Be Careful of Goodwills Online Auction Site

[srcdco]

Be Careful of Goodwill's Online Auction Site

I signed up for an account (free) on the shopgoodwill.com site, bid on an item and won it. Then they had a system crash and "lost" all the bidding information. I sent along the emails that I received from them about the item, showing that I was the winner, but got no responses. I just got off the phone with the local Goodwill that listed the item and they allowed someone else to pay for it and they shipped it out already to the other person. What a bunch of idiots! I'm not going to their site anymore and I would be very careful if you dare to try to deal with them.

Scott

 

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[creeper71]

I got a stories better then that.. I won a auction few years back for a penny book that had a alot of pennies in it there was a 1914D in it when I bid an won auction.. when I got my booklet from Goodwill auction.. There was no 1914D in the 1914D slot it was a 1950 something.. I called an no one knew what happened to the penny.. I told them If they didn't find my penny my credit card charge will be canceled.. they beat around the bush a few day an when it was all said in done thet gave me back my 55.00 an made me return the booklet to them..

 

[Catobra]

A few years back I bid on a few items and won-everything worked out ok for me though. Sucks to hear that there have been bad experiences. I stopped looking there because the shipping and handling charges really jack up the "good" price you thought you were getting the item for.

If they are anything like the people who work/run the Goodwills around me they are sorely lacking in the customer service and basic how-to-run-a-store skills-sad.

 

[hillbillygal]

I've only bought once from them as I find their shipping charges a bit high. I got an email the other day talking about the major screw ups but hadn't placed any bids in the past year.

 

[pwcguy]

I hate that they sell all the good stuff on line instead of in the stores. They don't even sell gold or silver items at my local store they just sell it for scrap.

 

[Keppy]

I hate that they sell all the good stuff on line instead of in the stores. They don't even sell gold or silver items at my local store they just sell it for scrap.

Yes it is hard to find any thing good in there stores any more........

 

[Beans]

What is the purpose of Goodwill any way? Didn't they start out helping those who needed some kind of assistance?

 

[AC1955]

Goodwill Industries provides sheltered workshops for people who can work, just not in the public/private sector. Often these are menial jobs - basic assembly for instance. Many of the workers are severely handicapped either physically or mentally. The money Goodwill raises in their stores and their auction sites provides funding for these programs and "salaries" for the workers. Goodwill is similar to the Salvation Army, but without the religious aspect. Hope this helps.

 

[gilgar]

I've never had any luck with goodwill auction sites, the prices go way too crazy--worse than ebay.

Our local Goodwills pull out all the good stuff (and some not so good) for live auctions every Saturday. It makes it hard to find anything really good anymore, but not impossible. I still find some good stuff now and then but rarely.

 

[diggummup]

As for the Goodwill online auction site, I agree. The prices some people pay for the items on there are ridiculous. I think they are willing to pay more because in their minds, it's a charity organization and it's going to a "good cause". This may be true, but it's also a big business and the actual percentage of donated funds that go to the cause is minute and dwindling every year.

I will say that in my large metropolitan area (retirement capital of the nation), there is still good stuff to be found at Goodwill and Salvation Army both, as well as others. I have been at this for years and still make good finds regularly. I also know a guy that does nothing but make the rounds all day, every day, to about 16 different stores in Miami. He finds many good things all the time, every week. I have two banana boxes full of goods that I purchased from this individual a week or so ago. I paid $300 for the lot, he paid about $100. I will make a minimum of $1200 profit on this stuff after all is said and done. This old man knows his stuff and has been doing it for decades. My brother in law also makes regular rounds to the thrift stores in another part of the city, he has found and still finds many items on a weekly basis. He has been doing this for probably 30 years too. You may remember my thread about the Tiffany Favrile Pottery vase that he found. He ended up on last years episode of the Antiques Roadshow. http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/g...-vase-update-appraised-antiques-roadshow.html

Louis Comfort Tiffany Pottery Favrile Vase, ca. 1905 | Roadshow Archive | PBS

They don't know everything and a lot depends on who's running the show. The donated goods from each store are all sent to a central facility, sorted, priced and distributed out to the local stores in the area. The trick is being there when they roll the bins out from the back of the store to fill the shelves with.

