They Blame Re-sellers for the New Thrift Culture

[Anonymous]

Thrifting started out as a way for low income families to be able to afford things like clothing, shoes, housewares, furniture, etc that was being discarded by others. On the environmental front, thrifting helped keep clothing, the number one filler of landfills, out of landfills and into a system that recycled them for good use.

Then came along the likes of eBAY, Poshmark, Depop, Thred-Up, Mercari, and others who sought to create an online market for used and discarded items. Instead of going to a store, people would now bring the store to you, and you as a buyer could browse through beautiful pictures of used items instead of maybe having to go to a messy store, or deal with touching what some people think of as dirty dingy clothes, in lieu of "the good stuff," already being found and presented at heavily discounted prices or at least offering more of an availability of hard to find or unique items.

Thus began the thrift wars. The battle between low income families, clothing re-sellers, and the stores. Low income families who used to be able to purchase clothing mainly for low prices were finding sticker shock as some items were now priced more like a discount store like Ross. They also argued that these re-sellers would come in "their stores," and sweep through, and take all the good things, leaving them with clothing outdated, and torn, or broken.

Re-sellers argued that what they were doing is well within their rights living in a free market economy and that anybody could in actuality do what they do if they wanted to as the reseller market is open to anyone. They also say, which is true, that thrift stores have thousands of items, and more coming in for free everyday donated by others. They are still helping to keep clothing out of landfills which is where the clothes still go if they aren't sold.

The stores, having quickly figured out that they could make more profit (which nowadays rarely actually goes to helping the needy), could charge more for certain popular items and argued that they needed to raise prices to keep up with the modern cost of doing business and keeping the lights on even if they do get items 100% for free in some cases.

So who is to blame? Is there anyone to blame? I've been a clothing re-seller for eight years. I started my business because I live with chronic illness and the medical costs are crazy high. It was a way to supplement my income and became extremely helpful to me during the covid years, as I had lost my other job which was dependent on human interaction. I do not then, and do not now apologize for what I do to anyone. Are you going to pay my medical bills?

As a kid, my mother thrifted for us because we were poor, and now I thrift for others to help me not be poor. If someone is mad at that, let them be mad. Stores that get items for free mind you, control those prices. Yes, there is an actual increase in costs, as there seem to be every year now, of doing business that takes into account a lot of things, but aside from covering that, they do not have to charge what they do over older pricing schemes. Survival clothing are your standard jeans, shorts, skirts, dresses, jackets, tees that can be found in heaps and yes, still at reasonable prices at the thrift (under $10, unless you're in a high end neighborhood) but so too can you find something dressier or suits if you need them.

If anything having lived through being poor and scrapping for every scent as a family in my youth, you know if you want to hit the sale, if you need something, you wake up early, you stand in the long lines, you look through the piles and make your peace so you can survive. Same thing for me as a reseller. Nothing has changed in that.

[Lliam]

I liked the hippie and rock star fashions when I was in high school (1969-1972).
Lots of people like me would find really cool, retro clothes. Girls would find things like dresses, scarves and hats. I found a vintage, leather, bomber jacket for $5. I also found some colorful shirts and a cool hat. As kids, we didn't have much spending money, so it was great to find treasures in thrift stores.

Years later, I found a very high quality, tweed, sports jacket.

Several years ago, my wife and her friends organized annual swap parties. They would bring high quality clothes that they no longer wore and come home with some really nice stuff.

I honestly hadn't heard of on-line sources for used clothes until I read your post. It kinda sucks that they upped the prices on things that have been discarded and donated.

It reminds me of how us high schoolers would wear our Levis until they had holes and got faded. We liked the way they looked and often patched the holes with the kinds of patches you could buy from head shops or record stores. Some girls would even embroider theirs.
But then, clothing manufacturers started marketing pre-faded, pre-torn pants and selling them for high prices as high fashion. What a joke.

You can still find stuff at yard sales and church rummage sales. And there are still some small thrift stores around that serve certain causes. I hope that stuff continues, especially for the sake of low income people.

The problem with large thrift stores like Goodwill is that they pay their executives outlandish salaries and only a tiny percentage of their profits go to help the poor.
And on-line retailers are even worse because their profits aren't used to benefit anyone except their stock holders.

[Massageman]

The best $6 I ever spent was for an (autumn weight) jacket from a "uniform service" company that made its way into a non-profit resale shop. Have it about 10 years and still going strong.

[myTake Owner]

Wow! I love good quality finds like that, and I swear whenever anyone asks, the story is great because they don't expect you to say you thrifted it.

[Massageman]

I also comb the thrifts for a particular kind of glassware produced by Anchor Hocking called PresCut, a popular-price version of "cut glass" popular ( but made my heat pressing the billets, not by cutting) in the 50's and 60's. It allowed the baby boomers to get a cut-glass "look" for a fraction of the price. I've got about 18-19 pieces now and most are from thrifts, some from garage sales, and none above $3.

[purplepoppy]

It's why I just bin my old clothes.

[ohsheeT]

I said good job, you're doing. What a lot of women would love to do but for different reasons

And we both know that.
There's good days and days.
And you have to get a clientele built up. I don't think you're hurting anybody. As a matter of fact, everybody that buys something from you. You're helping them.
At one time i would go to the thrift stores all the time. And I still do , but I would go there to buy collectibles , silver tools , because you can't beat the prices
You would love and hate the thrift stores here
Some sell there clothes maybe a few dollars off retail , and then you have , like the salvation army who sells their clothes for 25 or fifty cents a pound so you can buy tons of clothes for 10 dollars.

So if you buy clothes from the thrift store and resell it. There's nothing wrong with that, but when you go through the thrift stores look for silver is like $47 announce 1 fork, one silver fork is $40.
O always keep that in mind

And of course collectibles
I have a friend that has his own store online. He sells everything chef Knights, unbelievable prices you get for them. China unbelievable prices.
But I was always keep my eyes out. You can always open up another store tyou just have to know.
What sells? And have the clientele, it's looking for it anyway. I said, great job business is business. You're healthy. Is your health and you have to stay healthy? So you have to do what you're doing. There's nothing wrong with that. There's enough out there that a hundred thousand more people could do it

[jamesgoldman]

I thrift, I make money

My local store begs me to do it because they bin so much and sometimes ill buy what would be binned like broken jewellery

[myTake Owner]

That is something people don't grasp...everything goes to the landfill if they can't sell it. Thrifters have found a way to make a profit off of would be trash, good on you.

[guesswhereivebeen]

I don’t see the problem… something is worth whatever someone else is willing to pay

[coachTanthony]

Love me some Thrifting