OT Indiana Counterfeiter donates cards to Goodwill?

[slidekellyslide]

Or maybe he died and the family donated his "cards"? Or better yet he went to prison and the family donated his belongings. Either way it looks like a whole crapload of Jordan fakes are about to enter the marketplace.

http://www.shopgoodwill.com/viewItem.asp?itemid=25628443&r=y

[mechanicalman]

I've got my snipe bid in.

[swarmee]

At least the Jordans are obvious fakes, along with all the other cards.

[slidekellyslide]

Ugh...up over $700 now and they've been made aware that the cards are counterfeit. Guess Goodwill doesn't care.

[chipperhank44]

Ugh...up over $700 now and they've been made aware that the cards are counterfeit. Guess Goodwill doesn't care.

They've got their "no returns", "sold as-is", "call us with authenticity questions BEFORE bidding" CYA statements. No need to pull the auction in their eyes.

[PolarBear]

In all fairness, I don't think you can expect Goodwill to determine the authenticity of stuff like this. All they do is take donations as is, and then resell the stuff they can.

They're largely staffed with minimum wage employees or volunteers. In fact, some (many?) of their employees are physically and/or mentally handicapped people. Goodwill goes out of their way to provide meaningful employment for them.

[Cozumeleno]

In all fairness, I don't think you can expect Goodwill to determine the authenticity of stuff like this. All they do is take donations as is, and then resell the stuff they can.

They're largely staffed with minimum wage employees or volunteers. In fact, some (many?) of their employees are physically and/or mentally handicapped people. Goodwill goes out of their way to provide meaningful employment for them.

I'm actually in this camp, too. I just dropped off a few bags of clothes this past weekend and I don't know about other Goodwill locations, but ours is always a freaking mess. They always seem incredibly busy and working hard. So much stuff to sort with limited staff.

I don't know how many people there could reasonably pick out reprints. And even if they receive emails stating they're reprints, I don't even know that they have a responsibility to pull the items anyway unless they have someone that can verify it on their end. They're not selling them as authentic - only as cards. This is 100% better than something like this hot mess on eBay (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Baseball-Card-Collection-5000-baseball-cards-a-few-random-card-sets-/262146434802?hash=item3d092526f2:g:0YkAAOSwZVhWSWv i) (yeah, I seriously believe that someone's great grandmother collected Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, 1992 Score, and Lion King cards - seems totally legit).

I will say that if they were 100% positive they were reprints, I do think they should identify them as such. To do otherwise is just deceptive. But beyond that, with so many items incoming and outgoing, I've got no problem with their 'as is' descriptions. I just don't think they have the resources for significant vetting most of the time.

[slidekellyslide]

These are not "reprint" cards, they are counterfeit. The 1986 Fleer Jordan card was not reprinted.

And not sure how it works everywhere, but when they were looking for someone to do shopgoodwill in my town they were looking for internet sales experience. (ebay, amazon, etc)

[mechanicalman]

Kind of OT, but related to Goodwill:
I once walked in there looking for furniture to stage an investment property, and I found a stack of 12 leather AUTHENTIC Herman Miller side chairs with a $15 price tag for the stack. Unfortunately, it said "SOLD," and even though I tried to offer $100 for the stack, the manager wouldn't let me buy them. (Probably the right move, but man, was I unnerved about seeing 10 $250 chairs being sold for $15.)

Bottom line, I WISH that folks at Goodwill would have some basic knowledge of key collectible brand names (like Herman Miller) as it would help their cause, but it's just not reasonable to expect given the volume of stuff they process.

[slidekellyslide]

I'm guessing it's a store by store basis. If you peruse shopgoodwill there are some goodwill's out there that know their stuff.

[sbfinley]

Goodwill knows exactly what they have. The have specialists in each market to assess donations for the treasures. For the most part, anything with significant value never see the store room floor or their website.

