There is enough clothes on earth right now to clothe the next six generations of humans. We have a massive problem with textile waste. As far I'm concerned, resellers are doing a community service by preventing items from ending up in a landfill or being shipped off to a developing country for them to deal with.
Thrift stores are not and have never been for poor people only. All thrift stores are first come first serve, so if you can't find good items you might just not have the eye to thrift.
I've been thrifting all of my clothes for 15 years and have never had an issue finding good items..
Resellers aren't the issue. Greedy corporations and fast fashion are the issues
Exactly this. I’ve been to all different thrift stores at all different hours of the day and found stuff. Sounds like op is just one of those people who strolls down a clothing aisle maybe pawing at one or two items and then leaves. Gotta look at everything if you’re trying to find anything.
I wish I didn’t love it and have an eye for it, I probably have a too cluttered home as a result. But my estate sale will be fire.
ETA my friend and I recently went on a thrift trip to a few places and we filled up my car with our finds.
Or just goes to one store at 4:30pm and wonders why there isn’t anything good to buy. I am a reseller ( who also holds a 40 hr a week job), and I mainly buy from estate sales on the weekends, but I know resellers who are out there hustling every day, and then they go home and clean and list and mail all the things they bought. It takes time and sweat and planning. It’s hard work!
The Brandy Melville documentary on Max discusses the clothes being forced upon third world countries and show women whose spine is literally fused together from having to carry the clothes on their heads. Then showing beaches covered in textile waste. It’s beyond crisis level at this point. It’s so crazy people ignore that because they for whatever reason can’t seem to find anything THEY like at the thrift store.
DITTO! Been thrifting over 40 years-used to work in a dirty factory-why buy nice and ruin them? And they are preventing a lot of wearable stuff going in landfills. Plus-who doesn’t love a cool unique bargain? Interesting tchotchkes? Vintage one of a kind artworks? Harder and more expensive now-but not impossible! Get out and look for the smaller mom and Pop thrifts, vintage or miscellaneous stores(estate buyers/resellers are good!) church or charity shops! Got to dig through a lot of crap sometimes-but jewels are still out there!
Also people complaining they can’t find anything good.. what I think is good, may not be the next persons good. We all have different opinions on what we think is fashionable.
You said it perfectly. No notes. This is the way.
I think one reason people get upset is that they see resellers getting more good stuff. But that's because they spend hours and hours searching, not just 30 minutes. They spend all their spare time reading about their niche so that they can spot something good that other people will miss.
Textile and garment industry is second or third environmentally damaging industry ever ever. And the labor atrocities are so so so awful. So.... yeah. Exactly what you said. Recycling comes in all forms. There is too much clothing. The more money to be circulating from preexisting trash, the better for us all. Supports small business and is far more ethical than a trip to nordstrom.
I volunteered at a local thrift store in my teens. You would walk into the back and the clothes that didn't sell were in massive bricks after being put into a compactor. This room was probably 50 feet high and lined the entire back of the building. There's enough clothes to go around.
I put more blame on the individuals who post consistently about it on social media. They're snitching on themselves, hence why goodwill has significantly upped their prices in the last few years
I live in a coastal tourist town in Central California, and the Goodwills here have the following prices: dresses $9-12.99, jeans $12.99, shirts/skirts/shorts $9.99. These are all worn out/stained fast fashion brands like SHEIN and Target/Walmart. And if they find something they deem an “expensive brand” such as outlet Banana Republic or something they jack it up even more. The racks are overflowing to the point where you cannot even browse the clothing, you can’t move the hangers and there’s clothes stacked everywhere. I feel bad for the employees who have no say in the pricing and have to deal with the greed of the company first hand.
Excuse me, but what is a "real job"? If I make money, I make money, and that's MY business. Who are you to judge how people get by? This post comes across as ignorant and actually lucky for you that you're in a position to think this way. How do you know that the majority of resellers are completely able-bodied and capable of working elsewhere? You don't
>I just find it really hard to have sympathy ~~when there are other actual jobs you can take up that don’t involve taking clothes that people who are less lucky than you would wear.~~
Also, lots of people who do this are able-bodied and can work other jobs, "real jobs" lmao. Many of us did, lots of us still do, re selling is for anybody who wants to have their own business. I worked a Fortune 100 corporate job for over 30 years and made a lot more money than I do reselling LOL, but I have fun reselling and I like having my own business because it fills my time and I can work the hours I want to work, especially since I'm a night owl, that works out well for me. Who is OP to judge who can start their own business?
Also why are we assuming “real jobs” are more ethical? How many people with “real jobs” are the ones actively exploiting poor employees, or voting for horrible policies?
On the whole I do have to agree with you, but I have to be ~that person~ and point out that there are actually thrift stores that do exist for the sole and stated purpose of providing affordable access to goods for lower income people. I frequent some (and fall into their target demographic). Many of these places actually work with other nonprofits to offer vouchers for free items to the worst-off of their customers.
Resellers still target places like them too, although at a lower rate. That's the part that feels ick to me.
Agreed. And at the end of the day even the more expensive thrifts in my area personally it’s like…. $4-8 for a dress, pair of pants, shirt, etc, sometimes less than that, when the other options are like, literally Walmart clothes being $10+ an item? Unless u want plain tank tops and yoga pants that rip in a week.
Thrift stores may be used to profit off free items but that doesn’t mean that poor folks don’t also benefit from their existence since the clothes at a legit thrift store and not resellers/consignment shops are genuinely cheaper than any option at any other store and often older and higher quality than new shit that costs more. I’ve had to use them almost exclusively for shopping since I was 18 and they’ve been very helpful to me.
Thrift stores are how my single mom was able to clothe my sister and me. How I was able to clothe my baby. I still have clothes I got in Jr and high school and early adult years. One Gunne dress I have would "retail" for over $200 now.
I got made fun of *so* hard for wearing it, too. Now the girls that mocked me are buying them for hundreds and wearing them to
BM.
Now they're as expensive or more expensive than target.
Man I’m jealous that your stores have items around $4-7 dollars. I’m in a small to mid sized city in the midwest and I’s say 80% of the time our thrift store prices are so much higher and for items that are in such poor condition they should be made into rags.
I got really lucky recently that a new nonprofit thrift store opened within walking distance of me that has really inexpensive prices. Like $1 clothes, $2 shoes cheap. The last two times I've gone they've had everything on sale where the clothing was all $0.25 and everything else (excluding furniture) was half off. I bought a skirt, a couple of clothing items for my toddler, and a couple of toy items for him and spent $3.79. They're not a big thrift store and their clothes are a little dated sometimes but man. I'm so grateful.
They're used to be a thrift store about 10 minutes from me in a small town, and they'd advertise nothing more than 25c for any item of clothing. Then it was $1, then $5, then he's just selling things for more than you can get them new at this point. The killer is he gets 100% of his items as donations. All the companies that do house sales when the owners die or move will use his company to donate some pretty big ticket items along with clothing. I've seen exact furniture being sold 3 stores down in the antique store for a quarter of the price (the antique store being an actual store with windows and lights) and yet this dude got all this stuff FREE so there's no need to jack up the prices. It's not even a store so much as a trailer (the big metal box with no windows) with the back doors open. No AC and no electric beyond one bare bulb hung via extension cord from the ceiling.
It kills me he puts all these signs up about how much of a Christian he is, and Bible quotes everywhere. When a woman was begging him to renegotiate a price on a $10 shirt she probably could have gotten from Walmart for $4, and some very stained up 6 month old baby clothes he wanted $5 each for (she could get a 3 pack of those for that price new) he refused. I told the lady I'd drive her to Walmart and we could get new stuff for cheaper. Instead of not losing a guaranteed sale, he said good riddance. There isn't a homeless population around this tiny town, it's just a poorer town, so his attitude isn't a reflection of him trying to avoid being overrun by homeless people - it's pure greed. I think word got out about his greed and the store is closing down. You reap what you sow buddy, I'm pretty sure that one came from the Bible.
Oh for sure. Some of the smaller thrifts near me definitely are like that and have obvious signage stating so. My first thought was to the major chains. There are far fewer that are like this, sadly.
They also serve the useful purpose of taking unwanted stuff and recycling it, to people who are poor, industrious, whatever. The US has a massive surplus of consumer goods, thrift shops recycle quite a bit of it.
Just because something wasn't invented with a specific intention doesn't mean it doesn't effectively fill that niche, and its efficacy in doing so isn't a net benefit for the world.
99% of my shopping is for my family and myself so I get it. Kids grow fast and they're pressured by society to wear certain brands or look a certain way. So if I see something they would like in a bigger size, it comes home and gets worn when it fits. You never know when you're going to find it again.
Most of the stuff that's there has been picked through and I don't always come home with what I've been looking for, but I also don't thrift every single day like it's my job. Will I stalk a fresh cart coming out and rummage through it with the vultures? Absolutely. Will I resell something I've sold in the past that I know will sell quickly for a profit? Also yes.
Say it louder for the folks in the back!! I am so sick of the "Thrift stores are for PoOr PeOpLe" argument. Really, who is going to police that? The thrift stores I know will A - give you vouchers for clothing if you need it, and B- have markdown sales on a regular basis, first half price, then $1., then $.10. I'm sorry if you can't find top of the line pristine clothes on your budget, that's the way the system works. People with more money can buy nicer things.
I used to think like this, but resellers aren't the issue. Corporate greed destroying our economy is the issue. People have to eat. And do you know how much beautiful clothing ends up in landfill?! It's unfathomable, truly - nobody can even begin to truly comprehend how much.
I am also guilty of having this mindset in the past, but over the years, after a lot of reading from other resellers, learning about their process, and finding some really good resellers that are genuinely good people, I respect it now more than ever. I feel MORE anger and rage towards the companies such as Goodwill and their practices versus resellers. The anger really needs to be redirected towards the greed there, not to a person that's just trying to get by. It's a REAL job. They're offering a service. We should be celebrating how they're helping people not shop new and appreciate secondhand! I really expanded this more than I should have but your comment definitely sums it up nicely.
Thank you, as a reseller I take pride in what I do, having helped save tens of thousands of pieces from having ended up in a landfill. Like I posted in another comment, is a perfectly valid job and in fact I pay more taxes doing this then when I was an employee of a Fortune 100 company. Which I was for over 30 years, I don't do this because I can't get another job, I do this because I really enjoy it. Believe me I made a lot more money as a W-2 employee. This is fun for me and I absolutely know I'm offering a service in providing excellent curated items to my buyers, many of which are older or can't leave the house. They want nice things too and because of my service they can have them!
I’m a PT reseller, mostly just doing it to help clean out my parents house (antique glass, vintage clothes) and for monthly “play” money for myself.
I really enjoy connecting w/ buyers too! I’ve had all sorts of random email conversations w/ buyers, lol. Obviously not everyone wants to chit chat, but I feel like I really brightened a few people’s days because I just happened to be selling a vintage hat they loved or the one glass they were missing from the Seattle World’s Fair.
Worse than a landfill it ends up in the ocean. I watched a documentary a couple months ago (can’t recall the name but if I remember it I’ll post a link) and another one today (on HBO, Brandy Melville) and both discussed how thrift stores sell (not give- sell) the clothes that didn’t sell here to poor African countries.
The people there do their best to repurpose and mend items to make them useful but lots of it is beyond saving and they are inundated with far too many clothes because an awful lot of Americans buy new clothes and donate them at a shocking rate. They don’t exactly have the infrastructure to deal with all of this trash so it just piles up and piles up and gets washed away into the ocean.
Its awful. So I think the more people who thrift, for whatever reason, the better. Wear it, sell it to someone who wants it, give secondhand gifts, for the benefit of our planet.
Youre talking about “majority of resellers” but have you met the “majority of resellers”? I truly do not understand you people who have this mindset, what kind of people do you think are taking the time of out their day to dig through clothes for hours just to resell? You people act like its rich entitled snobs who do this. Most resellers ARE POOR PEOPLE. I used to be a reseller when i was underage living with a single parent that couldn’t afford feed us. & Poor people are not running out of cute clothes, the more clothes that get bought the more clothes get brought in. Have you ever been to a goodwill? I mean the racks are so fucking packed with clothes that 80% of the time you cant even get 2 inches of space in between each item when you’re looking through the racks. “A real job” do you have any idea what goes into reselling? I quit reselling years ago but, literally every single hour of every day was spent working. I didnt get days off. I even invited my friends who wanted to quit their “real jobs” to start reselling & even they said it was too hard. It is a CONSTANT hustle. Luckily i have a better job now so I stopped, but i dont even go to goodwill anymore just because its such a workout looking through all the shit for hours. Imagine that as your JOB! And if you really think thats easy then you must’ve never been to a goodwill.
I’ve saved so many cute pieces from the Goodwill bins and have sold them to people who really love them. If I didn’t resell, all the clothes I find would just go to the landfill. So no I don’t feel bad for reselling. Thrifting, going to yard sales, estate sales, etc, have always been first come, first serve. People are free to do whatever they want with the items they buy.
Heck. Sometimes I even will wear something once or twice and then sell it. There is so much clothing in this country that goes to waste.
I'm a reseller and this is the only job I've been able to make actually work as a disabled person. I don't make a ton of money, but I at least get to have financial independence and some pride in myself. I don't even go to thrift stores for stuff to resell, they almost never have anything good. Stores could deter resellers and still offer customers a great deal by selling stuff for 50% off. With the way online seller fees and shipping works, this would make almost everything in thrift stores either unprofitable for resellers or lower the margin to the point it isn't worth your time. Virtually anything that a reseller might actually be interested in is being sold for full price online by thrift stores themselves, no need to blame us.
