ShopGoodwill

I have purchased a number (100+) items with some great buys and some buys I wish I hadn't made. In the end, you make the choice of what to buy and at what price to buy it. Shipping prices are stated up front. ShopGoodwill charge sales tax. They state the time frame in which they have to deliver the product to the shipper. None of this is hidden. If you do your homework, you can factor all of these things into your max bid price. I win approximately 20% of what I bid on. If there are shill bidders, it does not affect what I bid, only what I might win.

Experiences:
- I have had three shipments arrive broken in handling or shipment. All were refunded.
- I was told prior to a shipment that the glass on a picture was broken in handling. Did I still want it or a full refund? (I took it as is.)
- I am still waiting on a package from a Washington state store. (I assume they are in lock down due to the pandemic)
- I have had packages left on my door in the rain. (Not Goodwill's fault)

Lessons:
- I no longer bid on items poorly photographed or described and I bid anticipating if not the worst, at least not the best.
- I check shipping and handling charges before I bid. Some can be really high.
- I understand what I am buying by spending the time to do the homework. (Can I get this item cheaper on another venue?)

I keep thinking that ShopGoodwill will at least plug in and report what they hear. Sound, no sound, loud crackles, only loud hum... or can they hear at least one station. But, No. I finally figured out by repeated dismal experiences (5 wasted purchases) that they conceal any Obvious problems by stating "Untested".

"Untested" means the testor plugged it in and the bandswitch barely works unless shaken and rattled, no shortwave stations can be received, the antenna is badly damaged or totally missing, the BFO is inoperative, the dial indicator doesn't move... and a host of other problems that would seriously reduce your top bid.
" Uh, Boss. This old radio looks nice but it is completely dead."
" Hmmm. Just put down Untested. Someone will bid on it."

"Plugged in and powered up" means there is only static on all 6 bands and the S meter is probably dead and stuck midpoint.
Translation: The lights are on but nobody is home.
Again... a radio that cannot receive a single station would certainly influence your bidding... if you only knew.

A typical radio that sells on ebay for $150 will sell on Goodwill for $125. But... on ebay the seller has to fear a blast of negative feedback for a similar radio unless listed "For Parts Only". There is No Accountability for auctioning broken junk on Shopgoodwill... and. Any Obvious defect information is withheld to get the ever optimistic bidders to keep bidding higher. A BID on Shopgoodwill is basically a DONATION. Their "testors" are either totally incapable of plugging in a radio and turning a couple knobs and writing down what they hear in the most simplistic language... or they are intentionally with-holding the truth.

I don't know anything about antique chairs... but if I sit in one and the back wobbles and the seat is split and a leg falls off... I can honestly write down what I experienced in less than 15 seconds. For a $150 radio... 15 seconds is not too much to ask. I am not alone in my bad experiences with shopgoodwill... 2 other burned buyers warned me not to bid on radios.

Remember..."Untested" on shopgoodwill means it is junk. Your unjustified youthful enthusiasm and a can of De-Oxit are useless when key parts inside are fatally damaged or totally missing.

Best go to your local Goodwill store... find a radio... plug it in and test it yourself... or be OK making a $150 "donation" and start bidding on Shopgoodwill.

I am embarrassed to say how much I've spent at this site. I will admit that some items were really great and I got a good deal. I shop for items that are rare, unique or very hard to find as well as items I can get a good deal on. Everything went well until I decided I needed a new flat screen tv and thought... hey... why not. So far I've always had a good experience. I saw a smart tv and the description was good. Stated it turned on, but didn't really elaborate on whether all the functions worked. So I thought... eh... what the heck I'll put in a bid. Once I put in a bid, I realized it had a reserve of 200.00. I contacted the store through the message system at the site and asked them if all the functions worked and expressed my concern that ShopGoodwill had such a high reserve with very little information on whether it actually fully worked or not. I received a message stating that they were unable to test all the functions and that they would lower the reserve to 150.00. I ended up taking a chance and won the bid. The TV arrived, powered on, turned on netflix and guess what... ZERO sound! Now I can see not being able to test certain things like the smart tv functions but the SOUND!? Anyway... I was able to get around that by plugging in external speakers, but it's still horrible sound. That was my first disappointment with goodwill.

The second purchase I made that was a total disappointment was a brand new, in the original box air fryer. The pictures all showed it still in the wrapping, Styrofoam... etc. So I thought... how can I go wrong here... right? Well, I got the air fryer, plugged it in... and NOTHING! They can't check these kinds of things!? Come on!

The other thing I have recently noticed is that the shipping and handling fees are getting outrageous. When I first started on this site a couple years ago, it didn't seem that bad. I did noticed that the stores closer to my location were cheaper, but I noticed the other day an item that I could ship for less than 5.00 had a handling fee of 4.00 and over almost 30.00 shipping. That put the item well over NEW price from the store up the street. Why on earth would anyone bother? Not ALL stores charge ridiculous prices, but the ones who do are ruining it for the others.

I will admit I've gotten some great deals on things I couldn't have gotten anywhere else, but lately it's getting worse and not worth the bother. I no longer purchase anything electronic and if the shipping and handling is crazy... forget it. I find myself looking at the site less and less now. It's really a shame and turning into a scam!

I have been using Goodwill Auction on and off for over 4 years. My first year was my best, I won my items and ShopGoodwill were sent with ease. The items were in excellent condition. Then I won an auction and for some reason my payment didn't go through. Contacted the Goodwill running the auction, no response, no item, transaction canceled. I was so confused about what just happened. In recent years it seems almost impossible to win a auction in anything of decent or good quality. I was always suspicious about being outbid by one dollar as soon as I submitted my bid. How in the hell is that even possible? Well, last night I put a few bids on a item and I was always outbid every time by the same person who was dominating this auction. So, I waited the last minute and overbid by 10 bucks and guess what? I was immediately outbid by a dollar by the same username. With just enough time for one last bid I submitted again and Conveniently there is a lull in the system and the auction ended with guess who winning? Since then I have seen what I believe to be the same user name always as a top bid in certain auction ( purses) located on the west coat. Goodwill if you are going to run an auction site, you could at lease be honest. And there shipping fees are really ridiculous but it doesn't matter to me anymore as I never win auctions anymore with them. At my local Goodwill, the store manager, that I am really cool with, told me straight up these auctions are rigged and Goodwill is a regular greedy corporation hiding under no profit, charitable organization. My Goodwill is no long allowed to sell jewelry by the bag, they have to go to the Goodwill headquarters in Delaware so they can be sort through for auctions. This site use to be good but now it's so rigged and dishonest it's a shame.

