Who here shops at Thrift stores for tech stuff?

[Canada EH]

I went into one yesterday, it kinda stunk because I bet they dont wash the clothing.

I was looking for any decent sized charger and couldnt find nothing, maybe the laptop chargers just sell out quickly and sold online.

They have a ton of electronic stuff there from keyboards to a whole wall full of cables and gadgets that people dump off at the back drop off door of the Thrift Store.

If you needed a keyboard, how can you beat $2?

A cheap brand new one is $15 or $20. I saw a monitor for $15, plus they had a sale on because of Halloween so you could have saved an extra 25%,  * BIG SAVINGS !

There are also some tools, extension cords, various audio video cables, I even saw a graphics card.

All just junk, but in a pinch you might get lucky.

I have taken Microwaves from the rear, with the permission of the teenager working the store dump site, Oops I meant store drop-off site

There seems to be a trend from parking lot boxes, to a storage container that is manned and a deterant camera for anti-dumping.

very good profit for those guys.

 

 

 

In the meantime

I have to roam around to a bunch of these stores and find a couple of chargers, but I have to also be reasonable about it, because they are sold for $15 online classifieds. Spend $30 or $8, that is why I will go to one area of town where there is 3 or 4 of these Thrift stores. I would do Amazon 2 day shipping if it wasnt Friday, but their selection isnt that great, plus they have higher prices, while ebay is cheap but have to wait sometimes the slow boat from China takes a month or two.

 

 

[SimplyChunk]

Charity shops (UK Thrift stores) CEX and Bootfairs!  (I'll let you work, what the last one is, out  )

 

Oooo and even just picking it up off the street.  You'd be amazed what some people throw out for the Rubbish men lol

[Canada EH]

10 minutes ago, YouSirAreADudeSir said:

You'd be amazed what some people throw out

It is a throw away culture, you should look at what stores throw out.

[Mooshi]

You're going to have to give me cash to take a $2 keyboard full of grime from someone else.

[markr54632]

Haha this is my favorite time waster. I have gotten nearly my entire xbox 360 and ps3 game collection this way. The most I've paid for a game was 2.99.

 

My rotating monitor I got at one for 10 bucks.

 

I've been searching for another buckling spring keyboard.

[markr54632]

6 minutes ago, Mooshi said:

You're going to have to give me cash to take a $2 keyboard full of grime from someone else.

Keep looking. Old ibm, cherry, and epson keyboards are fun to type on and very easy to clean. There are others. I dig through the pile and see if I can find any old mechanicals.

[xKyric]

3 hours ago, Canada EH said:

I even saw a graphics card.

What thrift stores do you go to? 
The closest I've ever came to a graphics card is RAM.

[Canada EH]

3 hours ago, Mooshi said:

full of grime

Skin, hair and food, perhaps even now.......... medicinals ;)

Well if you are in a rush, and there is a thrift store near you, you got options. Just blow it out with air, and hose it down with hospital grade sanitation.

 

 

3 hours ago, markr54632 said:

Haha

I personally do not like the smell of thrist stores, they stink, and they all have that same smell, kind of like 7-eleven

convenience stores. You know what I think the smell is in thrift stores, smokers! smoke sticks to clothing and hair like you wouldnt believe. I have literally gagged and almost puked a few times heavy smokers have walked past me on the commuter train.

 

 

1 minute ago, xKyric said:

What thrift stores do you go to? 
The closest I've ever came to a graphics card is RAM.

Gosh I dont know there are like 4 or 5 all together, three were large, two were probably church efforts.

 

 

[xKyric]

12 minutes ago, Canada EH said:

Gosh I dont know there are like 4 or 5 all together, three were large, two were probably church efforts.

One can find many interesting things at church thrift stores/yard sales.

 

A family member of mine once found a liquid cooler at a church yard sale. 
$5 well spent. 

[Canada EH]

1 minute ago, xKyric said:

interesting

there was someone on the news yesterday who bought a painting for $10 at a thrift store, that painting is worth $125,000.

[DrewPDFD]

I don't live near a big city, so technology drop offs at local Goodwills and Salvation Army's are slim pickings, but once in awhile I find a nice find. My favorite find currently is the monitor I am currently looking at it. I got a what I think is about a 25" Viewsonic wide screen monitor. Great picture.

[EPENEX]

I've never found anything interesting at a Thrift Shop technology related except some flight stick that I bought for like $2 and it works, but my brother who works at one saw a Thinkpad 760XD come in and bought it so that's pretty cool. The only thrift store in reasonable walking distance (was about a 30 minute walk away) closed down so I don't go to any right now. Otherwise I love them because I'm poor.

[minibois]

I go to multiple thrift shops weekly, just to look for stuff. Mostly I look for videogame items (read as: I look for videogames and videogame systems).

They have some decent stuff sometimes, although often stuff is overpriced.

 

Yard sales/flea markets > thrift shops. Although you have thrift shops year round.. So that would be the advantage of them.