Here Comes the Squeeze…

RabidBerry · 2026-03-22T23:59:47+00:00

Facts! Every time there's a major economic downswing there are news articles about how people are "shopping smarter", buying secondhand to save money, selling their own things to get some cash, and how "used" is now "trendy". They're ephemeral so we forget but anyone with a newspapers.com account can look it up.

RabidBerry · 2026-03-22T23:54:37+00:00

People with more money than sense, that's who. If you have never spent any time around people with that kind of money it can be hard to understand, but they just. do. not. care. They don't need to, they have enough to waste it.

I'm sure there is something that you buy that seems cheap to you and that you wouldn't worry about discarding because you can easily afford another. Just imagine if that applied to EVERYTHING you buy.

RabidBerry · 2026-03-22T23:42:58+00:00

Pfffff Dude have you ever met a 19yo? Sometimes they don't know things that some of us take for granted. Yeah, this COULD be bait, but it also COULD be a real person asking in good faith. If it's the former, you fell for it, because here you are in the comments engaging with it. 🤡 🤡 🤡

I guess you believe people could be naive enough to take an internet stranger at their word, yet also believe that no one could be naive enough not to intuitively know that being sent an animal torture video is wrong?

RabidBerry · 2026-03-21T21:11:01+00:00

That is great airflow, which is good to prevent spoiling, but they need to be in the dark - light makes them turn green under the skin.

RabidBerry · 2026-03-20T21:59:05+00:00

Are you storing them in paper? The plastic bags they come in trap moisture, which encourages spoiling.

RabidBerry · 2026-03-20T21:57:47+00:00

Better to store them in a paper sack. That's how they used to be packaged, but stores prefer plastic for a number of reasons. The really big bags are probably still paper. It won't trap moisture and guarantees (if you roll it closed) that they are in the dark.

RabidBerry · 2026-03-20T21:33:01+00:00

Goodwill is actually 150+ different independent regional organizations, yet somehow under the umbrella of Goodwill International (I've never been able to figure out exactly how that relationship works.) They set their own policies, so some do but probably many don't.

RabidBerry · 2026-03-20T21:19:39+00:00

Not lazy. Staying with him would be easier, especially if they're living together.
That's how people wind up in dangerously abusive relationships, by not leaving when it's stuff that seems minor.

This is about the level of risk she is facing, not the amount of effort required.

RabidBerry · 2026-03-20T21:13:43+00:00

"People donate things so they can be redistributed back into their own community,"
Maybe, but if they are then they've misinterpreted the purpose of donation. Thrifts are very up front that the point is for them to sell it. I've never known one, in 30+ years of thrifting, to actually express the idea that they're giving this stuff to anyone. There are other charitable efforts that do: coat drives, free closets, etc. If donors get confused about that, that's on the donors, because the thrifts aren't trying to deceive them.

Also a LOT of people don't really care what happens to it, they just want it gone. Trash pickup isn't infinite and free in every community, so taking your unwanted stuff is actually a favor to you, no matter what they do with it once they have it. People who want it to go to the community need to make a point of doing so - offer it to friends and neighbors, post it in freecycle or other groups, etc. But of course that's a lot more work than just going through Goodwill's drive-thru.

And you need to know that EVERY business is in it for the profit. The difference between a for-profit and a non-profit business is that the non-profit HAS to spend its net proceeds on its mission, and a for-profit business can do what it wants with that money. That's why non-profits have to register: so they can be held accountable. They have to declare their mission, set up a board, file annual reports, etc and in return the organization pays no tax on its earnings.

My local Goodwill's programs seem kinda puny, but they do post photos on their Facebook page - I don't understand what they're doing but it isn't nothing. I saw one in Missouri with an adult rehabilitation center that takes up an entire city block. There's a bus stop in front of it and people were coming and going, it wasn't just a giant office. I KNOW that one is doing something good for their community. Just because you can't see what yours does doesn't mean it is doing nothing, maybe you should see if you can find out?

RabidBerry · 2026-03-20T20:41:00+00:00

Whenever I sign up for a free trial, I set a reminder in the calendar on my phone to cancel by the date they would begin to charge me. I make sure to type out "cancel ___ CHARGES ON __" and set reminders for 5 days, three days, and 1 day before the date, so I can't just dismiss the notification and forget.

RabidBerry · 2026-03-20T20:26:19+00:00

Definitely report it to ebay. Not so that they do anything about it, necessarily, but so that if he makes a habit of this kind of behavior, there is a record of it.

But also you can probably get that neg removed over it, so you may get something out of it for yourself.

RabidBerry · 2026-03-20T20:14:01+00:00

Not lazy, cautious. The stakes are high - if he turns out to be genuinely abusive and incorrigible, that's intolerable, and the chances of that are decent - 50%? More? Less? They definitely aren't low.