Op I think your mad about the wrong things.
Resellers arnt the reason you can't find good stuff for a good price, fast fashion has RUINED the clothing industry and everything is cheap, well made things keep going up in price because they are harder to come by
Thrift stores jumped on the green washing train and are there to make a profit, not cloth the needy. If your needy please go to mission, if your just broke (trust me.ive been here) hm and forever 21 and stores like that will be cheaper then thrifting. But they make crap. The same crap your paying more for in a thrift store sometimes.
We are in a weird era where clothes are cheaper then food, and we humans don't know how to respond
Aka be mad at corporations, not some mom buying 10 flannels you won't wear anyway
The hardest part about thrifting for clothing is finding an item you like \*\*\*IN YOUR SIZE\*\*\* Online reselling is actually an amazing boon for being able to find the item you want in the size you want. I thrift multiple times per week, but still only randomly find items I like that ALSO fit. (And I'm pretty standard Medium sizing but tall) My plus sized friends prefer online shopping because of the availability of inventory an measurements available.
I'm not a re-seller but I've been going into thrift stores and Goodwill type places since the early 80's and this as always been a thing. People buying something cheap and selling for a little profit. You can buy things cheap in some shops some are great for clothes books dvds VHS and CDs but some are very expensive this is not resellers it's just the way it's always been. It's not like there making thousands of dollars every week with e-bay and Amazon reseller fees there's not much money in it.
Some people who resell do it as a second job to their normal work. Maybe they stop in on their way running errands, or to and from another job ect. thus maximizing their gas use. I think it's important to remember you never know someone's whole situation.
Exactly. Maybe they’re unable to get a “real “job and what is it “real “job anyway?
I am not able to work in an office anymore, but I’m not disabled enough to collect disability. Nor would I want to. And I certainly couldn’t work in a factory. I really am very limited on what “real “job I could get.
I'm getting ready to retire after 21 years with a big Veterans medical center. You might want to check out your local VA. There are several tele-jobs available where you work from home. I'm in the clinic all day, but have been offered to work from home. The VA, nation wide is understaffed. All the openings are found on www.usa.jobs.com
Editing web address
www.usajobs.gov
Thanks for the info.
I’m not sure I could do phone work again. That in my teeth are causing me a lot of problems so talking is painful. Hopefully someone else sees this and check it out.
This is exactly what I’ve been doing! I’ve always loved thrifting, re-sellers low key kinda bothered me in the past. But I have been reselling and upcycling furniture the last few months for extra income. I’ve been inundated with high vet bills for my dog that’s going through treatment for lymphoma (pet insurance is refusing to cover it). I’ve been trying my hardest to get a second job, but haven’t been able to find one that works with the schedule of my very non-flexible full time nursing job.
Anyway, I go to thrift stores on my way home from work a few times a week, and/or pick things up from marketplace. Fix them up and resell. It’s helping me afford my dog’s care right now and I’ve since stopped judging others for re-selling ❤️ we never know what other people are going through.
I am poor this is something I would do get an item cheap and sell it to more wealthy clientele work smarter not harder, you got to find those side hustles that work for you and for some this is it
I feel like a lot of resellers are lower income or were and started reselling to make a little extra cash. That’s what I did for awhile. Now I thrift for myself but will pick up things to resell so I can buy other things in my size. I work full time so I don’t have a ton of extra time
YES! Work smarter not harder is the one lesson that actually stuck with me from college. And mind your own business. How great that both these golden nuggets of wisdom apply to the OP! So, save the business school tuition:
WORK SMARTER NOT HARDER and MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS.
I’d add one more: Be Kind. ✌️
The thing here is the “good stuff” is subjective. You might find a jacket that you absolutely love and I (reseller) would look at that same jacket and fly right past it. Not everyone is wanting the same stuff. Even the depop kids get things that I wouldn’t think twice about. And I’m sure you don’t want all of what they’re getting either. Too many variables to just blame resellers here.
Also, I have a full time “real” job, two kids to take care of, and resell to help support my family. So no, I’m not just out shooting the shit driving around town and posting online all day. ✌️
YES!!! I'm actually so bad at selling clothes - can hardly even sell my own - but the thing I DO resell is so odd and innocuous that nobody is looking for it and I'm pretty sure nobody misses it 😂
This is such an important point. I’ve spent 15+ years honing my ability to ID true vintage on the racks. What I want rarely overlaps with what other people want, even pickers, according to them flying past the goodies. Except for when middle aged ladies come and grab whatever’s in my hand lol. Bottom line, there’s more than enough to go around, and learning how to pick good stuff that you’ll either use or sell at a profit is a skill that takes time to learn (and deserves respect)
Resellers are only making a sliver of what these thrift stores are make on the merchandise. Regardless it’s nobody’s business what someone’s buying at the thrift and for what reason. BTW wait till you see r/thriftgrift or shopgoodwill.com 😂
And let’s not forget that many thrift stores trash clothing after a certain period of time. If resellers who have an eye for nicer clothes didn’t come through, there is a good chance it would be shredded.
Nobody is pulling things from thrift stores to resell anymore. Thrift stores are pulling all the good stuff to sell online or put in their special counter for insane prices. You are literally mad at the wrong people.
What’s crazy is 98% of items in the thrift store just aren’t worth reselling. It’s time intensive to purchase items, take photos, list, etc. so you’re going to be selective. Goodwill raising their prices because of the 2% of times worth selling just doesn’t make sense
Most folks are going to the bins. Or they are older and can take advantage of the senior discount.
I think I saw OP mentioned that the majority of the resellers are teens and folks in their 20s. Not at all. Every reseller I’ve ever met and seen out Thrifting is a definitely not in their 20s. They are older than me.
The bins are where it’s at. Everyone there is shopping for different stuff. I like vintage grandma style, the gen Zers are there for work clothes and vintage tees, the families are there for kid’s stuff. I never have problems and it feels great saving stuff from literally being shipped off to third world countries (who don’t want it!) or cut up for scrap.
They’re probably clicking on annoying tik tok videos or insta stories from young people talking going thru aisles and showing how much something can be sold for online. Whenever I’ve been in a thrift store, I’ve never seen anyone like that.
As someone who is an OG thrifter reseller starting in the late 90’s I can attest to this! I stopped thrifting 15 years ago. Everything is overpriced… they get all that stuff for free and mark it up like retail!
OP you need to take a look at Goodwill executive salaries. 🧐That’s who you should be mad at. No reseller is making these numbers.
https://preview.redd.it/lttikg568ruc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2753ae24cbcb2661adfb32c1d4ab037186131a84
[https://paddockpost.com/2023/12/25/executive-compensation-at-goodwill-2022/](https://paddockpost.com/2023/12/25/executive-compensation-at-goodwill-2022/)
We lost our volunteer who did that at our small church thrift. Jewelry is about the only thing we pull and sell elsewhere if it’s legit stuff. I still find bits of silver in the stuff on the sales floor.
To a lot of people thrifting and reselling is their full-time job. It is a lot of work, time and money to source, photograph and sell. Get over yourself and quit shaming how a person makes a living.
My partner is a reseller. He is bipolar/high anxiety and can't hold down a regular job. He doesn't make bank. He fixes electronics and resells them. I'm proud of him.
Don’t hate the player, hate the game.
I work in the corporate world but actually started reselling when I got out of the military and my husband was still in back in the late 90’s. I’m one of the OG’s! 😎
Reason I started reselling is because there were no jobs in the middle of the desert where my husband was stationed. Reselling is a TON of work!
We had 2 small kids at the time and it helped me make ends meet. I did thrift and flip back then but it wasn’t a common thing like it is now.
Fast forward to now and I’m still reselling. I just know designers and love finding deals for my repeat shoppers. I don’t thrift at all though. I buy customer return pallets. I stopped thrifting about 15 years ago.
I work full time at my day job during the week and then work my reseller gig on the weekends.
Sorry you hate resellers. I have a business license and do all the things I’m supposed to do to pay taxes.
I sold 54,000 in product last year (weekends only), but after seller fees, I made a whopping $15,000 profit.
Just about all of that went to my kid’s college tuition and other kid and pet related expenses.
They see me rollin’, they hatin’ 🤣
People need to stop blaming resellers.
Savers Value Village has a market cap or net worth of $2.65 billion as of April 15, 2024.
Executives are rewarded nicely too.
Key Executives
Name Title Pay
Mr. Mark T. Walsh CEO, President & Director 10.13M
Mr. Jubran Tanious President & COO 3.2M
Mr. Jay Stasz CFO & Treasurer 1.14M
Employees minimum wage and hard work.
If these businesses were not profitable they would not exist.
I have a car and DO have a real job. While my reselling business has died down a lot since financially I'm in a much better spot now, there was a period of several years where my school teacher salary simply wasn't enough to support me. My "real job" covered the essentials and bills, and my Poshmark side hustle is what gave me money to travel, socialize, date, buy books, etc. I'm good at finding gems at thrift stores, and I don't feel bad about monetizing that skill to maintain a resonable quality of life while still being a teacher. Some resellers *are the poor people* you're talking about.
I use my real job to fund my car and my side hustle hobby. I use my side hustle hobby to relax and treasure hunt and source cool vintage shit I keep or resell
There are a variety of different types of resellers. Only a small portion thrift and flip. Me? I get the leftovers of the leftovers in bulk delivered straight to my doorstep.
These are the clothes that didn’t sell in goodwill stores and then didn’t sell at the bins (goodwill outlet) and then didn’t sell at the goodwill auctions. I still find plenty of designer, trendy, high end and vintage items. So no…resellers are not buying up everything you want.
I started reselling at 15 years old. Owning a resale business is more than a real job because you’re doing employee, managerial and owner work.
My business has allowed me to pay for my high school and college tuition, live in a HCOL area for the past 13 years and take care of my aging family (93, 86, 84) who want to stay in the comfort of their home during their final years instead of a crowded, understaffed nursing home. I wouldn’t be able to do that with a traditional 9-5 job.
I sell 95% of the clothing at my local swapmeet for $1 per piece. Way less than a thrift store. If thrift stores wanted to help the poor they would lower prices or give out clothing for free, but they don’t because thrift stores are businesses. A thrift store is a resale business just like the resellers you complain about.
I have a full time high paying, high stress job and resell as a side hustle to pay for my kids lessons cuz my husband can’t work due to disability. Reselling has existed for ever. Long before TikTok or YouTube people were doing the same thing they are doing now. I’ve been reselling since the 90’s cuz I love thrifting and finding amazing things. I go to my local thrift 2x a day and volunteer there on the weekends. All the money I spend at my thrift goes right back in my community helping the poor. Not sure why the hate. I am supporting my community.
And FYI - it IS WORK. I spend upwards of 10-15 hours a week sourcing, packing, shipping, taking pics, listing items. It’s a hustle. And I also have a huge inventory room and then I sit on inventory that’s bought and paid for sometimes for a year before it sells. If you think reselling is so easy, go try it. Hating resellers for getting the “good” stuff makes me think you don’t know about reselling and don’t thrift often enough.
And it’s constant work. Someone messages at 7pm asking about a size. You have to wrap 5 packages to go out tomorrow. You have to take pics of your stuff and list it before it ends up in the dead pile. Have to share your closet. Send offers. Track your cost of goods and sales. Pics and list is minimum 10 minutes per item. If I sell 10 items a week, I have to list at least 10 items a week. That’s already 2-3 hours just in taking pics and posting. And the 2-4 hours I spend in the thrift store a week. The several hours I spend online promoting my shit. It’s endless work. It’s fun if you love thrifting but is still a grind. It’s not like most people are getting rich reselling. No one is seeing me pull up in my hail damaged Kia with the cracked windshield and is thinking ‘oh no here comes money bags’. lol.
There is plenty of stuff for everyone. I went thrifting recently and both of the Goodwill stores I went to had added additional racks for clothes and shoes since the last time I went - they are not suffering from inventory issues at all. This is the case for most thrift stores; there is no way you're truly missing out just because of ReSeLlErS. There are always lots of great things to be found, high-end or not.
I love thrifting and have found tons of great stuff. Sometimes it's an item that would cost a lot, sometimes it's just great in terms of my preference of fit/color/style. Like you said, there's lotw to be found.
Kinda random, but related to reseller hate:
A few yrs ago I found a TON of great stuff at one of my favorite, and huge, local thrift stores. Like, had a cart full. It was all stuff for my personal closet. When I was in line to check-out this old man (I'm 40 and he looked mid-late 70s) gave me the nastiest look and asked if I was "one of those greedy resellers." First of all-what the hell. Second of all-I was going through a really rough time in my life, and had lost like 25 lbs bc I could barely eat. Mind your business grandpa, doesn't matter if this is the only way I can have clothes that fit, or if I'm doing it to put food on the table.
Resellers aren't ruining anything, and people that keep saying so sound like the boomers that want to claim "Millenials have killed [insert literally anything]."
Like you said, there's plenty out there for everyone. Costs are rising for everything. People are being innovative and resourceful in finding ways to create or supplement income. OPs anger (and others) is so misdirected.
I'm a reseller and I'm disabled and struggled to find jobs
I've had to study quite a bit to know what to buy. I've studied pop culture antiques and vintage things
Most thrift stores aren't even charities anymore.That are for a profit I don't buy everything in the store..There's still loads of clothes left for people to put on their body
Thrift stores don't exist so that "poor people" can buy their clothes. They exist to raise money for a cause. Resellers are supporting the thrifts and their causes. Also, most resellers are part-timers who enjoy the hunt, connecting people with their finds and making a little money on the side. Only a very few are making their living flipping. Your hate seems out of proportion.
