Everyplace I’ve ever lived, I noticed an interesting phenomenon regarding the pricing at thrift stores.
Clothing and housewares is cheap, cheap, cheap, and
Computers and electronics are priced as premium antiques.
For example, you’ll see a pile of fifteen year old throwaway push button pulse dial-only telephones, each phone priced at $10 or more. Old analog brick cell phones from the late 1980s at $50 or more. Computers … VGA monitors at $100, IBM XTs at $300 or 400, dot matrix printers at $200, mushy Packard Bell keyboards at $20, and so on. I’ve even seen AOL disks at one Goodwill in Denver; $5 to $10 each, depending on the version.
What’s going on here? Why are tech items always priced so outrageously high at thrift stores?
I can’t imagine that anyone who has any working knowledge of the true value of used electronics, especially computers, would be working at Goodwill. They see techy stuff and say, “Ooh, computers are expensive! better put a good price on this!,” not knowing that the resale value of a computer component that’s more than a year or so old is virtually nil.
In the New Haven, CT area, the computers at Goodwill are usually priced at fifty dollars or less, with printers usually around twenty and keyboards five to ten.
And look! I have a jacket just like this! And this one! And those are just like my comfortable shirts…
I’ve gotta talk to The Wife about her cleaning frenzies…
I think it’s just where you live. I was in a local thrift store a while back (looking for tube amps) and saw a complete PC-Jr setup (PC, keyboard, monitor and dot-matrix printer, all working) for $8.50.
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It must depend on the store, because they are expensive around here too. Last visit to Goodwill I saw a Canon bubblejet printer without an ink cartridge for 40 bucks. It was the same one Walmart sells for 40 bucks new if you catch it on sale. And I’ve seen 4.0 AOL disks for a buck or two. Even funnier are the old Bluelight and FreeInternet CDs from ISPs no longer in existence.
I have only recently gone to Goodwill (new store opened down the street) and have noticed the same thing. They will sell electronic crap for more than new items cost. A prime example is a computer mouse, in its original package, was marked $14 and the LIST PRICE was $8 on the package! I pointed this out to the manager and she then offered to sell it for $9.
However, I have bought other stuff that is worth FAR more than what they were asking (they really should watch Antiques Roadshow once in awhile) so I am not complaining.
I do computers & electronics for three thrift shops & I price them to sell, as a matter of fact, I often just give the computer parts away. Im in California & the dump charges us to accept things like that.
In allof those stores, I won’t accept old computers or big tvs anymore. Laptops seem to work their way in somehow.
So, I guess it has to do with your store pricing manager, elmwood.
It really depends on the store around here. The Goodwills really price things to sell. Except laptops. They list 486’s luggables for $40-60, which is ridiculous, but they seem to sell.
Typical prices for parts: $2-3 for keyboards and mice. $4-8 for HDs, $3-4 for floppy drives. Not too bad, but more reasonable on the 50% off electronics days (at least 1 a week).
Store A sells VCRs for $20 or less but old computer cases for $20. Store B sells VCRs for $35+ but old computer cases for $3.
But Beta VCRs are cheap, even the Superbetas that sell for $200+ on eBay. I’m not complaining.
Not as good as garage sales, but far, far better than pawn shops.
I’ve noticed the same thing with pawnshops. Why anyone ever goes to pawnshops to buy electronics, I’ll never know, as its clearly priced to rip off the rubes. $150 for a crappy old VCR? $100 for a low-end cordless phone? Gimme a break.
Well, we just got a laptop (about '95) pretty decent. I tested it & put it out for $100.00 NExt day I come in, someone repriced it for $200. Its not even a Pentium 100…sure it won’t sell for that much.