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Looks like Hermes 3000s keep getting pushed up to $1000, with just about every auction.
Phil Forrest
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And things going for 15 bucks earlier this year are going for 100-200. Crazy. My time is now spent trying to figure out the next one to skyrocket before it takes off. Time to stock up on Tom Thumb?
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Yesterday 2 early-mid QDLs that ended 2 months ago, including the drab run of the mill one that sold for nearly 200 bucks, were auctioned off again. One of them has been listed 3 times now. Both by the same location.
Both sold for 45-50 this time, but the winner of one has a user name only two asterisks different than the one who didn't pay on the overpriced one. I bet we'll see at least one of them listed again.
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early-mid 50s, that is...
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I knew a guy who won a good will auction, paid for it, and it didn't show up. When he contacted goodwill about it, they told him they put the machine up again and sold it to someone else for a higher price, then issued him a refund. Goodwill has gone the way of the...well, it isn't good. They're more concerned about profits and milking money lately.
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I don't know anything about Goodwill in the U.S.A., but when it existed in Canada (it went bankrupt), it was a non-profit charity. That it grossly overpaid its executives was just one of the problems that closed its doors here. I donated a lot of things over the years to Goodwill, but in its absence I'm just as happy to give things to the Salvation Army - who I know for certain do good things in the community.
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Lucas Dul wrote:
I knew a guy who won a good will auction, paid for it, and it didn't show up. When he contacted goodwill about it, they told him they put the machine up again and sold it to someone else for a higher price, then issued him a refund. Goodwill has gone the way of the...well, it isn't good. They're more concerned about profits and milking money lately.
That's the truth.
Not too long ago, I alerted Goodwill of MN to the fact they were selling a Nazi typewriter. It was an Erika 5 that had two keys with runic lightning bolts on them. I understand those can be valuable to collectors and museums, but I personally felt it was icky for a charity to be making money off of that sale. It went for almost $400.
Phil Forrest
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another of their crimes is their shipping rates. I used to live 2 hours away and it was cheaper for me to buy a typewriter that was halfway across the country than to buy one from them. I won't even give their auctions a 2nd look.
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Good thinking, Goodwill auctions are best left alone.
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Lucas Dul wrote:
Good thinking, Goodwill auctions are best left alone.
I've had some good luck with them and some bad. It does seem to have gotten worse, if only because the prices are up and the quality hasn't changed. Its still hit or miss, but often at twice the price. And the new website scarcely works for me. So I'm just a lot more picky now.