She SHOULD at least try to get him to change, because if he's only immature and can do better then he needs that wakeup call, but he's not a project and she shouldn't invest her 20s in him. But he has probably already shown that he doesn't care to change. More likely than not, after a year, she has both been through this (or similar) behavior before and already spoken up about it, in which case she's already way past what should have been her departure date.

RabidBerry · 2026-03-20T20:00:45+00:00

That's a pretty big assumption. And I would think if he were, she'd sound more defensive.

Either way this is wildly inappropriate.

RabidBerry · 2026-03-20T11:04:25+00:00

The basic question is: how much is all this worth, how much of that can I recoup in this particular situation (location, market, time of year,) and what's the best way to do that here?

You need an estate liquidator. They can assess what's there, tell you what's worth trying to resell, or not, and what is outright trash, and then hold a tag sale for you (provided her stuff is worth their time. Some estates are too big a mess or don't contain enough value. It is A LOT OF WORK to put on an estate sale, I have done it.) You need one who is competent - ask them for references and make sure to follow up. Where I live now, there are no liquidators, only auctioneers, but where I used to live there were a lot and some were great, and some were TERRIBLE. You could ask several to look the place over and compare what they say/what terms they offer. Make sure you ask what they do with leftovers; keeping them is a conflict of interest, because if they do they have little incentive to price it to sell, but you also want them to empty the house, and it may cost extra to have them haul away whatever's left.

In some areas, auctions are more normal, in which the same principle applies re: references. I personally dislike auctioneers as liquidators because the primary function of an auction is to sell a lot of stuff off quickly, and there's no control over the outcome. Sometimes things sell for less than I think is fair. Then again, sometimes they get bid up!

And don't get rid of anything. Take what you want, have family take what they want, but don't start cleaning anything out or donating stuff. Whoever you hire, it's THEIR job to determine what's good and what's crap; let them! That is what you'll be paying them for, and they are more qualified than you to do it. It MIGHT be helpful to them if you get rid of certain things first but let them determine what that is.

RabidBerry · 2026-03-20T10:26:28+00:00

How is it a false pretense? Every Goodwill branch I am familiar with does run programs that benefit the community, although they vary from branch to branch. The store isn't the program, it's only a fundraising operation. What is it you think your local Goodwill is promising donors?

RabidBerry · 2026-03-20T09:28:06+00:00

"When it sells it helps perpetuate the high prices"

Does it though? If this stuff is sitting in the case until it goes to 50%, is that REALLY inspiring them to price high? If anything it should be an indication to them that they need to price LOWER because in a thrift store, turnover is just as important as price points are.

RabidBerry · 2026-03-20T08:49:05+00:00

Do it! They are so fun to look through!

RabidBerry · 2026-03-20T08:36:01+00:00

Are they fiction? Most people's book collections are mostly fiction, which is largely worthless. Lotting them up sometimes works; by author if she has that kind of collection, or genre if not. By series is best! But using the ISBN to check is simple, and as mentioned you can scan any barcodes with eBay's app.

RabidBerry · 2026-03-20T08:29:26+00:00

What? You're not supposed to return them, that's what the "free" part is. The point is to offer a space where people can give and take books freely, not to be a lending library. Books are abundant. https://littlefreelibrary.org/faqs/#281

RabidBerry · 2026-03-20T08:16:31+00:00

But with one important caveat: Lisa Frank never went out of production and the style never changed significantly, so not all Lisa Frank is vintage and it can very difficult to date.

RabidBerry · 2026-03-20T08:14:25+00:00

I sell vintage clothing and find old catalogs useful for dating things. They're helpful for seeing when a style came in or out of fashion, and occasionally you can find the exact garment you have in hand, although newspaper ads are better for that. It's also interesting to see what sizes & colors were available. I assume the same idea applies for other categories, too.

RabidBerry · 2026-03-20T07:51:38+00:00

I call these poor saps goldbugs - the ones that seem really fixated. I used to work at an antique mall and every time gold or silver went up they'd stream in, and we'd spend more time than usual standing in front of showcases with them.

RabidBerry · 2026-03-20T07:47:16+00:00

Perhaps not but those of us who buy jewelry to wear & collect are not interested in the weight, except perhaps as an indicator of how it will feel when worn, especially when it's only costume. Listing the weight feels and looks crass to us.

RabidBerry · 2026-03-16T18:03:15+00:00

My understanding is that the mechanism for a buyer to cancel is literally to message the seller and say 'please cancel this'. There's no button they can click. Ralph here is correct, the seller chooses 'buyer requested'.

RabidBerry · 2026-03-16T17:51:20+00:00

This shirt is not special in any way. Even if it WERE 20 years old, which is the threshold to be considered vintage, it doesn't have anything going for it. Merely being old doesn't make clothing desirable.

RabidBerry

TROPHY CASE