TV's at the thrift stores

[llcvt15]

Thrift stores are strange places indeed. There was one guy in town who made a living cleaning out estates and delinquent rental properties, he ran a small shop out of an old auto garage selling the stuff he'd get. I kept him in buisness for a while I'm sure, one of the more interesting things I bought (to the folks in an electronics forum at least) was a 1975 Zenith Allegro stereo with the original speakers. Still works good and I use it daily. He used to let me buy literally truck loads of stuff for $20 just to get it out of the way. I also always stopped by after hours to dig thru the dumpster, so many cool things just didn't make the cut to get put on the floor...

The Salvation Army in town still knows me by name, even though I'm not nearly as common of shopper as I used to be. In one corner of the store they'd have a 80's fridge for $250 and in the other washing machines for $35. The pricing didn't always make sense to me. And I agree with everybody on the junk in the record bin (swear if I find the Goodyear Christmas album one more darn time...). They also would offer me interesting deals, "well, that one TV is $40, but all six of them are $20"... They also would "hide" antique radios and things in the store so they could sell them to me when I'd come in later...

I guess the only thing I learned was go often and make friends with everybody if you want to make a good deal...

[bgadow]

There is a woman in a nearby town who has booths in several antique malls. She also has a flea market of sorts out on the highway. The woman really has a serious problem (hoarding, pretty severe) to the point that you really can't get inside any of the buildings she has. Anyway, she still goes to the auction every week and loads up with a ton (literally) of stuff. For several years I would go there every other Saturday and she would sell me pretty much everything electronic she had picked up recently. I rarely paid more than about $35, and more than once I loaded the pickup for under $20. Just loads and loads of clock radios, some higher end sets from the 30s-40s but with cabinet damage, test equipment, some decent consoles, and yep, some TV sets as well. I've bought several 10BP4 sets from her for next to nothing. (last one was a GE Locomotive with some cabinet issues, $10) Eventually I ran out of space, while also realizing that nobody else wanted most of what I had bought!

[ChrisW6ATV]

Originally Posted by llcvt15

They also would offer me interesting deals, "well, that one TV is $40, but all six of them are $20"...

I have had spaces at the local electronics flea markets and priced heavy things that way, especially soon before closing. "$10 each or both for $5!"

[jln1966]

I hit the thrifts a lot also. It is hard to find anything good anymore. I went to a DAV on Sunday. They had tvs on the sidewalk plus more inside. Most were missing the remotes and were beat up. I notice most tvs that have a door over the controls that it is usually missing. The records are usually crap though I did score 4 Elvis albums. They are later pressings of some of his earlier releases. I did get a late 90s Pioneer cd player for 25 cents a while back.
John

[radiotvnut]

I was in the SA today, just to see what was going on. The only set that was missing from last time was the 17" knob tuned Sears. There was a mid '80's 19" Zenith, with a broken off control door, priced at $45 and the single knob tuned '80's Zenith console was priced at $75. I think they had $50 on it last time. I thought the object was to lower the price when something didn't sell, not raise it! I commented to my friend that if I had that Zenith console in my shop, I would feel like I'd done something if I was able to get $20 for it. And, $45 for an early-to-mid '80's beat up 19" color TV? Forget it! $25-$30 is about tops for a recent model 19" color TV with AV jacks and a remote. The next time someone bitches to me about my TV prices, I'm going to send them to the SA. Then, they'll see that my prices are not that bad, after all.

When the old manager was there, I used to donate many TV's to them, including some knob tuned sets. Often times, I'd go back in a day or two and he'd say, "Well, I sold that TV that you gave us". That's because he priced things to move and he was willing to negotiate. Once, he got in a low end Zenith tube stereo console that was rather beat up. He actually asked me what he should ask for it and I told him that if someone waved any amount of money in front of him; then, he should sell it.

[ChrisW6ATV]

Originally Posted by radiotvnut

I thought the object was to lower the price when something didn't sell, not raise it!

Their twisted logic is probably "it has taken up valuable space for more time, so we have to charge for that now too".

[radiotvnut]

And, it will eventually go unsold and will wind up in the dumpster behind the store.

