A few people on Reddit hit it big while "thrifting". A few gems in this thread, along with pics.

[VirtualLarry]

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/bu8pth

Not my neck of the woods, and I just happened to come across this. Someone further down the thread, shows a pair of RX 570 Sapphire cards, that they got at Goodwill... for $3.99 ea.!

 

[Jon-T]

RX 570s at Goodwill?

Porch pirates?

 

[lxskllr]

I'm a huge thrift store fan. If I have time to search, I try to buy almost everything used. I haven't found any amazing tech, though I have found NIB competent tech. I do pretty well with household stuff though. My favorite find so far was a wool blanket for $17 that sold for $275 new.

 

[Ichinisan]

My most recent haul from Goodwill thrift store was $30:

https://imgur.com/Vt4Gh1Y

https://i.imgur.com/svnzOmo.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/57DEIq8.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/g9VIlFj.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/guvwh5n.jpg

The system and the few games I've tested all work fine.

Album:

https://imgur.com/a/O8tAXJY

 

[BUTCH1]

Sometimes older is BETTER, last week I bought a Presto griddle at an estate sale for $3, it's from the '60's/early '70's, a huge 10lb slab of aluminum with "made in the USA" stamped on the bottom. Thing heats perfectly even and makes pancakes so perfect it looks looks like the front of an Aunt Jemima box. I'm sure quality griddles are to be found if you wanted, but they would be expensive to get this quality/function new.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Goodwill is ok. I go thrifting with my Mom like once a week just for the heck of it.

Recently, I was going to buy this big Corsair case that was in good condition (was...forget the model, its one of those where its almost two mid-towers wide, where they have the power supply and storage bays in the secondary chamber), but they wanted $50 (it was normally $130 new, think maybe even MSRP, so I'm sure its been probably sub $100 on sale). If I'd been able to get it down to about $20-25 I would've bought it.

I've gotten some Logitech keyboards in good shape for ok prices like $3-4 (thought about some of the Microsoft ones but the wireless ones never have the dongle and often are missing the battery covers, and I tried one of those curved "ergonomic" wired ones but its not for me) and thought I might've gotten a good deal as I found a Razer mouse for like $3 (think it was the Chroma one that is like $80 with it going on sale for $50 some), but it has some malfunction that causes the cursor to dart randomly around the screen and does the double click thing (where it registers single clicks as double). It was in great shape otherwise though and I guess you can use it as decorative lighting.

Oh, and I've gotten some decent cables (found some displayport, and other cables I didn't have) for cheap (like $2 or less, but some of them have much higher prices on that stuff than others for some reason).

Thought I found a good deal on one of the Oppo Blu-ray players, but it had some issue (wouldn't come out of standby), and while I probably could've gotten Oppo to fix it for a not too terrible price, it wasn't one of the really special ones (that had the special video processing chip, or the audiophile ones), so I just took it back.

I've found some clothes there, but they raised the prices (used to be able to get decent t-shirts for $1.50 on sale or $3 when not, now its like double that if not higher) so that's less worth it and their t-shirts in particular seem worse (stretched out collars, poor fit), some even outright stained or have holes.

Another pain is they used to do cash refund but now they do Goodwill Gift Card (and you have to use it within like 3 or maybe 6 months). And can only get refunds within a week.

My most recent haul from Goodwill thrift store was $30:

https://imgur.com/a/O8tAXJY

Why'd you pay full price? Now, maybe its not valid everywhere, but all the ones down here have a 20% off $20 coupon (they change the code each month but effectively its always there, used to be right on their website but I think now you have to sign up for e-mail). Also if you know someone 55 or older on Tuesdays they get 25% off (no $20 minimum). And Thursday's the tags are $1 (instead of the normal 50% off). And of course the every other Saturday 50% all tags sales (although, what looks to be a mint condition SNES, wouldn't last long on those days).

 

[Ichinisan]

Goodwill is ok. I go thrifting with my Mom like once a week just for the heck of it.

Recently, I was going to buy this big Corsair case that was in good condition (was...forget the model, its one of those where its almost two mid-towers wide, where they have the power supply and storage bays in the secondary chamber), but they wanted $50 (it was normally $130 new, think maybe even MSRP, so I'm sure its been probably sub $100 on sale). If I'd been able to get it down to about $20-25 I would've bought it.