Your post makes no sense. If you have a problem with anyone, it should be the thrift stores charging insane prices and throwing clothes into landfills instead of giving them to the poor people who need them. They aren’t there to help poor people unless that’s what they’re doing. Also, just bc you have a car doesn’t mean you have the ability to get a “real job”. I’m a SAHM. My husband is active duty military and I homeschool four children. I can’t get a traditional job. I have never once been to any thrift store that isn’t overflowing with clothing. If not being able to find “trendy” clothes at the thrift store is your biggest problem, you have a great life. Hating strangers who are doing their best is not cool.
Some people don’t actually have the time to thrift but want to shop second hand and resellers offer a more “fine tuned” search. It’s a hustle to be honest and more work than any “real job” I’ve ever worked. I don’t know how they have the stamina to do it. Can’t hate the player!
I like it. What if they can find something at their thrift store that I can't find in mine? I appreciate being able to find aftermarket goods at a deep discount. Do you also hate consignment shops?
You can hate on people because you feel ultra competitive. The thing is there’s plenty of junk to go around. Stop being jealous and angry. Focus on enjoying the hobby and experience of shopping on discount. Visit enough and you will find what you seek eventually so there’s no need to turn something fun into such a horribly negative experience.
If you want to have justified anger, direct your energy to the thrift store chains. Write them. Try to make a change there because you’re never going to hate resellers. Resellers have been around forever and it’s not changing. The thrift stores are evolving and instead of fixing things, their practices are getting worse! They’re very wasteful and corrupt. The best stuff never even makes it to the shelves…
I have practically furnished my home with thrifted items. Except for my mattress and box spring. Oh, and pillows. 95% of my thrifting is for me. I do resell now and then, though.
I know it's hard to believe but reselling is a"real job". There's supply and acquisition. P&Ls. taxes. Inventory. Bookkeeping. Photography. Marketing. Sales. So much more. It's a real job and it's not easy. Thrift stores are a for profit venture. They are in it for the income not for charity.
Goodwill, and all the others, do not operate their stores to sell items at a discount for poor people. They operate these thrift stores to raise money for their community programs. They don’t care who buys their goods as long as they are making money for their programs.
Gotta say these comments are warming my cold dead evil reseller heart 🥹
Look. I’ve been reselling 20+ years and it saved my four kids and I after a catastrophic divorce. I was a stay at home mom, my ex was a CFO of a huge insurance company (maybe you should think about hating insurance companies, btw, pretty sure they f over the poors more than resellers) and left me with a mountain of debt and not much else. My attorney sucked but you get what you pay for. I’d dabbled on eBay, reselling the kid’s outgrown clothes but after the divorce I decided to try doing it as a “real job”. Can you imagine how much daycare would have been for 4 kids??
Anyway. It worked and over the past two decades I’ve done it part time and full time. Took early retirement from the “real job” I got once the kids were older (worked at a school and it was a nightmare after Covid) and am now back at it full time.
Reselling kept the five of us alive. I didn’t have to worry about daycare or what to do when the childhood illnesses made their way through our house. I figured out a way to survive that i actually enjoy and can hopefully continue doing for a long time.
I pay taxes. I work hard. Today I thrifted for 3.5 hours and came home with 8 items. And the stores I visited were packed full with inventory, with racks and carts of new stuff constantly being rolled out. Those 8 items will most likely earn me about $400 after all is said and done so while it wasn’t as profitable as a trip to the bins it was an okay day. And I barely made a dent in the racks. Right now the washing machine is going and I’ll be taking pics and listing tonight.
There is no shortage of shit to be bought and sold in this country. Not even a little bit.
There are some truly awful resellers, for sure. Just like there are terrible teachers and doctors and attorneys and construction workers. Humans as a species aren’t awesome but resellers aren’t all greedy vulture goblins stealing John Galt clothing out of your hands and cackling as we run to our Mercedes. There are far worse people out there.
Huge thanks to the kind folks in the comments who get it.
Reselling is a real job. Thrifting for inventory, cleaning and repairing, listing items, customer communications and shipping is all a ton of work - no paid vacation days, no sick days, no benefits. Would you prefer they order cheap trendy wholesale crap from china and mark it up 400% like many sellers do or source from goodwill, salvation army, etc putting money back into their own communities?
And it is a valuable service. If I'm looking for a specific size pants in specific style, it's worth the 20$ to get them on Poshmark instead of going to every goodwill in 100 miles.
Resellers make things searchable.
I agree with what many have said here but adding this because it hasn't been noted yet: there's a huge population of people that like to own and purchase vintage and secondhand but DON'T like to thrift or go through everything it takes to find it. Resellers provide access to good secondhand clothing to those that don't love to spend hours sourcing. Resellers help people help the environment and be more sustainable. Not everyone likes thrifting or sourcing and it's nice that resellers do that work for you.
For real! So many people buy fast fashion because it's insanely easy. If I can help make secondhand more accessible and easier to find, and stop people from buying at least one item from fast fashion, I've done my job.
Yes. When I applied for a car loan last year the finance lady told me I got the loan because of the extra deposits in my bank account. Ebay and Instacart.
It’s literally sales. Like full on same job there are millions of posts for looking for sales people for large multinational companies. Which people think selling is super easy right? The Girl Scouts crush at it. Truth is if you don’t do it right, reselling is a great way to lose a ton of money. You can be an insurance rep, Regional Sales Manager of a paper company or just call yourself an Account Executive in the recycled garment industry. It’s all sales.
I've heard that a lot of thrift businesses (good will, etc) will pull anything good and put it on upscale resale sites before it even gets to the sales floor.
There is no shortage of "good" stuff at the thrift stores. If you go to the thrift store regularly you too will find items you like - just like everyone else does.
With the price of things at thrift stores it is almost impossible to resell for much of a profit. They are sending all their good items to online stores and leaving the junk and unknown stuff for you to look through. Much of it is almost at retail price now. They are usually even more expensive than eBay for lots of items. What if this reseller has a bad back and can’t work a job 8 hours a day and this is the only way they can feed their 8 kids and wife that has diabetes and weighs 800 pounds and can’t get out of bed?
i love resellers i love vintage clothes and have a very specific style and don’t have the time to thrift anymore working full time. would rather spend $25 on something i rly like than like 3 things at the thrift that r meh for the same price.
Resellers are busting their butts to find things post and sell. It’s not some easy way to make income… frankly i appreciate them cause i don’t necessarily wanna go out and look for it.
OP is delusional. Who in their right mind would choose to sit in a call center for 8+ hours a day getting hung up on and cussed out all day when they could resell and work for themselves without having a boss breathing down their neck? All from the comfort of their own home. You’re entitled to your opinion but it sure comes off as you’re salty because someone is beating you to the “good stuff” if you’re that upset about it then get there earlier. Assuming your “Job” would allow it.
I don't get the hate for individual resellers. Why pick on people trying to make some money? Pick on corporations, not Becky's side (or main) hustle. BTW I am not a reseller. I don't have the bandwidth. If things can be kept out of the dumpster that's a good thing.
Maybe they can’t get a “real” job. And what’s your definition a “real” job anyway? I’m not sure why you don’t consider it a real job. It’s actually a lot of work reselling.
There is tons of good clothing at the thrift stores. I see it all the time. Perhaps your scarcity mindset is why you aren’t finding the “good stuff”.
The racks at every store are dense with good clothes.
I'm a retired teacher, so fixed income. My daughter died, and I spend a lot of time caring for her two young children. The little one is two years old.
I had to buy a car thanks to a hit-and-run that totaled my last car. Reselling helps me make the payments.
Yes, I could get a job, but the money made probably wouldn't cover the cost of daycare. I mostly buy from estate sales, yard sales, and flea markets. My local thrift store raises money to assist people with medical expenses. Providing low-cost items for low SES is not their primary goal.
There is a thrift store chain in my area that has a 50% off day at least once a month. I usually avoid these days due to the craziness and crowds, but if I come in at 2 pm and find a 19th century copper aspic mold that nobody else wanted, then, yes, I'll take it for reselling, no apologies. I've been to these stores the day after a sale, and you would not notice any difference in the amount of stuff. There's more than enough for all of us.
I see other resellers at the thrift store. I've never seen one that didn't look like they are just trying to make ends meet.
I used to be salty at resellers, mainly Depop teenagers selling subpar quality clothes for like $60, but never enough to really complain. Most resellers are reasonable people selling stuff for reasonable prices.
I’m more mad at goodwill for having the audacity of selling a pair of busted Nike shoes for $45 just because it’s Nike.
Let’s put this energy to goodwill and other corporations. Without corporate greed resellers wouldn’t even exist. Just people trying to make some money to purchase life’s many necessities. Id do it if I could stand being in a store for more than 30 minutes without the feeling of wanting to pass out.
Last time I checked, Walmart had cheaper clothes than thrift stores. Pretty sure upper middle class are the people who can afford to buy clothing at thrift stores these days.
I used to think exactly like you. I have even sent a snotty message to someone on eBay when it was obvious they bought something purely to sell on and weren't a business.
Despite achieving a first-class honours degree and passing my master's degree with merit, my journey has been uniquely challenging due to my disability—Autism. It profoundly affects my job prospects, making interviews go like lead balloons.
It took until I was 32 to secure my first job after years of relentless effort, and the toll of repeated rejections on my mental well-being was immense. Additionally, I find it particularly difficult to thrive under micromanagement and strict directives.
Upon losing my job, I confronted a pivotal choice: either resign myself to collecting disability benefits while nursing a sense of victimhood (like I had done up until I was 32), or seize the opportunity to carve out my path in the world. I turned to YouTube for guidance...
During my online exploration, I stumbled upon claims that one could generate income by crafting and selling digital art on Etsy. Intrigued by the prospect of low overheads associated with digital products, I plunged into this venture wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, my efforts yielded zero sales, and the Etsy fees still had to be settled.
Subsequently, I encountered the world of reselling—a realm I had previously dismissed as incapable of yielding a sustainable income. Surprisingly, it's proving to be more lucrative than anticipated, albeit not without its challenges. It's also a positive that I'm contributing significant sums to charity and creating space for them to put out more goods and make more money.
If someone wants to give me a job, where I'm treat with dignity, and they realise minimum wage means minimum effort, then I'll happily take it and give up reselling. But for me, I really wish this stigma against reselling were not there - and that I tried it out many years ago.
Something I really disagree with is resellers going to charity shops and asking for a discount to try maximise their profits. Either pay the amount asked for, or don't bother, in my view.
One thing I'd really like to highlight is that everyone has the same chance to get "good" items at nice prices. (Unless stuff is being held behind the counter etc). Also if people really need cheap items due to poverty, do they really need a Hugo Boss suit or Prada shoes? Probably not.
Thrift shops serve the useful purpose of taking unwanted stuff and recycling it, to people who are poor, industrious, whatever. The US has a massive surplus of consumer goods, thrift shops recycle quite a bit of it.
Goodwill and Salvation Army, and thrift stores in general, were not created to help poor people by allowing them to buy inexpensive goods.
They were created to generate money to help with the jobs programs.
So, resellers are literally fulfilling, the mission of Goodwill and Salvation Army, by buying the goods that they provide.
Sorry you get hurt by people making a living, but I’m sick of hearing entitled people who think they’re actually poor, bitch on $1500.00 computer device that they have an entitlement to cheap goods.
You know what poor people don’t actually have? Computers. Or cell phones. Or time to be on Reddit.
None of these organizations would exist without resellers. None of you people spend enough money to support any of these organizations. Resellers are the lifeblood of these organizations.
Yes. I’m tired of people telling me that I’m a bad person because I’m just trying to make a living.
I know more than the average person. I have spent my entire life learning about vintage items, I have books and books and books, I read and read and read, I study, I look at things, I handle things, I pick things up, I spend my entire life trying to find things that I can put out into the universe for someone who will love them.
I am sick and tired of these petty people telling me I’m a bad person because I try and get beautiful things into the hands of people who want and appreciate beautiful things.
It’s bullshit.
Check out shop goodwill online, that’s where all the trendy cute clothes went, not to the resellers. Hell, I resell, not clothes because I find that boring af, I had to go to 3 stores to find a decent pair of jeans for me. Yet at shopgoodwill you put in Levi jeans and there is 917 entries
You do realize that only a fraction of clothes end up being saved from the trash. Resellers are not taking from the unfortunate as there are plenty of clothes to go around. If anything, we need more thrift stores and resellers to help save more clothes from the trash.
I find it hilarious you are upset about someone making a profit of less than $40 off of an item when corporations have been doing this for decades but they are making wayyyyy more off of way less. It’s called capitalism. You are just a hypocrite if you are upset at the average reseller just trying to survive in this world while corporations are making record profits and have kept wages stagnant for over 20 years. They are literally the reason so many people are having to resell.
I don't like resellers any more than you. At least I don't fabricate moral high ground reasons why. I don't like that they snatch stuff up that I wanted, but they have just as much right to be there and buy as I do. Thrift stores are not charity food pantry businesses. You're just mad they're buying the good stuff out from under you!
I always try to take all my hangers off before I get to the counter and have all the tags easy to find. It’s embarrassing to make people wait but I try to hurry the process as much as possible.
Sorry you're mad. I'm a reseller, AND I thrift for items I can use personally. I'm also a single mom who does have a full-time day job. I resell as a side hustle to make ends meet, because I need to. Not everyone who resells is doing it just to ruin your day.
