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Last night I was joking around with my husband about needing a rich lady to donate all her designer duds to my favorite thrift so I could get a decent haul. Well today I went to my local(ish) thrift and found not one, but 27 St John pieces all in the same size and all on the same rack they had just rolled out. I also got 8 Eileen Fisher pieces, 2 Misook and 48 other high end pieces like Sandro. I doubt I will ever have another day as grand as today. Oh, and each piece averaged $4 each.
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@mycottage, lol absolutely. It certainly felt like a movie. š
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@Ryanne I’ve been selling on eBay for just about 20 years and this is the first time anything like this has ever happened for me. I’m afraid this just inflated my expectations for all future thrifting lol.
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@AtomicStar – funny thing is, I have no clue what the brands are you are talking about, and if I was tasked to clean out a closet of women’s clothing, I probably would have donated it all myself.
That’s the great part about scavenging – there are probably 1000’s of items a year we all pass by, the are right in our face, and would turn great profit – but we just have no clue that they are worth anything to someone else.
We all have our specialties – if we both walked in the same thrift store, our carts would be full of completely different items with very little overlap. Lots of good stuff to go around!
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@Inglewood, I agree…there have been so many times I have thrown out/donated things (pre-ebay) because I had no idea they would be worth something-or that they mattered. While I’m pretty familiar with clothing brands, there is still much I have to learn. And I’m not sure if @Jay said it, but someone on the forums did…no one person can possibly know all the items that are good sellers. That being said, I always bank on that ideology when thrifting. I learn so much from other thrifters/ebayers. The Scavenger Life YouTube series and now the forums alone have taught me so much!
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Awesome!
The last time this happened to me was a big collection of Escada clothes (European luxury brand) at Goodwill. Obviously from one lady who had accumulated them between the late 80s-2000s. I picked what I thought was the best of the bunch, but in retrospect I should have bought it all. A lot of the stuff I left was very dated. Then when I got things listed, I saw that the more flamboyant and 80s-looking the items were, the faster they sold! Much like St. John, buyers are loyal to the brand because they’re very committed to a certain look.
I’ll also never forget the time I was having a blah thrifting run, and was standing in front of a shoe rack thinking, “I’d really like to see a pair of Ferragamos right now.” Then I looked down, and there they were!
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Whenever I think about how I’ve probably missed so many valuable items when scavenging b/c I just can’t know everything, it reminds me of this classic SNL episode:
https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/riddles-of-the-universe/n9580
And I imagine something like this:
me: What’s the most valuable thing I passed over while scavenging?
angel: uhh…. you couldn’t handle it
me: ok ok, so what’s the 300th most valuable thing I passed over while scavenging?
angel: a dusty faberge egg at the bottom of a box at the junky perma-garage-sale that you always passed by with disdain -
@HistoryNerd, Really? Ferragamos? Dang! I see these all.the.time. I pass them up. I do have 1 pair to sell. Haven’t listed yet. While I do have some shoes, I really do not like to sell them. Not sure why. I just don’t. Maybe I’ll pick up a few next time I see them. Or maybe not. Not sure.
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@daisy, the classic “Vara” style, or any variation on it, is a no-brainer for me if they’re in good condition and under $20. I can always sell them within a month or so for $75-$100. Customers know what size they wear, so they rarely get returned. I pass on women’s Ferragamos if they don’t have the logo and/or classic bow feature. Those will sell eventually, but it takes longer, and prices are lower. I don’t know as much about men’s Ferragamos, but I’d guess they’re also a reliable sale if they have classic Ferragamo styling.
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Congratulations, Atomic Star! What an awesome find!!!
I know what you mean by “Iām afraid this just inflated my expectations for all future thrifting lol.”
My story about that doesn’t involve thrifting but I think it applies: Back in the day when I was a receptionist with nothing to do but wait for clients and phone calls all day I decided to enter sweepstakes to give me something to do during my dead time at work. The first sweepstakes that I entered I won an all expenses paid trip to Grand Cayman. Airfare, deluxe resort hotel, meals at fancy restaurants and the whole 9 yards. I was really young then and I thought that win meant I’d be getting new cars, cash and all kinds of prizes similar to that Grand Caymen trip with every sweepstakes I entered. I was super upset when the t-shirts started pouring in! I wasn’t even happy with the cross country skis or sets of pots and pans I won. Everything I subsequently got for free paled in comparison to the Grand prize from that first sweepstakes. Yup, I totally know what you mean!
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@vintagetreasures I used to subscribe to sweepstakesonline and I can totally relate. I won quite a few amazing trips, but the t shirts and video games were a letdown, lol. š My favorite trip win was to Los Angeles with a shopping spree on Rodeo Drive. It was from No Nonsense pantyhose. I won the trip and then 9/11 happened. Due to that they sent me a check for $7,000 in lieu of the trip. I was fine with that! One other memorable win was a pink electric guitar from the Powder Puff girls. Super fun. Too bad postage got so expensive. That’s why I quit mailing in second chance entries.
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I’ve passed over so many Misook and Sandro pieces because I didn’t think they were of any value! I must have been basing my judgments on the plainness of the label designs.
Amazing thrift score! And love the tangent into sweepstakes. I used to enter sweepstakes anytime I was watching tv (I can’t just sit and watch tv, I have to multi task). But every entry means I’m also signing up to some email list and even though I have an email acct specifically for sweeps, there’s just too many emails to wade through to find the one that says, “You’ve won! Please confirm you address.” There are currently 17,642 unopened emails in that inbox.
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Circling back around on this. I spent $340 on everything I bought that day and listed it all for $4,750 with best offer. So far I’ve made $1,565 (10 days) not including fees and original costs. I’ve had one return for a pair of Gucci shoes to the tune of $150 which stung, but that’s the way the game goes.
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@daisy Thanks!
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AtomicStar thanks for the update on the miracle thrift sales. That is fantastic!
I also quit sweepstakes because the postage really added up by the I figured out I’d be getting mostly t-shirts as a return on the postage costs. I was entering back when you had to subscribe to a sweepstakes newsletter that would come in the mail; before anything was on-line. The newsletter gave you all the info you needed to enter, answers to questions and such.
I remember when I got the phone call about winning the grand prize I was asked about the country music stars I liked the best. The sweepstakes I won had the answer you needed to enter inside the country singer’s record album. And I was like ummm, ummm, Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline? I couldn’t think of anyone else…
Thank goodness I used to help my Mom clean her cocktail lounge when I was a kid – I knew both those country stars from the jukebox in her bar. I don’t actually like country music, I’m a rock and roll gal. I kept thinking I’d get found out (that I didn’t buy the record album) and the trip would be taken away from me!
Julie B, all the second place winners in those 17,642 contests must be very grateful to you!
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