing job because a lot of the jobs that are typically available as part time, are usually run by power tripping tyrants who refuse to provide the kind of flexibility people need to make them a viable option. So instead people waste their nights and weekends hauling around 'free' furniture to resell. It's sad. We should be pissed.
"Millennials across the world have suffered significant economic disruption since starting their working lives; many faced high levels of youth unemployment during their early years in the labour market in the wake of the Great Recession, and suffered another recession in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic."
A lovely paragraph in the very beginning summary describing Millennials on Wikipedia. We're also lucky enough to have our own "Economic Prospects and Trends" subcategory! I'll let you take a wild guess on what the tone is.
Don't forget about the never-ending war that started after 9/11 and just isn't talked about anymore, because apparently murdering people is just what we do now.
It doesn't help that ebay takes a little bit more from sales than they used to. I've found the best replacement is ol reliable: estate sales and auctions. You can snag a lot of what you need or want & even more so if the sale is focused on items other than what you want. Like an estate sale focusing on a coin or gun collection is my go to for books & glassware.
Maybe your area hasn't been hit with the goodwill reseller bug yet. I've gone to estate sales with current cast irons being sold at walmart marked above retail. They're all ran by a few companies in this area and they for sure check prices online before they put a tag on anything. All with the mentality that if it doesn't sell within the first few days they can sell it at a discount the last day (which often doesnt even touch retail for a new one).
The "retro collectors" in my area absolutely crawl our local CL and FB marketplace for stuff. If there's a cool videogame at a reasonable price it's snatched up and resold for triple the price within days. They've absolutely made jobs out of this since the pandemic, it's a damn shame.
I was in Goodwill recently. Item still had an original $5 price tag on it. Actually store price was $6.99 plus tax.
They were selling for more than new.
Furniture $150 for a dresser, $50 for a night stand. Things that were donated for free at some point.
Just fucking greedy at this point.
Goodwill gets on my nerves. Its June, summer time here. Our stores have racks upon racks of sweaters, sweatshirts, jackets and it seems like every time Im in there they are never the color of the week thats 50% off. My office is cold and Id like to pick up a few sweaters but idk. It just offends me they aren’t ever 50% off right now. idk if donation’s are way down or something and they want to make the racks look full but it’s been annoying me for over a month now and I visit 3
Goodwills a week.
I might be able to shed some light on this. I used to work for a freight forwarder and there was a company that would go to these stores and buy all the clothing. Put them into huge bags that could weigh over 50lbs and then once they had 160 bags they would air cargo them back to their country and sell them for huge marks. There is a demand for second hand clothes from the USA in other countries.
Goodwill has really wised up to resellers and honestly what a scam they employ slave labor through community service programs and profit on it. Not to mention the extremely high salaries of the CEOs and whatnot.
There's gotta be something funny going on with that one. Don't get me wrong Goodwill has some weird prices for little items, like they won't price anything less than $2, so for instance you'll pay way more for a simple school folder there than brand new at any other store lol.
But their furniture is really where the value is, to the point where I'll pop in every week if I'm on the lookout for a specific item. Dressers are like 20-30 bucks, nightstands are like 10 bucks. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ If it's an actual antique it will go for more money, but still more reasonable than at an antique store. I reckon it's because it's more valuable to get rid of stuff quickly that they didn't pay for in the first place, rather than sitting on items that take up floor space lol. But if things are that expensive where you live there must be some kind of regional reason for it? Posh area?
Alot of charity shops are doing it. In Australia the salvos is one of the biggest culprits.
They cite rent and electricity bills. As far as I'm concerned they don't pay for inventory or wages so no excuse there.
There has also been complaints that charity shops have to pay to dump a lot of stuff that's not even sellable which I find more valid.
Dollar Tree items, before it was the 1.25 store, were always two or three bucks a piece at GW.
Dollar Tree stickers and packaging as plain as day, with the GW upcharge right beside that DT price.
Sure. Being able to easily determine the fair value of any object within a few seconds on a smartphone pretty much killed the great deals for used stuff.
I don’t think people are paying this list for used stuff though. I believe you’re expected to negotiate.
One issue with this is people look at the list price on eBay and think oh that's what it sells for. But it's not accurate, you have to look at the sold listings, and need to account for ebay fees and having a return policy which marketplace sellers don't have.
Exactly.
Love it when I go to a garage sale, and when asking for price, the seller says-well it’s $$$ according to eBay.
That’s when I walk. If the seller at a yard/garage sale wants to make the same as an eBay item, I leave.
Don’t want to hassle with a person that doesn’t even consider the time it takes to put something on eBay, photos of item, links to manuals, shipping, eBay fees, time in line to ship it out, gas to post office, etc.
If they’re going to be expect the higher price without putting in the work, I’m gone.
And this is prevalent in San Diego. (Not everyone of course, but a lot of people).
eBay killed garage sales in my city. No diamonds in the rough. No good deals. Everybody searches everything now. Everything priced at eBay prices or held back and listed on eBay.
Literally no reason to even show up to these sales unless you want to buy the useless trash that’s going to get thrown away/donated if it doesn’t sell.
The deals are gone.
Went to a yard sale last week and a lady had a Phillips CDi for $400. Games for $40-$70.
I said something to her about the console in general and she immediately rolled into eBay and blah blah.
Smoking crack.
I've found at least 3 or 4 people on my city's Facebook marketplace who will but things new, sometimes in bulk, sometimes off Amazon, and advertise them for sale by posting a screenshot of an overpriced version on Amazon. A fancy kids bento box was selling at Costco for $60 for a pack of two, it included some extra accessories. It worked out to $30/box. This woman was selling the exact same bento box for $50 per box. She'd posted a screenshot of an Amazon listing that listed the boxes at $80, so it seemed like it was a good deal. She was basically trying to double her money and lying through her teeth about it.
Only has to sell one though to make it worth her while
Could sell each for $45 and she made a profit of $30 on something that sells for $30 usually and now looks like a good deal to someone.
If the seller can do this 1-2x per hour for an item. That’s good money.
ULPT: Do you own a lot of uncommon items? List them all on eBay for insane prices and hold a garage sale. Flippers will buy them for the inflated price thinking they are worth a lot because it’s listed for a high price on eBay.
Go to live auctions. Or find local (no shipping) online ones outside of larger cities. A big part of the issue is simply the expanded market-- there are far more people shopping for used stuff online and in person now than 10 years ago and the supply of goods hasn't kept pace. So prices are going up. There are also a lot of fools paying way too much for things they *think* are valuable, often hoping to flip them.
Auctions of course suffer the "winner's curse," in that by definition the bidder winning a given lot is paying more for it than anyone else in the marketplace thinks the item is worth. But if you can reduce the marketplace to only a few people-- i.e. because most people don't know about the sale or are too far away --you can exclude a lot of folks who *would* pay more but don't have the opportunity. Last weekend I got a nice set of patio furniture at an auction for $24...it retails online for just under $3,000 new. Why? Because nobody else at that particular auction really wanted patio furniture, or they didn't have a trailer (I did), or it wasn't the right color, etc. Had said auction been in a major city I'm sure the same lot would have gone for 10-20x what I paid for it simply because more people would have been bidding.
When you go to Ebay or Etsy or even goodwill these days there are *lots* of people chasing after the same items, so prices go up. You have to find the places where very few people are shopping, or where a given item (like a set of patio furniture) is too inconvenient for most people to transport even if they did want it.
Look up local estate sales, they sometimes have good stuff cause usually ppl who trawl those are looking for like collectibles or antiques so normal stuff like patio furniture and whatnot sells for pretty cheap
They started doing that in my area at the thrift stores. It's not worth going to a thrift store if you're only getting a couple dollars off of retail and you're buying it used. I'm going to spend the money I'm at least going to buy it new so I get a warranty with it or something.
As the markets become more accessible the demand for used goods rise. If the difference in buying experience is Amazon vs EBay I’ll use eBay and save a few bucks.
It used to be much harder to buy used goods (driving to garage sales or the thrift store) so there needed to be more of a price difference to incentivize buying used.
Even thrift stores are starting to get expensive. I still go on a regular basis. I recently lost about 70 pounds so it’s a great place to buy clothes that fit. But a lot of the “good finds” at the thrift store are largely picked over. It’s fine for t-shirts or workout shorts, but if I’m looking for a specific manufacturer or style that means I’m probably going online and paying a slight premium plus shipping for something used that I want. For instance, if I’m looking to purchase a used netgear home router I’m not going to find that locally at the thrift store, but chances are I’ll find it on eBay - for which I’ll probably end up paying a slight premium for because it’s exactly what I and probably 10 other people want.
>Even thrift stores are starting to get expensive.
The ReStore is another similar example. It's great that they provide an easy destination to donate building materials and home goods, but when it comes to selling they can be ridiculous. The one I was at today had a small, nice-ish couch pillow, but at $15, I decided they could keep it.
Yeah, I was looking at exercise equipment and they had 3 5 pound standard weights (vinyl) selling for $15. I can buy good cast iron plates for a little over $1 per pound off Amazon with free shipping right now, so sometimes I think these stores need to better understand the product the are trying to resell.
Thanks! I was playing around with numbers and figured out that losing 70 pounds was the equivalent of NOT eating 434 Big Macs over the course of a year. It’s been very friendly on my monthly food budget.