 

[srcdco]

I know I started this thread, but I'd like to reply to this last post. My wife works at Goodwill and they don't send the stuff that comes in to a central facility. What comes in the door is sorted, priced, and put out in the same store that it was donated to. Some items are pulled for "Ecom", or to go online. All jewelry is pulled (this was a recent change) and sorted for gold, silver, etc. and sold that way. The "junk" jewelry is put online in bulk batches. The only stuff that goes to the central facility and then is redistributed is the stuff that is donated in the unattended boxes and the few attended locations that are not associated with a store.
Some other rules: Employees are not allowed to buy items with the current week's color tag. For example, if they are currently using blue tags, the employees cannot purchase anything with a blue tag until the next week. That doesn't mean that they can't contact someone to come in and buy something for them, or hold an item in the back until the next week and immediately purchase it. Both of those do happen.
Items slated to go to Ecom are tagged with the store that submitted them. If they don't sell online, they are returned to the store to be put on the shelf for local sale. They do pull items off the shelf if they don't sell in 3 - 4 weeks. Those items go to the dumpster. If you are brave, you could make out well dumpster diving at Goodwill, but the dumpsters are labelled as "Private Property", so be careful.

My biggest complaint was with the auction site and what happened to the item that I supposedly won. I still have the emails stating that I was the highest bidder and won the item, but they were trying to do an upgrade and it failed. In the process, they "lost" all the bids placed during several days, including mine. Even though I have proof of my "winning" the item, the local Goodwill (Central Florida) chose to send it to the person that had the highest bid before the crash and loss of data. I called them and was told that was the last information that they received. They never got my bid from the system since it crashed. I partially blame them for not listening to me the next day when I called and wanted to pay (they said they couldn't verify my bid at that time, so they couldn't take my payment), but I mostly blame the IT people for doing such a poor job on the upgrade and ultimate failure. I work in IT and if that happened here, I'd be out of a job. There is no excuse for the poor job that they did.

Scott

 

[diggummup]

I know I started this thread, but I'd like to reply to this last post. My wife works at Goodwill and they don't send the stuff that comes in to a central facility. What comes in the door is sorted, priced, and put out in the same store that it was donated to. Some items are pulled for "Ecom", or to go online. All jewelry is pulled (this was a recent change) and sorted for gold, silver, etc. and sold that way. The "junk" jewelry is put online in bulk batches. The only stuff that goes to the central facility and then is redistributed is the stuff that is donated in the unattended boxes and the few attended locations that are not associated with a store.
Some other rules: Employees are not allowed to buy items with the current week's color tag. For example, if they are currently using blue tags, the employees cannot purchase anything with a blue tag until the next week. That doesn't mean that they can't contact someone to come in and buy something for them, or hold an item in the back until the next week and immediately purchase it. Both of those do happen.
Items slated to go to Ecom are tagged with the store that submitted them. If they don't sell online, they are returned to the store to be put on the shelf for local sale. They do pull items off the shelf if they don't sell in 3 - 4 weeks. Those items go to the dumpster. If you are brave, you could make out well dumpster diving at Goodwill, but the dumpsters are labelled as "Private Property", so be careful.


Scott

Regarding Salvation Army, in my area everything that is collected "in store" is sent off to the central distribution facility in downtown Ft. Lauderdale on Broward Blvd. The same is true for Goodwill, their main facility is located in downtown Miami. Maybe it's done differently elsewhere but that's the way it's done down here. There are 41 retail locations in the tri county area for Goodwill. Salvation Army only has a handful. I picked up 3 pieces of silver jewelry just last week from a Goodwill, plainly marked, plus a nice Trifari Tiger brooch.

 

[bazinga]

I don't even see jewelry at Goodwills anymore. It's been a few years since I've seen it around here. Many stores used to have several cases full of jewelry. Not anymore

 

[Michigan Badger]

While the internet has really made it easy to sell it sure ruined a lot of former purchasing opportunities for people looking to make a humble profit. It used to be fun (like a treasure hunt) to visit the various thrift shops. Now they're mostly good for clothes and low value hardware items.