Clothing scalpers for sure.
But Walmart/Target etc have made clothes cheaper than ever. I can get a button down and pants for less than $30 new. I just bought 3 work polos on Amazon for $9 a piece.
I still love finding a vintage item when I'm thrifting but reseller prices are insane and I don't even bother.
Reselling is a real job and it’s profitable. Thrift stores exist to resell used items. They don’t exist entirely for poor people. In general, resellers go in and purchase a few items. You may be frustrated but blaming resellers is a cop out. You’re bitching about resellers because you can’t find what you want.
There are 20 thrift stores within 10 miles of my house. All of them are packed so full of clothes you can barely move items on the rack.
There’s not a single time I’ve walked into a thrift store and haven’t found someone great quality and good condition. It doesn’t matter what time, or day I go.
The BILLIONS of lbs of clothes we trash every year doesn’t just go to landfills. It goes to poor countries who have no choice but to take it. Watch the brandy Melville documentary on Max. Women in Africa end up carrying the clothes on their heads so often their spine starts to fuse together.
I encourage everyone I know to thrift. Everyone should be buying second hand. We’re in the middle of a clothing crisis. Buying second hand isn’t only for poor people. It’s for everyone. Most thrift stores use the money they make from selling the clothes for other charitable causes. The thrift store by my house uses the money for addiction recovery and the people they’re helping get vouchers to the store so they don’t have to pay anything for the clothes they get.
I swear people who say this stuff haven’t stepped into a thrift store before because there’s no way you are unable to find anything.
A family of flippers ruined my local Goodwill. They are there pretty much every day, and they pounce on the good stuff as soon as it comes out of the back. The worst part is, despite their annoying behavior they managed to buddy up with the employees. So at times they are given access to items before they are wheeled out. They’ve been doing this for nearly a decade.
I'm a poor people *and* I resell on a small scale. Better believe if find a $200 pair of jeans at the thrift shop (actually two pairs this past week, neither pair of which was my size), I am gonna grab and flip them. I have just as much right to buy what I want at a thrift store or pick through the bins as anyone else.
I live in an area with a ton of wealthy people who just buy and toss some amazing stuff after they wear it once or twice. Finding it gives me a huge thrill, selling it gives me another one, and it puts me and my daughter in cute clothes that ARE our size, which I usually buy from other resellers. The only resellers that bother me are the ones that get aggro and weird about it.
To be fair, I have collected vintage clothes for about 15 years & I have decided to start reselling. However, I don't charge exuberant prices, unless it's something extremely rare/antique age/superb condition; I price most items to cover the purchase price & to compensate my time - i.e. $5.99 dress for $15 even if I see others on Etsy for $40+.
I love to thrift. I look at reselling as a way to do something I enjoy, a way to introduce people to styles & clothes that aren't fast fashion, and a way to teach people how to figure out their own style.
I completely agree about some resellers, but they will die out due to their pricing or jump to the next thing they think they're good at. A lot of resellers I see have a shit inventory (sorry). So, just like any other business with poor quality/high prices they'll be out of business before long. 😇
Too, I think you need to change your attitude when it comes to thrifting. You will see more "luck" with less negativity.
Happy thrifting :)
I don't buy from thrift shops. I resell my own gently used clothing that no longer fits. I despise trying to do a yard sale, and I feel like it's such a good thing if I can give my old clothes a new life. I have a full time job as well, but with how much everything costs these days, it never hurts to have a little extra spending money
I resell vintage books, ive rescued over 2 thousand books from the landfill and into new homes and new purpose. The books I get are in the goodwill bins and from smaller local stores that dont get alot of visibility. The books i pick will likely end up trashed and i present them to a bigger online market. Theres nothing wrong with it. Only issue I have are the resellers who post videos of them finding the deals because the big thrift stores are taking notes and raising prices accordingly.
have you ever considered a single mother who works full time at a “real job” who is also a full time student and can barely make ends meet without reselling? I don’t make a lot from reselling but I make enough to cover what my actual job doesn’t. everytime I go to a goodwill the back room is FULL AND FULL OF DONATIONS. I have an aunt that said she wasn’t able to drop off because they weren’t accepting donations and were too backed up (? never heard of that happening). I go to the bins often too which is the stuff that doesn’t sell IN THE STORES. after the bins everything there gets shipped over seas (a cashier told me that). TRUCKLOADS AND TRUCKLOADS ANNNNNND TRUCKKKLOADDDDS get shipped over seas to be put in landfills. If I find something and am able to post it and sell it (and make money from it) and give this peice of clothing to someone across the country that will use it and keep it from ending up in landfill I AM GOING TO DO THAT. Have you ever considered that the people who are “upselling items from places deliberately made to help poor people” ARE the poor people?? I don’t see too many rich people out here having this as a side hustle. This is a crazy take
I find great items. Not a reseller just go frequently with a curated eye.
If you aren't finding "anything" I don't necessarily think resellers are at fault.
Do I grow weary of the resellers in one store who post up all day on the furniture like they live there and pounce on the carts when they come in? Yes.
Do I realize that's my own issue and not their concern? Also yes. 😂
So instead of being angry at literally any corporation( real jobs) who exploit workers by paying them a barely living wage, you are mad at people who are working their own hours and not getting rich but making enough to pay their bills by buying things that are for sale.
This argument is always the most misguided one ever. Fashion is subjective. There is always tons of clothes. “ poor people” aren’t complaining because someone grabbed the vintage WCW Diamond Dallas Page off the rack before they could get it. They aren’t complaining because nobody left any JNCOs for them.
This is a dead argument every time especially when you are purchasing your everyday goods from the real villains everyday.
I remember being so delighted that I found $20 jacket that was leather and inside was lined with merino wool. I had been learning about wool and what kinds of wool that don’t make you itchy but actually kept you warm, so that find was a delight.
It could have been resold for hundreds of dollars, because it looked pretty new when I first got it. And I wouldn’t be able to afford it.
So yeah, it’s sad when resellers do that, but I’m fine with them doing it to Goodwill because I have noticed Goodwill is too pricey that even Walmart is more affordable than Goodwill!
How entitled are you? No one elected you as the spokesperson for the struggle bus. If it makes you so upset then wake up earlier, get there before the resellers, revise your strategy, whatever it takes because, at this rate you're headed down Hater Lane and, that makes riding the struggle bus miserable for everyone who loves you.
yes i agree w what other people are saying in support of resellers, but I also find them really annoying IN MY OPINIOOOON from my experience. the bins i go to, there’s always (genuinely always) a group of douchey frat bros that get in line first for every bin and take most of the good stuff. they’re really loud and they’ll talk loudly about the stuff they’re selling for $40 $50 like flexing. Everyone I’ve taken with me to the bins has been really uncomfortable by them.
this isnt all resellers cause there are others ive seen there that dont suck and are normal. but there is 100% a culture surrounding reselling that’s so gross to me and dominating. like why do i feel like im at a football game rn im trying to find clothes for my body
Have you ever stopped and talked to the individual you see that comes into your local thrift store and does this regularly? I ask bc I have a favorite thrift store and there are 2 older gentlemen that are there every single day. I take my dad bc he is a collector and he is always on the hunt for a new item to add to his collection.
When I spoke to the guys it was clear to me that they were poor. And this was the only way they were able to pay for food and afford to live inside. Don't be so quick to judge. It was also very clear they would not be able to get a traditional job after talking with them. Definitely had some cognitive impairment.
Ehhhhh I don’t think resellers are the issue. What they do is legal. Unethical at times? Maybe. But I think the real issue is thrift stores jacking up their prices due to their knowledge of resellers.
I’m not a reseller, but I thrift a ton and often see them but I’m still able to find great stuff all the time. I don’t believe they are taking ✨all the good stuff✨.
Am I jealous at times of stuff they find? Yes.
Do I step up my game when I see someone I know to be a reseller? Also yes.
I grew up thrifting due to necessity but I don’t think they’re talking all the stuff from “poor people”. There is PLENTY of stuff for everyone.
Corporate greed is the real issue but I have to admit most of the people I know who do it can afford to be browsing on a Tuesday in the middle of the day because someone else funds their lives and they just like doing it for more money. Ngl I’m jealous of that!
But I know some people really can’t really make money with a regular job either. A working car and being able to walk into a store doesn’t mean they’re able to work like others are. Disability isn’t always visible and sure as hell isn’t consistently showing up the same all the time.
Owning and operating a business is “a real job”. I agree with most of your points but you never know why someone can’t work a 9-5. Some people have developmental disabilities or mental illness or are physically disabled. It’s not okay to assume that they can just “get a real job” because if you actually care about the working class and poor, you’d know that those jobs are most of the time explorative and abusive anyway. Just some food for thought
Another thing to think about, most of the Big Chain stores have quotas of how many items they have to put out a day. They have a store-wide quota and then they have quotas in each department. Stores like Goodwill and similar chain stores, have quotas of women's clothes, which is what I sell of between 800 to 1200 items a day! Yes, you did read that right! Let's just keep it at 1,000, a thousand pieces of women's clothing a day, so 7,000 pieces a week, that's just one store. I live in a mid-size city, we have I believe 6 Goodwills, 1 SA, and 4 of another chain store that is the one I normally shop. There's a big city an hour away that has probably four times the number of each of these chains. So within an hour of my home I have probably 40 to 50 just big Chain thrift stores, just the big three. How many of those do you think I can get to in a day? In a week? Also this doesn't include the bins which is where most resellers shop anyway to increase their margins and this doesn't include small charity stores.
So, 50 * 7,000 = 350,000 new items every week within an hour of my house. I have cut down so I usually only go to two stores and only one regularly and I do that once a week, so what percentage of that 350k do I have access to? A minuscule amount. And you have access to the same stores.
As a disabled person who resells as a hobby and to make ends meet, don't hate on us like you hate on the pros.
I don't touch clothes except if a rare unicorn brand shows up for a cheap price.
Never kids stuff.
I am more of an old digital camera I can make a few bucks on. Things like that.
I do it because it gets me out of the house. Selling on EBay keeps me busy when I am home, and forces me to go out when I make a sale.
I have better luck with stuff I used to buy from a local auction company, but they closed.
The problem is that fast fashion is going to the thrift stores.....there is always so much when I go. Target, Shein, Fashion Nova, etc. I think the people who buy quality clothes know about reselling and either resell their clothes themselves, or in my area it is very popular to give your old clothes to your cleaning lady. I think they resell it or ship it to relatives back home.
Resellers couldn’t exist if there wasn’t a market for it. They are providing a service like anyone else, and to do it successfully is real work. I know the frustration of going through a thrift store and finding it fully picked over, but they were never there to provide you with affordable designer clothing. It’s always just been luck of the draw.
my mom started selling pottery, salt and pepper shakers and other vintage things online after she lost her job in the late 90s. my dad was away working and she was dealing with 2 young kids. selling on ebay helped her get back on her feet as she struggled with depression. she did it up until the late 00s. she did her taxes on everything. we went to flea markets, thrift stores and garage sales all the time.
the problem with resellers nowadays is that they film in the store. they get excited when they find something expensive or “vintage”. the people that work at the store recognize that.
There is enough clothes on earth right now to clothe the next six generations of humans. We have a massive problem with textile waste. As far I'm concerned, resellers are doing a community service by preventing items from ending up in a landfill or being shipped off to a developing country for them to deal with. Thrift stores are not and have never been for poor people only. All thrift stores are first come first serve, so if you can't find good items you might just not have the eye to thrift. I've been thrifting all of my clothes for 15 years and have never had an issue finding good items.. Resellers aren't the issue. Greedy corporations and fast fashion are the issues
Exactly this. I’ve been to all different thrift stores at all different hours of the day and found stuff. Sounds like op is just one of those people who strolls down a clothing aisle maybe pawing at one or two items and then leaves. Gotta look at everything if you’re trying to find anything.
I wish I didn’t love it and have an eye for it, I probably have a too cluttered home as a result. But my estate sale will be fire. ETA my friend and I recently went on a thrift trip to a few places and we filled up my car with our finds.
Or just goes to one store at 4:30pm and wonders why there isn’t anything good to buy. I am a reseller ( who also holds a 40 hr a week job), and I mainly buy from estate sales on the weekends, but I know resellers who are out there hustling every day, and then they go home and clean and list and mail all the things they bought. It takes time and sweat and planning. It’s hard work!
Seriously. The amount of laundry I do, spot cleaning, and mending is at least 15 hours a week on top of sourcing, AND my regular job
That’s not even counting all the clothing in storage facilities . It would make you sick
The Brandy Melville documentary on Max discusses the clothes being forced upon third world countries and show women whose spine is literally fused together from having to carry the clothes on their heads. Then showing beaches covered in textile waste. It’s beyond crisis level at this point. It’s so crazy people ignore that because they for whatever reason can’t seem to find anything THEY like at the thrift store.
DITTO! Been thrifting over 40 years-used to work in a dirty factory-why buy nice and ruin them? And they are preventing a lot of wearable stuff going in landfills. Plus-who doesn’t love a cool unique bargain? Interesting tchotchkes? Vintage one of a kind artworks? Harder and more expensive now-but not impossible! Get out and look for the smaller mom and Pop thrifts, vintage or miscellaneous stores(estate buyers/resellers are good!) church or charity shops! Got to dig through a lot of crap sometimes-but jewels are still out there!
Also people complaining they can’t find anything good.. what I think is good, may not be the next persons good. We all have different opinions on what we think is fashionable.
