Goodwill

I saw that too!!!went into a local thrift store last week and they had the collectable/ good condition lps separated at the front register with prices of $15 to $20 on them. These people seem to be getting saavy to audio items!!!!!!!!
 
Ah crud! I noticed prices at several thrifts rising steadily. Heck,one local for-profit thrift has a piece of crap pro-logic receiver marked at $75.00! I would've passed at $7.50.
 
It kinda takes the fun out of it, but the money does go for a good cause.......I just like to impulse buy and if the prices are to high some people(me) have to budget for these used, donated items. I did payed $47.00 bucks for a Sony CDP-101 thought it was a little high but it was still a good deal for me. But also got some Vintage Akia speakers, real wood veneer, good sound, marked down to 10 bucks from 20.....Then my Marantz CD player Model 30 Gold faced for $17.00............it still is fun just to look, and somtimes wonder who buys the over priced crap??:rolleyes:
 
Made a little GW run myself today. Bagged Ar4x speaks, but had to give a 50 spot for them. The guy said they were going to list them on ebay.
 
Yeah,,they are getting wiser, but wildly inconsistent,,,,

I just bought a few weeks ago a Mercury Living Presence for 50 cents,,,its worth 100 bucks in the collectors world...

All the items that they have marked over 20 bucks, are all still in the shops...they may get wise, but they may as well end up sitting on a lot of the stuff..
 
Money goes for a good cause my butt!! I don't know if this is one of those internet rumours or not but I remember reading that one of the big muckety mucks from the Salvation Army has a whole basement FULL of high end vintage gear. All came courtesy of the donating public. I think the same crap goes on around this neck of the woods. You rarely, if ever, find the high quality pieces on the shelves. I visit the same locations almost on a daily basis so its not as if I'm missing them. The pieces just aren't there. I've always been tempted to drop off a decent piece of lets say Marantz gear and see if it ever makes it to the sales floor or if it quietly exits through the back door to an employee or one of his buddies.

Mike
 
Luckily, my GW still sells gear for like $4.99 so anytime I find something there it doesn't break my wallet. A "good" item there might be $9.99, the good thing is they get lots of new stuff from Target that is opened or the box is damaged so they sell alot of that stuff. I hope they don't catch on, one thing that motivates me is finding that Marantz 2600 there for $5.99.
 
Where do you live? I'm in Vancouver, WA, right over the border from Portland, Oregon. Vintage anything, not just audio goes for more $$ than most citys. I can't say all but ya know, Retro is the rage.....LOL:eek:
 
Mike;

"I've always been tempted to drop off a decent piece of lets say Marantz gear and see if it ever makes it to the sales floor or if it quietly exits through the back door to an employee or one of his buddies."

I also suspect that good stuff does leak out of their system.

As far as your test goes, it would not work here in the San Francisco bay area. Donated items are not allowed to be directly placed on sale, but rather go to a central distrubution site, Oakland in our case, and then get redistrubuted to the retail stores.

That's not to say that there is not a chance for employees to skim the good stuff off at any step in the process.

Lefty
 
Originally posted by Lefty
Mike;

As far as your test goes, it would not work here in the San Francisco bay area. Donated items are not allowed to be directly placed on sale, but rather go to a central distrubution site, Oakland in our case, and then get redistrubuted to the retail stores.

That's not to say that there is not a chance for employees to skim the good stuff off at any step in the process.

Lefty

The way I heard it, it was at the central site that the big wig was skimming. He told the dock to set aside anything Mac, Marantz, etc. for him.

I guess for him charity doesn't begin at home; it goes home:uzi: :uzi:
 
I think that if this kind of fraud is going on at Goodwill, that they should be notified. People donate that stuff and probably expect that money to go to Goodwill, not the manager's personal booty. I think we should all e-mail Goodwill and express concern this type of fraud might be happening. Here is a contact and e-mail form to fill out.

http://www.goodwill.org/index_gii.cfm/2535/
 
Hi all,

(in my best old scratchy Grampa voice) "Ooooh...I remember waaaaay baccck in the day (five years ago) when you could walk into a Goodwill and buy a DYNACO FM 3 TUBE TUNER for...99 cents! It didn't have any fancy smancy lights or knobs...and.......WE LIKED IT!"

Ahhh yes...those where the DAZE! By the way...I still own that 99 cent DYNACO FM 3 TUBE TUNER! I also still have my $18.00 HK 730 and my $12.00 pair of Pioneer CS 88's. Recently (at the Goodwill) I bought a nearly MINT MARANTZ 1060 amp (with wood case) a MINT SANSUI TU 5900 TUNER and a so so AR Turntable all for just under $100.00 Not what I am use to paying but...pretty good none the less.

(Grandpa voice)...Ooooooh...did I ever tell you about the time that I bought a nice pair of STAX EAR SPEAKERS at a yard sale for $3.00! Well....one day....

Regards,
SixCats!
 
Goodwill has collection point warehouses where the stuff is gone through. Dealers then go through and cherry pick after the staff is done. Things that don't immediatly work, are not grabbed up by the dealers but not deemed fit to go on the salefloor is auctioned off. In Dallas that is twice a week. Everything donated for hundreds of miles around comes to Dallas for processing and then is trucked back out to the stores where it was gathered.
Now at the auctions guys with cell phones talk to someone sitting in front of a computer who looks of things like the silver faced recievers and they will bid to what they think is break even if it doesn't function, sell it to a tech to fix and sell or overbid you just to make sure you can't get it.
Example: 2226B with wooden cabinet falling apart $5 because it was all I wanted and I didn't bid against the other guys on theirs, they left me alone on this. That was years ago. Now if a 2226B was to end up on the auction floor it would have more wrong with it and will sell for at least $60.
Most of the stuff bought at the Salvation Army And Goodwill auctions either go right into a thrift store or to the giant flea market on the border of Mexico at Laredo.
In other words in metropolotin areas where there is a large processing center the chances of you getting any finds is fairly low. Elecrtic Organs and pianos are too heavy and even most dealers won't mess with them and they get tossed in the compacter at the rate of around 6 a week in Dallas. Lots of them Hammonds.
 
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