I've gotten some Logitech keyboards in good shape for ok prices like $3-4 (thought about some of the Microsoft ones but the wireless ones never have the dongle and often are missing the battery covers, and I tried one of those curved "ergonomic" wired ones but its not for me) and thought I might've gotten a good deal as I found a Razer mouse for like $3 (think it was the Chroma one that is like $80 with it going on sale for $50 some), but it has some malfunction that causes the cursor to dart randomly around the screen and does the double click thing (where it registers single clicks as double). It was in great shape otherwise though and I guess you can use it as decorative lighting.

Oh, and I've gotten some decent cables (found some displayport, and other cables I didn't have) for cheap (like $2 or less, but some of them have much higher prices on that stuff than others for some reason).

Thought I found a good deal on one of the Oppo Blu-ray players, but it had some issue (wouldn't come out of standby), and while I probably could've gotten Oppo to fix it for a not too terrible price, it wasn't one of the really special ones (that had the special video processing chip, or the audiophile ones), so I just took it back.

I've found some clothes there, but they raised the prices (used to be able to get decent t-shirts for $1.50 on sale or $3 when not, now its like double that if not higher) so that's less worth it and their t-shirts in particular seem worse (stretched out collars, poor fit), some even outright stained or have holes.

Another pain is they used to do cash refund but now they do Goodwill Gift Card (and you have to use it within like 3 or maybe 6 months). And can only get refunds within a week.



Why'd you pay full price? Now, maybe its not valid everywhere, but all the ones down here have a 20% off $20 coupon (they change the code each month but effectively its always there, used to be right on their website but I think now you have to sign up for e-mail). Also if you know someone 55 or older on Tuesdays they get 25% off (no $20 minimum). And Thursday's the tags are $1 (instead of the normal 50% off). And of course the every other Saturday 50% all tags sales (although, what looks to be a mint condition SNES, wouldn't last long on those days).

That's an album with multiple pictures, by the way. There was a huge bundle of games included.

I'm pretty sure discounts don't work that way at "Southern Rivers" operated Goodwill locations in my area. They have colored tags on all the items and the half-price color changes every week. Around here, refunds must be within 3 days and it's only store credit. Used to be a number written on a piece of paper with a supervisor signature, but in recent months it has been a plastic card (finally).

Anyway the whole bundle would have been gone in minutes if I didn't grab it. $30 for the system alone would have been a good deal, but it's an absolute steal with all those games. I've done way better in the past but this was pretty good.

 

[SKORPI0]

Paid $39 for this a the local Thrift shop (not actual photo of item - adaptor was missing), Thursday night.
Could have waited till Monday for 50% off, but it surely would be gone by then.

https://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/1699
https://www.amazon.com/Satellit-Millennium-Shortwave-Discontinued-Manufacturer/dp/B00006I5AF


400 × 300

 

[Sonikku]

My local thrift store is mostly clothes as well as some furniture from the 80's. The only electronic stuff is wired beige keyboards and mice from the 90's and if you're really lucky, a PS2 sports game.

 

[highland145]

@Ichinisan how much black tar?

 

[Red Squirrel]

Wow that is much better then our Value Village lol. Ours just buys stuff from dollar stores then mark it up. They even forget to take off the price tag from the dollar store half the time.

 

[Ichinisan]

@Ichinisan how much black tar?

None left. Sorry.

 

[ultimatebob]

Of course, it's Reddit... it could just be some Photoshopped crap made up for Karma points.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Not my neck of the woods, and I just happened to come across this. Someone further down the thread, shows a pair of RX 570 Sapphire cards, that they got at Goodwill... for $3.99 ea.!

...you think paying $35 for a 2-year-old CPU that was $65 when it was new, counts as "hitting it big?"

The employees are supposed to pull the "good stuff" from the donation bins to be posted online or stick in the glass cases, and there are enough people working there who know their stuff that it's not really worth my time to hover around JIC somebody made a mistake.

If anything, based on the overpriced garbage in the glass cases, they have a "when in doubt, overcharge" rule.

 

[Ichinisan]

...

