Thrift Shops are getting greedy

[Headphones]

So this is something I've started to notice. Goodwill & Value Village, the 2 major thrift store chains in the Seattle area are starting to jack up the prices on some but not all vinyl. Like $10 for a psychedelic Barbra Streisand Butterfly album, or $8 for a used Eagles The Long Run. Heck, it's getting tougher to find even dollar records! Now they're going up to $2!

Is this anything in your area of thrift stores that you've noticed??? I'm a cheap bastard when I go digging. I don't expect to walk out with rare James Brown records, but I look for weird records, foreign artists, but all I find are Englebert Humperdink or Barry Manillow records. Or a bunch of Christian records. So I only usually buy 3-10 cheap records.

So sorry if I sound like a cheap bastard, but I'm kinda in shock that the thrift stores are getting greedy!

[Alnitak_Kid]

thrift stores here in australia started doing that with old clothes. it's so easy to get on the internet or hire workers that scope the brands and trends and they change the prices up. old jackets that used to be $5-10 are now $30-50.
i'm sure they'd do the same with records over here but we rarely get anything other than mozart or "top hits from the..."

i usually spend $10 and up for records these days but I'm hardly ever unhappy with them. you're kinda lucky living in the states, way more diversity.

[Headphones]

To be honest, they carry a lot of crap. I mean, Liberace, Laurence Welk, and basically anything that your grandparents used to listen to, is mostly what you end up finding. So unless you plan to polish turds with antique labels, Classical music symphonies in D minor, or just odd ball strange records, you kind of end up finding a lot of stuff you just wouldn't buy.

[BruteCoan]

The Goodwill's around here are making bank and they've built two new stores. They are making a shitload on the auction site. Time for an independent investigation into their books. With all that money flowing around somebody is getting rich. Still pay workers low wages and I haven't seen a special needs worker employed at a Goodwill I frequent in over ten years. The scene is starting to stink of greed and corruption.

[Headphones]

I'm wondering if it's because Vinyl is considered "Hip", and they actually think people want their junk records?

[seezesea]

Hahahaha Streisand and Humperdink, this wouldn't be a discussion of thrift shop vinyl without them they pressed so much of that junk it'll be around till the end of earth. I've seen the same thing happen at thrift stores where I am, I think it is just them trying to capitalize on the popularity resurgence of vinyl. I think a problem probably everywhere is that a lot of thrift shop employees/owners/managers don't know much about records so they just mark everything up, not knowing what's fair to do that with and what's not

[alecsdelarge]

The key is to look outside of where you'd normally dig - second hand markets are a good bet if they're run by an elderly owner who maybe doesn't know what discogs is haha! The comeback of wax has led to mad price increases, but you can still get lucky if you know where to look

I do miss the £1 comeups but being more selective in my digging has saved me a lot of money in the long run, it's between picking up a record I actually want for £10+ from a record store vs £10+ spent on bargain bin records that may or may not have any heat on - I can't really afford to waste cash on some new coasters these days

[Headphones]

Last week when I came to the counter of a Value Village in North Seattle, I got lucky(I guess), when all the records I picked up were a buck. The guy who rang me up said they considered raising all records to $2, but they decided not to. I guess enough people either were complaining or it was too much of a hastle to set it up that way.

Now that it's summer, there's always garage sales that sell vinyl. One summer all they had were 78s. Yes, my Vestax portable player plays them, but I wasn't really into collecting them. I passed.

[yan]

My local goodwill is 2.99 flat for records and then one I know of a little farther down the road has them all custom priced like you were saying. I have completely blown off purchasing from either and just crate dig at this thrift store called savers. Seems to be the only one that still charges $1 flat. I recommend doing some searching at your local record shop they are the only places I've seen that still got 50 cent bins. As far as rarity though they obviously know their shit so there's quite a bit of garbage

[Headphones]

I don't know people looking to pay $2.99 and up for damaged covers, bland music, and artists only your grandparents would know. As far as I can tell, Goodwill just wants more money to help a disabled or foreign worker get job skills, and records going up in price are just one of the many products that will allow them to do that!

[Teddyp]

its all old showtunes and barry manilow for sure here in Indianapolis, or like audio bible records... the worst is the gentrified hipster neighborhoods are the only places that even have record shops here, and they're just full of overpriced shit that no one wants... I did go visit Cleveland recently and found a pretty dope shop tho... honestly I brought my record player to my friend's lake property a few weeks ago and I haven't taken it back out of my car yet.. need to bust that thing out

[l i f]

I have noticed this here in Gothenburg too.. the recycling depos have started having their employees use like, discogs to set prices on things and anything but various disco hits of whatever year have doubled or tripled in price.

We have a mean selection of secondhand record stores in town with excellent bins; you expect to pay a little more there.. no problems, whatever.

BUT> I was at a huge secondhand emporium/festival once-off event thing the other week and was not only pleased to see that the prices on all the records were between 1-2USD each, but that the variety on offer was really diverse.
Left me with the impression that the next 10-15 years are going to be interesting as the older buyers with taste for decent quality sounds slowly pass on and their collections end up in the bins... a little morbid on the one side, but could be good times ahead for diggers.

[Sharris]

Prices went up at Goodwill in Longview, WA as well, all vinyl used to be a buck a piece now it's $4. Crazy.

[zendanisdead]

So this is something I've started to notice. Goodwill & Value Village, the 2 major thrift store chains in the Seattle area are starting to jack up the prices on some but not all vinyl. Like $10 for a psychedelic Barbra Streisand Butterfly album, or $8 for a used Eagles The Long Run. Heck, it's getting tougher to find even dollar records! Now they're going up to $2!

Is this anything in your area of thrift stores that you've noticed??? I'm a cheap bastard when I go digging. I don't expect to walk out with rare James Brown records, but I look for weird records, foreign artists, but all I find are Englebert Humperdink or Barry Manillow records. Or a bunch of Christian records. So I only usually buy 3-10 cheap records.

So sorry if I sound like a cheap bastard, but I'm kinda in shock that the thrift stores are getting greedy!

yes, not just thrift stores, every single store that sells records has raised the prices. supply and demand my friend, simple economics

[THEGREAT]

^ yes
ebay might be a cheaper option if you know exactly what vinyls youre looking out for . plenty of ebay seller's just wanna get rid