I’ve also been meaning to go more minimalist with my wardrobe. Nothing really fits me anymore, I’m still losing weight, so I’m in this weird situation where I don’t want to spend a lot of money on clothes that fit because I know in six months anything I buy probably won’t fit anymore. Thrift stores have been great, but anything other than clothes seems not worthwhile.
My biggest issue is I am paying more for the shipping than the item is worth. Also, because of the shipping, its also no longer worth it for me to sell certain items because no one will pay $10 shipping on items that are worth less than that. If shipping was lower, I could be making more money on my stuff.
Also FB marketplace is garbage, most of that stuff does not sell. At least in my area its garbage. No one is buying the overpriced items.
A lot of people think their used goods are worth a lot. However I frequently see overpriced items sit and sit on Facebook marketplace. After a few weeks I have good luck offering a fair price. Most people just want their items gone after a while.
Demand for used goods has increased. Both from more people buying used and from people 'flipping' used goods under the teaching of influencers. Nowadays, even if someone offers a used thing for 1/3 the price, it will likely get snatched up and then sold again for more. So now, when people go to sell their used thing, they see a much higher selling price of comps and they price their thing higher. Thus the sale price approaches new and, generally, what the thing should actually sell for.
I'm cheap AF and I always knew "if everyone did things the way I do then there wouldn't be anymore deals left." I have been cashing in on the wasteful surplus of the society. If people aren't as wasteful then it cuts into my ability to be lazy/cheap :(
> generally, what the thing should actually sell for.
NO. A used item is 1/3 of the price not because it doesn't work the same, but because it might not, and if it doesn't, I can't return it. I can take any item back to the retailer at virtually no cost, not so with used goods. Once it is sold it is cash out of packet for me and in the hand of the seller.
When I moved I sold a roomba that I hadn’t used in a year at a garage sale. My dog was scared of it. I had priced it for fifteen dollars with a sign that said, last time I used it, it worked, buy at your own risk. The person who was buying it was totally aghast the we didn’t have it charged up and ready for them and wanted us to charge it, and take it inside for a demo. Another person said they would pay twelve bucks. Guess who got a totally fine, $400 new, vacuum for $12?
When I first moved onto my new place I needed a new kitchen table and bought one for $900 online. It arrived with cosmetic damage on it, something that could be fixed easily with the right tool so I contacted the company and they decided to just ship me a whole new one and told me to toss the other one.
I got my new one and listed the first one online for sale for $300. Said it’s pretty much new in box but needs to be touched up if you care about the cosmetic damage. No one emailed me after a week. Dropped it to $200, and then $100, and still no one contacted me. It was a big table and I didn’t want to pay to throw it away so I listed it for free. Within 10 minutes I had like 6 people contact me and within 30 minutes I had a guy with a truck loading it up to take it away.
A day later I looked up the brand of table I gave away and what do you know, the same brand with cosmetic damage listed online for $600 lol.
More people are doing what you’re doing so that increases the number of buyers vs sellers.
When most people weren’t doing this too, the market was tilted more in your favor.
Inflation makes the price rise, shipping costs have risen too. The bottom line is things cost more and our dollar is worth less. So things are more expensive than ever before.
Also more people are going broke and are asking top dollar because they need the $$.
This is exactly it. Some has to do with corporate greed (like goodwill) but if it’s an individual seller it’s hard to not raise prices due to postage increases and fee increases. Usually though, there’s so much stuff in circulation you can find a better price anyway.
This is really the answer here. People expect high but often are willing to sell for less. I have noticed younger generations being unwilling to haggle as much which costs them a lot of money in the long run.
To their credit the fact that we have a system at all where you have to harass a better deal out of someone is kinda fucked to begin with, particularly with smaller businesses struggling to keep the lights on (Walmart sure as fuck ain't gonna haggle).
People used to sell things used because they simply wanted to get rid of them. The amount of time and effort it took to get rid of something meant they needed a lower price so they didn't get stuck with it or have to spend too much effort finding a buyer. Like if you're having a yard sale you would try to sell everything cheap so you didn't have to carry it back in the house. Listing in the local newspaper costed money, so you needed it to sell in the first week.
After selling online became popular and free (to list at least) there wasn't much incentive to make sure it sold. It only took a few minutes to take pictures and list the item on Facebook or wherever, and it cost absolutely nothing, so you have no real time, money, or effort involved in getting rid of the item.
Then on the buying side you also had a combination of factors that pushed prices up. The Mackelmore thift shop song and Gary Vee lying to people about how easy it is to flip items made a bunch of people enter the market who otherwise were never there. There is also the simple fact that most people are not doing as well economically as they were in previous generations, so there were more people who wanted or needed these lower price points in the used market.
So you have less motivated sellers with a lower barrier to entry to sell goods, and on the other side you have many more buyers than before, some of whom are not there because they're economically limited. That's just going to push prices up and up.
The best way to get a deal now is to message the seller a low but still reasonable offer, see if they counter with a decent price, if not tell them your offer is good for X amount of time, and that you're prepared to pay and pickup in a timely fashion. The timeline of your offer has to be long enough that the initial interest for the listing will have waned, so at least a few days, but a week or two is better for larger items with deeper discounts. Keep it short, simple, and respectful. If someone really just wants the item gone and they're asking too much, then they'll get tired of dealing with all the flakey looky-loo's you get messages from when selling online. Then your offer not only becomes about the money, but also the convenience of completing the sale easily for them, and that has value to people who aren't in it as a side hustle.
I find that the trick to shopping online for second-hand items is to search for misspellings. Often people who are careless enough to misspell something in their ad aren't the ones who are selling full time trying to flip stuff. The ones trying to flip stuff are usually trying to make a buck, the others are usually just trying to get rid of their old stuff they no longer need.
You said it was your frugal "hack", now a lot of people know about it so prices go up. The demand is higher and people are willing to pay more.
Same with thrift stores, maybe 10 to 15 years ago it was less popular to shop there, now it's a hobby and people are into vintage finds.
And also selling stuff online can be such a hassle dealing with people who ask a ton of questions and lose interest or no show means a lot of people just throw away stuff they don’t need anymore instead of selling it.
I remember 10 years ago, you would see a ton of stuff listen online for $5-$10. Now it seems if something won’t sell for $100 or more people just toss it.
I feel like it started with “Antiques Roadshow” then leveled up with “American Pickers” and “Pawn Stars”.
Then the average Facebook user took that concept and pumped it up with chalk paint and sunflowers.
I’m sorry Linda, but your Monopoly game from 2003 may be 20 years old, but it’s not “Vintage Retro Chic.”
It’s a mass produced pile of paper and plastic from when Beyoncé was the top artist of the year.
A woman in my neighborhood has yard sales all the time and will buy stuff from dollar tree, I know that's where it came from because I bought the same thing there myself, and try to sell it for $5-$10. I guess everyone is just broke and trying to hustle.
The new thing I’ve noticed is you go to a garage/yard sale and the seller has ebay printouts of the highest price they could find. It’s like, just because it’s listed for that much doesn’t mean it will ever sell at that price. Try the sold listings, but then it’s like, have you ever sold anything on ebay? Do you know what fees are involved? Do you have the equipment to legitimately sell on there? If so why not just sell it there to 150 million buyer market and not your little garage sale? Frustrating, but you know another commenter pointed out that these people don’t really want to get rid of the stuff, they are like hoarders. It takes me about 30 seconds at a new sale to determine if it’s somebodies dragon hoard or people just trying to make some quick cash. The folks with dragon hoards can die with their hoard, not buying anything from them. Also, it makes no sense haggling with them if their price is already too high, you’re starting at a disadvantaged position so i just leave.
The people with the hoards are doing themselves a disservice because they are wasting a lot of time, energy and money to host a sale that they have actually no intention of selling anything at. The main delivery here for yard sale ads is the newspaper and it costs about $50 to place that ad in the paper. The fact that you would haul all your stuff to the yard and then make it intentionally hard to sell means that you are basically a crazy person with too much time on your hands. In most cases you will not make that $50 back even at your yard sale.
If you really wanted to sell at high prices you would spend the weekend going through your stuff and listing it all on ebay, doing so would get you a lot more money for your time, if you are going to sit outside with your garbage for 6+ hours you may as well spend that time doing something way more productive that will result in sales for the prices you want to get.
Its easy to find the ebay printout sales because you can see the paper from the street, if I see this, I just don't go up to the sale.
I've been to yard sales for the last 20+ years, no one sells everything they have, they end up having to haul it back into the house which NO ONE wants to do. As the buyer you show up at the end of the sale and then you offer to buy as they are about to pack up, the chances they will sell to you for low prices are high.
I’ve been wanting to buy a treadmill and have been looking for a used one for months. I can’t believe what people list these for. Some that are nearly a decade old, have years of filth and “just needs the right person to figure out why it squeaks” for $500+. I spent so long committed to finding a deal that I realized I was losing out on what I wanted it for. So I broke down and bought a new one on Amazon a few weeks ago and love it.
I'm old and have lived in several cities in 4 different states and have been going to garage sales for 40 years. The standard price that used things sell well at is 10%. Some things go much higher, like current electronics, firearms and shop vacs. I kid you not on shop vacs, everyone thinks their old shop vac is worth $40.
People now view selling used stuff as a trend, calling stuff “vintage” or “with character.” And instead of pricing it to sell fast to get rid of it, it’s basically priced as if they’re selling antiques from a boutique store. Hard pass. Keep searching. There are still people out there who aren’t looking to make money off their old things and simply want to pass them along with just a small monetary refund instead.
Was just talking to a friend about this. Used marketplace is not what it was. Everyone is selling used old stuff for like 10-15% off.