If anything, based on the overpriced garbage in the glass cases, they have a "when in doubt, overcharge" rule.

Yeah, I see this a LOT. I still keep finding awesome things that are priced way too low, so I keep coming back.

 

[lxskllr]

Goodwill has the worst prices, and the fewest things I'm interested in. I still stop in every so often, cause sometimes I get lucky. I've gotten some good combat boots from them, as well as French presses and moka pots.

 

[BUTCH1]

Yeah, I see this a LOT. I still keep finding awesome things that are priced way too low, so I keep coming back.

Yea, I found this E-bike at a cash America while looking, guy just rolled it out off pawn, I asked how much and he said I could grab it for $275 cash, bought it and after I got home I found out it retailed for $1,500, overpriced IMO but for $275 a steal. Seems like no one did any research as to it's value, it probably had a $100-150 loan out so he took the quick profit for $275. I've been offered $500-600 for it twice already but it's too much fun to sell plus it cuts down on those 1-3 mile trips in the car for just a few things when you don't need a 3,300lb vehicle for a bag of coffee.

 

[CZroe]

@Ichinisan how much black tar?

Over 4oz but it was MUCH higher grade than that.

Spoiler

Former NPD officer Krause, now a trained GBI drug specialist, tells us it was Fentanyl.

D:

 

[darkswordsman17]

My local thrift store is mostly clothes as well as some furniture from the 80's. The only electronic stuff is wired beige keyboards and mice from the 90's and if you're really lucky, a PS2 sports game.

Same here. The little town I grew up in the "thrift store" was this shitty Catholic run little place where they passed the good stuff off to be sold somewhere else while keeping crap stuff (although they'd throw probably 50% of stuff in the trash). And in college it was basically several ones kinda like that or this overpriced one in the middle of the college area (where the bars and bookstores and other college-y stuff was).

There's like 100 Goodwill stores down here (Phoenix Metro area). We try and cycle through (we'll got to several nearby in an area, and then the next week we'll go to different ones). I've been meaning to hit up some of the independent thrift stores but haven't gotten around to it yet.

Even with all of them, I rarely find the really nice stuff that seems like a bunch of the ones from some of the YouTube videos I've seen are (LGR for instance finds tons of like mint in box old PC games, if I see see any they're in beat to hell boxes and missing half the stuff including some of the discs). If I find anything half decent its either outright broken, or it works but looks like its been through hell. Then the rare times its just in good shape all around they want some stupid price for it. But then when you finally get something that's like new and for a good price, you feel like you earned it.

...you think paying $35 for a 2-year-old CPU that was $65 when it was new, counts as "hitting it big?"

The employees are supposed to pull the "good stuff" from the donation bins to be posted online or stick in the glass cases, and there are enough people working there who know their stuff that it's not really worth my time to hover around JIC somebody made a mistake.

If anything, based on the overpriced garbage in the glass cases, they have a "when in doubt, overcharge" rule.

I was kinda baffled at that being such a good find but I thought maybe it was one of those limited edition CPUs or something. But that's better than a lot of the "good stuff" they saved for their website so I think it warrants a bit of "hey look what I found". Especially since its probably some younger person that's been scrounging money to build their first legit gaming PC.

And while that does happen, not all the workers seem to know what's up. I've seen some list crap generic brands of stuff high (so take for instance sports clothing, compare say Nike and Champs or Russell brands where the latter gets sold in Wal-Mart for cheap), and then near mint condition nicer stuff being listed for the normal pricing. And plenty of other variance.

Reminds me of when I worked for an auction company, where I was hired because I knew computer stuff some and was told I was going to lead their digital processing (basically take pictures of things and list them on their website where then people could bid in advance of the actual auctions). I figured it'd be best just to list things and then let the bidders decide its worth (since they just had so much stuff and trying to suss out good pricing but not too high where no one would bother would take a lot more time and effort and sure you'd let some stuff go too cheap but I bet worthwhile stuff would get multiple bids and pricing would sort itself out), but they expected me to figure out base pricing for every random thing that came in (like a stuffed raccoon, I'd have put it at -$5.00 because you'd have to pay me to take the damn thing).