[tvcollector]

Habitat for Humanity is one of the worse places when it comes to prices.. I've seen stuff there marked at ridicules prices, not to mention I've seen stuff lying around there for over a year.. They tag prices on there stuff that shows a date, and I've noticed they go around every once and a while and relabel stuff that's been setting around with the same price but updated date..

[Harvestman]

I volunteer at a thrift store occasionally (St. Vincent de Paul), and one day I had the duty of testing electronics.

Here's how it's done:
1) Plug the item in.
2) Does it work? (Does it turn on?)
a. If yes, then wipe it off with a damp paper towel and go to #3.
b. If no, then throw it in the electronics barrel, which either goes to the warehouse or to the electronics recycler.
c. If you can't test it, then go to #4.
3) What kind of electronics unit is it?
a. If it is a CD player, mark it as $10.
b. If it is a record player, mark it as $5 or $10 depending on size.
c. If it is a printer/scanner, mark it anywhere from $5 to $10 depending on size.
d. If it is a TV, mark it as $10 for small ones, and $15-20 for large ones.
e. If it is a receiver, then you must be really bad at identifying electronics, because I've shopped at this store for 6 years and have NEVER seen a single receiver.
4) If you can't test it, take a label that says "This item cannot be tested and is sold as-is without warranty" and go to #3. The price will usually be lower.

This seems to be the unwritten code of pricing. At least at SVdP, they don't have a specific price guide to consult.

[JCFitz]

I used to shop at the local Goodwill. They used to get a ton of records both lps and 45s. Well the record section got smaller and worse and worse and 1 day the 45s vanished never to be seen in that store again. I guess they're selling all the good stuff on the internet now. As for tvs they never had anything really vintage and quit carrying consoles of any kind tv or stereo.

[tvcollector]

That's true.. They price them, they don't sell it goes to the dumpster.. Most Goodwills around here usually don't test stuff, as most of the VCRS at one of them have a price marked $24.99, in most cases when I test one, they end up having an issue.. And I wonder why they have a bigger electronics section at that one, when I told the manager that the other Goodwills sell these things for $4.99. His comment was well we specialize more in electronics than the other Goodwills, I commented back, NO you have your electronics marked too high, they're not selling.. Boy they hate to argue.. You would think some places would mark the prices at a price to sell as mentioned above.. Instead of lowering them and when they don't sell, they just go to the dumpster... I think they do this on purpose..

One of the thrifts around here I would go in there once a week, and I would always buy a certain house hold item worth $5-$10 from the early 80s (Something else I collect) After a while they caught on and thought they were worth more than what they were selling them for, well they started marking the prices a ridicules $50.. I got into a big argument with the sales person in the department, I went to the GM and fixed that one..

Keep in mind, if they see you going to these places and buying alot of the same thing, they will think you're making money somehow and mark prices up really high

[JCFitz]

Originally Posted by tvcollector

Keep in mind, if they see you going to these places and buying alot of the same thing, they will think you're making money somehow and mark prices up really high

Or they don't put them in the store at all anymore like the 45 records I mentioned. No 45s in my local store for 2 years now, I used to buy a ton of them there even when they raised the price to $1 each.It seems like all the rock and roll is gone from the LPs also unless it's a beat up example that looks like someone used it for a doormat.The electronics have dwindled down to all modern junk mostly cheap stereos and vcrs rarely a tv set.

[tvcollector]

Originally Posted by JCFitz

Or they don't put them in the store at all anymore like the 45 records I mentioned.

That's true.. That happens to me as well.. I don't get the point.. It only takes away money they are making, and of course things you collect..

[Kamakiri]

Around here, the Salvation Army has an "as-is" store, where they end up bringing all the stuff that either doesn't sell at their stores, or is too dirty or broken for them to bother putting in the store. They used to get amazing treasures, I remember once I got a Zenith model 835 chrome front cathedral radio for $20, and a Pioneer SX-838 receiver for $5. More often than not now, all you see there is junk. The era of the "save everything" old couple has almost come to an end, and the stuff that is being donated most often is the stuff we'd overlook at the curb.

I did score a Craftsman router table, an army duffle bag, and a couple other trinkets for only $5 this week.

The one thing that I'm watching for intently is TV rolling carts. They're almost more rare to find than the sets themselves.

[Eric H]

The Salvation Army store in my town closed this past weekend.
I walked in and it was empty, 75% off everything and I missed it!