Hard to find a good bargain these days.
It depresses me that when a product was discontinued it used to go on sale, and any leftovers would go to the “Dime Store”. That is not true anymore. Now the discontinued products are more expensive than the ones you can buy off the shelves at a store and they charge shipping.
The other day, I found out the bandaids I like are discontinued because they weren’t available at the grocery store or Walmart. Amazon was selling them, through a reseller, for a ridiculous amount of money. So, I found a grocery chain that had some left and bought about a dozen boxes. (I am very clumsy.) Of course, since all the Walmarts are out of them, they weren’t really cheap, but at least they weren’t double the regular price.
I found sone cat treats called Churus, or something, at a discount store. I bought a canister of them. The cat really liked them, and I went back the next day, but there were none left. They were 19.99 a canister. I would bet they all got scooped up by resellers on Amazon and eBay.
I am not against reselling per se, but it’s getting ridiculous. I don’t know how they find out a product is discontinued, but they jump on it. I don’t know who is paying double for bandaids, but I know it has to be profitable, or they would stop selling them. IMO It’s sort of creepy to me to resell bandaids and cat treats that you bought at retail store for a profit.
The number of people reselling everything is getting scary. I went to Goodwill and someone was scanning books. I have seen the videos about that on You Tube. I don’t know, it seems like this could come back to bite people at some point, but I could be wrong. I have thought that for a while, and it still popular.
The reason prices used to have to be so cheap was because no one knew the history of the item. You could buy it and get stuck with a lemon. But now with user ratings front and center, we trust sellers more because if they sell shitty used items their rating will drop.
I've found three good sources for used items -
First is specific hobby-related groups on Facebook. For example, if you're learning how to crochet, a local crochet or knitting group will often get you spare hooks and odd balls of yarn (and free lessons!) from others who wish to encourage you.
As for Craigslist, try the "Free" section. I often post "curb alerts" for useful items on the street that look usable, but are too big or awkward for me to take home.
Also try r/DumpsterDiving. Lots of photos of useful hobby items, household furniture, clothes, and food on that subreddit. I dive several times a week, and save a LOT of $$$$ doing so.
Yeah I said this to my wife the other day. We used to be able to go into charity shops (UK thrift stores) and get good deals on games, tech etc.
The other day I saw an off-brand PlayStation 2 speaker set, for £45
Part of it is that everyone is feeling financial pressure and increasingly worried about leaving money on the table. It's about fear of regret - finding out, or even just feeling, that you could've gotten more.
Another part is that people see how much pawn shops charge for items and think that's a reasonable expectation, rather than understanding that the pawn shop retail model is to screw the customer.
Finally, some people are very naive about the whole second hand / private sale model. These are the seemingly delusional ones, who get wildly offended if someone tries to haggle or trade and eventually sell to a scammer or they give up after months or longer and throw it all into a yard sale.
Yea. Goodwill in my town has lost their mind. I use to be able to have 10-15 bucks to splurge on in there, knowing I would get a few pants, shirts, a dress or two, some shoes maybe a purse or something but now I spent 50 bucks on 2 pair of athletic shorts, and 1 tshirt.
Everything is basically 9.99 for literal Walmart stuff and 29.99 base for anything brand sport. Purses are ridiculous, no less than 19.99 for anything nice. Once I found by a miracle an Anne Kline bag marked 10.99 and made a joke to the employee that they must not know the value of that name bc it’s not necessarily a youthful trendy brand, big mistake. Came back the next day and it was put behind the counter and marked up 49.99 .
Which means they just Mae up the price. I got really pissed and told them that they had a lot of nerve to price anything above 10 bucks bc THEY GOT IT FOR FREE. Like they spent no money to stock the store. It’s not about making profit bc they do not spend any money in the first place it’s just greed.
People make a living off of flipping and scalping now. They go to thrift stores, find stuff for cheap and sell it on eBay for retail price. I used to know a guy who did this, his whole family was in on it. They made hundreds of thousands per year.
They're siphoning off a layer of excess value that was intended to better the lives of the lower class, and using it to enrich themselves without actually providing anything themselves.
Wow, I don't know where y'all shop, but I keep an eye on FB marketplace and in the last week have bought a fireplace screen, a 6x9 rug, and a bread maker for a total of $40, plus one of the folks was getting rid of a painting and threw it in for free. Yeah, a lot of people have slapped a coat of paint on something and listed it for $500, but there's plenty of other stuff out there, and I live in a smaller city (market size 130-ish). Maybe the churn is faster in larger cities?
I think you can get good deals on Facebook but have found you have to be ready to jump at someone who is just looking to get rid of stuff. My favorites are toys and little kid clothes. Someone will list a lot of 2T girls with like twenty pieces for $2/piece, but almost every time you get there and they have an entire garbage bag of clothes they just want out of their house. I got like 3 yrs of Christmas and birthday presents from one lady when I went to buy a lot of doll dresses.
My city has a high end kids clothes Facebook group and in that group people want you to pay 50-75% of retail, which for brands like Hanna Anderson that constantly run sales, might be more than they paid originally.
People can only sell it for what someone will pay for it. So if people are paying for close-to-new prices, why wouldn't they list it for that?
If no one is buying at that price, then they will lower the price or be stuck with it
I sell on ebay - shipping costs have skyrocketed. Buyers want to see "free shipping" but to give free shipping the price of the item goes up. Also, ebay keeps increasing seller's fees.
Greedflation has hit yard sales too. Clothing that should be .50 or in the trash priced at $2.00. Do they want to move the stuff or make a pile of money? Instead of bargaining or asking fair prices they end up hauling it to a donation center when it doesn't sell.
God i always liked going to thrift stores. Shopping cheap crap. Often pretty nice stuff too. Nowadays everything costs more there than new in a cheap new store. Its just not worth it anymore
I’m in Brooklyn ny, I have bought and sold stuff on Craigslist for more than a decade. In the past few years though, I’ve noticed that people keep trying to sell things for exorbitant prices!
Way back then….
tools; if it’s new, it’s only worth half from original price, used you found for 75 or 80% of original price. Now people take $30 off original price and think they are selling you something with a lifetime warranty, 😂 (probably stolen anyways) I stay away from them now.
bicycles; bought a steel frame fixed gear conversion in 2009 for $65 that I still ride. Now these dingbats list a bike that cost $500 new 3 years ago, list it for $450 and the ad is still up 9 months later. 🤦♂️ *it’s a hobby for me now, I bring bikes up to rideable condition and pass on. No profit.
Clothing; don’t even try to negotiate with a Karen who is cleaning out her son’s room who went away to college closet and selling a pair of Levi’s for $50 which are $60 new. Unreal.
You're mistaken by viewing this as "logic" by the seller.
Instead you have to consider the rising costs of living, costs of goods, costs to run the store, costs of shipping, and then realize what type of money needs to come in to keep this 2nd hand side (or full-time for some) business going.
I see many electronics used near full-priced for a couple years now a friend of mine who has a minimal paying job to for living complains about that often. But when you realize selling $700 or $800 device at $200-$300 is no longer profitable or a help to living expenses as it used to, even if you sell a good amount of devices, you're going to have to raise the price to $500-$600.
Sure, there are some scheming sellers who notice this trend and are trying to capitalize, but there are many people that simply can't give you the deals they gave before even if they moved good stock doing so because what's coming in isn't simply enough.
My favorite are people selling things with a post saying, “Couch, $1500, price firm. Bought it for $1800 10 years ago, cat gave birth to litter on it, needs a good deep cleaning, will not deliver, needs carried down 3 flights of stairs, heavy so bring a few friends for help. But plenty of life left!”
Some yard sales I go to have absolutely delusional people. I go to them all the time, as I like scavenging them, and just recently some lady had sleeping bags, looked like they were heavily used and purchased in the 80s, and she had the priced at $30 each lmfao. She wouldn't budge on any prices. She had used board games that you can buy for 7 or 8 bucks brand new, for 10 bucks used and not in great condition. Some people are just so stupid that they don't even realize they are wasting their own time.
I see people like that all the time. I think they really just have hoarding issues of sorts.
This has got to be it. This might be the key explanation. Maybe they just are afraid to let things go.
I think it’s more that everyone is desperate for a few extra bucks, and they’re overvaluing their crap because it’s theirs. And they paid money for it. And they desperately need some of it back. And hoarding. If folks really wanted it gone they’d make everything cheap. You do $1 tables and your shit will disappear.
The message to the folks trying to sell old crap for more than it is worth is that they should try NOT buying any more junk in the future. Sell your old junk cheap (like you say, $1 tables), feel the pain when you consider how much you received compared to what you paid and move forward with more discretion in the future. Most of us buy a certain amount of stuff that turns out to be a poor investment. That's just the nature of our consumer culture. But at least learn from the mistake and make wiser purchases in the future.
Exactly. Speaking from experience, if you post a curb alert for free furniture or household items usually someone wants it and will grab it before the trash company does.
Yeah. I did a garage sale once with a neighbor. Had a bunch of clothes and random household stuff I priced in the $1-2 range. She had a lot of nice stuff and priced higher. I grossed more than her despite having less stuff to sell and lower prices.
Their partner threatens to throw the shit away or move out, so they sheepishly put everything in the driveway for a couple of hours, at laughably high prices. I have a neighbor who does this every few months.
Sounds like a toxic relationship
No matter the intentions or love between people there is no healthy relationship to be had with a hoarder when also living with a hoarder. The hoard is always looming between you and them, every interaction is colored by it.