ShopGoodwill charge way to much for shipping and then make more money by charging you extra for handling! The stuff is donated to them and i have decided i will not buy from sellers who charge a high handling charge and high shipping charges anymore! They are getting rich off people and it would be better to buy from ebay then this site! Because ebay a lot of times have Free Shipping and NEVER have a HANDLING Charge! The new site is a mess as well not worth trash! I hope a lot of people will follow suit and STOP BUYING FROM THESE STORES THAT CHARGE TOO MUCH TO SHIP AND CHARGE TOO MUCH FOR HANDING! Plus no refunds or returns wow! They are getting rich off people with donated items! I only will bid now if shipping is low and handling is low thats it for me! I will buy mostly from ebay because you can trust them and they stand by you if you need a refund or return and they have sellers with good feedback which goodwill you can't even leave feedback for a store which is wrong as well. If they are going to run an auction they should at least let you leave feedback for who ever you buy from too. Also be careful when you bid or buy Gold Jewelry! Because i bought a necklace that was tested by their store and when i got it, it was written on the chain GF which is gold filled not real gold! So they take time to test jewelry but not to read what is stamped on it? If they tested it why was it fake? You can not trust that you are bidding on real gold so be careful when buying jewelry from them if you thinks its real gold and may not be real. Also it is used jewelry so it can have faults or need repairs because they don't really look at it good enough! My bracelet was over 100.00 and it was scrap! My jeweler told me it would cost thousands of dollars to repair the bracelet! No kidding be careful!

As an Merchandise Inventory Supervisor for an online Ebay store owner, I never cease to be shocked at the broken items we have received out of the box, the poor quality packaging materials and thoughtless packing techniques. Goodwill has lost its "goodwill " to its customers. This level of repeated carelessness is never the standard with antique, EBay store owners. Goodwill gets the items free and looks toward their profit line and have no respect for the market. You're thriving as a vintage etc dealer, but do not function in the class of these professionals. There are excellent choices in this marketplace and we will make that choice going forward. I will be sure to list a complaint with the BBB, and our fellow dealers and families. You have taken for granted that because you don't see our faces, you have no accountability. It's the opposite, we are very conscious of our hard earned dollars, and poor customer service is a sign of management and organizational flaws. We will also redirect charitable donations to another source such as yours. I'm sure your Founding Fathers and Mother's would turn in their graves in shame if it was possible. Find your mission and vision statement, blow off the dust and attempt to become a quality online company in 2020, stop hiding behind a historical name that represents quality, compassion and professionalism at its best.
Respectfully and goodbye!
JW Associates

Beware - Shopgoodwill is increasingly not fulfilling complete orders, and/or the items are not described as to condition or sizing.

I have been shopping there for years, and it is more than apparent that order shipments will be missing items with no communication from these stores. The online photos couldn't be worse at this point with no indication of sizing (I am receiving the wrong size from the described size on a weekly basis now - a simple photo of the size tag would solve that problem if they'd take the 2 seconds to do it). The item condition is being overstated too. Again, decent photos would take care of a lot of that. Customer serviceis very spotty. You'll be lucky if ShopGoodwill contact you back in 3-7 days... if that. I have also see lately that they arelisting 30-40 year old pieces of clothing as new items. Shipping & handling charges are outrageous compared to other resale & new-item online retailers.

Lately, the shopping experience there is a complete ripoff. It is getting much worse there, especially in the last 2-3 years. And there is absolutely no overall accountability for the service these individual stores under the umbrella of shopgoodwill are offering. They can (and do) leave items out of your shipment without refunding you or communicating that to you & no telling where it went. This seems to be happening alot lately when there was more than one bidder. You have to wonder about these inventory practices...

As if Goodwill doesn't make enough $ money $ accepting donations for free, over charging in their stores... now Goodwill offers donated goods online for ridiculous prices. These items are often broken, dirty or just junk. From the time the item is donated to being handled and shipped several times, is not packed carefully and will be bumped around, which may affect quality.

Even worse - Goodwill is driven by profit, with the highest generating sales coming from online auctions. If the profit margins drop, employees are often fired with no notice. Other employees have their hours drastically reduced, and full time employees lose benefits with the reduction in hours. For an employee only earning minimum wage, this is catastrophic. Goodwill does not care if the employee worked at the company for 10 years or more, or how skilled ShopGoodwill are, anyone can be fired or hours cut at any time... it's a scary place to work. All the while their profits soar from online auctions. Think about it... employee earns minimum wage. Jewelry lot sells $250 online, all donated. Yet Goodwill can't afford to pay their employees?

Another thing - online auctions mean the donated items do not go back into the community but instead are sold to the highest bidder. Goodwill policy says employees must select the best, high quality items and books/media to put into auction. This also means thousands of items are throwb in the trash or recycled because there are quotas to meet for the auction. In order to get the good stuff, you have to process alot of donated goods quickly and go through a large amount. There is no time to process and sort everything so it gets thrown out, unless it can generate profit.

Also auction do not go to the store shelves. People who may not be able to afford these items are not given a chance to buy them unless they go online and engage in a bidding war. There are non profits who actually do offer high quality items to needy people for free or cheap, Goodwill is NOT one!

