Thrift store bike prices.

[Big Fat Whitewalls]

What price does your Thrift store put on there bikes. I have two Thrift stores here in town, and they price them high in my opinion. Most seem to be around $50.00. I paid $35.00 for my sex change bike, viewtopic.php?f=10&t=12305 it was priced at $39.95 plus tax. I asked the clerk if she could do anything on the price, and she said $35.00 out the door, At least she will work on the price. Most of the bikes are mountain bikes, or small child bikes.

 

[CCR]

my lbs used bikes (not all but most im interested in)
$40 for an old single speed, $80 for a multi speed, trike or tandem $150

the resale shop (privately owned)
$10 kids bike that needs work
$15 adult bike that needs work
$30 adult size schwinn that needs work
$30 adult bike thats ridable

most everywhere else $40-50 is average

never seen any bikes at the thrift stores around here

 

[GTCOMA]

I just picked up a Schwinn World Tourist at Goodwill for $10.65. Great condition too

Most of the time they range from $10 to $25

 

[Bunbury]

They're all over the map here, each thrift shop seems to have its own semi-random pricing method. One Salvation Army has had a battered Nishiki road bike on the rack for $250, it'll be there forever at that price. At another SA, I've seen a nice Panasonic DX-5000 and a 70's Atala for under $50. I tend to do better at Goodwill, yard sales, and flea markets, but the competition is pretty heavy.

 

[hutch73]

it's all over the map here as well. a few months ago a salvation army had an old Firestone for $250. i'm sure that same bike could be priced at $25 at a store on the other side of town. i don't feel right about paying more than $40 for any old bike at a thrift store or yard sale. it seems like the thrift stores around indy are REALLY dry. i don't know if more people are snatching up bikes or what. i haven't found a good one in a long time.

 

[Boardtrack fan]

Salvation army seems to price things pretty high. I've seen used bikes priced the same as brand new ones at Walmart.

 

[bits n pieces]

the goodwill by me is pretty cheap hardly ever a bike over $25 but they throw the good bike with a flat away and keep the huffys, the local kids get in their scrap dumpster and make me jealous! if only i was a thief i would be set! but they will get caught one day. id rather know im trouble free. they pull tons of old school bmx bikes out. i see them riding them an tearing them up. if i didnt know where they came from, id try buying them. i think im going to try to get a job up there just to work for the dumpster bikes!

 

[Chainsaw]

I live about 20 to 30 miles from Boardtrack Fan and he's right. A couple of years ago I bought a Schwinn Jaguar (the new cheap one) from Target for 89.95. Last year they had one at the S.A. in Burton, Mich. and was asking 125.00 for it! :shock: (Target still had them for the same price I paid!) They told me that they had a man who "knew all their was to know about bicycles" (their words, not mine) and that this was a collectors item and was from the late 50s, early 60s. I told them that I had bought the same bike at Target for less than a hundred dollars a couple of years back. Now this fine upstanding lady :x told me I was a liar and that she didn't need any SH-- from me. Then told me to leave the building! Most of their bikes command the price of a new one, but are hardly worth a few bucks. Mostly kids bikes 16"ers and what's left of a cheap mountain bike.
I usually find better stuff sitting in the garbage on trash day!

We've got a few antique/resale stores and flea markets around us and they are generally higher the Andre the Giant's butt! It's not just bikes many of these no knowledge idiots don't take the time to research what they sell and just go on what little some one else tells them or they just quess. Hotwheels are a great example. They look at the bottom of the cars and see the date stamped on the bottom and assume that it's from that year! Wrong! Mattel has been using some of them casting since '68, but it doesn't mean that the just released version is a '68 car!

I'm far from being a historical whiz at anything, but it doesn't take much to realize the junk from today is not the same quality from fifty years ago!

 

[user 3630]

I don't go to the chain thrift stores anymore, their new management tends to put the internet to use, and they now operate more like antique shops than thrift stores. I'm sure that way of doing business will hurt their sales soon considering the state of the economy.

