If you’re willing to spend some time in a store looking for deals, thrift stores can be exciting places, as you may be able to get your hands on a cool item for an even cooler price.
At least, that’s the idea. Many thrifters have slammed resellers for “ruining” the experience of shopping at secondhand stores and consignment shops, and there have been instances where decor that originally retailed for $8.99 was being priced at a turgid $220.
Now, it seems like there’s yet another thing to look out for, aside from high prices and family photos, in thrift shops—dollar store items being sold above the asking price. This is something TikToker @thrift_gawdess showed off in a viral clip that’s garnered over 637,000 views as of Saturday.
@thrift_gawdess Makes perfect sense… 🤔 #thrift #thrifting #thriftstore #thriftshop #thriftfail #thriftfails #thriftingfail #thriftingfails ♬ original sound – Thrift_Gawdess
In her video, @thrift_gawdess points her camera to a jar she finds on a thrift store shelf—there’s a Dollarama price sticker on the glass container that clearly displays a $1.25 tag.
“Why spend $1.25 at the dollar store when you can get it used at the thrift for $2!” the Poshmark and eBay reseller writes in a text overlay.
There certainly are glass jars for sale on Dollarama’s website, too, except they appear to have different designs and storage capacities than the one shown in the TikTok, along with different price tags. They range from $1.50 to $3.25 a unit. So, perhaps the owner of the thrift store thought that the particular dimensions of this jar, along with its lack of online availability, paired with inflation, justified the 75-cent upcharge.
One commenter replied that they were shocked at the thrift store’s pricing shown off in @thrift_gawdess’ video.
“No way yalls thrift stores are so expensive,my mom got me 3 day ago a dress with 45 cents(did currency tho),” they said.
Someone else said that their local thrift shop employed a similar practice of purchasing items from the dollar store in order to line its shelves.
“My local thrift store buys stuff out from the dollar tree 2 streets down all the time,”
A former thrift store employee commented that overcharging for items was a common practice at the location where they worked.
“I recently just quit my job at a thrift store, and they overpriced everything. i worked in clothes so i’d always price everything as low as I could,” they said.
Several other thrift store aficionados have posted their grievances with both the offerings and prices of some of the finds they’ve come across in their journeys through the second-hand store. Recently, one TikToker went viral after calling out Goodwill for selling scrapbook paper for $50. Another person also criticized the popular thrift chain for charging $8 for sweatpants, and then there was this Salvation Army location that purportedly offered a fur coat for customers to purchase, as long as they were willing to hand over $500 for it.
Another issue that’s cropped up in a few videos were price discrepancies shoppers found between identical items, along with other instances of overcharging for budget goods. For example, this $5 Five and Below Rug is being sold at a thrift shop for a whopping $30.
The Daily Dot has reached out to @thift_gawdess via Instagram direct message and Dollarama via email.