Finally, Goodwill stores compete with each other over sales and auction items. There arw bonuses and incentives given for putting items in auction and sales. At some point in the future, each Goodwill store will have its own auction dept... and Goodwill will compete with Amazon as an online retailer.

I bid On 2 Roku boxes and won not knowing that there was only one remote and the main Roku which was the roku 3 Was the one I wanted didn't have A remote And usually you can order a remote but the Roku 3 remote Has a headphone jack and you can only use that remote with it! The reason why I found out is because I researched it And found it on shopgoodwill.com Texas store and I bid on it as well And won I paid for that one gladly! How so the other roku box is not Compatible with my TV because it only has AV Jack's it doesn't have HDMI Yes I should've paid better attention but it's not my fault that basically there's parts missing it's their job to research that stuff I am the buyer they're the seller! Anyways this is part three of the message I received!
3 - If we do not hear from you, in accordance with section 7 of the bidders agreement your privileges may be suspended or terminated.
Seller of this item: Goodwill Industries of South Central Wisconsin, Inc.
Seller City: Madison, WI
Now tell me please how is it legal for them to be dishonest and sale items which are donated to them by the way so everything is 100% profit My stepson worked for them! He made $7 an hour and ShopGoodwill would only let him work four hours a day so they do not pay their employees well! So how is it legal for them to force me to pay for this? I don't want my account banned but I don't wanna pay for something that I cannot use because of missing parts which I cannot order! I just don't want anyone else going through this! I hope my review will help Sincerely, Brian S Knoxville TN also I'm posting a picture of both as you can see wrong remote!

Buying from Goodwill can be good or bad depending on the store. The Tacoma, WA store is total trash. Bought a guitar from this location and the item totaled 29 dollars. Noticed after the bid the shipping was going to be 50 dollars plus a 10 dollar handling fee. I used their contact customer support feature on the site and basically was given a trash answer about shipping. So, I decided to call their facility directly and I asked why their Costs were so high. He told me it was due to the bulk of the item rather than the weight, however; I came prepared since I work at a company where we do regular business with dhl, fedex, and UPS. Concluded with the clerk that the price for shipping on all 3 sites was between 15 and 20 dollars. Told him that every other location selling guitars was charging 4 dollars in handling which was more reasonable. The guy on the phone seemed a bit taken aback and agreed to ship for 15 dollars shipping and 4 dollars handling. (Something tells me my item is coming with no packing and will be broke upon arrival.) These idiots hire ex cons and recovering drug addicts to run their stores and when someone makes them work, ShopGoodwill decide to screw with their customers. Since then, it has been almost a week and this store STILL has not shipped the item. If goodwill online is this lawless and operates with zero ethics; how on earth do we keep getting baited into buying from them? I recommend staying away, ebay has reasonable rules for when a seller does not meet obligation; the goodwill company will NOT have your back if you buy something and the store fails to deliver as advertised. Absolutely no buyers protection. I will be reporting them to my bank and the FTC for deceptive business practices if my item arrives damaged, or if they keep playing games with me on shipping the item, period. This company MUST have some rules for this service otherwise, they will have to suffer the wrath of the angry consumer just as every bad business does. I recommend EVERYONE that has had negative experiences with them AVOID using the BBB as a soapbox. The BBB is notorious for being a pay to play accreditation service. The FTC investigates fraudulent business and deceptive business practice. That is all.

I finally had a few sellers that were decent in shipping and products but now can't afford lots of jewelry. Brooches went from $29 for 9 1/2 lb lot in 2017. Now go for over 200+. So I started buying lbs of mixed jewelry. I got some really nice items several times from one seller. Paid about $15 and 12 shipping for a 12 lb bag. For get that now. I will have a bid in and auction will close early by 3-5 minutes. Or hidden bids you have no chance against even if your highest bidder shown that hidden bid beats you by $1.00.
And now lately like tonight no one had a bid in and I had $20 on lot. It had 10 minutes left. I check later thinking I needed to pay. Wrong someone bought it for $101. What? For a jewelry-craft lot. Now where did the $101 come from when I had one bid?
So I was pretty angry whether you bid on items with 7 day wait. No activity until just before close. And then item is gone.
So I just went on there and typed in bulk jewelry lots vintage jewelry or grab bags and or boo lots. All had bids one bidder. You can't see all of the name but it's like this...
G*****3. E*****7. M****1 T*****S. I*****6. And I have repeatedly lost out to C*****T and M*****1 those two in last minutes.
Also on every single Bulk lot tonight 1 bid on the first 2 pages of jewelry bulk the initials are E*****7.
Now you tell me who can afford say average 15-20 shipping on each one and $20 a lot and there were maybe 20 lots? I was going to count how many times this buyer was bidding $20 a pop but ShopGoodwill shut down for maintenance.
I have even bid up the ones I really wanted and still lose out.
The site tells you to put in your highest bid. Well that doesn't do any good if you have no idea what your going up against. I mean come on obviously the one lot with my $20 bid went to $101 against me. How can you compete with that?
There is nothing I can see in these lots that are even worth that!
I use a magnifier and a huge desk top screen. I pretty much know the outside items.
I have bought enough of these lots to know maybe 20% junk I donate. So why the high bidding?
I even bid on a 2 lb lot that was spread out and wanted one brooch for myself. Maybe $15 value and the rest worth a few bucks each for today prices. And it went for over $50. Shipping and handling was $15 So $65 for a lot worth 40. It doesn't make sense to me at all.
Prices are dirt cheap right now for Target or Walmart clearance stuff. So why are these lots selling for outrageous prices?
What really makes me mad is I am disabled and trying to start a small online business and this is hurting me big time. I am on a fixed income and $15 shipping is killing me and now this. And I searched and Ebay has nothing for jewelry lots.
My husband says this stuff is going over seas or to Big stores. Who else can afford this stuff. Something shady is going on here.
I complained to Goodwil about prices and timer both and got told to put in my max bid.
Well that does no good if you can't match or even know what someone else has bid up too.
I averaged 1-2 lots every week and now can't get anything. It's wasting my time. And lastly they don't always tell you you have been out bid until it's too late!
Someone needs to investigate. All these numbers at the end on these letters means it's the same groups I'd say bidding. And where is all that money going?
That one with bulk lots are all out of Michigan. The others are Texas. Florida MN and Arizona and a few others.
Aren't they wondering who is buying thousands of dollars of bulk lots? It has to be the same name. And you can not put them all together you have to pay individually.
What is going on?
Next post I will put pictures up of all the same initials. Remember all these lots also do not end at the same times and dates.
Oh and beware of the high end jewelry seller. I was interested in a tanzanite ring and emailed them to ask for certification. It was for my anniversary. And when I didn't answer him back. I got a call the next day saying the price went down a whole $28. On a 1,000 ring. How did the seller get my phone number? I never purchased from them before.
And what's really scary is I use my maiden name on my account. And unless it's paid for by stripe or PayPal how did he know who I was? My number is unlisted.

