Flippers have made a science of identifying items at thrift stores that they can re-sell for more online. And now the thrift stores themselves have caught on to these strategies. They are raising prices and listing things online so that they can realize the profits.
Another issue is that goods are made with worse and worse materials. MDF in place of wood. Acrylic in place of wool. Furniture and clothes aren't made to last anymore. Ten years ago, thrift stores seemed full of strange and wonderful things that seemed indestructible -- maybe a grandma couch with a wagon wheel print, or a velvety lamp with tassels. Now I walk in, and it's basically a warehouse of cheap plastic objects and sagging particle board shelves. Maybe people can't afford to donate away the actual good stuff anymore, or the good stuff was too quickly snatched up by flippers. But in any case, the quality isn't there.
There was a finance podcast about people who did this, and one problem is a lot of the stuff is low liquidity, so in order to get decent income and sell-through, you need to have hundreds if not thousands of items in rotation, and for me I generally try to keep a bit of a minimalist tack.
In short I'm looking for things that I would be happy to keep forever, but also if need be could sell for at least what I paid. I feel the spirit of thrift/yard sales is to generate limited money, while primarily getting rid of stuff relatively quickly.
A perfect example was a still in the package router/table I came across at a yard sale. Wood working has always a side hobby, and delving into cabinets *might* be something I get into at some point in the next few years. If I could get something for 20 cents on the dollar of new I'll bite, put it in storage, and if I use it great, if not it should probably at least hold it's value. But this guy wanted 85% of new, and had the home depot ad showing the current price.
My whole point was that unless someone comes to this yard sale, who just happened to be intent on buying this specific router, this weekend, and is literally going to home depot right after to buy it otherwise, then that isn't really a deal. If you have time flexibility you could just wait till a decent sale comes up at home depot, and get it
truly new with warranty and return privileges for the same price, as opposed to
like new but really several years old with none of that.
Especially with yard sales I think sellers have time sensitivity. Presumably you're selling because you want to declutter, or your parents died and you're cleaning house. Thrift shops less so, but they still can't have stuff sitting for months on end. In this case, an arbitrage opportunity does exist for people who are less time sensitive, and don't mind holding obscure things for months on end waiting for the right buyer. You don't go to these places if you truly *need* something that day and just hope that exact thing is there. You bite your tongue and pay full retail.
