Good Stuff Disappearing From The Thrifts?

Have to agree: Ebay and CL has really hurt electronic thrifting in most markets. Classic thrifting being goodwill, salvation army, etc. I would disagree and claim most prices are completely arbitrary, and the lack of even midfi (vintage or otherwise) is due to : a) CL, b) employee score, c) items that happen to make the floor are gone quickly.

 

Here, Goodwill has their own auction site, where items also get bid up to dumfounding prices. Nothing makes it to a store if it might sell online and can be shipped. They benefit from running their own auctions, not only because there are no eBay fees (and they tack on their own handling fee), but also there are no returns and no "not as described" disputes, and you can't leave negative feedback! You have either "tested good" or mysteriously, "unable to test" or "untested", which is code for "it's broken, but we won't say that outright." Same as sites like govdeals, where sellers misrepresent items with impunity.

Goodwill signed up with the state to be an authorized electronics recycling e-cycling center. They abuse that: instead of dismantling broken components sustainably, they auction them alongside more well-intentioned donations, or fill their outlet bin stores with the garbage, where there's purposely not a power outlet anywhere to test a thing, and everything is sold as-is -- so someone else can throw it in the dumpster.

People think they are donating to the less fortunate - they are donating to a for-profit non-profit's store shelves.

 

As far as antiques or collectibles go, ebay has changed the market. However, I've found that the CD selections have improved dramatically in the last year. As far as ethics go, most of the CDs I look for were produced in small numbers and they could be anywhere. I look in charity shops, used record shops, and online. Also, if I choose to sell, the money is often recycled back to the shops. Charity shops can also be a good resource for used books as secondhand stores have all but disappeared in my area. There aren't many used record stores either.

 

I found a pair of Audio Note ANE's at the recycle centre, paid £15 for them, just needed refoaming.
But charity shops here (UK) are just as rubbish now with all the good stuff going straight to Ebay.

 

Shopgoodwill is too risky for me.At least with ebay you have some guarantee.I too am puzzled by the prices people bid up too.It seems like auctions make people dig deeper just to win.Never mind that you overpaid.So I check it out but have not bought any major electronics there.

 

In the last year or so records have definitely dried up at thrift stores around here. Used to be able find the odd gem. Lately its all poor condition rock, or Nana Mouskouri. Stereo equipment is still plentiful. Just got a Denon DCD-1520 for $8, its now my main CD spinner using it as transport.

 

Ready for this one...

I've got a 'Specialized' 18 spd bike in fantastic shape, like new, never been crashed, only rode it for 4 months (bought it so I wouldn't have to pay taxis to get to and from work). Only problem: needs new spokes and tires. That's it.

Oh yeah... all the hardware is Specialized and Shimano. Also have a bike installed tire pump, all the accessories, tools, extra stem, inner tube in bag that hangs off the seat in a blue seat bag, storage rack, water bottle and wire mount on bike, and more... you get the idea. We are talking some bucks here, like $1600.

So I take it to the Goodwill (I'm trying to get it out of my garage and I've scored fantastic at the GW so it's kind of like a 'give back'... they didn't want it. Why? Some spokes are missing and the tires are flat. I told them what it was!!! Just having the 'parts' is outrageous. They didn't care. They could of put $150 on it at 8am and it would of been gone by noon.

 

The best deal in thrift stores is classical records. Lots of minty box sets and never played good label stuff for peanuts. No more jazz, no more decent rock, but plenty of good classical.

 

It has been about three years since I found a good rock LP at Goodwill (that was a mono Surealistic Pillow). Until a month ago. As I was walking in, they were bringing out a cart full of albums which I quickly started going through. There was a lot of late 60s, early 70s rock that had seen better days. I pulled out the few that were in decent shape. Then I came across a Mono VU & Nico (banana already pealed). My eyes lit up thinking I finally got a score. Then I looked in the cover, NO RECORD. I spent the next half hour looking through every album in the store, hoping it was just misplaced. There were hundreds of the usual Tijuana Brass, Firestone Xmas and Mantovani. End result, no VU record. I even went back the next three days to see if the disc might have come out in a later batch, but no such luck.

 

I would agree to that. I have bought hundreds of good classical albums at the thrift. I now supplement my rock, folk and jazz listening with baroque and early rennaisance music.

 

I am a vinyl scrounger for hire. I’ll go into places other people feel it’s beneath their status in life to frequent. Neighborhoods where your car better have some dings in it and maybe a mismatched hood or fender or you will look out of place. I find plenty of good vinyl but I work hard at it. Most of it ends up in record stores in a three state area I travel. And a lot of it is found in thrift stores.

Here’s what you are up against. You may have a thrift store that puts work release prisoners in the back loosely supervised. They will call their buddies and give them the heads up that a batch of good vinyl is getting put out. Once their buddy hits the parking lot and announces their arrival....boom out goes the haul on the floor where it gets immediately claimed.