[1952boyntoncollector]

Kind of OT, but related to Goodwill:
I once walked in there looking for furniture to stage an investment property, and I found a stack of 12 leather AUTHENTIC Herman Miller side chairs with a $15 price tag for the stack. Unfortunately, it said "SOLD," and even though I tried to offer $100 for the stack, the manager wouldn't let me buy them. (Probably the right move, but man, was I unnerved about seeing 10 $250 chairs being sold for $15.)

Bottom line, I WISH that folks at Goodwill would have some basic knowledge of key collectible brand names (like Herman Miller) as it would help their cause, but it's just not reasonable to expect given the volume of stuff they process.

man if they were worth 2500...im sure if you offered 1500 they would of reconsidered it..or I would give them more props than just turning down 100

[mechanicalman]

man if they were worth 2500...im sure if you offered 1500 they would of reconsidered it..or I would give them more props than just turning down 100

Maybe. I'm just not in the business of flipping chairs, so a $1500 cash investment didn't cross my mind at the time. Also didn't know the value in the moment - researched that later. I just knew they were worth more than $1.25/piece. Oh well.

[slidekellyslide]

Looks like they ended the auction yesterday. Wonder what happened?

[Cozumeleno]

Back up now and listed that they are believed to be reprints. Kudos to Goodwill for that.

Looks like they ended the auction yesterday. Wonder what happened?

[bnorth]

For the most part, anything with significant value never see the store room floor or their website.

So you have friends/relatives that also work there and have their houses filled with free stuff. I know I do and it is crazy the stuff they bring home.

The head of a Goodwill type place here was so bad that they had rummage sales with all the stuff they took for free. She got caught and nothing happened, she still runs the place and now her relatives have a lot of rummage sales.

[vintagetoppsguy]

Goodwill knows exactly what they have. The have specialists in each market to assess donations for the treasures. For the most part, anything with significant value never see the store room floor or their website.

This is incorrect. They just opened a Goodwill Select store about a mile from my house and this is certainly not the case. I'm always finding stuff in there and re-selling it for a profit. Here are 2 examples:

Bose Wave. Purchased for $7 + tax. Sold on eBay for $177.50. That's $170 profit.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/311453284528?ssPageName=STRK:MESOX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1561.l2649

2 antique hammered copper pitchers (pictured below) about 125 years old (1890's?). Purchased for $8 each + tax. Sold on my bulletin board at work for $80 and that was a bargain. About a $60 profit.

There are 4 Goodwill stores probably within a 15 mile radius from my house. I hit all 4 on a weekly basis (along with some thrift stores) and do quite well turning the merchandise. All the profits go right into my bb cards collection so I don't have to hear my wife complain about how much I spend on cards :D

[Cozumeleno]

Hey David - I'm curious as I've thought about doing the same in my area but haven't bothered yet. Do you (or anyone else that does this) ever find any cards there?

This is incorrect. They just opened a Goodwill Select store about a mile from my house and this is certainly not the case. I'm always finding stuff in there and re-selling it for a profit. Here are 2 examples:

Bose Wave. Purchased for $7 + tax. Sold on eBay for $177.50. That's $170 profit.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/311453284528?ssPageName=STRK:MESOX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1561.l2649

2 antique hammered copper pitchers (pictured below) about 125 years old (1890's?). Purchased for $8 each + tax. Sold on my bulletin board at work for $80 and that was a bargain. About a $60 profit.

There are 4 Goodwill stores probably within a 15 mile radius from my house. I hit all 4 on a weekly basis (along with some thrift stores) and do quite well turning the merchandise. All the profits go right into my bb cards collection so I don't have to hear my wife complain about how much I spend on cards :D

[vintagetoppsguy]

Do you (or anyone else that does this) ever find any cards there?

I have, but nothing worth purchasing. I haven't given up though :D

[Cozumeleno]

Haha, thanks, that's generally what I was thinking. I wasn't even aware of their auction site so I'm thinking anything older probably ends up there for the most part. Still might be worth a look.

I have, but nothing worth purchasing. I haven't given up though :D