Goodwill Speedy

It won't go at an "old days" Goodwill price.

"fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me" is now the mantra of the Goodwill watch evaluator.

This still shows that even in this age of internet available to most everyone, people are still dumping grandpa’s sock drawer into a hefty bag and dropping it off at the local thrift store. Could have been goodwill, could have been a rummage sale, could have been a church charity shop…but they are still out there

It’s way overpriced at 5.5k….

https://shopgoodwill.com/item/165776801

Totally agree on this point.

10 years ago it would be under $1000 on eBay all day long…😉

I have acquired some decent stuff from Goodwill. Mostly cameras. Especially weird ones that use APS film.

I have found the GW low end watches to be in better shape than the ones on greed bay. Even the AS1194 that was rusted was better than some of the Landeron stuff I got. eBay seems closer to the dump. While I have acquired useful parts. Much of the stuff is worn out.

There seems to be a tendency on GW for early bids. Probably as it is easy to forget to remember when the watch is going off. They do not have an active timer. Prices do not always update till one gets to the bidding page. There is a watchlist (Favorites) section. Most of the items go off between 5PM and 7PM pacific time.

Salvation Army is the hardest to navigate. The front page list bulk lots. Individual watches are listed under jewelry by gender. So it take 3 clicks up and down the tree.

Driving around looking for charity shops or garage and boot sales seems so much like a shotgun approach. It is not like i NEED another watch or film camera. Was fun when I wan younger. I think a couple of my omegas came from pawn shops in Reno and Vegas. I know one came from the pawn shop in Hollywood. With the net I am not sure this would be the same. It is too easy to see what is trending.

The old days one had to use the books like Shugart. Which were often out of date. I knew Cooksey as he would attend the collector trips. He said that he could not own a watch as it would taint the value estimates. He said he did visit a lot of flea markets and such. It is not necessary to actually own watches to study and work on them.

Ouch. Another reminder that I got into collecting way too late.