Shopper calls out thrift store with photo of unbelievable item on shelf: 'These places have lost the plot'

A frustrated shopper shared a photo of a product found at their local thrift store that demonstrated a growing trend of "thrift grift."

It showed a Fitbit Charge HR priced at $90, even though the packaging was already opened.  

"These places have lost the plot," the original poster said. "It's no longer even ebay prices. It's 50-200% more, shoot for the moon, and then if it doesn't sell wait a month until blue stickers are 50, and then 75% off." 

Unreasonable prices at thrift stores are not uncommon; numerous others have encountered similarly absurd markups. 

One shopper found a vintage Coogi sweater listed at $600. Another encountered a Cuisinart electric kettle listed at $25, even though it was used and full of water vapor.  

"Resellers used to be the place to find a gently used item for half the price of new," one user observed. "Now they will push the jar from pickles for $5, when for $5.49 you get the pickles too at the grocery store!"

While obvious corporate greed at secondhand stores is frustrating, the majority of thrift shoppers find incredible savings on name-brand or vintage products.

One got a normally $6,300 chair for 99% off, and another nabbed nearly $700 worth of footwear for a measly $20.

Research has shown that shopping at thrift stores is one of the wisest decisions consumers can make, with CouponFollow finding that most shoppers save upwards of $1,700 a year by shopping secondhand. 

An OfferUp survey also found that 93% of Americans shop secondhand, while 79% said they do so to save money, underscoring the importance of calling out outliers like this. 

Such instances can deter shoppers from seeing the benefits of thrifting, which also helps to keep products that would have otherwise been discarded in landfills in circulation.

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