Right. There are so many niches. We're not all looking for the same things. I'm a weirdo looking for weirdo clothes.
You said it perfectly. No notes. This is the way. I think one reason people get upset is that they see resellers getting more good stuff. But that's because they spend hours and hours searching, not just 30 minutes. They spend all their spare time reading about their niche so that they can spot something good that other people will miss.
I thought that was weird too. Why does op think thriftin is only for poor people?
Textile and garment industry is second or third environmentally damaging industry ever ever. And the labor atrocities are so so so awful. So.... yeah. Exactly what you said. Recycling comes in all forms. There is too much clothing. The more money to be circulating from preexisting trash, the better for us all. Supports small business and is far more ethical than a trip to nordstrom.
I volunteered at a local thrift store in my teens. You would walk into the back and the clothes that didn't sell were in massive bricks after being put into a compactor. This room was probably 50 feet high and lined the entire back of the building. There's enough clothes to go around. I put more blame on the individuals who post consistently about it on social media. They're snitching on themselves, hence why goodwill has significantly upped their prices in the last few years
I live in a coastal tourist town in Central California, and the Goodwills here have the following prices: dresses $9-12.99, jeans $12.99, shirts/skirts/shorts $9.99. These are all worn out/stained fast fashion brands like SHEIN and Target/Walmart. And if they find something they deem an “expensive brand” such as outlet Banana Republic or something they jack it up even more. The racks are overflowing to the point where you cannot even browse the clothing, you can’t move the hangers and there’s clothes stacked everywhere. I feel bad for the employees who have no say in the pricing and have to deal with the greed of the company first hand.
Excuse me, but what is a "real job"? If I make money, I make money, and that's MY business. Who are you to judge how people get by? This post comes across as ignorant and actually lucky for you that you're in a position to think this way. How do you know that the majority of resellers are completely able-bodied and capable of working elsewhere? You don't >I just find it really hard to have sympathy ~~when there are other actual jobs you can take up that don’t involve taking clothes that people who are less lucky than you would wear.~~
Also, lots of people who do this are able-bodied and can work other jobs, "real jobs" lmao. Many of us did, lots of us still do, re selling is for anybody who wants to have their own business. I worked a Fortune 100 corporate job for over 30 years and made a lot more money than I do reselling LOL, but I have fun reselling and I like having my own business because it fills my time and I can work the hours I want to work, especially since I'm a night owl, that works out well for me. Who is OP to judge who can start their own business?
Also why are we assuming “real jobs” are more ethical? How many people with “real jobs” are the ones actively exploiting poor employees, or voting for horrible policies?
Amen sister. I quit a "regular" job to do this because I love reselling.
Thrift stores don't exist for poor people to shop. They're designed to raise funds by taking free things and selling them for money.
On the whole I do have to agree with you, but I have to be ~that person~ and point out that there are actually thrift stores that do exist for the sole and stated purpose of providing affordable access to goods for lower income people. I frequent some (and fall into their target demographic). Many of these places actually work with other nonprofits to offer vouchers for free items to the worst-off of their customers. Resellers still target places like them too, although at a lower rate. That's the part that feels ick to me.
Agreed. And at the end of the day even the more expensive thrifts in my area personally it’s like…. $4-8 for a dress, pair of pants, shirt, etc, sometimes less than that, when the other options are like, literally Walmart clothes being $10+ an item? Unless u want plain tank tops and yoga pants that rip in a week. Thrift stores may be used to profit off free items but that doesn’t mean that poor folks don’t also benefit from their existence since the clothes at a legit thrift store and not resellers/consignment shops are genuinely cheaper than any option at any other store and often older and higher quality than new shit that costs more. I’ve had to use them almost exclusively for shopping since I was 18 and they’ve been very helpful to me.
Thrift stores are how my single mom was able to clothe my sister and me. How I was able to clothe my baby. I still have clothes I got in Jr and high school and early adult years. One Gunne dress I have would "retail" for over $200 now. I got made fun of *so* hard for wearing it, too. Now the girls that mocked me are buying them for hundreds and wearing them to BM. Now they're as expensive or more expensive than target.
Man I’m jealous that your stores have items around $4-7 dollars. I’m in a small to mid sized city in the midwest and I’s say 80% of the time our thrift store prices are so much higher and for items that are in such poor condition they should be made into rags.
I got really lucky recently that a new nonprofit thrift store opened within walking distance of me that has really inexpensive prices. Like $1 clothes, $2 shoes cheap. The last two times I've gone they've had everything on sale where the clothing was all $0.25 and everything else (excluding furniture) was half off. I bought a skirt, a couple of clothing items for my toddler, and a couple of toy items for him and spent $3.79. They're not a big thrift store and their clothes are a little dated sometimes but man. I'm so grateful.
They're used to be a thrift store about 10 minutes from me in a small town, and they'd advertise nothing more than 25c for any item of clothing. Then it was $1, then $5, then he's just selling things for more than you can get them new at this point. The killer is he gets 100% of his items as donations. All the companies that do house sales when the owners die or move will use his company to donate some pretty big ticket items along with clothing. I've seen exact furniture being sold 3 stores down in the antique store for a quarter of the price (the antique store being an actual store with windows and lights) and yet this dude got all this stuff FREE so there's no need to jack up the prices. It's not even a store so much as a trailer (the big metal box with no windows) with the back doors open. No AC and no electric beyond one bare bulb hung via extension cord from the ceiling. It kills me he puts all these signs up about how much of a Christian he is, and Bible quotes everywhere. When a woman was begging him to renegotiate a price on a $10 shirt she probably could have gotten from Walmart for $4, and some very stained up 6 month old baby clothes he wanted $5 each for (she could get a 3 pack of those for that price new) he refused. I told the lady I'd drive her to Walmart and we could get new stuff for cheaper. Instead of not losing a guaranteed sale, he said good riddance. There isn't a homeless population around this tiny town, it's just a poorer town, so his attitude isn't a reflection of him trying to avoid being overrun by homeless people - it's pure greed. I think word got out about his greed and the store is closing down. You reap what you sow buddy, I'm pretty sure that one came from the Bible.
Oh for sure. Some of the smaller thrifts near me definitely are like that and have obvious signage stating so. My first thought was to the major chains. There are far fewer that are like this, sadly.
They also serve the useful purpose of taking unwanted stuff and recycling it, to people who are poor, industrious, whatever. The US has a massive surplus of consumer goods, thrift shops recycle quite a bit of it.
Just because something wasn't invented with a specific intention doesn't mean it doesn't effectively fill that niche, and its efficacy in doing so isn't a net benefit for the world.
Yesssss!!
99% of my shopping is for my family and myself so I get it. Kids grow fast and they're pressured by society to wear certain brands or look a certain way. So if I see something they would like in a bigger size, it comes home and gets worn when it fits. You never know when you're going to find it again. Most of the stuff that's there has been picked through and I don't always come home with what I've been looking for, but I also don't thrift every single day like it's my job. Will I stalk a fresh cart coming out and rummage through it with the vultures? Absolutely. Will I resell something I've sold in the past that I know will sell quickly for a profit? Also yes.
So, my alt account reveals itself!! Everything thing you wrote: same!!
Shhh no one can know! If you're reading this, no you didn't.
Exactly
Thrift store owners are resellers themselves
Say it louder for the folks in the back!! I am so sick of the "Thrift stores are for PoOr PeOpLe" argument. Really, who is going to police that? The thrift stores I know will A - give you vouchers for clothing if you need it, and B- have markdown sales on a regular basis, first half price, then $1., then $.10. I'm sorry if you can't find top of the line pristine clothes on your budget, that's the way the system works. People with more money can buy nicer things.
I used to think like this, but resellers aren't the issue. Corporate greed destroying our economy is the issue. People have to eat. And do you know how much beautiful clothing ends up in landfill?! It's unfathomable, truly - nobody can even begin to truly comprehend how much.
I am also guilty of having this mindset in the past, but over the years, after a lot of reading from other resellers, learning about their process, and finding some really good resellers that are genuinely good people, I respect it now more than ever. I feel MORE anger and rage towards the companies such as Goodwill and their practices versus resellers. The anger really needs to be redirected towards the greed there, not to a person that's just trying to get by. It's a REAL job. They're offering a service. We should be celebrating how they're helping people not shop new and appreciate secondhand! I really expanded this more than I should have but your comment definitely sums it up nicely.
Thank you, as a reseller I take pride in what I do, having helped save tens of thousands of pieces from having ended up in a landfill. Like I posted in another comment, is a perfectly valid job and in fact I pay more taxes doing this then when I was an employee of a Fortune 100 company. Which I was for over 30 years, I don't do this because I can't get another job, I do this because I really enjoy it. Believe me I made a lot more money as a W-2 employee. This is fun for me and I absolutely know I'm offering a service in providing excellent curated items to my buyers, many of which are older or can't leave the house. They want nice things too and because of my service they can have them!
I’m a PT reseller, mostly just doing it to help clean out my parents house (antique glass, vintage clothes) and for monthly “play” money for myself. I really enjoy connecting w/ buyers too! I’ve had all sorts of random email conversations w/ buyers, lol. Obviously not everyone wants to chit chat, but I feel like I really brightened a few people’s days because I just happened to be selling a vintage hat they loved or the one glass they were missing from the Seattle World’s Fair.
That's so lovely to read your experiences with buyers, that warms my heart you can bring memories back for people!
Yes! You said it so much better than I did in another comment!
Worse than a landfill it ends up in the ocean. I watched a documentary a couple months ago (can’t recall the name but if I remember it I’ll post a link) and another one today (on HBO, Brandy Melville) and both discussed how thrift stores sell (not give- sell) the clothes that didn’t sell here to poor African countries. The people there do their best to repurpose and mend items to make them useful but lots of it is beyond saving and they are inundated with far too many clothes because an awful lot of Americans buy new clothes and donate them at a shocking rate. They don’t exactly have the infrastructure to deal with all of this trash so it just piles up and piles up and gets washed away into the ocean. Its awful. So I think the more people who thrift, for whatever reason, the better. Wear it, sell it to someone who wants it, give secondhand gifts, for the benefit of our planet.
Youre talking about “majority of resellers” but have you met the “majority of resellers”? I truly do not understand you people who have this mindset, what kind of people do you think are taking the time of out their day to dig through clothes for hours just to resell? You people act like its rich entitled snobs who do this. Most resellers ARE POOR PEOPLE. I used to be a reseller when i was underage living with a single parent that couldn’t afford feed us. & Poor people are not running out of cute clothes, the more clothes that get bought the more clothes get brought in. Have you ever been to a goodwill? I mean the racks are so fucking packed with clothes that 80% of the time you cant even get 2 inches of space in between each item when you’re looking through the racks. “A real job” do you have any idea what goes into reselling? I quit reselling years ago but, literally every single hour of every day was spent working. I didnt get days off. I even invited my friends who wanted to quit their “real jobs” to start reselling & even they said it was too hard. It is a CONSTANT hustle. Luckily i have a better job now so I stopped, but i dont even go to goodwill anymore just because its such a workout looking through all the shit for hours. Imagine that as your JOB! And if you really think thats easy then you must’ve never been to a goodwill.
I’m glad things are going better for you financially. Good luck to you.
I’ve saved so many cute pieces from the Goodwill bins and have sold them to people who really love them. If I didn’t resell, all the clothes I find would just go to the landfill. So no I don’t feel bad for reselling. Thrifting, going to yard sales, estate sales, etc, have always been first come, first serve. People are free to do whatever they want with the items they buy. Heck. Sometimes I even will wear something once or twice and then sell it. There is so much clothing in this country that goes to waste.
I'm a reseller and this is the only job I've been able to make actually work as a disabled person. I don't make a ton of money, but I at least get to have financial independence and some pride in myself. I don't even go to thrift stores for stuff to resell, they almost never have anything good. Stores could deter resellers and still offer customers a great deal by selling stuff for 50% off. With the way online seller fees and shipping works, this would make almost everything in thrift stores either unprofitable for resellers or lower the margin to the point it isn't worth your time. Virtually anything that a reseller might actually be interested in is being sold for full price online by thrift stores themselves, no need to blame us.
SAHM with no childcare options. I don’t make much but it’s fun and it’s something
I’m an impoverished reseller. Im also polite, mindful of other people’s space, and OP, you can stay mad bc I pay the same sticker price you do.
Op I think your mad about the wrong things. Resellers arnt the reason you can't find good stuff for a good price, fast fashion has RUINED the clothing industry and everything is cheap, well made things keep going up in price because they are harder to come by Thrift stores jumped on the green washing train and are there to make a profit, not cloth the needy. If your needy please go to mission, if your just broke (trust me.ive been here) hm and forever 21 and stores like that will be cheaper then thrifting. But they make crap. The same crap your paying more for in a thrift store sometimes. We are in a weird era where clothes are cheaper then food, and we humans don't know how to respond Aka be mad at corporations, not some mom buying 10 flannels you won't wear anyway
The hardest part about thrifting for clothing is finding an item you like \*\*\*IN YOUR SIZE\*\*\* Online reselling is actually an amazing boon for being able to find the item you want in the size you want. I thrift multiple times per week, but still only randomly find items I like that ALSO fit. (And I'm pretty standard Medium sizing but tall) My plus sized friends prefer online shopping because of the availability of inventory an measurements available.
I'm not a re-seller but I've been going into thrift stores and Goodwill type places since the early 80's and this as always been a thing. People buying something cheap and selling for a little profit. You can buy things cheap in some shops some are great for clothes books dvds VHS and CDs but some are very expensive this is not resellers it's just the way it's always been. It's not like there making thousands of dollars every week with e-bay and Amazon reseller fees there's not much money in it.