I have been shopping Goodwill's online auction for years. ShopGoodwill have gone from bad to deplorable. I don't understand how they are not held accountable for the unconscionable way they do business. I totally agree with the negative reviews posted on this site as well as many others. To think they use their lying and cheating business tactics under the guise of helping disabled individuals. What a lie! I bid on and won an auction at the Spokane, WA Goodwill on 3/12/18. The item was lost. Spoke extensively with FedEx and it was confirmed that the package was lost. FedEx provided me with a claim number to provide to the sender. I could not believe how they basically disavowed any obligation to provide a refund. According to their policy they relinquish the claim to the buyer and It's your responsibility to get a refund from FedEx. I will never bid from this location again! They are a bunch of uncaring scumbags! They are so full of it. As others have stated, their shipping and handling is ridiculous. I believe they overcharge and keep the difference. Personally, I am on a mission to have them investigated for the way they do business. I'm contacting the BBB in Spokane and other agencies who can investigate them. On a personal note: I have a disabled daughter who works at the local Goodwill and am disgusted how Goodwill work these hardworking, dedicated workers for slave wages and it is considered legal. What kind of organization takes advantage of disabled individuals like my daughter and others to fatten the salaries of their CEOs and others in their organization? It's sad because my beautiful daughter and others love their jobs, are hardworking and just want to be accepted like anyone else. In addition to stealing from people that buy and support the local stores and online auctions, how can they take advantage of God's beautiful and special people? Woe to them. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? There is a day of reckoning for us all.

Most ShopGoodWill sellers are hard-nosed greedy jackasses who now charge what the shipping cost SHOULD BE in their handling fees, not including the excessive shipping and lack of shipping options! ShopGoodwill don't give a d**m about buyers -use the most costly shipping methods, usually UPS or FedEx, and rarely USPS which is most reasonable & most reliable!

On top of that, their shipping/handling is not equitable for all items. For example; they charge the same $3-4 or more HANDLING FEE for a tiny pendant (that weighs less than an ounce & could ship USPS First-Class for the cost of a postage stamp) plus $8-10 shipping- and charge the SAME HANDLING FEE for a set of dishes that have to be hand-packed and wrapped individually in a large box with tons of packing and bubble wrap! They will combine the shipping cost for multiple tiny jewelry items... but still get MORE than what the actual cost to ship would be by still making you pay the handling fees for each of the multiple items!

One other thing that is unscrupulous is that since they have no one policing their auctions, many use shills to bid your item up if you bid the full amount way before the auction ends; and on hot items-they just bid you up and up, if they see there's a higher demand for the item. This should not be so... but I know because I've tested this many times. If an item is listed at say $9.99 and I bid $89.00 early, in a day or so they will bid the item up to $87.50 or whatever is the next minimum bid as mine without going over. Goodwill can see what the high bid is at any time- so don't place a high bid up front! This crooked baloney, is like so much that's going on in the world now when you deal with people and businesses who have no moral compass!

Apart from possibly excessive postage and packaging, although I did receive the item overnight, and the concern about possible shill bidding driving up the price, I bought a vintage replica ring in perfect condition, it looks like new, and I am very happy with it. The remaining few new ones of this ring were being sold on ebay at the time for over 3 times the price I paid. I would be wary of buying anything else from this site for the reasons given by other people here, with which comments I mostly agree, but in this instance I'm very happy to have this ring.
I am revising this review because I have since bought a second item which I just received today, this time a necklace from Middle Tennessee, and although I have no complaints about the necklace itself, the postage charges were excessively high. ShopGoodwill charged me $7 for sending a flat necklace in a small, barely padded envelope, and depending on whether it was considered a letter or a large envelope, it only cost them either 68 cents or $1.15 plus the cost of the flimsy little envelope that shouldn't have cost more than 50 cents if that. I think a couple of dollars of what I was charged was a handling fee. Like others have said, everything these people sell has been donated to them, and they are supposed to be helping people who are disadvantaged in some way. They certainly don't need a handling fee, nor do they have any good reason for charging so much more than the cost of the postage and the envelope. They can be a good source for discontinued, vintage items that are rare and hard to find, as long as there isn't much that could be wrong with them (like jewellery in my case) and that's the only thing I've been interested in buying from them, but with their dubious business practices that they seem to have been able to get away with due to being a charity, they are going to alienate more and more customers, I think, judging by the bad reviews here. Many more people probably have bad experiences than actually take the time and trouble to write reviews. At least this time, thanks to the reviews here, I knew better and didn't make anything but the smallest bid at a time so as to try to not invite shill bidding. I'm now starting to use shopgoodwill.com as a source of some available older items and then searching elsewhere for them on websites where the sellers are held more accountable for their actions.

