About 15% of Americans currently save money by shopping at their local thrift store near them. While the exact savings individuals will experience vary by many factors (as noted below) the average savings on products over major retailers tend to range from about 50 to 80%.
They consider the following items among those you should avoid buying from secondhand stores.
A secondhand store is one where the owner has sourced used furniture and other kinds of items, to sell as a business venture. A thrift store is one where the items have been donated to charity, and where they are sold to provide funds for that charity.
Because thrift store items are so cheap, it's fun to experiment with styles or colours that you might not usually buy. If you only wear that hot pink shirt or embroidered pants a few times, hey, it was only $3, instead of $30... or, heaven forbid, $300.
| Clothing | ||
|---|---|---|
| Women's | Men's/Women's Accessories | |
| Jacket | $6.99 | $3.99 |
| Jeans | $5.99 | $1.99 |
| Overalls – Long | $4.99 | $3.99 |
Best Things to Resell for Profit
Flipping thrift store items is a great way to earn a little extra cash to pad your emergency fund. I don't usually purchase things from a thrift store with the intent to sell. Instead, I purchase items for my family to enjoy and then when we are finished with them I will list them on eBay or Craigslist.
Those expenses chip away at thrift stores' profits, and as of 2016, used merchandise retailers made a pretax profit of 3.3 percent – meaning that an average 10-person thrift store might generate only $11,880 in annual profits. That said, the average annual salary for a thrift shop manager hovers around $52,000.
Bed Bugs and Thrift Shops
Bed bugs are great hitchhikers. They can be brought into thrift stores on clothing, furniture and other used items from bed bug-infested homes. Bed bugs are very good at hiding and sometimes very difficult to find. Tiny holes, cracks and upholstery seams are often bed bug hiding places.
While used clothing is generally fine, you don't want these items used. Because of where they sit on your body, a whole other level of germs come into play. That includes genital infections and small amounts of poop.
In short, no, it is not wrong in the slightest to shop at thrift store if you can afford to shop elsewhere. I'll explain the ethical conundrum I think you were getting at using two examples. A thrift store, by definition, is used to raise funds for a charity through the sale of second-hand goods.
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