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ShopGoodwill Off the Rails?!


sixersfan105

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  • 2 weeks later...

Every time I hear Goodwill and videogames I think of a collector/reseller I once knew who took a job at Goodwill entirely to poach incoming donations to pad his collection or to flip. I've always since figured that only a small portion of "the good stuff" that comes in to any particular store gets poached, most of what's left ends up on Shopgoodwill, and what doesn't go there doesn't last long when it does hit store shelves because professional flippers are always raiding their local thrift stores.

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I think it’s just the same old eBay “I must win“ the auction bid war mentality. You can still find some pretty good deals on there as a guy recently bought an Atari 1040 STE computer for like $70 on there which is an insanely good deal.

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  • 1 year later...

The insight is that it's just kids with their parents credit cards and they want to win. They will never pay for it. Goodwill has no punishment for non payers, its up to the discretion of that goodwill outlet.  People that use the site have no concept of money or how much things are worth, they see something and have no trouble bidding it up to over $600 on a $20 item.

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  • 1 month later...

Yeah, I’ve not only seen the same thing (prices going above and beyond what would typically be paid on eBay, where returns are possible and a 30 day money back guarantee exists), but there seems to be no common sense on Shopgoodwill.com as “people” keep jacking the price up on a daily basis, where that wouldn’t happen on eBay. Either there are actual humans on Shopgoodwill that have never participated in an online auction before, or these are Goodwill bots driving the price up when there is a lack of activity. Either way it doesn’t seem normal or right, when prices are ending up $50-$100 higher than what you’d pay on eBay, it’s pretty clear that there’s manipulation on someone’s part here. Keep in mind that NOTHING on Shopgoodwill has been thoroughly tested, and at most is only given a rudimentary glance at best to see if it is functional. 
 

 At this point I wouldn’t put anything past “good”will, they’ve become shady as hell, you can’t even find anything somewhat nice in their stores anymore as it resembles the leftovers of a ghetto garage sale where the only things left are those things they literally couldn’t convince you to take home with you for free! If by chance you DO manage to find something at a “good”will store, it’s going to be overpriced, just like these auction prices! 
 

 

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To me, I was thinking that Goodwill is outsourcing this side of the business. As this model would require all of the good stuff to presorted by someone who knows (or researches) the possible value then moved to the side for cataloging, photos, and online it goes. That these items are not on the store shelves. 

I would expect some items to get pulled by employees but there has been some pretty valuable items that if so would have never made it to an auction.

 

This would need to be highly organized in each participating store. I noticed the site was started with California. This is old but still up on the site:

shopgoodwill.com Terms of Use           Last Updated 12/28/2016

Welcome to www.shopgoodwill.com (our “Website”), an online marketplace operated by Goodwill Industries of Orange County, d.b.a. shopgoodwill.com (“Goodwill,” “us” or “we”).

 

I also thought the employees are paid via the stores sales. So does any one know how many Goodwill stores participate with online sales? I bought something that I think came from a Goodwill in Columbus Ohio.

 

These auctions are now being fed to other partner sites, thus increasing bidders.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 1/1/2021 at 9:16 PM, Atari8bitCarts said:

To me, I was thinking that Goodwill is outsourcing this side of the business. As this model would require all of the good stuff to presorted by someone who knows (or researches) the possible value then moved to the side for cataloging, photos, and online it goes. That these items are not on the store shelves. 

I would expect some items to get pulled by employees but there has been some pretty valuable items that if so would have never made it to an auction.

 

This would need to be highly organized in each participating store. I noticed the site was started with California. This is old but still up on the site:

shopgoodwill.com Terms of Use           Last Updated 12/28/2016

Welcome to www.shopgoodwill.com (our “Website”), an online marketplace operated by Goodwill Industries of Orange County, d.b.a. shopgoodwill.com (“Goodwill,” “us” or “we”).

 

I also thought the employees are paid via the stores sales. So does any one know how many Goodwill stores participate with online sales? I bought something that I think came from a Goodwill in Columbus Ohio.

 

These auctions are now being fed to other partner sites, thus increasing bidders.