Their descriptions and photos are poor quality (horrendous) and misleading. ShopGoodwill obviously put no effort into this. Always check the shipping & handling fees, which could very well double your final cost (win an auction for $15 and pay $50 for S&H). I had an item shipped to me in a very flimsy box that arrived badly damaged. If you contact the seller with a question, you will not get a timely response and the reply is not likely to be very helpful. You can end up bidding on what you think is an 14k necklace only to find (after you've purchased it) that it's 14k electroplate. They state that they test their "gemstones" but do not guarantee that the stone is real/natural because their testing equipment doesn't differentiate between natural and synthetic. They follow that up with stating that the items are being sold "as is", that they are not "experts" and therefore cannot guarantee that their description is accurate. Do not even think about returning anything as ALL sales are final with a no-return policy. For the money that they pull in on this site, they SHOULD be required to hire a few experts so that you know what you are bidding on. Just remember, you will NEVER win in a case against them even if you are right. If you initiate a claim against them because you purchased something that was not as described, they just ban you from using the site. (I was told that a lot of dealers now use the site as they can afford to bid high and can afford the risks.) The Attorney General should be checking out this site. If it was any other business, they'd be deemed "fraudulent." Great way to take advantage of customers -- and pull in tons of cash.

Sometimes I get what is advertised... and it's ok. I try to purchase multiple items from the same location because some of them cap their handling fees at $10 and then shipping is combined... Sometimes these work out ok...

Issues...

ShopGoodwill take crappy photos and deliberately hide damage on items they list as NWT... You can return items If they are not as stated BUT they don't refund the handling fees or the shipping or the sales tax... even though THEY made the mistake. So... they profit anyway even if you return the item.

They don't tell you that certain items can't be combined with others for shipping, even though SOME items are clearly marked "Can not be combined for shipping" in big red letters under the shipping tab... and you don't know that until you're done and try to pay... then that one $3.99 item costs $22. Because for completely unknown reasons you can't combine that one bikini bottom... if you ask, they take days to respond then say "Oh, that's weird. You better email customer service"... that takes 4 more days and they respond "Those can't be combined"... And if you don't pay for it then it's a black mark on your record. 3 of them and you can no longer shop there.

When they can't find an item you purchased... they give you a refund. For the cost of the item. They do not refund the handling fee, the shipping, or the sales tax. If you try to open a ticket... they ignore you. Pretty sure they can't legally just keep the sales tax they charged you on an item that they didn't have and you never received... but they do. How much trouble am I going to go to for $2... but it's one hell of a profitable scam for Goodwill when they profit from their own deception...

If you are having an issue with an item and are trying to work it out... they may simply not respond and your item then goes unpaid and, as I mentioned above, 3 unpaid items and you are banned from the site. They note that Covid has slowed things down (yes it has) so they may take longer to reply (which I totally get) but they haven't extended the time a buyer has to pay for an item... which means that if you want it... you have to pay the extra fees that they don't have listed and that you din't know about until after you've made the purchase and that you're trying to work out... or take the black "Unpaid item" mark...

The mold... "NWT"... that's all it says under "condition"... except the mold (you know that "it was in a flooded basement then tossed into a pile of debris for a month" mold) was heavy enough that simply opening the box... caused an asthma attack that lasted a month. Of course they have a disclaimer that all items are donated and they do their best... Maybe whoever listed that item (2 of them actually) had Covid and had lost their sense of smell...

Be careful about which locations you purchase from. Some are more honest than others... however management can change and you can get royally screwed just when you think you're ok.

Best advice... just don't.

I started using shopgoodwill.com almost 3 years ago. I collected vintage jewelry at the time, and have since started collecting amber, perfume bottles, books, and coins and currency. When I first began, I was able to purchase lots of vintage jewelry grab bags for a reasonable cost. I got a lot of gorgeous amber pieces too. Right now, I'm buying coins and currency. Things have changed over the years: the shipping costs have skyrocketed (you can decide if you want to pay the shipping or not; it's not difficult). Some sellers still mail some items depending on cost or non-fragile nature via USPS. Currently on the website, ShopGoodwill are selling jewelry that used to be in lots, as separate pieces (doesn't seem to be working that well, as lots of people just don't bid on these single items). I have gotten scorched a few times (large useless items in a jewelry bag to increase weight), mardi gras beads in jewelry grab bags. I'm not thrilled by the shipping costs, but as someone who 2 years ago, sent my mother a large Christmas box of jewelry, gift cards, etc. by USPS, and the box arrived totally empty, well not TOTALLY, the packing foam was still in it, it was somewhat still taped up, and in magic marker was written: "delivered with no contents"; I'm not so thrilled with USPS, so I don't really mind more shipping $$ as it comes with more (not total, but more) security. BTW, USPS did put a postal inspector on my case, and he traced the theft to Memphis, TN. I received my $100. Insurance, but it was a lot less than the value of the box. So now, I insure everything I send via USPS for as much as I can. But even with UPS and Fed Ex, I've gotten items that appeared like someone tried to open the box. So, there's theft everywhere, but a lot less with the premium delivery services. Back to the subject,... I appreciate the convenience of being able to sit at home and bid on items, I've never had a bad experience with any person (and I do let them know when I think there's a problem), and I recognize that unlike Amazon, or ebay, the purchases are as is. Now if they're doing something stupid or silly, I have asked and gotten a refund. You just have to make noise if you want action. Right now, I've just contacted a seller b/c a lot of coins which I just spent $130. On arrived today, and it felt too light to me. Well, I weighed the box intact and discovered that the box is only 3.6 pounds, but was described as 8 pounds including shipping. I'm not a particularly patient person, so I'm really ticked off about this situation. So,... I contacted the seller as well as the main customer service dept. In this case, and told both that I want an explanation, and I want to be made whole, either a substantial refund, or merchandise. I've probably won about 80 or so auctions, and I've had a problem with about 3 purchases which were: a seller had jewelry listed, but did not say it was for crafting (I got a total refund), The postage for an item was unnecessarily high, and I asked for a cheaper rate b/c the item wasn't fragile (the change was made), another time some gemstones I purchased were smaller than they appeared, and in this case it was explained to me that the photos were magnified. I suggested they put a penny or some coin in the photo with similar auction items in the future so that people can have a better scale to estimate, and lastly, this issue I just mentioned. I don't know how it will turn out, but I'll come back onto this site and let you all know,... stay tuned,... Funny, I just stumbled onto this site as I was logging in to shopgoodwill.com

WHY? SO ShopGoodwill CAN LIE TO YOU? SO THEY CAN READ FROM THE SHOPGOODWILL SCRIPT? WHAT A CROCK OF $#*!! ACTUAL LISTING BELOW!