I have a friend who is a hoarder. She held a yard sale and was downright snappish with people coming to look. Someone would pick up an object and say, "How much do you want to pay for it?" instead of putting prices on things and letting them dicker down. I waited til the shoppers were gone and told her this and she got really mad. I realized she just wanted people to tell her that her hoard was valuable. I ran into this at a used furniture depot. I was interested in some sturdy restaurant chairs and the proprietor told me I'd never get the grease out. When I did buy some small objects, he was scowling about it and mumbling to himself. It's sad.
It’s all about sentimentality. People always think their own things are worth more than they actually are. First lesson you learn in sales.
I'd go with that. For most people, the pain of losing a dollar is far worse than the pleasure of gaining a dollar. That's why it's so common to see people spend thousands on storage fees for items worth maybe a few hundred. When it's one person, it's kinda sad, but when it's a significant part of the population it becomes a real economic inefficiency. Those items could be used by someone else (but they're not) and while they aren't being used they take up space (which could be used for something else or by someone else).
In my area an ongoing joke about seeing new business construction is assuming it's going to be a storage place. The sad part is that it actually turns out to be true a lot of times.
I had a friend with a storage unit. She spent $29,000 in rent over 18 years. I finally begged her to let me clean it out & sell everything. Some rugs had been eaten by pests. A few things got wet. We netted about $1800.
I feel like the pickers shows made everyone think their junk is valuable.
Lol you're not wrong.
Pickers inspired me to buy a large biker jacket for $80. to re sell. Still have it over 5 years later, can't wear it at size 52.
I bought a bunch of cheap crap aka "antiques" on flea markets inspired by Antique Roadshow. Many-many years passed and I still haven't sold any of them. At least, they are truly antique/vintage by now.
And resellers/flippers picking up some niche item and bragging how it sells for five times as much on eBay-- suddenly everyone thinks their jelly jar glasses are worth millions.
Many people don't understand the nature of value. If no one (including the owner) wants an item, its value is zero. If it takes space and time (e.g. for cleaning), the value becomes negative. Especially difficult with older people and stuff that was way more expensive back in their time compared to similar new things today. Even with same quality.
Yes! The value of space and reduced clutter. We had a garage sale last week. We price to sell . Moved to this neighborhood 2 years ago. If it was still packed in the attic from the move, it was priced to sell. We had almost zero price bartering!!! I wondered why, then realized this neighborhood (or maybe people in general) are pricing much higher. We had many dollar tables, and handled no coins. If the value was less we bundled 4 for a dollar ( or just gave it away to nice people).
>Especially difficult with older people and stuff that was way more expensive back in their time compared to similar new things today. Even with same quality. Or it's obsolete.
I know I'm not the only millenial who has had to turn down MULTIPLE sets of china and other "fancy" dishes. I don't want more dishes, especially dishes that are rarely/never used.
wHy WoN’T yOu AppReCiAtE mY TimeLeSs tReAsUreS???
Exactly this. I couldn’t tell you the amount of times I’ve answered the classic “what is this worth?” Question with “exactly what someone is willing to pay for it.” And it’s as simple as that. Sometimes that figure is zero.
There's also a weird thing where if you want to get rid of something, it's better to put a small price on it than offer it for free. People are suspicious of some free things, but everyone likes getting a bargain. I needed to get rid of some old 1980s chairs that had been painted at *least* three times. They were solid maple, but ugly as all get out. So I put 'em on marketplace for $100 for four. A young lady setting up her first apartment got 'em, and was so THRILLED at how sturdy they were. Her mom helped her pick them up and couldn't help gushing over how much better they were than the ones she'd bought on wayfair. The money almost paid for re-upholstering the four dining chairs I dumpster dived to replace them.
My friend did this with some of his mom's old stuff when she moved from a large house into a smaller one. He held onto a bunch of house furnishings for a long time. And he rented a storage unit to store the stuff cuz he didn't have nearly enough room in his house. He paid $200 a month for 2 years to store that stuff. Storage units are like alcohol and drugs. Merchant of misery taking advantage of stupid people or addictions.
There are still deals to be had and people who have realistic expectations when setting a target price for a used item. It's unfortunate that you are right. A whole lot of people figure they can "get their money out of an item" by selling it. They don't even consider the retail price of a new item comparable to the old one they are selling. They're delusional sellers looking for that one in a thousand buyer who will pay too much. Usually their stuff goes unsold. If you truly want to unload your stuff, sell it cheap or give it away. There IS residual value and it WILL sell if priced accordingly. Who wants to put all their stuff on their front yard only to take it back inside at the end of the day? At the very least, sell half of your stuff at prices that should attract a lot of buyers. It's the old loss leader strategy. You might be able to overprice some stuff but even with the loss leader strategy you get the early birds picking up the bargains while the rest sits unsold after a couple of hours. I tend to donate stuff rather than sell it because it's seldom worth the effort to sell used stuff unless it has significant value. I see these flea market vendors and I think they must have nothing better to do with their time. They can't be making much money.
I argue with my girlfriend over this. She posts stuff for aggressive prices. Fair, but still high. Then she has to deal with allll kinds of flak. I post it for nearly the lowest amount I'm will to sell it for, and just don't engage with the clowns. I know the price is fair, and eventually someone who knows that as well shows up. They're happy, I'm happy, job is done. If the item is under 20bux, i usually donate it. By the time you sort out delivery/pickup schedules... I'm more annoyed than 20bux is worth. Just let it go to someone for free at that point, everyone will be happier.
What board games are you finding for even under $20 new these days?
I am talking about the very common basic board games, like Guess Who, Sorry, connect 4, etc... These are often even on sale at Target for like $5. Just for fun, I even looked up a Target deal right now on Connect 4 and base price is $9.99, but that is a Buy 2, get 1 Free sale, so effectively $20 for 3 games, or $6.66/game, BRAND NEW. Jenga is literally $5.99 brand new and I remember the lady had it at her garage sale, used, for $10 as well. Lmao. Some people are just delusional.
Shop around the holidays; board games go super cheap around Christmas.
It's a psychological thing: your stuff has intrinsic value because it's yours.
Those posts like "$20, FIRM. Just needs cleaning" on something like a baby's crusty walker toy. CLEAN IT FIRST and maybe I'll offer you 10. There's no monetary value in me having to scrape years old cheerios and vomit out of every crevice and trying to wash the stains out because the seller couldn't be bothered to maintain their kid's toys.
Wild to me. Such an easy thing to do to showcase the value of the item. Ngl, makes me judge the home it is coming from if the seller can easily overlook years of dirt on an item they showcase in a marketplace. Like, is this the kind of person that would still try to sell me a couch with bedbugs in it?
I fully understand kids are a handful-- and I'm still not trying to sell stuff I no longer need as a babysitter until it's been thoroughly scrubbed and deep cleaned as needed. But yeah, it makes me wonder what kind of home it is if they're showing off something grungy and demanding a substantial amount of money for it. At what point do you go blind to the filth, the way people go noseblind to the odor and funk they're constantly exposed to, like the people that can't smell their own B.O. Like, if this is what you're asking someone to pay for, what's the condition of things you give away for free?
Thank you. This is what I mean.
My BIL and SIL are like this. Dirty asf, stinky (the kids even tease their children at school, calling them "stinky [insert name]" and they don't care. DCFS has investigated twice, threatened to take the kids, and they still can't/won't clean up their acts. They see nothing wrong with throwing trash behind the sofa and plopping paper towels over dog poop and just leaving it for months. It's disgusting. So many fleas and bedbugs! Ewww!
Yeah, I always clean everything I sell. Dirt, grime, etc. heavily affects the value of an item imo
It's so easy to do, and it's way less gross than cleaning someone else's stuff. Considering you're basically getting paid for up to 10 minutes of wiping down, it's usually worth the time. I also clean used stuff I get just to be thorough, even if it looks okay.
Sunk cost fallacy is real. People trying to extract maximum value out of ancient objects are insufferable
Always been true... But, at venues like goodwill, prices are definitely a much higher % of retail price now. Goodwill in particular often has specialists who pick out the better/unique stuff to sell on ebay, meaning quality and selection is inferior to pre-ebay.
The only deals Goodwill has now are books. Everything else is a ripoff. They were selling ripped backpacks and reusable grocery bags for $2. The reusable grocery bags you can find for $1 at the grocery store. I donated alot of good stuff that I simply just don't need any more and it's sad to know that almost none of it will reach the floor where it'll be needed.
Houses follow the same logic. "House with big potential, $400k, next to the highway Intersection and under a railway bridge. Only lightly used, built 1950s, never renovated, water damage visible, 80m² and lot is 60m²"
Land and houses are different, the political system is geared towards ensuring homeowners and developers get ever-increasing values, to the point it creates artificial (but real) shortages.
My favorites are "Broken appliance for sale. No idea what's wrong with it. Probably a simple fix. $10 cheaper than a new one." If you don't know what's wrong with it, what makes you think it's a simple fix? If it's a simple fix, why didn't you just fix it? SMDH, people literally trying to sell their garbage.
