Your Second-Hand Buying (and Selling) Experiences

[Mairmalade]

Whether it's garage/yard sales, thrift stores, or buying or selling items on an online marketplace, what have some of your experiences been like? What kinds of things usually catch your eye?

I love shopping at thrift stores for books and usually check out a few garage sales during the summer months because I think it's a fun way to spend a Saturday morning, but my patience for selling second-hand hits near zero so quickly. I recall one time I had put 'BRAND NEW, UNOPENED, SEALED CORSAIR 750W POWER SUPPLY' and still received comments asking if it was unopened, though I suppose it doesn't hurt to double-check given one may have had a poor experience in the past.

 

[amemome]

I love going to antique stores and second-hand shops to see what kinds of china (teacups and saucers specifically) are there! I bought a beautiful two-cup-and-saucer set for around $4. My tea time is so much cuter with those cups.

 

[Alienfish]

I've been working in a second hand store so I've quite the experiences from both buying and selling there (tasks were good, the company organization not so much lol). But privately I love mostly buying, haven't really been into selling due to pandemic and a lot of places online are scam both ways.

I do regularly buy vintage online though and/or small business newly produced. So I guess that's what mostly catches my eyes. In real life I mostly go for DVDs, books and such. Sometime you can find nice clothes in second hand stores too but most get scooped up or they sell broke stuff for full price; just this week I saw a dress that was old but missed all the buttons for almost $30 like..no one's buying that even if one can sew on buttons LOL.

 

[Kitsuragi]

with lolita fashion, a lot of stuff is second-hand since its niche. i've never had issues buying second hand and i adore thrifting and antiquing.

 

[xSuperMario64x]

I absolutely love going to antique stores and thrift shops!! seeing things from past generations is always so fascinating to me, especially since one of my interests is old TVs/music keyboards from the 80s-90s! much of the stuff I buy is second-hand, unless it's something that's nearly impossible to get without buying it brand new from a store/online. when I go to antique/thrift stores I always look for plushies and, if possible, old video games. window-shopping is always fun but I've found a lot of beanie babies and games at antique stores (I got my copy of Super Mario 64 CIB at an antique store!) and I go to Goodwill like once or twice a week to look at their plushies and knickknacks.

as for secondhand selling, I sell quite a bit of stuff on Mercari. I've been going through a lot of my old things since I've been back from college and most of it has gone to goodwill but I've been quite successful in selling stuff on Mercari.

 

[tessa grace]

I love going thrift shopping for clothes like all the time, and I never buy anything but I also love going to antique stores. All the stuff cluttered everywhere is such a vibe, and its really satisfying to find some sort of a hidden gem when you go!

 

[.: Meri :.]

I buy a lot of character merch secondhand online—mainly stuff that wasn't available for online order or didn't have international shipping, or limited-time event merch, and my experiences with that have been really good! ^^ Probably the worst part is that a lot of these items get priced up significantly in the secondhand market, but generally everything's been packaged safely and sellers have been friendly. I've even gotten a few bonuses on certain orders.
I haven't been able to go thrifting in-person in a long time, but it's my preferred way to shop for clothes!! I've even found some really nice, well-fitting suits for super cheap that way. Once I found an amazing double-breasted blue suit jacket, but had to pass up on it because my dad's allergic to the material. Alas. I'm hoping to go thrifting for some new clothes this summer actually; my wardrobe needs a serious update.

 

[Envy]

I got a number of my instruments that way. xD I found my alto saxophone and trombone at vintage stores, in great shape, too! I got my bass clarinet off of eBay. I fought hard for that one. Finally won it for good with only seconds to spare. That was intense. lol

 

[savanniebananie]

I got a number of my instruments that way. xD I found my alto saxophone and trombone at vintage stores, in great shape, too! I got my bass clarinet off of eBay. I fought hard for that one. Finally won it for good with only seconds to spare. That was intense. lol

when i first started playing the saxophone, i paid a huge amount of money for it. after it was paid off, i found one in a thrift store for around $600. it looked in great shape. it's crazy how such expensive items can be found at thrift stores for so cheap.

 

[Romaki]

I always go thrift shopping because of poverty. My favorite finds are usually obscure plushies, like from Neopets or Digimon. Not really that obscure of franchises, but getting old plushies I could never own as a kid is just sweet. But the best finds are clothes for a couple of bucks.

My most useful find is my school backpack. 5 bucks for a good brand that holds a lot of books etc.

 

[Belle T]

My experience with buying secondhand tends to be good, provided you skew your definition of good to mean "I got what I asked for" and nothing more. Most of my negative experiences come from the people selling rather than with the items themselves.

One particularly vexing experience that comes to mind is when I was shopping for another computer monitor and needed a specific connection type. The store I went to had no monitors at all, only television sets. They could have said as much from the start, but instead they attempted to bargain with me on the TV and its hypothetical application, no matter how I attempted to make it clear that it would not work for my use case.

I usually like to find books secondhand. Not only are they significantly cheaper, but I actually find the little historical vestiges of the previous owners--markings, notes, highlights--to be more charming than distracting provided the text is still legible. I also bought a pretty cute tea set last time I was out. Fairly cheap, but in good condition.