Movado Swiss Quartz Sapphire Crystal Watch

Current Price: $86.00
Minimum Bid: $87.00
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Product ID: 74178885
Number of Bids: 20 (High Bidder: e******r)
Current Price:$86.00
Bid Increment:$1.00
Shipping Price: Estimate Shipping
Handling Price:$3.50
Seller: Goodwill Industries of SW Florida, Inc.
Ends In: 1d 21h (reload page to update)
Ends On: 8/28/2019 6:46:00 PM Pacific Time
Item Info
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Brand: Movado Swiss Quartz Sapphire Crystal, 87 E*******374, gold tone black leather band, Unable to get back off watch, stainless steel back water resistant, MCS engraved on the back of the watch, Not tested Not working at this time

Condition: Normal wear and scratches, back of watch has sever scratches, Not tested Not working at this time

Movement: Quartz Movement

Weight: 27.9 grams

Stones:

Features: Sapphire Crystal

Approximate Measurements

Case

Length: 1 3/8"

Width: 1 2/8

Height:

Case Material: Stainless Steel Back

Band

Length: 7 1/2"

Width: 5/8"

Band Material: Leather

Disclaimer: We are not certified Gemologist or jewelers. All items are described to the best of our abilities. All measurements are approximate. We utilize Presidium Gem tester to test all stones. Precious metals are tested utilizing acid test methods. Please see and review pictures for more details. Please ask all questions prior to bidding. All auctions are SOLD AS-IS with no warranty or guarantee.

I don't have the energy or patience to list and relive the multitude of issues I've had with "them", but a couple biggies I'll attempt. First, by"them", I want to point out for those new to >>shopgoodwill. Con<< who don't already know, there are numerous stores from all over the US who list items, and there are a couple I've communicated with who have been exemplary in dealing with; professional, courteous, HELPFUL(not a commonality to say the least) and have gone out of their way to resolve an issue. HOWEVER, ShopGoodwill are an exception. So by "hem" I refer to the majority who are arrogant, power tripping, snide, unhelpful, lazy, spiteful and resentful toward the paying customer(without whom they would not exist or have their miserable jobs).

So... I'd like to know if anyone else has noticed this recently: There were a few days their website wasn't loading pictures which was unnerving at best. Didn't stop anyone though(myself included). That was just a couple weeks ago. The interesting thing is that since then, I've noticed that a whole sh*tload of new locations appeared immediately following that brown out, and their listings rotate in such a way that makes it JUST out of reach to look for items from the same location to combine shipping. I recently tried bidding on an item with no bids within a minute of ending but couldn't get the damn green "place bid" button on the screen(Iphone). Landscape, portrait, pinch, swipe, nothin. Messaged them immediately hoping they'd let me buy it(like one place did). No chance. They relisted it at a higher price and not only that, my other item became past due with a deadline ONE MINUTE before that relisted item ended that I told them I wanted. ONE FRIGGIN MINUTE?!? I believe they've incorporated a new system in their site(beta during brown out) to intentionally prevent combined shipping. Because yes, their shipping fees are ridic, but ppl keep buying so why not make them pay those fees 80-90% more? The profits would quadruple.

I know I'm wordy dammit. I have to add one that made me laugh so hard with disgust and end soon. A ring description said ""exible band". Not adjustable, flexible. I looked at the pics and the friggin band was severed completely. OMG if that's not shamefully deceptive and intentionally covering up the OBVIOUS... I messaged them the following:
"OMG that is hilarious—
I'm relieved to know it's one of those flexible types of bands because for a minute I thought it was actually broken and wasn't gonna bid on it, but NOW I CAN, phew! "
I received the response:
""nk you for your email!"

Tried to pay for a light jacket the other day but upon checking out, it wouldn't let me have it shipped because it was entered as weighing 39 pounds so pick up only. Friggin aholes. Sent three msgs, nervous and pissed. Wouldn't respond. FOUR DAYS, no word. Not until after the item became past due, only to tell me I'm lucky they didn't ban me for my abusive language("pissed" and "God"mn") and accusations and they fixed the weight error. Well they didn't, and uh, I'm not the one who made the mistake. Don't expect any apologies- EVER. And STAY AWAY from Central and Northern Arizona!

I've had the fortune of finding some treasures. I keep in mind not everything is as it appears in photos and the no return policy makes me think twice before bidding. I can't say every purchase was a positive one, but it's second hand goods being sold by people who couldn't possibly be experts on all things. If I have a question, ShopGoodwill answer it; if I have a problem, they have always been professional and assisted me as best they can while in keeping with their policy. The times I have been less than happy were borne out of my own failure to add up the shipping and handling prior to bidding. The item was only $8 but I paid $14 to ship plus $5 - oops. I notice some things sell for crazy high prices which is interesting. I do a little background check on an item to see if it's really the deal of the century and many times find the same or even new product being sold elsewhere for less. Shipping times fluctuate from store to store, so I just accept that as the way it is. They ship using FedEx and they typically pack an item very well. Only two items I purchased were damaged during shipping which was resolved without too much effort or inconvenience. I don't go into any purchase with unreasonable expectations. It's used, it's untested and it's not guaranteed so if you can't afford to take a loss then it's not the place to shop. If you hope to find something unique or vintage, you will; a printer or even a camera for $30, you can; I bought a cello for $60 and it's beautiful. You never know what you'll find.