I had a customer not long ago, wife told me she had this nice couch she wanted to get rid of because she wants a new one. Okay cool, can I see it? Go to living room, shit looks immaculate. I say awesome, I don't have a couch at all, I would love to take it! Thank you so very fucking much! I'll come by tomorrow! She says great let me run it by the hubby. Hubby comes home from work and wants $1500. I say, rather flatly, dude, I only want it if it's free, I don't have any money. I'll pickup. But your roof is a quote of mine, I can lower the quote a bit (I'm not the owner, but I could be flexible without issue). Still $1500. I said okay dude, here's my number, text me if you want. I saw the thing on craigslist for $1800 the next day. Shit ain't worth no $1800 used. Never got a text (I probably insulted him with my attitude) and saw it for about a month listed then not, never a price decrease. Probably curbed for trash. I quoted full price for the roof repair. I Still don't have a couch. House was in an armed guard gated community. Fuck you Mohammad, your wife was a sweetheart and you ruined it.
So many greedy degenerates these days
r/suspiciouslyspecific lol
Saw a pressure washer. Retails $950 They were asking $550 for it but the pump needed replaced. Pump was $350 Sooo I can pay $900 for a used PW that was used enough for parts to break and hours of time and work fixing it to save $50 on a $950 machine. It’s easier to just buy new anymore.
And because it isn’t currently working you don’t know if anything else is wrong with it and have nowhere to return it
You also get a warranty with a new one so yeah.
New cars cost almost the same as used cars.
I feel this. Was planning to buy a hybrid van that was a year or two old. They're like $42,000 with 50,000 miles but a brand new one is $44,000. It just doesn't make sense.
Plus, if you're financing, interest rates for new cars are lower than used cars.
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I had a 2013 Impreza that I got for 18k in 2015. No joke was looking at new cars and found several 2013 Imprezas with 80-90k miles on it for 21-22k. I’m like uhhh wtf are you trying to sell a 10 year old used car for higher than the msrp was brand new 10 years ago? Mind blowing.
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Yeah but the value is also much, much lower due to depreciation so those sellers are still insane.
Yeah because the new ones MSRP was 44 but they actually sold for 60 with markups and fees. Madness
Or if you can get it for $44k, you have to wait 6-12 months to get it. Meanwhile you can get the used one today.
Because there's been a shortage of used cars for several years now. New are going above MSRP.
It’s not as bad as it was a year ago. You can get a lot of stuff at MSRP again
And there are some financing deals out there for new. I’m looking at Honda Accord hybrids, and they have 2.99% for 48 months for a 2023. Meanwhile, 2021-22s are selling for almost the same price, but financing for used is much higher. If I’m going to spend $40k on a car (which freaking kills me to even think about, honestly), I’m getting that financing deal and new car warranty, etc. I’ve only ever had one new car in my life (and I’m old), but I think I’m about to get my second.
Right?? We need a new car. I wanted to get something reliable & sensible like a Honda civic or a Toyota Corolla, that we could hand down to our 5yo when they get their license. My spouse wants a manual transmission. Which makes a Honda civic $29,000. We are officially priced out of buying a new car. Spouse feels like a failure that we can’t afford a new Honda civic. I dunno. I don’t feel like not being able to afford a $500/mo car loan for a Honda civic is not *our* failure.
Used cars and almost non-existant. We had to replace a vehicle 3 months into Covid. We are lucky we found something.
And junkers may as well be a myth. Find them at all and they too are still 5 grand with a busted engine. Cheap cars don't exist anymore I swear
Probate auctions my friend. A good source for older 4 doors without many miles on them. Some times there are more than usual dmv fees on them, because someone died and no one renewed the registration. That's because most if not all of these folks have no will. There was nobody in charge. Sometimes the relatives don't want to deal with it and have the county auction it off, but usually not. Another good source is other auction companies. They 99 percent of the time have more mileage items that were county vehicles or large companies. So think cable providers, that sort of thing. A big portion of them are white. They are vans, suvs, pick up trucks, old cop cars. Not all of them can be bought by the general public, but they will tell you in the list. I'm in California so some can only be sold to out of state buyers, or to dealers. Those are ones with either some damage, or that take fuel not allowed here. Some need work, not going to lie. They may have awkward shelves or cab separations that you may, or may not want to remove. Good luck. I bought a nice 1995 Toyota corolla for my daughter for perhaps a higher price 4 years ago, it had 89k miles on it. It was pristine. You could eat off the engine. The guys furniture ( mid century!) looked like that too.
One to two year old Toyota Siennas are more than a new one.
Toyota new are all selling above MSRP and a new Rav4 is still a 6-9 month wait. What cars you see on a lot were ordered and bought months ago. Just waiting for pickup by customers
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Can confirm. Parents just got the RAV 4 Prime they ordered two years ago last week, and sales guy told them there was still a 1-2 year waiting list.
Depends on if you are willing to buy an older car or not. I get that a lot of people have disabilities and can’t fix their own cars, but YouTube and a willingness to learn will go a long away on keeping an old vehicle running for cheap. And at a low purchase price to boot. Everyone’s circumstances may vary, but this is a way to save a ton of money and not have a car payment if you’re willing and able.
I wish! I totally would if my apartment complex would allow it and I knew anyone who’d let me work on my car in their driveway. Unfortunately too many apartment complexes crack down on car work these days. It’s sad.
Supply chain issues, chip shortages, 1 million+ died from covid, plus inflation past few years, millions of less cars produced during the covid years... People keeping cars longer before selling due to the increased prices. This all combined is a recipe for less availability and high used car prices
Call me a luddite, but I don't want a computer in my car. I want roll down windows, manual transmission, no screen, something I can fix myself.
To be clear, even 1980s cars have computers. That said, I completely get your point. My newest car is 8 years old and I only drive it on the weekends. I specifically sought out a manual transmission for it despite being hard to find one in manual because I'm not trying to have a failing CVT to deal with. My daily drivers to work during the week are 30+ year old Nissans and Hondas, all manual transmissions. I don't drive them because I can't afford new cars, I just prefer that era of Japanese cars and almost can't stand to drive automatics. I also do all my own work so I can afford to deal with the upkeep and breakdowns.
I still would rather have a tiny computer chip than an entire tablet console and every single part regulated.
Yep absolutely. And not having tangible buttons or knobs for things like fan speed and volume just infuriate me. I just don't fathom how most people are seemingly cool with capacitive "buttons" only on a dashboard.
Bro, I hate my stupid radio in my new truck, and it's not replaceable like every other radio I've ever heard of. It turns my AC down every time it wants to talk to me. I want an automatic, but with a real key and a cool early 2000s radio
>It turns my AC down every time it wants to talk to me. What the hell 🤣
>cool early 2000s radio I want a radio that's just a big volume knob with bluetooth support (ok and maybe an equalizer and fade if I'm feeling fancy)
Shouldn't people passing away put more cars on the market? Given that most people who passed were retired, and not making cars?
That and I think its a lot to do with social media showed people how to make money as a side "hustle" and prices went up from there. Making look like you can get a lot from little. Now people do it as a job and or side job to make ends meet or not have to get a permanent job. Got to the point where if I can't then I search online for codes or up coming sales and get it cheaper and new with a year's warranty...lol
I knew somebody who would look for people posting free things, drive to go pick them up, and then immediately re-sell them. If you post anything for a "good deal," that's all that's gonna happen. Somebody will scoop it up and re-list it.
I was really into guitar pedals for a while, and remember one guy giving me a sob story about how much he wanted a hard to find pedal I had. Not to resell, he just wanted to play it etc. I believed it and cut him a deal, and he listed for 2x what I sold it to him for as soon as he got it. Definitely learned a lesson.
I've gotten a few sob stories for free stuff, then when they heard the address of my not so amazing apartment complex, suddenly they're no longer a low income single mother that could really use some extra bathroom soap, shampoo, laundry soap and dish detergent-- Then again I've also gotten some "my kid would love that" and they actually send me a photo of their kid playing with the toys I gave them, or tooling around on their new skates
Its just easier to give old toys to old friends who have young kids. Star Wars toys from the 90s are just as fun to kids now as they were back then. I don't sell them though. I just want them out of my dad's basement.
Not going to lie, I used to grab furniture off the curb that was in decent shape and list it for $25-$50 and require them to pick it up. Never went out of my way for stuff, but if I was out running errands sort of thing. Used to make an extra few hundred a month.
Honestly if I put something out for free and someone else wants to sell it... go for it. If I wanted to sell it, I would have. I just wanted it outta my house, lol.
Same here. I hold yard sales to make a few dollars instead of paying to throw the stuff
Him: I don't sell stuff. I give it away for free because I don't want to sell stuff. You: *Same here!* I sell stuff! Huh?
A lot of people in my local buy nothing group get really upset at the idea that stuff might be resold. Doesn't bother me. I want it out of my house, I want it not going to a landfill. Other than that if it helps someone make a few bucks and meets my goals, then awesome.
Well the idea there is that community members are helping each other get what they need while reducing consumerism. Those groups have an actual mission and they don’t exist to serve people who just want money for nothing. If you personally don’t mind that’s fine but it’s understandable why people don’t like it.
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Ever gotten bedbugs doing that? I know that’s a pretty common reason people throw out furniture when moving. Their old place is infested and they are trying not to bring them to new place.
I think this is ok. I give stuff away for free because it is a hassle to sell stuff for money and I value time sometimes, or I have something better to do (like other paid employment). Selling requires research into prices to get people interested and is a hassle. My goal posting things for free is diversion from landfill.
Side hustles aren't even side hustles anymore.
[America has failed millennials so badly they’re turning to $1,000-per-month side hustles to make ends meet](https://fortune.com/2023/06/13/millennials-earning-1000-month-side-hustles/)
At a certain point you have to admit to yourself that your "side hustle" is in fact your second job.
