While browsing the goods at a Value Village store in Toronto, Evan Boyce spotted something he didn’t expect: A used vase for sale with a Value Village price tag of $8.99. Then he realized the original price tag was still on — and to buy it at a Dollarama store would have cost only $3.
“Three times what it would have cost brand new …It’s pretty ridiculous, right? Just kind of feels like a rip off to be honest,” said Boyce, a 30-year-old who works for a renewable energy company.
For years, many Canadians have relied on Value Village to buy used goods for cheaper than other retailers. It’s one of the biggest and most popular thrift store chains in the country. Now some customers are accusing the company of massive markups on their items.
The examples of questionable pricing at Value Village have been piling up for months. In Courtenay, B.C., one shopper found kids shoes priced at $6.49, while the original tag said $3. A used book at a store in Winnipeg was being sold for double what it would have cost at its previous retailer.
This seems to happen most often with newish stuff whose original source was a dollar store or similar really low-end retailer. But, yeah, while you may stumble across the occasional 20th century item being sold for less than it’s worth, there are many better places to buy cheap used stuff. Caveat emptor.
(You’d think they’d at least have the brains to remove or black out the old price tags.)
I think it’s because pricing is fixed by the owners so those actually putting a price on something can’t alter it or they could be fired.
Blanket rules without allowing for “common sense” is how owners like that operate.