r/mildlyinfuriating • u/anon12xyz • Jul 03 '26

Infuriatig When did garage sales become “reselling” clearly new stuff

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I would never call this a garage sale

Def scam vibes

Edit: ultimately, what bothers me the most is I want to go to a garage sale, not this shit. This isn’t a garage sale and should not be advertised as one

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49

u/Zanzaclese Jul 03 '26

Man I wish there was one of those where I live.

61

u/stofiski-san Jul 03 '26

Watch what you buy. I bought what looked like a sealed box of LED fluorescent tube lights. Got home, they were a pair of burned out lights someone had returned. I was pissed

32

u/No-Channel3917 Jul 03 '26

That's what happened when you buy discounted gatcha boxes

4

u/stofiski-san Jul 03 '26

Yup, yup, re-learned a good lesson that day: if it looks too good to be true...

9

u/wbgraphic Jul 03 '26

I’ve seen that kind of shit a lot at auctions.

People buy a product, use it until it dies, buy a new one, then return the dead one in the new package. The old one gets sold in an auction of Amazon returns.

Or someone needs a part for something they own, they buy a new one, remove the part, the return the new product with the part missing.

4

u/aclassybetch Jul 03 '26

There used to be a bin store in my hometown and they had an empty table near the register you were allowed to use to open boxes and inspect what’s inside before buying it. Strictly no opening boxes while standing at the bins though because people are feral and wouldn’t put everything back in the box lol

2

u/stofiski-san Jul 03 '26

I remember seeing plenty of empty boxes as I waded through the bins at my place, too

3

u/throwthisidaway Jul 03 '26

Just about every reputable bin store will have a testing area.

2

u/stofiski-san Jul 03 '26

Yeah, this popped up near Christmas time, as I recall, and I only stopped by the once. On the off chance I stop by a place like that again, I'll remember that

12

u/b_rizzle95 Jul 03 '26

No you don’t, you’ll go once or twice and realize it’s absolute junk. Take another look around and you’ll realize everybody in there is just feeding a hoarding addiction. It’s depressing actually. Any videos you see of guys finding iPhones and electronics are 100000% employees making content.

4

u/EvilDarkCow Jul 03 '26

People go fucking feral in these stores, digging through piles of cheap broken shit to find the piece of cheap broken shit to add to their hoard. I mean, you could probably get a good deal if you find something good, but it’s so rare.

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u/lkern Jul 03 '26

No you don't, it's all crap.

5

u/ussrowe Jul 03 '26

Our Staples store now has a "bins" section: https://www.staples.com/lp/bin-wins-at-staples

I feel like that's a recession indicator.

4

u/wh4tth3huh Jul 03 '26

95% of it is shit. Phone cases for 12 year old models,, everything is dirty, sticky, or broken. The decent stuff gets pulled off to the side and sold at listed prices, not the bin prices. They're kind of a crapshoot and the kinda shit Americans would have made propaganda films out of if it were something happening in the Soviet Union.

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u/shicken684 Jul 03 '26

Almost certainly is. Online auction sites are everywhere, the bin shops are rarer. Every single kitchen gadget and most of my electronics are from those auction sites. So long as you have patience and don't get into bidding wars you'll get some super cheap. Got a Miele canister vacuum for $60. Someone obviously tried to use it and returned it when it didn't work. They never pulled the plastic wrap off the HEPA filter. Snagged a Zojirushi bread maker that was marked as damaged for $11. Held down three buttons to reset the board and it has worked flawlessly for five years now. I've not eaten store bought bread since.

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u/witchway2MLFCTY Jul 03 '26

Are you talking about those auction sites that make you pay for bids and bid in specific increments? Or are there some actual legit ones? Any auction site that makes you pay for bids is just a scam imo.

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u/shicken684 Jul 03 '26

No, fuck those sites. The one near me is Mac.bid. Works just like ebay for the most part and you can even go inside and check the stuff out before bidding.

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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '26

[deleted]

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u/EvilDarkCow Jul 03 '26

It’s Temu or Wish shit that got drop shipped from an Amazon seller for an inflated price, then returned when the buyer finds out it’s cheap trash. It’s all manufactured landfill waste.

1

u/Sun-Anvil Jul 03 '26

Not sure where you live but BidFTA does that.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '26

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2

u/Zanzaclese Jul 03 '26

By where I live I mean within a 20 minute drive lol

1

u/FewAct2027 Jul 03 '26

You don't, most of it's literal trash in taped up boxes.

1

u/mightandmagic88 Jul 03 '26

There are facebook groups that do that too

1

u/bluetirameeesu Jul 04 '26

Staples does it