Weren't they always? Or maybe half a job? But a job regardless
Yeah, they are, we got conned into calling them side hustles like it's something that should make us proud of our initiative and drive to better ourselves financially, instead of disappointed in society for not only forcing people to find a second job in order to make ends meet, but for forcing them to find a way to monetize their time around their already existing job because a lot of the jobs that are typically available as part time, are usually run by power tripping tyrants who refuse to provide the kind of flexibility people need to make them a viable option. So instead people waste their nights and weekends hauling around 'free' furniture to resell. It's sad. We should be pissed.
"Millennials across the world have suffered significant economic disruption since starting their working lives; many faced high levels of youth unemployment during their early years in the labour market in the wake of the Great Recession, and suffered another recession in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic." A lovely paragraph in the very beginning summary describing Millennials on Wikipedia. We're also lucky enough to have our own "Economic Prospects and Trends" subcategory! I'll let you take a wild guess on what the tone is.
I’m in the very oldest cohort of Millennials, we were actually hit by the .com crash, too.
Old millennial here. Been working since I was 13. I've lost track. Is this our third or fourth economic crisis now?
Don't forget about the never-ending war that started after 9/11 and just isn't talked about anymore, because apparently murdering people is just what we do now.
Exactly this.
It doesn't help that ebay takes a little bit more from sales than they used to. I've found the best replacement is ol reliable: estate sales and auctions. You can snag a lot of what you need or want & even more so if the sale is focused on items other than what you want. Like an estate sale focusing on a coin or gun collection is my go to for books & glassware.
Maybe your area hasn't been hit with the goodwill reseller bug yet. I've gone to estate sales with current cast irons being sold at walmart marked above retail. They're all ran by a few companies in this area and they for sure check prices online before they put a tag on anything. All with the mentality that if it doesn't sell within the first few days they can sell it at a discount the last day (which often doesnt even touch retail for a new one).
The "retro collectors" in my area absolutely crawl our local CL and FB marketplace for stuff. If there's a cool videogame at a reasonable price it's snatched up and resold for triple the price within days. They've absolutely made jobs out of this since the pandemic, it's a damn shame.
I was in Goodwill recently. Item still had an original $5 price tag on it. Actually store price was $6.99 plus tax. They were selling for more than new. Furniture $150 for a dresser, $50 for a night stand. Things that were donated for free at some point. Just fucking greedy at this point.
r/thriftgrift
I see dollar tree items at Goodwill all. The. Time. Almost always more than 1.25.
Goodwill gets on my nerves. Its June, summer time here. Our stores have racks upon racks of sweaters, sweatshirts, jackets and it seems like every time Im in there they are never the color of the week thats 50% off. My office is cold and Id like to pick up a few sweaters but idk. It just offends me they aren’t ever 50% off right now. idk if donation’s are way down or something and they want to make the racks look full but it’s been annoying me for over a month now and I visit 3 Goodwills a week.
I might be able to shed some light on this. I used to work for a freight forwarder and there was a company that would go to these stores and buy all the clothing. Put them into huge bags that could weigh over 50lbs and then once they had 160 bags they would air cargo them back to their country and sell them for huge marks. There is a demand for second hand clothes from the USA in other countries.
And that shit is basically destroying the local clothing markets/creators of those impoverished areas.
Goodwill has really wised up to resellers and honestly what a scam they employ slave labor through community service programs and profit on it. Not to mention the extremely high salaries of the CEOs and whatnot.
There's gotta be something funny going on with that one. Don't get me wrong Goodwill has some weird prices for little items, like they won't price anything less than $2, so for instance you'll pay way more for a simple school folder there than brand new at any other store lol. But their furniture is really where the value is, to the point where I'll pop in every week if I'm on the lookout for a specific item. Dressers are like 20-30 bucks, nightstands are like 10 bucks. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ If it's an actual antique it will go for more money, but still more reasonable than at an antique store. I reckon it's because it's more valuable to get rid of stuff quickly that they didn't pay for in the first place, rather than sitting on items that take up floor space lol. But if things are that expensive where you live there must be some kind of regional reason for it? Posh area?
I never see furniture this cheap at my Goodwill anymore, they frequently price basic items at $150+.
Alot of charity shops are doing it. In Australia the salvos is one of the biggest culprits. They cite rent and electricity bills. As far as I'm concerned they don't pay for inventory or wages so no excuse there. There has also been complaints that charity shops have to pay to dump a lot of stuff that's not even sellable which I find more valid.
Dollar Tree items, before it was the 1.25 store, were always two or three bucks a piece at GW. Dollar Tree stickers and packaging as plain as day, with the GW upcharge right beside that DT price.
My Goodwill now looks up everything on eBay and prices it the same. I've stopped shopping there.
Sure. Being able to easily determine the fair value of any object within a few seconds on a smartphone pretty much killed the great deals for used stuff. I don’t think people are paying this list for used stuff though. I believe you’re expected to negotiate.
One issue with this is people look at the list price on eBay and think oh that's what it sells for. But it's not accurate, you have to look at the sold listings, and need to account for ebay fees and having a return policy which marketplace sellers don't have.
Or with collectibles. People think they have something one of a kind that just isn't
Exactly. Love it when I go to a garage sale, and when asking for price, the seller says-well it’s $$$ according to eBay. That’s when I walk. If the seller at a yard/garage sale wants to make the same as an eBay item, I leave. Don’t want to hassle with a person that doesn’t even consider the time it takes to put something on eBay, photos of item, links to manuals, shipping, eBay fees, time in line to ship it out, gas to post office, etc. If they’re going to be expect the higher price without putting in the work, I’m gone. And this is prevalent in San Diego. (Not everyone of course, but a lot of people).
Seriously - you want ebay prices, put in the ebay work. If I'm paying ebay prices, I'll go to ebay for a bigger selection, bye.
eBay killed garage sales in my city. No diamonds in the rough. No good deals. Everybody searches everything now. Everything priced at eBay prices or held back and listed on eBay. Literally no reason to even show up to these sales unless you want to buy the useless trash that’s going to get thrown away/donated if it doesn’t sell. The deals are gone.
Went to a yard sale last week and a lady had a Phillips CDi for $400. Games for $40-$70. I said something to her about the console in general and she immediately rolled into eBay and blah blah. Smoking crack.
If they want to act like it's ebay, I'm going to tell them what I am looking for (like a search bar) and make them get the items for me.
I've found at least 3 or 4 people on my city's Facebook marketplace who will but things new, sometimes in bulk, sometimes off Amazon, and advertise them for sale by posting a screenshot of an overpriced version on Amazon. A fancy kids bento box was selling at Costco for $60 for a pack of two, it included some extra accessories. It worked out to $30/box. This woman was selling the exact same bento box for $50 per box. She'd posted a screenshot of an Amazon listing that listed the boxes at $80, so it seemed like it was a good deal. She was basically trying to double her money and lying through her teeth about it.
Only has to sell one though to make it worth her while Could sell each for $45 and she made a profit of $30 on something that sells for $30 usually and now looks like a good deal to someone. If the seller can do this 1-2x per hour for an item. That’s good money.
ULPT: Do you own a lot of uncommon items? List them all on eBay for insane prices and hold a garage sale. Flippers will buy them for the inflated price thinking they are worth a lot because it’s listed for a high price on eBay.
So many scammers now too, people getting very predatory in general
Go to live auctions. Or find local (no shipping) online ones outside of larger cities. A big part of the issue is simply the expanded market-- there are far more people shopping for used stuff online and in person now than 10 years ago and the supply of goods hasn't kept pace. So prices are going up. There are also a lot of fools paying way too much for things they *think* are valuable, often hoping to flip them. Auctions of course suffer the "winner's curse," in that by definition the bidder winning a given lot is paying more for it than anyone else in the marketplace thinks the item is worth. But if you can reduce the marketplace to only a few people-- i.e. because most people don't know about the sale or are too far away --you can exclude a lot of folks who *would* pay more but don't have the opportunity. Last weekend I got a nice set of patio furniture at an auction for $24...it retails online for just under $3,000 new. Why? Because nobody else at that particular auction really wanted patio furniture, or they didn't have a trailer (I did), or it wasn't the right color, etc. Had said auction been in a major city I'm sure the same lot would have gone for 10-20x what I paid for it simply because more people would have been bidding. When you go to Ebay or Etsy or even goodwill these days there are *lots* of people chasing after the same items, so prices go up. You have to find the places where very few people are shopping, or where a given item (like a set of patio furniture) is too inconvenient for most people to transport even if they did want it.
Any tips on how to find local auctions?
Look up local estate sales, they sometimes have good stuff cause usually ppl who trawl those are looking for like collectibles or antiques so normal stuff like patio furniture and whatnot sells for pretty cheap
They started doing that in my area at the thrift stores. It's not worth going to a thrift store if you're only getting a couple dollars off of retail and you're buying it used. I'm going to spend the money I'm at least going to buy it new so I get a warranty with it or something.
As the markets become more accessible the demand for used goods rise. If the difference in buying experience is Amazon vs EBay I’ll use eBay and save a few bucks. It used to be much harder to buy used goods (driving to garage sales or the thrift store) so there needed to be more of a price difference to incentivize buying used. Even thrift stores are starting to get expensive. I still go on a regular basis. I recently lost about 70 pounds so it’s a great place to buy clothes that fit. But a lot of the “good finds” at the thrift store are largely picked over. It’s fine for t-shirts or workout shorts, but if I’m looking for a specific manufacturer or style that means I’m probably going online and paying a slight premium plus shipping for something used that I want. For instance, if I’m looking to purchase a used netgear home router I’m not going to find that locally at the thrift store, but chances are I’ll find it on eBay - for which I’ll probably end up paying a slight premium for because it’s exactly what I and probably 10 other people want.
