You see it everywhere. Small Instagram and Depop shops, popping up with vintage clothing and/or furniture for 10x the price of its actual worth. You go to your local thrift store, and you see people aggressively going through the racks and grabbing anything name-brand or deemed “in style” and worthy enough to resell. These are your resellers.
There has been quite a lot of debate on the ethics behind resellers buying and selling items that had been previously donated.
People donate their clothes and furniture items to non-profits such as Goodwill and Savers, and these non-profits organize and mass distribute these items to be sold at a deemed “affordable” price for those who need it.
In recent times, “thrifting” has been popularized by young people and deal hunters who are looking for affordable items.
This eventually shifted into people finding an opportunity to not just use the items themselves, but to also resell it at a markup to gain profits. As a result, thrift stores, nonprofits, and donation stores that were originally designed to help people in financial need began to adjust their prices higher to accommodate, leaving those who needed to shop there unable to afford to anymore.
As a previous reseller of clothes myself, I am faced with this question.
Is buying & reselling items from thrift stores, donation stores, and nonprofits unethical?
Yes It Is.
Argument 1: Thrift stores are made for people in need, not resellers.
Deal hunters or people who are not in financial need should not shop at thrift stores designed for people in need (like Goodwill and Savers), and instead shop at outlet stores or warehouse sales. Thrift stores and non-profits should be kept for people in need only.
Argument 2: Buying an item with the intent of making money from it is unfair to those who not just need the item, but to those who actually want it and could have bought it for an appropriate price instead of a marked up price.
A person should be able to buy what they want at the original price, not a resellers 10x marked up price. It is unfair to people who actually want an item but can’t find it in stores because resellers have bought the entire inventory and listed the item on their own platform, forcing people to have no choice but to buy it from the reseller. This forces the customer’s hand to purchase only from the reseller.
A great example of this that came up in recent news were resellers who were trying to make a profit from buying and selling Kobe Bryant’s sneakers, that have partly come in high demand due to his and his daughter’s passing. People who wanted to buy Kobe’s sneakers were forced to pay the high reseller price, and many were unable to.
Argument 3: Just because you can resell, doesn’t mean you should. You can make a fair living without damaging others’ livelihood.
Resellers should and can find another way to make money without hurting those in need. There are plenty of other non-traditional ways to make money such as ethically sourcing your own supply of items to sell from manufacturers and reselling it. Resellers do not need to source their items from donation stores, and should follow the pursuit of traditional retail stores to buy directly from manufacturers.
No It Isn’t.
Argument 1: The popularization of “thrifting” and reselling items has helped push sustainability initiatives to the mainstream media.
Now that “thrifting” has hit mainstream media, people who would have not thought about sustainability efforts now do and contribute to the efforts by shopping second hand. This decreases the amount of people who shop from fast fashion stores that cause huge amounts of waste per year.
Argument 2: The world is a free market, if there is demand then the resellers are providing the supply. Resellers are the middle men, just like retail stores.
Resellers found an opportunity to find high demand items at a less than market value price, and they should be allowed to use it to make money. Retail stores source their products from manufacturers, remarket the product and sell it at their own stores. Resellers are doing the same exact thing, but getting frowned upon for it.
Donation stores are marking up the price for their items because they too are considered a retail store, and they should be allowed to follow the free market and adjust for demand. Here is the opinion of Leah, a small thrift shop owner, who has addressed this issue of pricing for consumer demand.
Argument 3: Resellers are putting in the work to make their money and they deserve it.
For some people, reselling items is how they make their living. Not everyone has the luxury of making money at a normal 9-5 corporate job. They may have kids to take care of and not be able to afford daycare services, so reselling is one of the only ways they can provide for themselves and their families.
Not everyone has the financial back-up to source and purchase directly from manufacturers to resell, and buying from thrift stores is the most cost-effective way to start their business. You shouldn’t frown on resellers who are working just as hard as you to make money. They are people too.
Now that you’ve heard both sides of the debate, what do you think?
Should resellers be allowed to source their inventory from donation centers? Or should they only be limited to source their inventory from for-profit outlets and warehouses, or even buy directly from manufacturers like other retail stores do?
Are resellers justified and fair in their means on how they earn their living? Do donation centers and thrift stores have the moral right to raise their prices to meet demands?
Share your thoughts.
My Personal Experience With Reselling Clothes Online
As always,