 

[Alienfish]

I usually like to find books secondhand. Not only are they significantly cheaper, but I actually find the little historical vestiges of the previous owners--markings, notes, highlights--to be more charming than distracting provided the text is still legible. I also bought a pretty cute tea set last time I was out. Fairly cheap, but in good condition.

Oh yeah, I looove buying book ssecond hand, I more or less do that exclusively. I even found a signed copy of an author I really like in one book so stuff like that is x100 awesome.

I do hate when people scribble random **** in the books so you have to erase in being able to even read... happened to me once, luckily it was ink I could erase but yeah it was literal nonsense... I really wanted the book so I had to cave lol. I do agree it's cute reading like "congrats linda on your 40th birthday" or if people write something fun but yeah basically covering the whole book so you can't read not so fun. :3

 

[Belle T]

Oh yeah, I looove buying book ssecond hand, I more or less do that exclusively. I even found a signed copy of an author I really like in one book so stuff like that is x100 awesome.

I do hate when people scribble random **** in the books so you have to erase in being able to even read... happened to me once, luckily it was ink I could erase but yeah it was literal nonsense... I really wanted the book so I had to cave lol. I do agree it's cute reading like "congrats linda on your 40th birthday" or if people write something fun but yeah basically covering the whole book so you can't read not so fun. :3

There have been a couple of rare occasions where I'll find a book where entire passages have been crossed out in thick, black ink. I don't know if it's someone's idea of a practical joke or the results of some child's immense boredom having gone unnoticed for years, but it's really quite deplorable.

 

[Alienfish]

There have been a couple of rare occasions where I'll find a book where entire passages have been crossed out in thick, black ink. I don't know if it's someone's idea of a practical joke or the results of some child's immense boredom having gone unnoticed for years, but it's really quite deplorable.

Yeah indeed it's like they want to do some joke censoring and stuff. As someone working a library we more or less always get some degrees of scribbled to death books we either have to sit and erase or just throw away so yeah.

 

[Chrysopal]

like..no one's buying that even if one can sew on buttons LOL.

Lol! Right?

I have a question for you, why do all thrift stores smell the same?

 

[Alienfish]

Lol! Right?

I have a question for you, why do all thrift stores smell the same?

Yeah or just selling everything "old" because it's old > we can drive up the prices... Like d'ya even look at the condition of the dresses before putting it out for sale lol.

Probably because people had their stuff in their attic/basement and they have a special smell i guess lol

 

[LadyDestani]

I collect both new and old dolls so I've bought my fair share of them second-hand. I bought a lot of them from eBay back in its early days and never had any problems. I also got some from antique stores, doll shows, and friends or neighbors. The first two dolls that started my collection were actually hand-me-down Shirley Temple dolls that my mom and aunt had played with as kids. They have some discoloration and some of the fragile parts of their dresses are a bit tattered, but I still love them.

I also collect a few comic book series and most of those I had to buy used because I didn't get into the series until late. I bought the majority of them from my local comic shop and a few on eBay. All have been in good to near-mint condition, so I've been happy with that. There was one comic that was a first issue so it was worth a lot, but the guy selling it had literally blacked out all the curse words so his kids could read it. He didn't see the problem, but it was a hard pass from me.

 

[-Blue-]

Yeah or just selling everything "old" because it's old > we can drive up the prices... Like d'ya even look at the condition of the dresses before putting it out for sale lol.

Probably because people had their stuff in their attic/basement and they have a special smell i guess lol

Old stuff gets a musty smell over time. And or its mothball smell aged 100 crammed in a store full of other crap masked with mothballs.

I once walked into a antique store with a picture of a fox curled up in a pet bed. That's cute...until I looked closer and it appeared to be stuffed. Then I looked below the table the picture was on and saw the actual leathery-football like fox. So maybe that was the smell...

 

[dizzy bone]

When I lived in the US almost all my possessions were thrifted goods because I brought nothing with me and I was a poor student lol. I had such a fun time going to thrift shops and buying knick knacks. Things like interesting ceramics and lamps caught my eye. I also bought a lot of paper/ephemera and postcards because I was very into pen palling back then. I don't buy second hand goods much anymore but I have had experience selling stuff on online market places and facebook. My experience is mostly good, the only downside is the language barrier. I live in Cambodia so almost every transaction is with a local and my khmer isn't great yet. Even when I label something as secondhand, a lot of people expect it to be completely new. But then there's times I sell something unopened/new and I get people asking me if it's used. One of the more ridiculous things that I happened to me was when I was trying to sell a completely new charger, box unopened, but the buyer wanted me to open the box to take specific photos of the product. So I did. When they received it, they complained the box wasn't in perfect condition/looked open You just asked me to open it! I was fairly sure they were looking to resell it again.

 

[mrbeanfan64]

I love buying secondhand stuff my computer, some of my video game consoles, my clothes, even my newest car a 1995 lumina ls is secondhand I usually go to a secondhand store because the stuff there is cheap and I like saving when I went to buy a car with airbags I went with the cheapest car there was at the used car dealership it was a 1995 lumina that only cost me 1,000 dollars and that car is very reliable because it still works and that is why I like buying secondhand