Over the years we've donated many good items to them. But now it sort of alarms me that I see Goodwill (and others) selling dollar store items for more than the dollar stores ask. It seems like these "non-profit" stores have become big business and often take sales away from struggling (tax paying) privately owned shops.

In the old days Goodwill and the others had simple buildings in out-of-the-way places. Today many have big fancy stores in prime locations.

Now when we change decor or whatever we simply give it to people we know are struggling in life.

 

[goldinmypan]

Don't know first hand but I have heard that the person who runs the Sal. army only makes $12,000 a year. Compared to most other "charities" they put a much higher % of their donations to their cause.

 

[diggummup]

Don't know first hand but I have heard that the person who runs the Sal. army only makes $12,000 a year. Compared to most other "charities" they put a much higher % of their donations to their cause.

That's an urban legend. Irael Gaither, National Commander of the Salvation Army makes somewhere between 79k and 243k a year, estimated figures. It's a religious org. so they don't have to report to the IRS. In comparison to Goodwill CEO James Gibbons makes 335k a year which is less than the top paid exec at the company, George Kessinger, former CEO and President, who makes 633k. As far as percentages of the donations that go to the cause, I don't know the latest figures. But i'm sure it's not too high. I'll check later and see what I can come up with. It's all big business nowadays. They both sell clothing to Africa for money.

 

[Catobra]

I review any large charity that I donate to on the below website, Charity Navigator. It lists CEO salaries among other things. Odd, though several charities with the name "Goodwill" are listed (I am not 100% positive that they are THE Goodwill), when you look at the results for a search for "Goodwill" obviously not every Goodwill across the country is listed and although they review Goodwill, they do not review the Salvation army because, "Many religious organizations are exempt under Internal Revenue Code from filing the Form 990. As a result, we lack sufficient data to evaluate their financial health."

The below link is for the Goodwill Industries of Denver (current CEO $74k vs former CEO $234k, interesting):

Charity Navigator Rating - Goodwill Industries of Denver

I know Goodwill provide training and opportunity for the "unfortunate" (in South Jersey it is also for community service (i.e., punishment), but at some of my Goodwills, the employees are loud, obnoxious and downright stupid (throwing good merchandise and breaking it, on the sale floor, in front of customers). I do not understand how allowing this type of behavior to continue is doing any good at all. It certainly does not prepare them for entry into any retail position that I am aware of.... I realize that the current management may be afraid of the community service people who may be the ones acting this way, but that's a whole other thread! : )

Interesting thread.

 

[steelheadwill]

Good Thread!
I have no experience with their auctions.
The SAs and Goodwills here have given up silver bargains lately, I know the SA sorts their own donations
from speaking with the employees, she had been recieving when they got this necklace and earrings,
said she wasn't sure if they were silver or not.
earrings clearly marked and new, nice peridot margaritas.
necklace has tiny mark on clasp tab, 30+ grams of sterling!

Halfprice on the blue stickers that day, paid $3.50 for both!!

Previously got a sterling handled butterknife from the 10C silverware,
and a 'New in Box' Sterling rope chain from the same store.
(hidden in back of display of costume jewelery, looked like it had been there for decades)

there's still unmarked custom and oddly marked jewelery that don't get pulled.
and I can use all the 'Goodwill' I can get!
HH all! Herbie.

 

[AC1955]

I am a regular at the Nashua, NH SA store. They got in a huge load of jewelry on Tuesday...you'd think it was manna from heaven the way the folks grabbed at it. Couldn't get near it and it looked like there were some really nice pieces in there. Oh well...maybe next time my luck will be better. Hate that SA stopped dollar days and senior discount day in Nashua (? corporate decision?). Employees at this store are very nice and will do all they can to accommodate the shopper. I have been told that merchandise is ticketed and shipped to the store from an outside location. Maybe I shouldn't say too much more...don't want to give away one of my "best" shopping places!

Anita

 

[BeachComber7]

I agree hillbillygal, I find their shipping charges excessive as well. I have not bid with them in quite a while.