Goodwill has the worst prices, and the fewest things I'm interested in. I still stop in every so often, cause sometimes I get lucky. I've gotten some good combat boots from them, as well as French presses and moka pots.

I think that's two parts. One is because they can as they've become popular. There's like entire genre of "Goodwill thrifting" videos on YouTube, and then the other is that after people wised up to their sales setup, that they compensated by raising prices to basically be where one the sale the prices would've normally been without the sales.

They actually had a few of them where they were selling brand new furniture (for stupid prices, it wasn't exactly high end furniture but it was priced like it). I think all but one of those closed down (and that one I'm not sure people actually buy any of the new stuff; plus I think it makes people go "WTF" because they assume its not actually new stuff since its Goodwill) pretty quickly (they put them in higher rent areas which couldn't have helped). Oh, and they sold the normal Goodwill stuff too, so its like they had this mix of new overpriced furniture sitting next to junky used furniture.

Yea, I found this E-bike at a cash America while looking, View attachment 7042 guy just rolled it out off pawn, I asked how much and he said I could grab it for $275 cash, bought it and after I got home I found out it retailed for $1,500, overpriced IMO but for $275 a steal. Seems like no one did any research as to it's value, it probably had a $100-150 loan out so he took the quick profit for $275. I've been offered $500-600 for it twice already but it's too much fun to sell plus it cuts down on those 1-3 mile trips in the car for just a few things when you don't need a 3,300lb vehicle for a bag of coffee.

That's neat, which I wouldn't mind getting a bike to ride to and from work (especially if I lived within 5 miles or 10minute car ride of work), since the weather down here would be fine for it (outside of maybe like a month's worth of days of the year), but I'd outright need that electric boost as it'd really suck to get stuck somewhere where you're just exhausted but still have another mile or two to go.

 

[Paladin3]

I pieced together a three speaker sound system for work for around $10 at a local animal shelter thrift store. Booming bass and keeps everyone happy. Got a nice AM/FM/Shortwave radio for $3.99. Lots of other good finds over the years.

I hit the shop every week or so, and it's relaxing to go pet the cats or dogs up for adoption, a few of whom I've also taken home over the years. Also reminds me a little of going to the Saugus Swap Meet with my father when I was a kid. My father was an aerospace machinist and would dig through every box or bucket of metal he saw looking for rusty gold.

 

[Paladin3]

Sometimes older is BETTER, last week I bought a Presto griddle at an estate sale for $3, it's from the '60's/early '70's, a huge 10lb slab of aluminum with "made in the USA" stamped on the bottom. Thing heats perfectly even and makes pancakes so perfect it looks looks like the front of an Aunt Jemima box. I'm sure quality griddles are to be found if you wanted, but they would be expensive to get this quality/function new.

Same here. Picked up probably a few hundred dollars worth of very gently used heavy duty cookware for about $20 last fall. Since that particular thrift store is run by the local no-kill animal shelter they mark stuff ridiculously low sometimes.

And because this is such a quiet little town out in the sticks, sometimes an afternoon petting the kittens up for adoption is my big time out on the town for the week. I get a lot of pussy for a semi-old man.

 

[highland145]

Over 4oz but it was MUCH higher grade than that.

Spoiler

Former NPD officer Krause, now a trained GBI drug specialist, tells us it was Fentanyl.

D:

Lethal dose, 3mg.

 

[nakedfrog]

I got a little bit of a deal on my NES toploader at one. Good finds are rare in these parts.
I did score an unopened Kill-a-watt P4400 for $3 this past Saturday, so that was decent.

 

[clamum]

My local thrift store is mostly clothes as well as some furniture from the 80's. The only electronic stuff is wired beige keyboards and mice from the 90's and if you're really lucky, a PS2 sports game.

That's been more-or-less my experience in Goodwill but granted I'm no Goodwill connoisseur and I haven't been to many of them (nor often).

I should go to the local one(s) more often though, just to bum around.

 

[CZroe]

I got a little bit of a deal on my NES toploader at one. Good finds are rare in these parts.
I did score an unopened Kill-a-watt P4400 for $3 this past Saturday, so that was decent.

Nice! I just installed another Hi-Def NES in one of those a couple days ago. LMK if you ever decide to take the plunge and need someone to install it.

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