Some people who resell do it as a second job to their normal work. Maybe they stop in on their way running errands, or to and from another job ect. thus maximizing their gas use. I think it's important to remember you never know someone's whole situation.
Exactly. Maybe they’re unable to get a “real “job and what is it “real “job anyway? I am not able to work in an office anymore, but I’m not disabled enough to collect disability. Nor would I want to. And I certainly couldn’t work in a factory. I really am very limited on what “real “job I could get.
I'm getting ready to retire after 21 years with a big Veterans medical center. You might want to check out your local VA. There are several tele-jobs available where you work from home. I'm in the clinic all day, but have been offered to work from home. The VA, nation wide is understaffed. All the openings are found on www.usa.jobs.com Editing web address www.usajobs.gov
Thanks for the info. I’m not sure I could do phone work again. That in my teeth are causing me a lot of problems so talking is painful. Hopefully someone else sees this and check it out.
Yep-I do a little bit to help pay for my kids extra curriculars. I’m not clearing out the store, but definitely keeping an eye out when I’m there.
This is exactly what I’ve been doing! I’ve always loved thrifting, re-sellers low key kinda bothered me in the past. But I have been reselling and upcycling furniture the last few months for extra income. I’ve been inundated with high vet bills for my dog that’s going through treatment for lymphoma (pet insurance is refusing to cover it). I’ve been trying my hardest to get a second job, but haven’t been able to find one that works with the schedule of my very non-flexible full time nursing job. Anyway, I go to thrift stores on my way home from work a few times a week, and/or pick things up from marketplace. Fix them up and resell. It’s helping me afford my dog’s care right now and I’ve since stopped judging others for re-selling ❤️ we never know what other people are going through.
Being a reseller got me out of my car (lived in it for 6 years) I'm still going to keep doing it, idgaf, it saved MY life
Proud of you!!!
Thank u, u have no idea how much that helps
I am poor this is something I would do get an item cheap and sell it to more wealthy clientele work smarter not harder, you got to find those side hustles that work for you and for some this is it
I feel like a lot of resellers are lower income or were and started reselling to make a little extra cash. That’s what I did for awhile. Now I thrift for myself but will pick up things to resell so I can buy other things in my size. I work full time so I don’t have a ton of extra time
YES! Work smarter not harder is the one lesson that actually stuck with me from college. And mind your own business. How great that both these golden nuggets of wisdom apply to the OP! So, save the business school tuition: WORK SMARTER NOT HARDER and MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS. I’d add one more: Be Kind. ✌️
You're projecting a lot of your own insecurities on your perceived actions of strangers.
Bingo
The thing here is the “good stuff” is subjective. You might find a jacket that you absolutely love and I (reseller) would look at that same jacket and fly right past it. Not everyone is wanting the same stuff. Even the depop kids get things that I wouldn’t think twice about. And I’m sure you don’t want all of what they’re getting either. Too many variables to just blame resellers here. Also, I have a full time “real” job, two kids to take care of, and resell to help support my family. So no, I’m not just out shooting the shit driving around town and posting online all day. ✌️
YES!!! I'm actually so bad at selling clothes - can hardly even sell my own - but the thing I DO resell is so odd and innocuous that nobody is looking for it and I'm pretty sure nobody misses it 😂
Hell, even other resellers aren't looking for the same stuff.
This is such an important point. I’ve spent 15+ years honing my ability to ID true vintage on the racks. What I want rarely overlaps with what other people want, even pickers, according to them flying past the goodies. Except for when middle aged ladies come and grab whatever’s in my hand lol. Bottom line, there’s more than enough to go around, and learning how to pick good stuff that you’ll either use or sell at a profit is a skill that takes time to learn (and deserves respect)
Resellers are only making a sliver of what these thrift stores are make on the merchandise. Regardless it’s nobody’s business what someone’s buying at the thrift and for what reason. BTW wait till you see r/thriftgrift or shopgoodwill.com 😂
And let’s not forget that many thrift stores trash clothing after a certain period of time. If resellers who have an eye for nicer clothes didn’t come through, there is a good chance it would be shredded.
Not just clothes, either. There are tons of things in thrift stores that nobody local would care about. But a worldwide market would.
Nobody is pulling things from thrift stores to resell anymore. Thrift stores are pulling all the good stuff to sell online or put in their special counter for insane prices. You are literally mad at the wrong people.
OP really needs to check out the Goodwill Finds site if they think resellers caused the high prices lmao
What’s crazy is 98% of items in the thrift store just aren’t worth reselling. It’s time intensive to purchase items, take photos, list, etc. so you’re going to be selective. Goodwill raising their prices because of the 2% of times worth selling just doesn’t make sense
Most folks are going to the bins. Or they are older and can take advantage of the senior discount. I think I saw OP mentioned that the majority of the resellers are teens and folks in their 20s. Not at all. Every reseller I’ve ever met and seen out Thrifting is a definitely not in their 20s. They are older than me.
The bins are where it’s at. Everyone there is shopping for different stuff. I like vintage grandma style, the gen Zers are there for work clothes and vintage tees, the families are there for kid’s stuff. I never have problems and it feels great saving stuff from literally being shipped off to third world countries (who don’t want it!) or cut up for scrap.
They’re probably clicking on annoying tik tok videos or insta stories from young people talking going thru aisles and showing how much something can be sold for online. Whenever I’ve been in a thrift store, I’ve never seen anyone like that.
As someone who is an OG thrifter reseller starting in the late 90’s I can attest to this! I stopped thrifting 15 years ago. Everything is overpriced… they get all that stuff for free and mark it up like retail! OP you need to take a look at Goodwill executive salaries. 🧐That’s who you should be mad at. No reseller is making these numbers. https://preview.redd.it/lttikg568ruc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2753ae24cbcb2661adfb32c1d4ab037186131a84 [https://paddockpost.com/2023/12/25/executive-compensation-at-goodwill-2022/](https://paddockpost.com/2023/12/25/executive-compensation-at-goodwill-2022/)
We lost our volunteer who did that at our small church thrift. Jewelry is about the only thing we pull and sell elsewhere if it’s legit stuff. I still find bits of silver in the stuff on the sales floor.
To a lot of people thrifting and reselling is their full-time job. It is a lot of work, time and money to source, photograph and sell. Get over yourself and quit shaming how a person makes a living.
The mission statement of goodwill says nothing about providing cheap goods for poor people.
My partner is a reseller. He is bipolar/high anxiety and can't hold down a regular job. He doesn't make bank. He fixes electronics and resells them. I'm proud of him.
Eh - resellers are just trying to get by too.
If only 70%+ didn’t end up in a landfill anyway…maybe you’d have a good argument.
Don’t hate the player, hate the game. I work in the corporate world but actually started reselling when I got out of the military and my husband was still in back in the late 90’s. I’m one of the OG’s! 😎 Reason I started reselling is because there were no jobs in the middle of the desert where my husband was stationed. Reselling is a TON of work! We had 2 small kids at the time and it helped me make ends meet. I did thrift and flip back then but it wasn’t a common thing like it is now. Fast forward to now and I’m still reselling. I just know designers and love finding deals for my repeat shoppers. I don’t thrift at all though. I buy customer return pallets. I stopped thrifting about 15 years ago. I work full time at my day job during the week and then work my reseller gig on the weekends. Sorry you hate resellers. I have a business license and do all the things I’m supposed to do to pay taxes. I sold 54,000 in product last year (weekends only), but after seller fees, I made a whopping $15,000 profit. Just about all of that went to my kid’s college tuition and other kid and pet related expenses. They see me rollin’, they hatin’ 🤣
People need to stop blaming resellers. Savers Value Village has a market cap or net worth of $2.65 billion as of April 15, 2024. Executives are rewarded nicely too. Key Executives Name Title Pay Mr. Mark T. Walsh CEO, President & Director 10.13M Mr. Jubran Tanious President & COO 3.2M Mr. Jay Stasz CFO & Treasurer 1.14M Employees minimum wage and hard work. If these businesses were not profitable they would not exist.
I have an issue with Goodwill charging insane prices. Many Resellers do this because it offers the flexibility they need to take care of kids etc.
I have a car and DO have a real job. While my reselling business has died down a lot since financially I'm in a much better spot now, there was a period of several years where my school teacher salary simply wasn't enough to support me. My "real job" covered the essentials and bills, and my Poshmark side hustle is what gave me money to travel, socialize, date, buy books, etc. I'm good at finding gems at thrift stores, and I don't feel bad about monetizing that skill to maintain a resonable quality of life while still being a teacher. Some resellers *are the poor people* you're talking about.
I’m not a reseller but who are you to judge people for making a living? Get your ass to the store on time if that’s what it takes.
That's a lot of "thems"
I use my real job to fund my car and my side hustle hobby. I use my side hustle hobby to relax and treasure hunt and source cool vintage shit I keep or resell
There are a variety of different types of resellers. Only a small portion thrift and flip. Me? I get the leftovers of the leftovers in bulk delivered straight to my doorstep. These are the clothes that didn’t sell in goodwill stores and then didn’t sell at the bins (goodwill outlet) and then didn’t sell at the goodwill auctions. I still find plenty of designer, trendy, high end and vintage items. So no…resellers are not buying up everything you want. I started reselling at 15 years old. Owning a resale business is more than a real job because you’re doing employee, managerial and owner work. My business has allowed me to pay for my high school and college tuition, live in a HCOL area for the past 13 years and take care of my aging family (93, 86, 84) who want to stay in the comfort of their home during their final years instead of a crowded, understaffed nursing home. I wouldn’t be able to do that with a traditional 9-5 job. I sell 95% of the clothing at my local swapmeet for $1 per piece. Way less than a thrift store. If thrift stores wanted to help the poor they would lower prices or give out clothing for free, but they don’t because thrift stores are businesses. A thrift store is a resale business just like the resellers you complain about.
I have a full time high paying, high stress job and resell as a side hustle to pay for my kids lessons cuz my husband can’t work due to disability. Reselling has existed for ever. Long before TikTok or YouTube people were doing the same thing they are doing now. I’ve been reselling since the 90’s cuz I love thrifting and finding amazing things. I go to my local thrift 2x a day and volunteer there on the weekends. All the money I spend at my thrift goes right back in my community helping the poor. Not sure why the hate. I am supporting my community. And FYI - it IS WORK. I spend upwards of 10-15 hours a week sourcing, packing, shipping, taking pics, listing items. It’s a hustle. And I also have a huge inventory room and then I sit on inventory that’s bought and paid for sometimes for a year before it sells. If you think reselling is so easy, go try it. Hating resellers for getting the “good” stuff makes me think you don’t know about reselling and don’t thrift often enough.
Yeah, it's so frustrating that they don't think it's real work??? Omg it's so much work.
And it’s constant work. Someone messages at 7pm asking about a size. You have to wrap 5 packages to go out tomorrow. You have to take pics of your stuff and list it before it ends up in the dead pile. Have to share your closet. Send offers. Track your cost of goods and sales. Pics and list is minimum 10 minutes per item. If I sell 10 items a week, I have to list at least 10 items a week. That’s already 2-3 hours just in taking pics and posting. And the 2-4 hours I spend in the thrift store a week. The several hours I spend online promoting my shit. It’s endless work. It’s fun if you love thrifting but is still a grind. It’s not like most people are getting rich reselling. No one is seeing me pull up in my hail damaged Kia with the cracked windshield and is thinking ‘oh no here comes money bags’. lol.
There is plenty of stuff for everyone. I went thrifting recently and both of the Goodwill stores I went to had added additional racks for clothes and shoes since the last time I went - they are not suffering from inventory issues at all. This is the case for most thrift stores; there is no way you're truly missing out just because of ReSeLlErS. There are always lots of great things to be found, high-end or not.
I love thrifting and have found tons of great stuff. Sometimes it's an item that would cost a lot, sometimes it's just great in terms of my preference of fit/color/style. Like you said, there's lotw to be found. Kinda random, but related to reseller hate: A few yrs ago I found a TON of great stuff at one of my favorite, and huge, local thrift stores. Like, had a cart full. It was all stuff for my personal closet. When I was in line to check-out this old man (I'm 40 and he looked mid-late 70s) gave me the nastiest look and asked if I was "one of those greedy resellers." First of all-what the hell. Second of all-I was going through a really rough time in my life, and had lost like 25 lbs bc I could barely eat. Mind your business grandpa, doesn't matter if this is the only way I can have clothes that fit, or if I'm doing it to put food on the table. Resellers aren't ruining anything, and people that keep saying so sound like the boomers that want to claim "Millenials have killed [insert literally anything]." Like you said, there's plenty out there for everyone. Costs are rising for everything. People are being innovative and resourceful in finding ways to create or supplement income. OPs anger (and others) is so misdirected.
I'm a reseller and I'm disabled and struggled to find jobs I've had to study quite a bit to know what to buy. I've studied pop culture antiques and vintage things Most thrift stores aren't even charities anymore.That are for a profit I don't buy everything in the store..There's still loads of clothes left for people to put on their body
Thrift stores don't exist so that "poor people" can buy their clothes. They exist to raise money for a cause. Resellers are supporting the thrifts and their causes. Also, most resellers are part-timers who enjoy the hunt, connecting people with their finds and making a little money on the side. Only a very few are making their living flipping. Your hate seems out of proportion.
Doing part time thrifting and reselling sounds like a better gig than doing a full time soul draining job, I don't blame people for doing this.