Shopgoodwill.com internet auction site has many Goodwill stores participating on the internet auction around the country. There does not seem to be any consistency from one location to another in how ShopGoodwill do business. Each site is left up to their own judgement as to the method of testing or not testing electronic items, describing, picturing, packing, shipping carriers, etc. For example an audio video receiver: one facility may not even plug a receiver in to see if it may power up or not. Another facility may plug it in and if if powers up they are done and off to the internet auction it goes. Personally I have purchased four high end receivers(my price over $300/each plus shipping) from shopggoodwill.com and only one ever worked. My percentage is about 75% failure when it comes to purchasing electronic items on the internet auction site. It would seem there should be some minimal consistent testing procedure for high dollar electronic items sold on the shopgoodwill.com site. I am sure there are thousands of disgruntled customers around the country who have purchased electronic merchandise only to find out their purchase was merely a very expensive non-usable item worthy of the dump. I wonder how many folks take their recently received non-working item they purchased from shopgoodwill.com and take it to their neighborhood Goodwill store as a donation just to start the process over with the non-working electronic item.
No one is making out other than Goodwill for the above described scenario. The packaging and shipping procedures varies greatly. Some stores do in house packing others send the items out to UPS stores, FedEx, mom/pop shippers etc. The real problem lies in stores that chose to package their own items for shipping. Some stores do well and bubble wrap fragile items others simply throw the item in a box with no packing material at all. Some stores allow a third party to pick up an item for shipping such as a UPS store others will not allow anyone other than the buyer to pickup the item even if you are out of state from the Goodwill store from which you purchased the item from on the shopgoodwill.com site.
It seems shopgoodwill.com is not accountable to any governing body or law enforcement agency otherwise how does Goodwill get away with selling damaged or non-working electronic just because they state the items are not tested or sold as is. I suppose there are thousands of us gullible shoppers out there that keep Goodwill in business.

So the first thing to say here is I would not consider most of the negative reviews here to be of much use. Most of these reviews come from "pickers" who make a living buying things from goodwill (the charity) on the cheap and then reselling them for a profit. ShopGoodwill used to do this at the local good will store, but Goodwill got smarter and decided to cut them out completely and put the Items up for bid to a large audience of experts who could more accurately price an item based on its worth. It is exactly the same way E-bay works. The larger the competitive bidder pool and audience, the better chance somebody bidding knows what something is worth and will push the price up close to the actual market price. Pickers for YEARS made their livings exploiting the fact that a local goodwill had no inherent knowledge of antiques or other things so to move stuff they priced it low as a guess. So all of the moaning and complaints here is mostly coming from these pickers and collectors who suddenly now have to pay market price for something and can no longer make easy profits fleecing a local charity for their own personal gain. Sorry guys, the internet gets rid of middlemen (YOU). Get over it. Find a new scam. As a long time customer of the goodwill auctions site I have found them to be fairly good. Most of the complaints here about shipping are off base too as shipping costs have risen. A LOT in the last few years. And they also have to pay for the box, packing materials, and an employees time to box and ship things. I don't find the price unreasonable or much different than I pay to ship similar items on Ebay. The only real gripe I have with them is how SLOW they are to ship things. Some times after buying It can take up to a week for them to even print the shipping label, and then another week for them to box something up, and then 3 more days for it to get dropped off at fedex or USPS. This is really the only thing I think they could improve on is a commitment to faster shipping of paid items. Seriously. It should not take a month for me to get my paid merchandise. That is ridiculous.

Now, I'll be the first to admit, you can find some good prices for some nice things on shopgoodwill.com. Aside from the fact that it's very suspect to me how the shipping is calculated. Seriously, I can find an item 800 miles away to ship, and it's 20 dollars, and then another one 1500 miles away, and it's only 11. Same carrier, same handling cost. What's up with THAT... I'm pretty sure if you buy anything non electrical, it's possibly a different story, but watch out for anything electrical, especially electronics. STUDY whatever pictures carefully, look to see if the case on an item has been opened such as amplifiers. LOOK CLOSE, expanded view. There's something going on with the bidding. I call it ghost bidding. Or, bidding by people who need to give it some thought, if it's not ghosts. If it's a worthwhile item, the price will constantly rise from say the usual 9.95 start, up to say, 50.00 in a few days, on a 7 day auction. On this site, you can bid anytime you want, but why run the price up for no reason. If you're bidding on an item,. Over how ever many days the auction is, it's the last minute that counts. Keep it low until then. Ghost bidding, is what I think is going on. I'm not sure other bidders are just running the price up on certain items, that early in the game. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm right.

Third and last time for ELECTRONICS from "GOOD" WILL.
I would advise everyone out there to NOT buy electronic items from GOODWILL.
The first experience for an "all-in-one" vintage radio\ record player/receiver which arrived totally busted.
In that case the store in question gave a refund and I junked the broken item.
The second time was a STEREO AMP which was touted as "working"--it was not working and I doubt it ever was--I got NO RESPONSE & NO REFUND in that transaction.
The third and last time was this MARCH, 2021.
Won a bid for a "working" turntable and FEDEX left it on the porch in a box which was obviously damaged.
GOODWILL of CENTRAL TEXAS made no attempts at refunding.
I did eventually open the box to ascertain the damage and sure enough-- both corners of the plastic cover were broken right through since the cover was NOT individually wrapped.
There were no "FRAGILE" stickers or "THIS END UP" The turntable was in the box upside down.
There was no SIGNATURE DELIVERY and I would have refused the box just by looking at it.
I didn't bother "testing" it since I doubt it would work due to crappy packaging.
ShopGoodwill sent "NO REPLY" emails asking for more pics!
They then "closed" the case without even addressing the issue.
I turned the whole matter over to Wells Fargo and learned my lesson, which is--DO NOT BUY ELECTRONICS from GOODWILL--they don't know how to pack items properly--AND it's doubtful they ever even test anything.
And, like others have suggested, there seems to be shill bidding going on in many stores.
I have had fairly good luck with non-electronic things but I am stopping all purchases from them.
And--why are donated used items TAXED AGAIN?
THE USED STUFF has already been taxed to death but still--MORE TAXES?
They pretend to be a "charity" organization, but in reality they are FOR PROFIT and have a CEO who takes home MILLION$$$$$ while paying employees sub-par wages.
Rich people donate for TAX WRITE-OFFS and couldn't care less what happens after that.

