A hunt to find a bargain
Middle class second-hand hobby and push for higher profits driving up prices
Does that make it fair for a secondhand shop to sell a used and damaged handmade item for $25? A donated item?
You know, that feeling you get when you hum and haw, weigh up the pros and cons, but decide not to buy. Then, a few hours later, you’re still thinking about that item and wondering “what if”? There must be a phrase for it.
Browser’s guilt? Saver’s regret? Scrooge’s envy?
That’s what I’m feeling right now. I decided to visit a few secondhand shops in the Bay of Plenty this week.
Inside the first one, I approached the homewares. All the cheap utensils and dishes I’ve accumulated over the years are slowly being replaced by good quality second-hand items.
I’m proud of my growing rainbow of vintage Tupperware.
Seeing the white $4 tag on the simple metal whisk should have been my first hint. After a doubletake and a scornful sniff, I put it back and continued browsing.
Ah, recipe books. I’ve been hunting for a good crockpot book. Found one. Didn’t buy it for $8. Put it back on the shelf.
In the next shop, there was a bag of six large balls of acrylic yarn, just the basic stuff you get from the major chain stores. Those six balls were selling for $20 — I bought some of these exact same balls from the original store last year on sale for $3.50 a ball. Back on the shelf.
But the real kicker was the clothing racks in the third shop. My goodness.
Cheap chain-store polyesterblend clothing was tagged at a minimum of $5 a garment.
The next level up — I’m not talking designer here, just the run-of-themill, slightly more expensive chain stores — were more around the $12 to $15 mark. Designer and good quality stuff was on its own special rack where everything was over $30.
I continued browsing, more for the scoff factor than any real interest. Then I saw it. A beautiful red sweater.
As a knitter and crocheter, finding a handmade item always gives me a thrill. I know exactly how much time, skill and care goes into these pieces. This knitted sweater I picked up was beautiful. And not because of the stitch either, it was mostly basic stockinette. The colour was gorgeous and the yarn used was deliciously soft. And it looked like it was my size!
Then I saw the two large pulls. Long threads of yarn were dangling down the front in two places, and parts had started to unravel. But, after examining it closely, I reckoned I’d be able to mend it. Probably not as good as new, but enough to be barely noticeable.
Excitedly, I hunted for the price tag. Then the excitement swiftly turned to anger. “Damaged — $25”.
Now, excuse me, but what the hell?
Makers and craftspeople deserve to get a good price for the work they do. Imagine paying someone minimum wage to knit you a garment — it’d cost you hundreds of dollars in labour alone.
But does that make it fair for a second-hand shop to sell a used and damaged handmade item for $25? A donated item?
It’s my opinion that this scenario demonstrates exactly what is wrong with some second-hand stores these days: I believe second-hand shopping in some stores is becoming a hobby for the middle class.
I’ve casually spoken to some store volunteers over the years, many of whom have bemoaned the scalpers who scour second-hand shops for cheap stuff to sell online with a good mark-up. They’re the people driving up the prices, those volunteers reckoned.
On the other hand, a friend of mine who once volunteered at a second-hand shop told me that the prices were set by the volunteers, many of whom were wealthy and viewed second-hand shopping as a choice to support a charity akin to donating cash.
Maybe that’s a choice some people make, I don’t know. Most of us, I reckon, are there for the bargains. And that’s what many second-hand shops used to be about.
They would accept one household’s unwanted goods, sell them at a low cost to people who couldn’t afford to buy new, and then use that cash to help others. A threeway community service.
In my opinion, that part of that equation is being abandoned by some second-hand stores in favour of higher profits. That in itself is not a bad thing, that profit often goes back to a charity after all and therefore back into the community.
But operating in this way means depriving low-income people of goods that were once within their reach. Selling second-hand goods for slightly less than what they cost new, in my view, feels mercenary for this reason.
Some stores still operate under the old model and provide clothes and household items for a few dollars apiece. These are the stores I make every effort to buy from and, in turn, donate my used goods to.
The problem is stock varies so much from store to store that voting with your wallet isn’t always an option.
That’s the reason I’m still thinking about that darn $25 sweater. I’ll never find another like it.
And so here I’ll sit, suffering that Scrooge’s envy, dreaming of a time when second-hand shops were affordable.
Sonya Bateson is a writer, reader, and crafter raising her family in Tauranga. She is a Millennial who enjoys eating avocado on toast, drinking lattes and defying stereotypes. As a sceptic, she reserves the right to change her mind when presented with new evidence.