Trying to find good places to find items for reselling isn’t always easy, but if you have a Goodwill Bins (clearance store) near you, you might want to check it out. We have found a lot of profitable items at the bins, but it does take some work and sometimes it’s frustrating. So below I will give you what I think are the pros and cons of shopping at the bins.
Pricing
The first pro is the pricing, you pay by the pound for most items and usually if you buy more than 25 pounds the price per pound decreases. Every bin has a different price table, so make sure you check what the prices are at your local clearance center. Make sure to also check exceptions to this price. Sometimes, they charge separate prices for books or electronics. No matter the price, you will always make a better deal at the bins. But overall, you can’t find better deals at a thrift store.
Selection
Next is selection. There is a lot of merchandise in the bins but remember that this is mainly items that didn’t sell at regular Goodwill stores. That doesn’t mean you can’t find anything good, just that you have to look at everything much more carefully for tears or damage. Selection also depends on how donations are coming in. If there are a lot of donations, sometimes things will go straight to clearance centers because regular Goodwill stores just don’t have the space and sometimes it’s a little lean.
Do you have time?
Time- if you really want to find some good items, be prepared to spend a good bit of time here. Let me explain how bins work. Everything is thrown onto a big bin-like table, or an actual big box bin and you must dig through these to see what’s there. When the bins first come to the floor, a lot of people will be just throwing stuff around to see if they can grab something first. This is definitely one of the cons. After this first rush of people if you take some time and really dig through each bin, you’ll probably find a few things that people missed, or something that you can sell that maybe they can’t. So, time can be both a pro and con. If you don’t have a good couple of hours to spend, then trying to look at the new rotation of bins quickly can get really frustrating.
Customers
Customers- this is a definite con most of the time. There are a lot of pickers at most bins, and sometimes they can be really rude. You can get pushed aside, things taken out of your grasp, and just plain meanness by some. But don’t let that discourage you. We have also met some really nice people at a lot of the bins we’ve been to and learned a lot from some of them.
Be prepared
Organization on your part makes going to the bins a much more enjoyable experience. Get yourself some big bags, we find Ikea bags work great. Put all of your new items in the Ikea bag, and the ones you are keeping in the shopping cart underneath. This way you know what you still need to check before you purchase. They also help in carrying your haul out to the car. If you can’t get a shopping cart, they are also great to put your stuff in to carry around with you as you search.
Overall, I think the bins are worth going to even if it’s only once a month. The price is certainly right and as I’ve said we have found sound really profitable items here. If you would like to see more about bin shopping, click here: https://youtu.be/lDeejf-o5FY