Or you might have a reseller who sends his girlfriend in at opening the day that the “vinyl lady” is working her shift. The girlfriend will grab a shopping cart and start milling around in the clothes picking up some stuff they can resell on eBay or at a yardsale. She will stand near the record bin and talk with another customer just waiting for the vinyl to come out. When it does, it might be two hours later but she will be there when it does come out. And she will fill her cart up and take it home for the boyfriend to price and sell.

Just two examples why you don’t have a prayer of finding good vinyl at thrifts if you just pop in once or twice a week. And a reason pricing is going up. The prices have to eliminate the incentive of the reseller and stop them from making hauls of fifty or more records. One thrift store I frequent sells vinyl at 25 cents. Believe me, the competition is stiff there. That same thrift store sells CDs at $2.99. Go figure.

 

Has anyone found a seriously good quality item in a thrift? Over the years Lloyds and similar is best I seen. Never seen tube anything in a thrift in over 30 years. Record are so filthy and rough condition, never seen anything of good condition beyond some Xmas LPs.

 

I found $800.00 in a thrift store album. Came in handy just as I was going on vacation to London too.

I always look closely at what's there, as sometimes it's an autograph or concert program or cool ticket stub inside lp jacket.

 

WoW!

I found a complete promo packet in a Scandal feat. Patti Smyth EP. Lots of glossies.

 

Concert program from Royal Festival Hall UK with ticket stub, Keith Jarrett 1980. Mint condition LP box set.

 

Almost a year ago: a pair of like-new Energy Veritas Reference V-Mini speakers for $10.78C at the Salvation Army Thrift Store on Innis Road in Orleans, Ontario, Canada.

Admittedly a very rare find, but it does answer your question (as it applies to hi-fi related stuff. For other goods see my previous post in this thread.)

Jeff

 

Ummagumm Pink Floyd 1968 acatate 2 disk set. Slightly rough condition went for $700 on eBay.

This was the most profitable thrift store find I've had.

 

Sony SACD 5 disc changer, cleaned laser beam eye with 99% alcohol- tracks all discs perfectly (after the cleaning). $29

Got the remote control on eBay for another $15 shipped.

This is my best sounding SACD player, a richer smoother high end sound than my Oppo.

 

Once I was thinking about my picture disc collection, and thought about one which I never bought but should own. The 1984 Stevie Ray Vaughn album "Couldn't Stand the Weather" that I would actually want to hear.

The next day I went to the thrift store and found it in super nice condition for $1.00. Split plastic jacket, but nice playable record. Picture discs are not very common at thrifts. Not the nicer ones anyway.

That's a $45 to $60 picture disc. And it sounds pretty damn good.

 

I'm not finding hardly anything anymore.

CD and DVD collection is paltry.

Guess people have purged their collections 2-3 years back when there was a ton of good stuff.

 

I'm seeing good movies on DVD and BR in the $1.00 - $3.00 range. But it's often a movie I've already seen and might not want to see it again right now. I'm not seeing Concert material which I would purchase.

Plus I'm trying to clear out clutter from my book shelves as I am packed to the gills right now. I want to slim down in more ways than one.

 

Yes tube gear is extremely rare in a thrift. Not all the thrifts are the same.Some never have and never will have anything.It takes work also.If your into audio what I have found in thrifts over the years would probably blow your mind.It took a lot of trips.

 

Several days ago I had a lucky strike at the thrift shop near where I work. There are a good number of other vinyl hounds like myself who check there often, but apparently I was the first to come upon a new batch of records just brought out from the back. I was stunned -- these records were just dusty, but otherwise mostly appeared like new. I started to quickly cull out nearly flawless jazz records from the mid to late '50s. I cleaned two of them already, "Basie in London" Verve from 1957, and "Newport 1958" Columbia from 1959 below.






Here's the rest of the batch which I will be cleaning shortly. Like the two above, all of them are mono, with no fingerprints, most with no scratches (some have a few very minor ones), and the spindle marks near the hole indicate only one or two plays each. One dollar each.



I reckon had I come a half hour or so later, someone else would have grabbed these and I would never have known. But since it was me, I bring it here to share!

 

I guess this is the de facto thread for gloating over thrift store finds?
This morning my wife dragged me into an undisclosed Value Village in the Seattle area. One of the workers was unloading a cart of CDs onto the shelves. I casually asked him how often they get “new” stock and he told me every day! Spotted this almost immediately in the area he had just filled. Dead Mint - not a mark anywhere. Set me back $1.99!

 

Goodwill is now auctioning online in most places. That seems to be where the stereo equipment end up. My local SPCA thrift still has some good stuff from time to time.