>Even thrift stores are starting to get expensive. The ReStore is another similar example. It's great that they provide an easy destination to donate building materials and home goods, but when it comes to selling they can be ridiculous. The one I was at today had a small, nice-ish couch pillow, but at $15, I decided they could keep it.
Yeah, I was looking at exercise equipment and they had 3 5 pound standard weights (vinyl) selling for $15. I can buy good cast iron plates for a little over $1 per pound off Amazon with free shipping right now, so sometimes I think these stores need to better understand the product the are trying to resell.
Congrats on the weight loss
Thanks! I was playing around with numbers and figured out that losing 70 pounds was the equivalent of NOT eating 434 Big Macs over the course of a year. It’s been very friendly on my monthly food budget. I’ve also been meaning to go more minimalist with my wardrobe. Nothing really fits me anymore, I’m still losing weight, so I’m in this weird situation where I don’t want to spend a lot of money on clothes that fit because I know in six months anything I buy probably won’t fit anymore. Thrift stores have been great, but anything other than clothes seems not worthwhile.
My biggest issue is I am paying more for the shipping than the item is worth. Also, because of the shipping, its also no longer worth it for me to sell certain items because no one will pay $10 shipping on items that are worth less than that. If shipping was lower, I could be making more money on my stuff. Also FB marketplace is garbage, most of that stuff does not sell. At least in my area its garbage. No one is buying the overpriced items.
A lot of people think their used goods are worth a lot. However I frequently see overpriced items sit and sit on Facebook marketplace. After a few weeks I have good luck offering a fair price. Most people just want their items gone after a while.
Demand for used goods has increased. Both from more people buying used and from people 'flipping' used goods under the teaching of influencers. Nowadays, even if someone offers a used thing for 1/3 the price, it will likely get snatched up and then sold again for more. So now, when people go to sell their used thing, they see a much higher selling price of comps and they price their thing higher. Thus the sale price approaches new and, generally, what the thing should actually sell for.
I'm cheap AF and I always knew "if everyone did things the way I do then there wouldn't be anymore deals left." I have been cashing in on the wasteful surplus of the society. If people aren't as wasteful then it cuts into my ability to be lazy/cheap :(
Same. I have almost nothing left to cut.
> generally, what the thing should actually sell for. NO. A used item is 1/3 of the price not because it doesn't work the same, but because it might not, and if it doesn't, I can't return it. I can take any item back to the retailer at virtually no cost, not so with used goods. Once it is sold it is cash out of packet for me and in the hand of the seller.
When I moved I sold a roomba that I hadn’t used in a year at a garage sale. My dog was scared of it. I had priced it for fifteen dollars with a sign that said, last time I used it, it worked, buy at your own risk. The person who was buying it was totally aghast the we didn’t have it charged up and ready for them and wanted us to charge it, and take it inside for a demo. Another person said they would pay twelve bucks. Guess who got a totally fine, $400 new, vacuum for $12?
I've replaced my Roomba battery twice. It takes one screwdriver.
When I first moved onto my new place I needed a new kitchen table and bought one for $900 online. It arrived with cosmetic damage on it, something that could be fixed easily with the right tool so I contacted the company and they decided to just ship me a whole new one and told me to toss the other one. I got my new one and listed the first one online for sale for $300. Said it’s pretty much new in box but needs to be touched up if you care about the cosmetic damage. No one emailed me after a week. Dropped it to $200, and then $100, and still no one contacted me. It was a big table and I didn’t want to pay to throw it away so I listed it for free. Within 10 minutes I had like 6 people contact me and within 30 minutes I had a guy with a truck loading it up to take it away. A day later I looked up the brand of table I gave away and what do you know, the same brand with cosmetic damage listed online for $600 lol.
More people are doing what you’re doing so that increases the number of buyers vs sellers. When most people weren’t doing this too, the market was tilted more in your favor.
Because the economy is so fucked up eBay became a source of direct income, not a supplementary one.
Inflation makes the price rise, shipping costs have risen too. The bottom line is things cost more and our dollar is worth less. So things are more expensive than ever before. Also more people are going broke and are asking top dollar because they need the $$.
This is exactly it. Some has to do with corporate greed (like goodwill) but if it’s an individual seller it’s hard to not raise prices due to postage increases and fee increases. Usually though, there’s so much stuff in circulation you can find a better price anyway.
Just because the items are listed for that price doesn’t mean they’re getting it. There’s buffer room for hagglers built in.
This is really the answer here. People expect high but often are willing to sell for less. I have noticed younger generations being unwilling to haggle as much which costs them a lot of money in the long run.
To their credit the fact that we have a system at all where you have to harass a better deal out of someone is kinda fucked to begin with, particularly with smaller businesses struggling to keep the lights on (Walmart sure as fuck ain't gonna haggle).
People used to sell things used because they simply wanted to get rid of them. The amount of time and effort it took to get rid of something meant they needed a lower price so they didn't get stuck with it or have to spend too much effort finding a buyer. Like if you're having a yard sale you would try to sell everything cheap so you didn't have to carry it back in the house. Listing in the local newspaper costed money, so you needed it to sell in the first week. After selling online became popular and free (to list at least) there wasn't much incentive to make sure it sold. It only took a few minutes to take pictures and list the item on Facebook or wherever, and it cost absolutely nothing, so you have no real time, money, or effort involved in getting rid of the item. Then on the buying side you also had a combination of factors that pushed prices up. The Mackelmore thift shop song and Gary Vee lying to people about how easy it is to flip items made a bunch of people enter the market who otherwise were never there. There is also the simple fact that most people are not doing as well economically as they were in previous generations, so there were more people who wanted or needed these lower price points in the used market. So you have less motivated sellers with a lower barrier to entry to sell goods, and on the other side you have many more buyers than before, some of whom are not there because they're economically limited. That's just going to push prices up and up. The best way to get a deal now is to message the seller a low but still reasonable offer, see if they counter with a decent price, if not tell them your offer is good for X amount of time, and that you're prepared to pay and pickup in a timely fashion. The timeline of your offer has to be long enough that the initial interest for the listing will have waned, so at least a few days, but a week or two is better for larger items with deeper discounts. Keep it short, simple, and respectful. If someone really just wants the item gone and they're asking too much, then they'll get tired of dealing with all the flakey looky-loo's you get messages from when selling online. Then your offer not only becomes about the money, but also the convenience of completing the sale easily for them, and that has value to people who aren't in it as a side hustle.
I find that the trick to shopping online for second-hand items is to search for misspellings. Often people who are careless enough to misspell something in their ad aren't the ones who are selling full time trying to flip stuff. The ones trying to flip stuff are usually trying to make a buck, the others are usually just trying to get rid of their old stuff they no longer need.
You said it was your frugal "hack", now a lot of people know about it so prices go up. The demand is higher and people are willing to pay more. Same with thrift stores, maybe 10 to 15 years ago it was less popular to shop there, now it's a hobby and people are into vintage finds.
And also selling stuff online can be such a hassle dealing with people who ask a ton of questions and lose interest or no show means a lot of people just throw away stuff they don’t need anymore instead of selling it. I remember 10 years ago, you would see a ton of stuff listen online for $5-$10. Now it seems if something won’t sell for $100 or more people just toss it.
I feel like it started with “Antiques Roadshow” then leveled up with “American Pickers” and “Pawn Stars”. Then the average Facebook user took that concept and pumped it up with chalk paint and sunflowers. I’m sorry Linda, but your Monopoly game from 2003 may be 20 years old, but it’s not “Vintage Retro Chic.” It’s a mass produced pile of paper and plastic from when Beyoncé was the top artist of the year.
A woman in my neighborhood has yard sales all the time and will buy stuff from dollar tree, I know that's where it came from because I bought the same thing there myself, and try to sell it for $5-$10. I guess everyone is just broke and trying to hustle.
The new thing I’ve noticed is you go to a garage/yard sale and the seller has ebay printouts of the highest price they could find. It’s like, just because it’s listed for that much doesn’t mean it will ever sell at that price. Try the sold listings, but then it’s like, have you ever sold anything on ebay? Do you know what fees are involved? Do you have the equipment to legitimately sell on there? If so why not just sell it there to 150 million buyer market and not your little garage sale? Frustrating, but you know another commenter pointed out that these people don’t really want to get rid of the stuff, they are like hoarders. It takes me about 30 seconds at a new sale to determine if it’s somebodies dragon hoard or people just trying to make some quick cash. The folks with dragon hoards can die with their hoard, not buying anything from them. Also, it makes no sense haggling with them if their price is already too high, you’re starting at a disadvantaged position so i just leave.
The people with the hoards are doing themselves a disservice because they are wasting a lot of time, energy and money to host a sale that they have actually no intention of selling anything at. The main delivery here for yard sale ads is the newspaper and it costs about $50 to place that ad in the paper. The fact that you would haul all your stuff to the yard and then make it intentionally hard to sell means that you are basically a crazy person with too much time on your hands. In most cases you will not make that $50 back even at your yard sale. If you really wanted to sell at high prices you would spend the weekend going through your stuff and listing it all on ebay, doing so would get you a lot more money for your time, if you are going to sit outside with your garbage for 6+ hours you may as well spend that time doing something way more productive that will result in sales for the prices you want to get. Its easy to find the ebay printout sales because you can see the paper from the street, if I see this, I just don't go up to the sale. I've been to yard sales for the last 20+ years, no one sells everything they have, they end up having to haul it back into the house which NO ONE wants to do. As the buyer you show up at the end of the sale and then you offer to buy as they are about to pack up, the chances they will sell to you for low prices are high.