Goodwill is divided into regions. You can go into the advanced search to see what each region has to offer. The goodwill stores have been mandated by corporate to “cherry pick”, in other words take anything of value and send it in to be put on their e-commerce sites, they don’t want valuable things to be sold at the stores so that customers can get good deals or find anything nice for pennies on the dollar anymore. I’ve actually seen a store manager run up to the register and change the price of something from $19.99 to $200.00 when he overheard the customer who was checking out telling the cashier what a great find she’d made, and how it was something she had wanted to get for her family for a long time but couldn’t afford to until that day. It ended with a short dispute and her leaving the store in tears while he defended himself telling anyone who would listen that “Good”will isn’t there to “give things away”, and that he wasn’t going to “lose money” on her purchase. I guess he forgot he didn’t pay a single solitary penny for anything on his stores shelves, even if he only charged one cent for each item, it would still be a profit. He ruined her day, and ruined the day for her family as well. Greed has taken over, and while they still hide behind their “not for profit” status, they are very much a for profit business these days. Their greed has made them into crooks as well. They intentionally remove the power cords from electronics so they can’t be tested, they don’t want to lose a sale if something doesn’t work. One GW near me is a designated recycling spot for electronics, and so I brought a broken tv there a few months back to be recycled. I told them several times not to put it out on the floor, that it didn’t work and was garbage. I taped a sign to the tv stating that it was garbage, and I wrote “garbage, does not work” on the screen with the same type of grease pencil that they use. They removed the sign I’d taped to it, removed the writing on the screen, removed the power cord, and put it out on the floor for $39.99. Not only are they crooks, but they won’t even recycle electronics like they’re supposed to, apparently they put money above our planet. I called them out on it and they tried telling me that it was a different tv. I asked to speak with the manager and he told me the same thing, that I was wrong and that I shouldn’t be accusing them of things like that. Then I showed him the pictures I took of the serial number from the paperwork I got when I bought it and from the back of the tv that I had on my phone and asked him if he still wanted to stick with his story (I had a feeling they’d put it out on the floor, there were always broken TVs out there). He gave me a dirty look, mumbled something and walked away, and a minute later an employee came out and removed it. I came back the next morning and it was back on the floor so I kicked a hole in the screen when no one was looking. It was broken anyway lol! 
 

 GW absolutely places shill bids on their auctions, and runs the prices up as high as they can, and if they end up as the winning bidder they simply contact the next in line and offer it to them. If they don’t want it they re-list it. They’re shady as hell. Since there are no returns allowed, and items are only minimally tested, prices should be well below what they are on eBay where returns are allowed if something doesn’t work, and there’s even a 30 day money back guarantee that eBay offers on everything. They even take items from stores that are too big to ship, bring them to their corporate headquarters, and then list it as “pickup only” (and still charge a handling fee). Just sell it at the store it was originally at you greedy jerks!!! 
 

 You can’t write off purchases on Shopgoodwill (or store purchases) on your taxes, as it’s considered fair market value. If you over bid that’s your fault for wasting your money, it was your choice to over value whatever it is. It’s right on their website. The only thing you can deduct are actual donations of goods or money. 
 

 Employees are paid from money that’s brought in from store sales. No one is a volunteer, and everyone there is paid a wage based on their position, experience, and length of employment. They don’t get paid that much though, that’s why you see a lot of kids working there. 
 

 Give it 3 years and there won’t be any goodwill stores anymore, at least not the stores the way we know them. The stuff on the shelves already looks like a cross between the crap that no one would buy after a garage sale, and a pile of broken junk. All there will be is clothing and junk that they sell by the pound, just watch. They don’t have the time or resources to list clothing on their site, and they wouldn’t be able to turn a profit from it, so that’s why they don’t list that much of it. No ones going to get into a bidding war over a pair of used jeans lol! 
 

 What GW needs is new leadership. The people in charge are focused on the wrong things, and their greedy attitude makes them look bad. Of course they should try to get as many donations as possible, but overcharging for used stuff that isn’t tested or returnable is shady and wrong. It WILL bite them in the ass eventually. It’s really too bad, the way things were before worked well, and it was a symbiotic relationship between the customers, the stores, and the community. The word has been getting around though, and even people who don’t shop there have told me lately that they’re going to start giving their things to other groups like the veterans or the churches. Goodwill did it to themselves, greed is a poor business model. 

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I stumbled on the shopGoodwill youTube videos, they have a channel by type of item and location warehouse for online. It demonstrates their model for online sales. My biggest concern is (as I also buy trading cards):

 

How are we assured that Goodwill associates aren't going through auction items, taking out the best pieces. As example, 4 lb lot of baseball cards online, it states unsorted and to me means someone hasn't picked through them and removed the possible best. Then post sale, are we guaranteed that our won item won't have again someone going through it based on auction price to find valuable cards and removing them. That would defeat finding treasures in the wild. Thank you.
 
 

 

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1 hour ago, Atari8bitCarts said:

I stumbled on the shopGoodwill youTube videos, they have a channel by type of item and location warehouse for online. It demonstrates their model for online sales. My biggest concern is (as I also buy trading cards):

 

How are we assured that Goodwill associates aren't going through auction items, taking out the best pieces. As example, 4 lb lot of baseball cards online, it states unsorted and to me means someone hasn't picked through them and removed the possible best. Then post sale, are we guaranteed that our won item won't have again someone going through it based on auction price to find valuable cards and removing them. That would defeat finding treasures in the wild. Thank you.
 
 

 

I think you have to assume that is going on.  I frankly do not trust anything going on with that site.  

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