I try to do yard sales and lots of talking to people. Just about everyone knows someone with a bike or bikes sitting in a garage or on the side of a house not being used. I try to get those for free or very cheap. :mrgreen:

 

[oldschoolcolo]

Generally thrift stores around here are a little high.

But more often that not the Nexts and Magnas are about 2X the price of good, namebrand bikes. Not sure how they figure out the pricing, but either it's way off!

 

[HutchXL24]

Salvation Army is sky high. Often more than full retail.

 

[Big Fat Whitewalls]

A couple of years ago I bought a Schwinn Jaguar (the new cheap one) from Target for 89.95. Last year they had one at the S.A. in Burton, Mich. and was asking 125.00 for it! :shock: (Target still had them for the same price I paid!)

Tell me more about this, do they still have them?

 

[Chainsaw]

A couple of years ago I bought a Schwinn Jaguar (the new cheap one) from Target for 89.95. Last year they had one at the S.A. in Burton, Mich. and was asking 125.00 for it! :shock: (Target still had them for the same price I paid!)

Tell me more about this, do they still have them?

Some of the Targets around us still had a couple the last time I was in before Xmas,they were around 119.00 though. Don't know if it's on their webstores. They were a pretty decent bike. Blue and silver. The had big ol' bars on them. Everybody that rode mine hated the bars. Gigs refused to ride it until I changed the bars, so I threw apes on it and rode it til someone stole it. Seven speed derailleur, 2.125x26 tires and a cushy seat. I originally bought it for parts, but nobody would let me molest it, so it became the tow vehicle for our kid/cooler trailer.

Sorry for stepping on this thread!

 

[Big Fat Whitewalls]

A couple of years ago I bought a Schwinn Jaguar (the new cheap one) from Target for 89.95. Last year they had one at the S.A. in Burton, Mich. and was asking 125.00 for it! :shock: (Target still had them for the same price I paid!)

Tell me more about this, do they still have them?

Some of the Targets around us still had a couple the last time I was in before Xmas,they were around 119.00 though. Don't know if it's on their webstores. They were a pretty decent bike. Blue and silver. The had big ol' bars on them. Everybody that rode mine hated the bars. Gigs refused to ride it until I changed the bars, so I threw apes on it and rode it til someone stole it. Seven speed derailleur, 2.125x26 tires and a cushy seat. I originally bought it for parts, but nobody would let me molest it, so it became the tow vehicle for our kid/cooler trailer.

Sorry for stepping on this thread!

So that's it in the picture? Looks good, time to search Target.

 

[N8NBOX]

Well I am an assistant manager for a non profit thrift store and we usually price kids bikes for $10 and generally let them go for $5 and adult bikes are usually priced at $25-$50 and most people bargain down a bit and we don't mind because everything we have in the store was donated so the faster it sells the better. I have done alot of research at the other stores in town and their prices including our goodwill...are outtttrageous...for example our throw pillows are all a set price of $1 and every other store has theirs for $3-$15....so the moral of the story is to shop around and find the right store.

:idea: ***TIPS ON BARGAINING*** at our store we generally raise prices when customers "tell us how much we are going to sell it to them for"....if you want a better price use common sense, be nice and friendly, don't tell them they priced something too high or say things like..."youll never sell it at that price" or "I know its not worth that much"...just be nice and tell them you really want what they are selling and you need it now. Compliment them on their store. Usually if someone is nice about it I don't mind going half off on something considering it was donated to us for free...but if they try to lowball me or act like they deserve a lower price...they don't get anything. Anyways, sorry for my rant and I hope it might help someone.

 

[Hooch]

goodwills and other thrift stores around here vary because they dont know what they have
back in 99 I bought a mint Schwinn Mini Twinn for $7.38
I can get very fixable schwinn lightweights for under $15 while a newer junk MTB sells for $40
at one store I have found bikes that bring $200 on craigslist for sale for $15 and bikes that sell new at walmart for $89 sell for $99
its all about knowledge