One of the great things about thrifting is that you can find out-of-print books and no-longer-manufactured toys, often at reduced prices. Unfortunately, however, these items are rare, and some thrift stores price them according to bids on eBay, making their offerings less accessible to the general public.
One thrifter shared a story of their latest Lego find at Savers and its exaggerated price tag.
"Apparently, they feel that minifigs are worth $12.50 each, and that an open Lego 8838 Shock Cycle is worth four times what the highest recent eBay sale for a sealed new one went for," the OP wrote.
The attached photos show a used Shock Cycle for $299.99 and a few bags with two mini figures each priced at $24.99 apiece.
Depending on the set, it is common to find some mini figures priced above market value. However, this applies only to rare, special edition, and themed retired sets, of which these Ninjago mini figures were not.
Luckily, most thrift stores are not trying to price-gauge. Thrifters can still find incredible deals on everything from trending items to classic home goods, such as an Yves Saint Laurent handbag for $34.99, a KitchenAid stand mixer for $16, and a Louis Vuitton watch for $10.
When someone thrifts, it helps promote the mindset that we can buy secondhand and still get extraordinary quality goods. It also greatly helps the environment when you can give items second lives instead of buying new ones every time you need something.
Places such as Goodwill, Salvation Army, and Savers serve their communities by keeping millions of pounds of plastic and textiles out of landfills. Goodwill alone diverts more than 4.2 million pounds of waste from landfills every year.
Secondhand shopping enthusiasts were appalled at the markup on the Lego sets.
"I feel so bad for the people these stores were set up to serve," one commenter shared.
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Cheaper clothes 🤑 "That's more than excessive. I just looked it up on eBay, and the most recent sale was only $70," another commiserated.
"Some minifigures are worth that. But huge emphasis on "some," and those some have to be in very good or mint condition," someone else wrote.
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