For a long time I was a serious bottom-feeder when it came to clothing. Probably 2/3rds of everything in my closet was resale, with a smattering of garbage-picked, filled out by TJ Maxx clearance. But over the last couple of years it seems like it's getting to be not worth the trouble. The pickings seem to be getting slimmer and shabbier, at least with clothing. I still make a good score every so often, but it takes a lot of visits to make that happen, and there's not much sense in going out of my way.
Part of it, I guess, is that the resalers are getting hip to eBay, as andie noted. So the cream winds up there, and you can't get any crazy bargain scores. The same thing happens to old bicycles. Also, the prices for resale seem to be converging with new prices. So, with pants, where you rarely can try them on at resale places, you can wind up Goodwilling the majority of what you buy. For maybe 3x the price you can get something serviceable at Target that you know fits, and something reasonably durable from Bean for maybe 2x the Target price. Throw in your time and effort (if that's expensive), and whatever benefits you get from buying used at thrift stores start getting marginal.
Has anybody observed similar trends? Or, as shag put it, am I getting old?
-- Andy