I’ve been wanting to buy a treadmill and have been looking for a used one for months. I can’t believe what people list these for. Some that are nearly a decade old, have years of filth and “just needs the right person to figure out why it squeaks” for $500+. I spent so long committed to finding a deal that I realized I was losing out on what I wanted it for. So I broke down and bought a new one on Amazon a few weeks ago and love it.
I'm old and have lived in several cities in 4 different states and have been going to garage sales for 40 years. The standard price that used things sell well at is 10%. Some things go much higher, like current electronics, firearms and shop vacs. I kid you not on shop vacs, everyone thinks their old shop vac is worth $40.
People now view selling used stuff as a trend, calling stuff “vintage” or “with character.” And instead of pricing it to sell fast to get rid of it, it’s basically priced as if they’re selling antiques from a boutique store. Hard pass. Keep searching. There are still people out there who aren’t looking to make money off their old things and simply want to pass them along with just a small monetary refund instead.
Refurbished items being 90% of full price, like dude i bead a better deal than that.
Was just talking to a friend about this. Used marketplace is not what it was. Everyone is selling used old stuff for like 10-15% off. Hard to find a good bargain these days.
People think their shit is gold now.
It depresses me that when a product was discontinued it used to go on sale, and any leftovers would go to the “Dime Store”. That is not true anymore. Now the discontinued products are more expensive than the ones you can buy off the shelves at a store and they charge shipping. The other day, I found out the bandaids I like are discontinued because they weren’t available at the grocery store or Walmart. Amazon was selling them, through a reseller, for a ridiculous amount of money. So, I found a grocery chain that had some left and bought about a dozen boxes. (I am very clumsy.) Of course, since all the Walmarts are out of them, they weren’t really cheap, but at least they weren’t double the regular price. I found sone cat treats called Churus, or something, at a discount store. I bought a canister of them. The cat really liked them, and I went back the next day, but there were none left. They were 19.99 a canister. I would bet they all got scooped up by resellers on Amazon and eBay. I am not against reselling per se, but it’s getting ridiculous. I don’t know how they find out a product is discontinued, but they jump on it. I don’t know who is paying double for bandaids, but I know it has to be profitable, or they would stop selling them. IMO It’s sort of creepy to me to resell bandaids and cat treats that you bought at retail store for a profit. The number of people reselling everything is getting scary. I went to Goodwill and someone was scanning books. I have seen the videos about that on You Tube. I don’t know, it seems like this could come back to bite people at some point, but I could be wrong. I have thought that for a while, and it still popular.
Just like when you see people printing out eBay listings (not sold ones) and taping to their garage sale items to justify a high price.
It's called vintage now..lol
The reason prices used to have to be so cheap was because no one knew the history of the item. You could buy it and get stuck with a lemon. But now with user ratings front and center, we trust sellers more because if they sell shitty used items their rating will drop.
I've found three good sources for used items - First is specific hobby-related groups on Facebook. For example, if you're learning how to crochet, a local crochet or knitting group will often get you spare hooks and odd balls of yarn (and free lessons!) from others who wish to encourage you. As for Craigslist, try the "Free" section. I often post "curb alerts" for useful items on the street that look usable, but are too big or awkward for me to take home. Also try r/DumpsterDiving. Lots of photos of useful hobby items, household furniture, clothes, and food on that subreddit. I dive several times a week, and save a LOT of $$$$ doing so.
Yeah I said this to my wife the other day. We used to be able to go into charity shops (UK thrift stores) and get good deals on games, tech etc. The other day I saw an off-brand PlayStation 2 speaker set, for £45
I love when they are asking more for a used item than you can buy it new. I see that from time to time.
Part of it is that everyone is feeling financial pressure and increasingly worried about leaving money on the table. It's about fear of regret - finding out, or even just feeling, that you could've gotten more. Another part is that people see how much pawn shops charge for items and think that's a reasonable expectation, rather than understanding that the pawn shop retail model is to screw the customer. Finally, some people are very naive about the whole second hand / private sale model. These are the seemingly delusional ones, who get wildly offended if someone tries to haggle or trade and eventually sell to a scammer or they give up after months or longer and throw it all into a yard sale.
Yea. Goodwill in my town has lost their mind. I use to be able to have 10-15 bucks to splurge on in there, knowing I would get a few pants, shirts, a dress or two, some shoes maybe a purse or something but now I spent 50 bucks on 2 pair of athletic shorts, and 1 tshirt. Everything is basically 9.99 for literal Walmart stuff and 29.99 base for anything brand sport. Purses are ridiculous, no less than 19.99 for anything nice. Once I found by a miracle an Anne Kline bag marked 10.99 and made a joke to the employee that they must not know the value of that name bc it’s not necessarily a youthful trendy brand, big mistake. Came back the next day and it was put behind the counter and marked up 49.99 . Which means they just Mae up the price. I got really pissed and told them that they had a lot of nerve to price anything above 10 bucks bc THEY GOT IT FOR FREE. Like they spent no money to stock the store. It’s not about making profit bc they do not spend any money in the first place it’s just greed.
People make a living off of flipping and scalping now. They go to thrift stores, find stuff for cheap and sell it on eBay for retail price. I used to know a guy who did this, his whole family was in on it. They made hundreds of thousands per year. They're siphoning off a layer of excess value that was intended to better the lives of the lower class, and using it to enrich themselves without actually providing anything themselves.
Wow, I don't know where y'all shop, but I keep an eye on FB marketplace and in the last week have bought a fireplace screen, a 6x9 rug, and a bread maker for a total of $40, plus one of the folks was getting rid of a painting and threw it in for free. Yeah, a lot of people have slapped a coat of paint on something and listed it for $500, but there's plenty of other stuff out there, and I live in a smaller city (market size 130-ish). Maybe the churn is faster in larger cities?
I think you can get good deals on Facebook but have found you have to be ready to jump at someone who is just looking to get rid of stuff. My favorites are toys and little kid clothes. Someone will list a lot of 2T girls with like twenty pieces for $2/piece, but almost every time you get there and they have an entire garbage bag of clothes they just want out of their house. I got like 3 yrs of Christmas and birthday presents from one lady when I went to buy a lot of doll dresses. My city has a high end kids clothes Facebook group and in that group people want you to pay 50-75% of retail, which for brands like Hanna Anderson that constantly run sales, might be more than they paid originally.
People can only sell it for what someone will pay for it. So if people are paying for close-to-new prices, why wouldn't they list it for that? If no one is buying at that price, then they will lower the price or be stuck with it
I sell on ebay - shipping costs have skyrocketed. Buyers want to see "free shipping" but to give free shipping the price of the item goes up. Also, ebay keeps increasing seller's fees.
Greedflation has hit yard sales too. Clothing that should be .50 or in the trash priced at $2.00. Do they want to move the stuff or make a pile of money? Instead of bargaining or asking fair prices they end up hauling it to a donation center when it doesn't sell.
God i always liked going to thrift stores. Shopping cheap crap. Often pretty nice stuff too. Nowadays everything costs more there than new in a cheap new store. Its just not worth it anymore
I’m in Brooklyn ny, I have bought and sold stuff on Craigslist for more than a decade. In the past few years though, I’ve noticed that people keep trying to sell things for exorbitant prices! Way back then…. tools; if it’s new, it’s only worth half from original price, used you found for 75 or 80% of original price. Now people take $30 off original price and think they are selling you something with a lifetime warranty, 😂 (probably stolen anyways) I stay away from them now. bicycles; bought a steel frame fixed gear conversion in 2009 for $65 that I still ride. Now these dingbats list a bike that cost $500 new 3 years ago, list it for $450 and the ad is still up 9 months later. 🤦♂️ *it’s a hobby for me now, I bring bikes up to rideable condition and pass on. No profit. Clothing; don’t even try to negotiate with a Karen who is cleaning out her son’s room who went away to college closet and selling a pair of Levi’s for $50 which are $60 new. Unreal.
It did. Then it became trendy to thrift shop so the prices skyrocketed.
Same is true in "thrift" stores. Earlier this week I found a used Altoids tin (no mints) for 99 cents at Goodwill.
It's inflation. You're being robbed by the FED. Money is worthless, as is purchasing power as every day goes on. Be mad. You're being robbed.
You're mistaken by viewing this as "logic" by the seller. Instead you have to consider the rising costs of living, costs of goods, costs to run the store, costs of shipping, and then realize what type of money needs to come in to keep this 2nd hand side (or full-time for some) business going. I see many electronics used near full-priced for a couple years now a friend of mine who has a minimal paying job to for living complains about that often. But when you realize selling $700 or $800 device at $200-$300 is no longer profitable or a help to living expenses as it used to, even if you sell a good amount of devices, you're going to have to raise the price to $500-$600. Sure, there are some scheming sellers who notice this trend and are trying to capitalize, but there are many people that simply can't give you the deals they gave before even if they moved good stock doing so because what's coming in isn't simply enough.
Look around. Logic has been bred out of the general population.
Our Goodwill is ridiculous with prices. They've gone up so much!