I love a good deal (because I’m broke), so I love thrift shopping.

I have gotten really into thrifting over the past year. Usually, I go to Goodwill, Texas Thrift, or other stores that I can find under the Apple Maps “thrift stores” category. Goodwill is usually the least expensive in Fort Worth from my experience.

Thrifting takes persistence and patience, and to find anything I want, I have to search through every single piece of clothing. My favorite categories are mens shirts and athletic wear. I usually spend anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour in the stores, leafing through countless strange shirts, such as “This Señorita needs a Margarita”, or a red shirt that just says “HOT.” My question is: Who spent money on these shirts originally? You do you, I guess.

According to an article on thrift shopping in “Parade Magazine,” written by Megan O’Neill Melle, “the secondhand market is projected to reach $77 billion by 2024.” I’m not surprised, because as more and more people become more “eco-friendly,” and as inflation increases, more people will want cheap clothes that do not add to the clothing waste, but instead deduct from waste.

This includes flea markets, reseller websites, and of course, regular thrift stores.

Some of my best finds include a Vineyard Vines fleece for nine dollars, Lululemon shorts for 15, and designer jeans for eight dollars.

Usually when I venture to a thrift shop, I end up driving for half an hour to get to the best places, and sometimes I don’t even find anything. Though I love driving, I also like shopping from the comfort of my own home.

The only online thrift store I use is ShopGoodwill. There are no other sites that I have found (besides ones where you can buy land, houses, and cars) that even come close to this site. ShopGoodwill, which is an online version of Goodwill, has high-end products ranging from vintage pots and pans to Louis Vuitton tote bags and Diamond Rings. I have gotten plenty of items from this online store, including Salt Life t-shirts for $6.50, brand new shorts that were originally $50, for $25, a Patagonia jacket for $20, and many more great deals.

The site is well put-together, though it is somewhat bleak. The site is mainly white with navy blue accents. The search bar makes online thrifting so much easier than searching in person because you can categorize your search and narrow it down by product or brand. Though the site is not aesthetically pleasing, its deals make up for its lack of vibrancy. 

Because of its convenience, I spend less time finding deals. In-person thrift stores have store hours, but websites like this do not. The search bar and categorized searching are helpful, especially when you’re used to looking through every single item on the racks of a store.

There are downsides to this form of thrifting, though. 

Most of the products on the site are sold in auction form, but some are sold in “buy it now” form. The auctions usually last around a week, but “buy it now” items are more complicated. “Buy it now” items are sometimes part of auctioned items, but in order to win the auction right away, you have to pay a few extra bucks. Some of these types of products are solely “buy it now.” For example, I recently bought a The North Face vest for $16, and it was a “buy it now” item that was not being auctioned. Some items that were once auctioned but nobody bought them are transferred into the “buy it now” section, which I believe had happened to the vest.

Sometimes I spend more on shipping than I do the actual product (when I decide it’s worth the sacrifice of eight dollars for shipping and handling). You can limit your searches to items that are only “one cent shipping,” which is extremely convenient when you are shopping on a budget. Even with the price of shipping, these pieces of clothing are so much cheaper than new clothes from an actual store, and some are new with tags.

Overall, I would recommend this website because it is super convenient, and most importantly, you will save money.