How to Buy the Best Products Online
Have you ever wished you could browse your local Goodwill without actually going to your local Goodwill? Great news: you can. (Sort of.) Earlier this week, the nonprofit launched Goodwillfinds.com , a new website that lets you view a selection of donated items, buy your favorite finds, and have them delivered to you.
It’s not Goodwill’s first ever online store, but it’s a pretty big change in how the company operates. Until this week, visits to ShopGoodwill.com or individual store visits to eBay and/or Amazon were the best bets for evaluating the reputation of online economists. But none of those options offered the typical online shopping experience: ShopGoodwill.com is an auction site first and foremost, and multiple individual stores are less easy to browse than a single site.
There are a few things to keep in mind about this new site, starting with product selection. All items for sale on Goodwillfinds.com are donated, but you cannot choose from any item in any store nationwide. Now there are about 100,000 products available on the site, mostly in the clothing category. (Good news for last-minute Halloween contingencies: at least at the time of writing, children’s costumes are presented pretty well.) Over the next few years, Goodwill hopes to increase the number of items to at least millions, if not more. Considering that each item selected for sale on the website must first be reviewed by workers, it makes sense that the rollout will take some time.
Shipping may work differently than expected, especially if you’re used to free Amazon Prime. Goodwill stores are located throughout the US and Goodwillfinds.com will ship from a variety of locations, which means cost and options will vary. Finally, you should also be aware that the new website does not accept donations. (At least not yet – the company plans to eventually offer this service.) If you have items to donate, you’ll still need to leave them at your local store.