Buying secondhand items for kids is an ideal way to save money, as they often outgrow items and trends. But sometimes people can try to take advantage of wanting to give your kids exactly what they want, overcharging for a popular name-brand character item.
In the r/ThriftGrifft subreddit, one shopper was disappointed to find a pink Paw Patrol bag priced for a whopping $24.99.
"When did Paw Patrol get so expensive?" the OP wondered in their caption.
A similarly sized Paw Patrol purse goes for $19.99 at Walmart, meaning the secondhand store is going overboard on the markup.
Some stores are trying to cash in on higher pricing, citing the overall increase in demand for secondhand items, the quality of items being sent to thrift stores, and the general rise in operating costs, per a 2023 AOL article on the subject.
While that may seem disheartening when it comes to secondhand shopping, that kind of pricing is generally an outlier, and more often than not, people make some amazing discoveries. A shopper found a vintage Coach purse for just $30, while another found a brand new Kitchen Aid mixer for just $45. One person even found high-end designer baby booties from Hermes for about $4, compared to their original $100 price tag.
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Buying secondhand not only helps your wallet, but it can benefit the environment too, keeping perfectly usable items from ending up in landfills. According to the Yale Environment Review, children's toys make up 6% of all landfill plastics, which contribute to planet-warming gases as they slowly break down over hundreds of years, releasing microplastics and other toxic chemicals as well.
Since kids' interests change so quickly, buying secondhand is a great way to save your wallet and help prevent unnecessary waste.
Fellow Redditors acknowledge that the Paw Patrol brand likely drove up the price unfairly.
"Anytime I see anything Paw Patrol, it's outrageously priced," one person noted.
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Another added, "I don't think that bag is worth that much new."
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