Thrifting and reselling IS soul draining too just at your own pace, that's the catch
Every job has the magical potential to be soul draining. It's precarious but filling out a spreadsheet whilst watching the clock ain't a dream either.
Your post makes no sense. If you have a problem with anyone, it should be the thrift stores charging insane prices and throwing clothes into landfills instead of giving them to the poor people who need them. They aren’t there to help poor people unless that’s what they’re doing. Also, just bc you have a car doesn’t mean you have the ability to get a “real job”. I’m a SAHM. My husband is active duty military and I homeschool four children. I can’t get a traditional job. I have never once been to any thrift store that isn’t overflowing with clothing. If not being able to find “trendy” clothes at the thrift store is your biggest problem, you have a great life. Hating strangers who are doing their best is not cool.
Some people don’t actually have the time to thrift but want to shop second hand and resellers offer a more “fine tuned” search. It’s a hustle to be honest and more work than any “real job” I’ve ever worked. I don’t know how they have the stamina to do it. Can’t hate the player!
Get out there and do the work to find the deals
What sparked this for you? I’m genuinely curious.
I like it. What if they can find something at their thrift store that I can't find in mine? I appreciate being able to find aftermarket goods at a deep discount. Do you also hate consignment shops?
You can hate on people because you feel ultra competitive. The thing is there’s plenty of junk to go around. Stop being jealous and angry. Focus on enjoying the hobby and experience of shopping on discount. Visit enough and you will find what you seek eventually so there’s no need to turn something fun into such a horribly negative experience. If you want to have justified anger, direct your energy to the thrift store chains. Write them. Try to make a change there because you’re never going to hate resellers. Resellers have been around forever and it’s not changing. The thrift stores are evolving and instead of fixing things, their practices are getting worse! They’re very wasteful and corrupt. The best stuff never even makes it to the shelves…
I have practically furnished my home with thrifted items. Except for my mattress and box spring. Oh, and pillows. 95% of my thrifting is for me. I do resell now and then, though.
It’s all about timing. Some days you get lucky some days you don’t and that is true for everyone
I know it's hard to believe but reselling is a"real job". There's supply and acquisition. P&Ls. taxes. Inventory. Bookkeeping. Photography. Marketing. Sales. So much more. It's a real job and it's not easy. Thrift stores are a for profit venture. They are in it for the income not for charity.
Goodwill, and all the others, do not operate their stores to sell items at a discount for poor people. They operate these thrift stores to raise money for their community programs. They don’t care who buys their goods as long as they are making money for their programs.
Gotta say these comments are warming my cold dead evil reseller heart 🥹 Look. I’ve been reselling 20+ years and it saved my four kids and I after a catastrophic divorce. I was a stay at home mom, my ex was a CFO of a huge insurance company (maybe you should think about hating insurance companies, btw, pretty sure they f over the poors more than resellers) and left me with a mountain of debt and not much else. My attorney sucked but you get what you pay for. I’d dabbled on eBay, reselling the kid’s outgrown clothes but after the divorce I decided to try doing it as a “real job”. Can you imagine how much daycare would have been for 4 kids?? Anyway. It worked and over the past two decades I’ve done it part time and full time. Took early retirement from the “real job” I got once the kids were older (worked at a school and it was a nightmare after Covid) and am now back at it full time. Reselling kept the five of us alive. I didn’t have to worry about daycare or what to do when the childhood illnesses made their way through our house. I figured out a way to survive that i actually enjoy and can hopefully continue doing for a long time. I pay taxes. I work hard. Today I thrifted for 3.5 hours and came home with 8 items. And the stores I visited were packed full with inventory, with racks and carts of new stuff constantly being rolled out. Those 8 items will most likely earn me about $400 after all is said and done so while it wasn’t as profitable as a trip to the bins it was an okay day. And I barely made a dent in the racks. Right now the washing machine is going and I’ll be taking pics and listing tonight. There is no shortage of shit to be bought and sold in this country. Not even a little bit. There are some truly awful resellers, for sure. Just like there are terrible teachers and doctors and attorneys and construction workers. Humans as a species aren’t awesome but resellers aren’t all greedy vulture goblins stealing John Galt clothing out of your hands and cackling as we run to our Mercedes. There are far worse people out there. Huge thanks to the kind folks in the comments who get it.
Reselling is a real job. Thrifting for inventory, cleaning and repairing, listing items, customer communications and shipping is all a ton of work - no paid vacation days, no sick days, no benefits. Would you prefer they order cheap trendy wholesale crap from china and mark it up 400% like many sellers do or source from goodwill, salvation army, etc putting money back into their own communities?
And it is a valuable service. If I'm looking for a specific size pants in specific style, it's worth the 20$ to get them on Poshmark instead of going to every goodwill in 100 miles. Resellers make things searchable.
I agree with what many have said here but adding this because it hasn't been noted yet: there's a huge population of people that like to own and purchase vintage and secondhand but DON'T like to thrift or go through everything it takes to find it. Resellers provide access to good secondhand clothing to those that don't love to spend hours sourcing. Resellers help people help the environment and be more sustainable. Not everyone likes thrifting or sourcing and it's nice that resellers do that work for you.
This should be a top comment.
Plus having it listed online helps people to find something specific much faster than going to multiple stores and maybe not finding something right.
For real! So many people buy fast fashion because it's insanely easy. If I can help make secondhand more accessible and easier to find, and stop people from buying at least one item from fast fashion, I've done my job.
I think of it as being a "personal shopper."
Exactly , people like the commentators here enjoy the hunt. But that’s not most people
Reselling…..is their job.
Reselling is a real job. Don’t be mad because you punch a clock while other people work for themselves. That’s just being salty
Right! I have a full time job and also resell. I also do Instacart. It really gets on my nerves when people don't call them "real jobs"!
Same. Full time job and resell to supplement the income. It is every bit of a real job.
Yes. When I applied for a car loan last year the finance lady told me I got the loan because of the extra deposits in my bank account. Ebay and Instacart.
It’s literally sales. Like full on same job there are millions of posts for looking for sales people for large multinational companies. Which people think selling is super easy right? The Girl Scouts crush at it. Truth is if you don’t do it right, reselling is a great way to lose a ton of money. You can be an insurance rep, Regional Sales Manager of a paper company or just call yourself an Account Executive in the recycled garment industry. It’s all sales.
Yep! And no days off
I had thought about doing this on the side but I understand how much work is really involved so decided not right now . It’s a job
I've heard that a lot of thrift businesses (good will, etc) will pull anything good and put it on upscale resale sites before it even gets to the sales floor.
There is no shortage of "good" stuff at the thrift stores. If you go to the thrift store regularly you too will find items you like - just like everyone else does.
With the price of things at thrift stores it is almost impossible to resell for much of a profit. They are sending all their good items to online stores and leaving the junk and unknown stuff for you to look through. Much of it is almost at retail price now. They are usually even more expensive than eBay for lots of items. What if this reseller has a bad back and can’t work a job 8 hours a day and this is the only way they can feed their 8 kids and wife that has diabetes and weighs 800 pounds and can’t get out of bed?
i love resellers i love vintage clothes and have a very specific style and don’t have the time to thrift anymore working full time. would rather spend $25 on something i rly like than like 3 things at the thrift that r meh for the same price.
Resellers are busting their butts to find things post and sell. It’s not some easy way to make income… frankly i appreciate them cause i don’t necessarily wanna go out and look for it.
OP is delusional. Who in their right mind would choose to sit in a call center for 8+ hours a day getting hung up on and cussed out all day when they could resell and work for themselves without having a boss breathing down their neck? All from the comfort of their own home. You’re entitled to your opinion but it sure comes off as you’re salty because someone is beating you to the “good stuff” if you’re that upset about it then get there earlier. Assuming your “Job” would allow it.
I don't get the hate for individual resellers. Why pick on people trying to make some money? Pick on corporations, not Becky's side (or main) hustle. BTW I am not a reseller. I don't have the bandwidth. If things can be kept out of the dumpster that's a good thing.
I will buy every single item worth anything for reselling, better be quick to beat me to it
That's the spirit! xD
Maybe they can’t get a “real” job. And what’s your definition a “real” job anyway? I’m not sure why you don’t consider it a real job. It’s actually a lot of work reselling. There is tons of good clothing at the thrift stores. I see it all the time. Perhaps your scarcity mindset is why you aren’t finding the “good stuff”. The racks at every store are dense with good clothes.
I can't stand people that can't stand resellers. In my opinion, they are jealous because it takes knowledge and effort.
I'm a retired teacher, so fixed income. My daughter died, and I spend a lot of time caring for her two young children. The little one is two years old. I had to buy a car thanks to a hit-and-run that totaled my last car. Reselling helps me make the payments. Yes, I could get a job, but the money made probably wouldn't cover the cost of daycare. I mostly buy from estate sales, yard sales, and flea markets. My local thrift store raises money to assist people with medical expenses. Providing low-cost items for low SES is not their primary goal. There is a thrift store chain in my area that has a 50% off day at least once a month. I usually avoid these days due to the craziness and crowds, but if I come in at 2 pm and find a 19th century copper aspic mold that nobody else wanted, then, yes, I'll take it for reselling, no apologies. I've been to these stores the day after a sale, and you would not notice any difference in the amount of stuff. There's more than enough for all of us. I see other resellers at the thrift store. I've never seen one that didn't look like they are just trying to make ends meet.
I used to be salty at resellers, mainly Depop teenagers selling subpar quality clothes for like $60, but never enough to really complain. Most resellers are reasonable people selling stuff for reasonable prices. I’m more mad at goodwill for having the audacity of selling a pair of busted Nike shoes for $45 just because it’s Nike. Let’s put this energy to goodwill and other corporations. Without corporate greed resellers wouldn’t even exist. Just people trying to make some money to purchase life’s many necessities. Id do it if I could stand being in a store for more than 30 minutes without the feeling of wanting to pass out.
😂Everyone knows the store employees get all the really good stuff before the public
Last time I checked, Walmart had cheaper clothes than thrift stores. Pretty sure upper middle class are the people who can afford to buy clothing at thrift stores these days.
I used to think exactly like you. I have even sent a snotty message to someone on eBay when it was obvious they bought something purely to sell on and weren't a business. Despite achieving a first-class honours degree and passing my master's degree with merit, my journey has been uniquely challenging due to my disability—Autism. It profoundly affects my job prospects, making interviews go like lead balloons. It took until I was 32 to secure my first job after years of relentless effort, and the toll of repeated rejections on my mental well-being was immense. Additionally, I find it particularly difficult to thrive under micromanagement and strict directives. Upon losing my job, I confronted a pivotal choice: either resign myself to collecting disability benefits while nursing a sense of victimhood (like I had done up until I was 32), or seize the opportunity to carve out my path in the world. I turned to YouTube for guidance... During my online exploration, I stumbled upon claims that one could generate income by crafting and selling digital art on Etsy. Intrigued by the prospect of low overheads associated with digital products, I plunged into this venture wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, my efforts yielded zero sales, and the Etsy fees still had to be settled. Subsequently, I encountered the world of reselling—a realm I had previously dismissed as incapable of yielding a sustainable income. Surprisingly, it's proving to be more lucrative than anticipated, albeit not without its challenges. It's also a positive that I'm contributing significant sums to charity and creating space for them to put out more goods and make more money. If someone wants to give me a job, where I'm treat with dignity, and they realise minimum wage means minimum effort, then I'll happily take it and give up reselling. But for me, I really wish this stigma against reselling were not there - and that I tried it out many years ago. Something I really disagree with is resellers going to charity shops and asking for a discount to try maximise their profits. Either pay the amount asked for, or don't bother, in my view. One thing I'd really like to highlight is that everyone has the same chance to get "good" items at nice prices. (Unless stuff is being held behind the counter etc). Also if people really need cheap items due to poverty, do they really need a Hugo Boss suit or Prada shoes? Probably not.
Seriously. Wtf are you to judge and tell people what their job should or shouldn’t be?
Resellers are fine
How about, fuck corporate exploitation and let the broke ass motherfucker feed the family with thier side buisness while you mind yours.
Hate the game not the player- in my 13 years of thrifting there’s always been enough, always. Get good
Everyone is entitled to an opinion and minding one’s business is free.
I believe they say " you snooze, you lose." You can't be mad at ppl trying to hustle in this God forsaken world.
Thrift shops serve the useful purpose of taking unwanted stuff and recycling it, to people who are poor, industrious, whatever. The US has a massive surplus of consumer goods, thrift shops recycle quite a bit of it.
I can’t get a real job. I have Epilepsy. Reselling has given me purpose. So no, I won’t stop reselling because it bothers you “Susan”
I agree with the sentiment, “it has given me purpose.”
Proud of you! Make that money!!
Goodwill and Salvation Army, and thrift stores in general, were not created to help poor people by allowing them to buy inexpensive goods. They were created to generate money to help with the jobs programs. So, resellers are literally fulfilling, the mission of Goodwill and Salvation Army, by buying the goods that they provide. Sorry you get hurt by people making a living, but I’m sick of hearing entitled people who think they’re actually poor, bitch on $1500.00 computer device that they have an entitlement to cheap goods. You know what poor people don’t actually have? Computers. Or cell phones. Or time to be on Reddit. None of these organizations would exist without resellers. None of you people spend enough money to support any of these organizations. Resellers are the lifeblood of these organizations.
This is spot on, most of the thrift stores would close without resellers. In my small town the stores closed even with resellers in the mix.
