Goodwill is a haven for thrifters looking for trendy finds, but it’s also a place where bargain hunters can shop for apparel, homewares, and other necessities at a discounted price.
However, while you’re likely to find items priced lower than they are in general retail stores, a TikToker took to the platform to note that this isn’t always the case.
In an April 10 video, interior designer Taylor Beagle, who uses the handle @drab.to.dreamy, shared a recent Goodwill experience in which a purse originally sold at Target was being sold for a higher price.
Beagle’s local Goodwill store (she does not specify the exact location) receives and sells items from Target, she explains in the video. According to her, the products are “brand new” and labeled as “commercial salvage.”
“I don’t know if it’s like, returns, overstock, or whatever,” Beagle says while picking up a white fuzzy purse in the handbag section.
“Riddle me this,” she says in the video. “I am at Goodwill… and this is the stuff that just irks me to my core. So, I’m looking at the bags, I’m looking at the purses, and there’s this cutie little sherpa bag—adorable, I love it.”
She goes on to explain that the bag is brand new and appears to be made by Universal Thread, one of Target’s store brands.
The purse isn’t too expensive, priced at $9.99, but Beagle has an issue with the fact that Goodwill’s price is significantly higher than Target’s price—which is still printed on the item.
“This purse was $20 [at Target] and they marked it down for clearance for $6—$6 at Target,” Beagle says, holding up the yellow Target clearance sticker before flipping it to the other side to show Goodwill’s price tag.
“Goodwill selling it for $10. Make that make sense…why do they do that? Just sell it to me for the $6. I don’t get it,” Beagle says.
Beagle didn’t end up buying the bag, putting it back on the shelf hook.
Best Life reached out to Goodwill for comment on the video and their pricing policy and will update the story when we hear back.
In response to the video, some commenters said higher prices are why they no longer shop at Goodwill—and some have spotted similar discrepancies with Dollar Tree items and Walmart merchandise.
“I saw a $1.25 item from dollar tree at good will for 2.99,” a comment reads. Another added, “I found $10 walmart jeans marked for $19.99 at goodwill, I might as well [buy] new at this point.” (These TikTokers didn’t specify whether these products were also marked as commercial salvage.)
Others were floored by the fact that Goodwill left Target’s clearly lower price tag on display.
“Goodwill prices are insane,” a TikToker wrote. “The fact that they leave original price tags on and sell it for more is unbelievable.”
Yet another commenter tried to offer some clarity on the situation, claiming they used to work at Goodwill and that the company actually buys these items from Target.
“We had a policy that when we were pricing the stuff that came in from Target we had to do it at a certain percentage of Target’s original price,” the comment reads. “And we also had to make sure that we tore those yellow clearance stickers off.”
A blog post on the DIY site House of Hepworths also discusses Goodwill’s commercial salvage policy. According to the post, the merchandise is anything “Target deems damaged or unable to sell,” and Goodwill purchases these items by the container at a set price.
“Sometimes the item is open or the package is damaged. Most of the time though, it’s all the leftover decor from the previous season that never sold on their own shelves. They have to get rid of it to make way for the new stuff,” the post explains.
