3 ms·
That sentiment isn't shared across the whole of the US. One area is in kid stuff. Thrift/secondhand stores selling baby/small child clothes are very common in m
by sybercecurity 1y ago
That sentiment isn't shared across the whole of the US. One area is in kid stuff. Thrift/secondhand stores selling baby/small child clothes are very common in most suburbs. Kids outgrow stuff very quickly so a lot of parents go to stores that specialize in baby clothes, toys, and various stuff. New designer kid's clothes are mostly bought by grandparents or first time parents. There are some stores the specialize in secondhand sports equipment too - so parents can have a trial run to see if their kid really likes a new sport before investing in it.
Online marketplaces seem to dominate the secondhand market in the US though. Or there is a storefront but also has a big online presence.
- bityard 1y agoBy "this kind of thing" I specifically meant the subject of the video: tool stores. Used clothing stores are all over and account for 90% or more of the floor space of most thrift shops. In my area, there are even facebook groups for people to give away their unwated clothes for free. Haven't found any of those for tools, though.
- alnwlsn 1y agoI think this might be because once you have a tool, you either use it forever or until it breaks, and don't sell it in a good enough condition that it would be worth anything. My dad's circular saw, which he found in the trash 40 years ago, will probably last the rest of his life and all of my life. Used tools are dirty, oily, and heavy. That's why my shop is outfitted with a lot of estate sale finds. Old people croak, and their next of kin don't want to move a half ton of steel (even to the thrift shop, who also doesn't want to move them around their store), so it ends up in the hands of people like me for near scrap prices.
- sumtechguy 1y agoAs someone looking for a piano. It seems to be the same there. Prices from 'get this thing away from me' to 'care to take out a small 50k loan?'.
- ElevenLathe 1y agoAt least in my part of the US (midwest), estate sales are the best place to find old tools. People hold onto them until they die, but then you can buy them! estatesales.net (no affiliation, just a user) lists the vast majority of them, and usually even has pictures of what is for sale that you can scroll through before actually going. I've gotten a lot of insane deals on tools this way -- just recently bought a vintage (good quality, perfect working order) 10inch wood bandsaw for $20!.
- bombcar 1y agoThese are so hit and miss - sometimes they’re just everything is incredibly overpriced and sometimes if you show up late, you get an entire garage tools for less than the scrap value of the metal.
- bityard 1y agoHah. There was an estate sale in my neighborhood last summer. Quite a few tools in the garage that I was interested in but the prices were crazy. 30-50 year-old tools priced the same as brand-new. Even asking 50% off would be been too much for a lot of the stuff. I asked if they would take X for something and the guy said, "we're not doing any discounts, everything is as marked." Walked back to my car shaking my head. Guess they didn't want to actually sell anything.
- bombcar 1y agoI really want to know what happens afterwards. Sometimes it makes sense - a widow trying to clear out her husband's garage without much understanding of what it is - so prices it what she remembers him buying it for. But others are run by professional estate companies; either they know they can get certain prices online (where?) or they do some form of scam where they overprice everything and when it doesn't sell they offer some "bargain price" to clear the house out.
- uxp100 1y agoThe last day of most estate sales is when heavy discounts are available.