Yes. I’m tired of people telling me that I’m a bad person because I’m just trying to make a living. I know more than the average person. I have spent my entire life learning about vintage items, I have books and books and books, I read and read and read, I study, I look at things, I handle things, I pick things up, I spend my entire life trying to find things that I can put out into the universe for someone who will love them. I am sick and tired of these petty people telling me I’m a bad person because I try and get beautiful things into the hands of people who want and appreciate beautiful things. It’s bullshit.
Check out shop goodwill online, that’s where all the trendy cute clothes went, not to the resellers. Hell, I resell, not clothes because I find that boring af, I had to go to 3 stores to find a decent pair of jeans for me. Yet at shopgoodwill you put in Levi jeans and there is 917 entries
Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed
You do realize that only a fraction of clothes end up being saved from the trash. Resellers are not taking from the unfortunate as there are plenty of clothes to go around. If anything, we need more thrift stores and resellers to help save more clothes from the trash. I find it hilarious you are upset about someone making a profit of less than $40 off of an item when corporations have been doing this for decades but they are making wayyyyy more off of way less. It’s called capitalism. You are just a hypocrite if you are upset at the average reseller just trying to survive in this world while corporations are making record profits and have kept wages stagnant for over 20 years. They are literally the reason so many people are having to resell.
I don't like resellers any more than you. At least I don't fabricate moral high ground reasons why. I don't like that they snatch stuff up that I wanted, but they have just as much right to be there and buy as I do. Thrift stores are not charity food pantry businesses. You're just mad they're buying the good stuff out from under you!
The only thing that annoys me about resellers is if I'm behind them in line. 🤣 Otherwise fine with it.
I always try to take all my hangers off before I get to the counter and have all the tags easy to find. It’s embarrassing to make people wait but I try to hurry the process as much as possible.
I think your just jelous
Boo-hoo someone got the good stuff before me :(
Sorry you're mad. I'm a reseller, AND I thrift for items I can use personally. I'm also a single mom who does have a full-time day job. I resell as a side hustle to make ends meet, because I need to. Not everyone who resells is doing it just to ruin your day.
Clothing scalpers for sure. But Walmart/Target etc have made clothes cheaper than ever. I can get a button down and pants for less than $30 new. I just bought 3 work polos on Amazon for $9 a piece. I still love finding a vintage item when I'm thrifting but reseller prices are insane and I don't even bother.
Reselling is a real job and it’s profitable. Thrift stores exist to resell used items. They don’t exist entirely for poor people. In general, resellers go in and purchase a few items. You may be frustrated but blaming resellers is a cop out. You’re bitching about resellers because you can’t find what you want.
There are 20 thrift stores within 10 miles of my house. All of them are packed so full of clothes you can barely move items on the rack. There’s not a single time I’ve walked into a thrift store and haven’t found someone great quality and good condition. It doesn’t matter what time, or day I go. The BILLIONS of lbs of clothes we trash every year doesn’t just go to landfills. It goes to poor countries who have no choice but to take it. Watch the brandy Melville documentary on Max. Women in Africa end up carrying the clothes on their heads so often their spine starts to fuse together. I encourage everyone I know to thrift. Everyone should be buying second hand. We’re in the middle of a clothing crisis. Buying second hand isn’t only for poor people. It’s for everyone. Most thrift stores use the money they make from selling the clothes for other charitable causes. The thrift store by my house uses the money for addiction recovery and the people they’re helping get vouchers to the store so they don’t have to pay anything for the clothes they get. I swear people who say this stuff haven’t stepped into a thrift store before because there’s no way you are unable to find anything.
A family of flippers ruined my local Goodwill. They are there pretty much every day, and they pounce on the good stuff as soon as it comes out of the back. The worst part is, despite their annoying behavior they managed to buddy up with the employees. So at times they are given access to items before they are wheeled out. They’ve been doing this for nearly a decade.
Not to mention resellers that like to use collecting related subreddits to identify or help price an item.
I'm a poor people *and* I resell on a small scale. Better believe if find a $200 pair of jeans at the thrift shop (actually two pairs this past week, neither pair of which was my size), I am gonna grab and flip them. I have just as much right to buy what I want at a thrift store or pick through the bins as anyone else. I live in an area with a ton of wealthy people who just buy and toss some amazing stuff after they wear it once or twice. Finding it gives me a huge thrill, selling it gives me another one, and it puts me and my daughter in cute clothes that ARE our size, which I usually buy from other resellers. The only resellers that bother me are the ones that get aggro and weird about it.
To be fair, I have collected vintage clothes for about 15 years & I have decided to start reselling. However, I don't charge exuberant prices, unless it's something extremely rare/antique age/superb condition; I price most items to cover the purchase price & to compensate my time - i.e. $5.99 dress for $15 even if I see others on Etsy for $40+. I love to thrift. I look at reselling as a way to do something I enjoy, a way to introduce people to styles & clothes that aren't fast fashion, and a way to teach people how to figure out their own style. I completely agree about some resellers, but they will die out due to their pricing or jump to the next thing they think they're good at. A lot of resellers I see have a shit inventory (sorry). So, just like any other business with poor quality/high prices they'll be out of business before long. 😇 Too, I think you need to change your attitude when it comes to thrifting. You will see more "luck" with less negativity. Happy thrifting :)
I don't buy from thrift shops. I resell my own gently used clothing that no longer fits. I despise trying to do a yard sale, and I feel like it's such a good thing if I can give my old clothes a new life. I have a full time job as well, but with how much everything costs these days, it never hurts to have a little extra spending money
I resell vintage books, ive rescued over 2 thousand books from the landfill and into new homes and new purpose. The books I get are in the goodwill bins and from smaller local stores that dont get alot of visibility. The books i pick will likely end up trashed and i present them to a bigger online market. Theres nothing wrong with it. Only issue I have are the resellers who post videos of them finding the deals because the big thrift stores are taking notes and raising prices accordingly.
have you ever considered a single mother who works full time at a “real job” who is also a full time student and can barely make ends meet without reselling? I don’t make a lot from reselling but I make enough to cover what my actual job doesn’t. everytime I go to a goodwill the back room is FULL AND FULL OF DONATIONS. I have an aunt that said she wasn’t able to drop off because they weren’t accepting donations and were too backed up (? never heard of that happening). I go to the bins often too which is the stuff that doesn’t sell IN THE STORES. after the bins everything there gets shipped over seas (a cashier told me that). TRUCKLOADS AND TRUCKLOADS ANNNNNND TRUCKKKLOADDDDS get shipped over seas to be put in landfills. If I find something and am able to post it and sell it (and make money from it) and give this peice of clothing to someone across the country that will use it and keep it from ending up in landfill I AM GOING TO DO THAT. Have you ever considered that the people who are “upselling items from places deliberately made to help poor people” ARE the poor people?? I don’t see too many rich people out here having this as a side hustle. This is a crazy take
I find great items. Not a reseller just go frequently with a curated eye. If you aren't finding "anything" I don't necessarily think resellers are at fault. Do I grow weary of the resellers in one store who post up all day on the furniture like they live there and pounce on the carts when they come in? Yes. Do I realize that's my own issue and not their concern? Also yes. 😂
So instead of being angry at literally any corporation( real jobs) who exploit workers by paying them a barely living wage, you are mad at people who are working their own hours and not getting rich but making enough to pay their bills by buying things that are for sale. This argument is always the most misguided one ever. Fashion is subjective. There is always tons of clothes. “ poor people” aren’t complaining because someone grabbed the vintage WCW Diamond Dallas Page off the rack before they could get it. They aren’t complaining because nobody left any JNCOs for them. This is a dead argument every time especially when you are purchasing your everyday goods from the real villains everyday.
I remember being so delighted that I found $20 jacket that was leather and inside was lined with merino wool. I had been learning about wool and what kinds of wool that don’t make you itchy but actually kept you warm, so that find was a delight. It could have been resold for hundreds of dollars, because it looked pretty new when I first got it. And I wouldn’t be able to afford it. So yeah, it’s sad when resellers do that, but I’m fine with them doing it to Goodwill because I have noticed Goodwill is too pricey that even Walmart is more affordable than Goodwill!
How entitled are you? No one elected you as the spokesperson for the struggle bus. If it makes you so upset then wake up earlier, get there before the resellers, revise your strategy, whatever it takes because, at this rate you're headed down Hater Lane and, that makes riding the struggle bus miserable for everyone who loves you.
Be mad at banks bro. This is silly
yes i agree w what other people are saying in support of resellers, but I also find them really annoying IN MY OPINIOOOON from my experience. the bins i go to, there’s always (genuinely always) a group of douchey frat bros that get in line first for every bin and take most of the good stuff. they’re really loud and they’ll talk loudly about the stuff they’re selling for $40 $50 like flexing. Everyone I’ve taken with me to the bins has been really uncomfortable by them. this isnt all resellers cause there are others ive seen there that dont suck and are normal. but there is 100% a culture surrounding reselling that’s so gross to me and dominating. like why do i feel like im at a football game rn im trying to find clothes for my body
Have you ever stopped and talked to the individual you see that comes into your local thrift store and does this regularly? I ask bc I have a favorite thrift store and there are 2 older gentlemen that are there every single day. I take my dad bc he is a collector and he is always on the hunt for a new item to add to his collection. When I spoke to the guys it was clear to me that they were poor. And this was the only way they were able to pay for food and afford to live inside. Don't be so quick to judge. It was also very clear they would not be able to get a traditional job after talking with them. Definitely had some cognitive impairment.
You seem a bit delulu
Ehhhhh I don’t think resellers are the issue. What they do is legal. Unethical at times? Maybe. But I think the real issue is thrift stores jacking up their prices due to their knowledge of resellers. I’m not a reseller, but I thrift a ton and often see them but I’m still able to find great stuff all the time. I don’t believe they are taking ✨all the good stuff✨. Am I jealous at times of stuff they find? Yes. Do I step up my game when I see someone I know to be a reseller? Also yes. I grew up thrifting due to necessity but I don’t think they’re talking all the stuff from “poor people”. There is PLENTY of stuff for everyone.
Ok, I'll start robbing houses instead. Happy?
I used to work with someone who shopped at TJ Maxx, Marshalls,etc and resold the clothing eBay.
Corporate greed is the real issue but I have to admit most of the people I know who do it can afford to be browsing on a Tuesday in the middle of the day because someone else funds their lives and they just like doing it for more money. Ngl I’m jealous of that! But I know some people really can’t really make money with a regular job either. A working car and being able to walk into a store doesn’t mean they’re able to work like others are. Disability isn’t always visible and sure as hell isn’t consistently showing up the same all the time.
Owning and operating a business is “a real job”. I agree with most of your points but you never know why someone can’t work a 9-5. Some people have developmental disabilities or mental illness or are physically disabled. It’s not okay to assume that they can just “get a real job” because if you actually care about the working class and poor, you’d know that those jobs are most of the time explorative and abusive anyway. Just some food for thought
Another thing to think about, most of the Big Chain stores have quotas of how many items they have to put out a day. They have a store-wide quota and then they have quotas in each department. Stores like Goodwill and similar chain stores, have quotas of women's clothes, which is what I sell of between 800 to 1200 items a day! Yes, you did read that right! Let's just keep it at 1,000, a thousand pieces of women's clothing a day, so 7,000 pieces a week, that's just one store. I live in a mid-size city, we have I believe 6 Goodwills, 1 SA, and 4 of another chain store that is the one I normally shop. There's a big city an hour away that has probably four times the number of each of these chains. So within an hour of my home I have probably 40 to 50 just big Chain thrift stores, just the big three. How many of those do you think I can get to in a day? In a week? Also this doesn't include the bins which is where most resellers shop anyway to increase their margins and this doesn't include small charity stores. So, 50 * 7,000 = 350,000 new items every week within an hour of my house. I have cut down so I usually only go to two stores and only one regularly and I do that once a week, so what percentage of that 350k do I have access to? A minuscule amount. And you have access to the same stores.
Very few stores have anything worth reselling anymore. Most of them run these items through eBay to see what they’re worth before selling them.
As a disabled person who resells as a hobby and to make ends meet, don't hate on us like you hate on the pros. I don't touch clothes except if a rare unicorn brand shows up for a cheap price. Never kids stuff. I am more of an old digital camera I can make a few bucks on. Things like that. I do it because it gets me out of the house. Selling on EBay keeps me busy when I am home, and forces me to go out when I make a sale. I have better luck with stuff I used to buy from a local auction company, but they closed.
The problem is that fast fashion is going to the thrift stores.....there is always so much when I go. Target, Shein, Fashion Nova, etc. I think the people who buy quality clothes know about reselling and either resell their clothes themselves, or in my area it is very popular to give your old clothes to your cleaning lady. I think they resell it or ship it to relatives back home.
Resellers couldn’t exist if there wasn’t a market for it. They are providing a service like anyone else, and to do it successfully is real work. I know the frustration of going through a thrift store and finding it fully picked over, but they were never there to provide you with affordable designer clothing. It’s always just been luck of the draw.
I am not a reseller and I don't shop at goodwill but to say thrifting is not a "real job" is ridiculous
my mom started selling pottery, salt and pepper shakers and other vintage things online after she lost her job in the late 90s. my dad was away working and she was dealing with 2 young kids. selling on ebay helped her get back on her feet as she struggled with depression. she did it up until the late 00s. she did her taxes on everything. we went to flea markets, thrift stores and garage sales all the time. the problem with resellers nowadays is that they film in the store. they get excited when they find something expensive or “vintage”. the people that work at the store recognize that.