As if the shipping charges were not excessive enough, ShopGoodwill tack on BS charges like $5.00 "handling fee" for a jacket. It's nuts. I have been sent so many items that were not at all as described. For example, I bid on and won what they described as a leather jacket. What they sent me was a VINYL jacket. I told them they sent me the wrong jacket. I told them they made a mistake in describing the item. They responded with "We do not accept returns". I said "well, you better accept lawsuits because if you don't make this right you will have one coming". Then they wanted ME to pay for the return shipping! I of course told them I needed to speak with a GW Regional Manager because I was truly getting scammed. Their excuse for the original mix up was blamed on individuals with disabilities working at that facility. I was flabbergasted by this response. We all know that people with different disabilities work at GW that does not give a business (charitable or profit) the right to defraud their customers. After all, it is still a business and they have to provide what they advertise. A non-profit tax exemption status does not give a business license to defraud and blame it on individual employees. I have a feeling it won't be long before we hear about more of this type of scamming, maybe on the news?! Cover story will read, GOODWILL GREED!

I really liked buying items from this site until ShopGoodwill "disabled" my account without notice or reason! I had payment due on 2 items that had 3 hours left to pay. I signed on to my account to pay on the 2 items that were due and I wasn't even able to sign on because they disabled my account BEFORE it was past due! I purchased over $400 in items and they disabled my account before all of them were even shipped! I'm just hoping they were all delivered and I got all my items now that I can't even sign on to my account to check. Clearly I had intent to pay as evidence by my purchase history. Their business is shady and I deserve an explanation if they are going to disable MY account. I even tried to make a new account and a day later they disabled that one as well! Like I said, some really shady business going on. I got some really good deals on some really great items (maybe that's why they disabled it!) and would have continued shopping on their site but now they just put an extremely bad taste in my mouth. I strongly recommend that they improve their customer service side of things. These are DONATED ITEMS supposedly sold to go to a good cause. If they are going to sell such a high influx of items then they need to improve on many aspects of their business. Not very impressed at all with how things are run on that website. There needs to be better regulation. Beware of the disappointment that you may experience. Shady shady business!

DO NOT RECOMMEND! ShopGoodwill could careless about your the customer service on this site is absolutely atrocious! I spend close to $1000 a WEEK on their website and have always paid my bids on time! Until last week my child got ahold of my phone and won a bid on a TEN DOLLAR item! I quickly contacted the seller trying to get that bid deleted before the auction was over so I didn't screw up their potential sale but they didn't get back to me til days later! Not to mention they could care LESS what you've got going on in your life or about their customers AT ALL! I've seen others receive one time removal courtesies for accidental bids... I contacted the seller but because I sent them multiple messages in a row they wanted to punish me and tell me I'm pretty much screwed! So I emailed corporate, they couldn't careless either! How can a company that works strictly off DONATIONS be absolutely SO money hungry they can't release you from ONE MESS UP! When this happened I had NINE items in my orders that I had JUST PAID FOR! Do you care at ALL about what your customers actually think?!

My information in case you decide to develop some compassion...
Username: JessicaKristaxox
Item #: 93423292
Item: Silver Embellished Choker
Seller: Goodwill Serving the People of Southern Los Angeles County
Qty: 1
Price: $9.99
Ended: 5/23/2020 6:33:00 PM PDT

The items I received in the past were just thrown in a box without enough protection. Most of the time items are missing from the shipment. I didn't report it because I hate contacting customer service, it's difficult to speak to someone or get a timely response. Items scrape and rub against each other and are covered in scratches and marks. My wife has had the same issue. Customer service hasn't responded to my emails asking to close my account becaus I no longer want to be their customer. AVOID! Do not sign up! Employees are unhelpful to me. I used to donate at the end of every year. Now my family and I will never donate or shop at a goodwill ever again. If I had known how badly ShopGoodwill treat the things I donate and how unresponsive their customer services are to the recipients of said items, I would have never donated to them in the past. It's a shame, I feel bad for those people who donated and their stuff is wrecked and tossed in the trash apron arrival. I've done this myself and my wife has a pile of jewelry tangled and damaged from numerous shipments which eventually get thrown in the garbage. After years of purchases mine and my wife's accounts were disabled, claiming they are duplicate accounts even though they are separate emails and bank accounts. This makes no sense. We should have been contacted first with an explanation. I opened a new account Wich I am unable to cancel. Oh and please delete my account! I'm still waiting.

I was watching a painting on ShopGoodwill and was surprised how quickly price is going up and after stop for a few days. As you can see below the same user bid every minute to rise price.
Obviously it was done by somebody from the ShopGoodwill team. I bought before and for sure paid much much more. How disgusting this practice is!
Bidder Bid Amount High Bidder Item Price Time of bid
A***C Bid amount hidden until end of auction R*******e $653.00 7/7/2018 7:02:16 PM
d******1 Bid amount hidden until end of auction R*******e $651.00 7/7/2018 2:43:24 AM
d******1 Bid amount hidden until end of auction R*******e $576.00 7/7/2018 2:36:10 AM
d******1 Bid amount hidden until end of auction R*******e $476.00 7/7/2018 2:35:58 AM
d******1 Bid amount hidden until end of auction R*******e $351.00 7/7/2018 2:35:41 AM
R*******e Bid amount hidden until end of auction R*******e $314.00 7/6/2018 5:55:06 PM
G*******e Bid amount hidden until end of auction G*******e $235.00 7/6/2018 11:24:04 AM
G*******e Bid amount hidden until end of auction p****t $226.00 7/6/2018 11:23:22 AM
G*******e Bid amount hidden until end of auction p****t $127.00 7/6/2018 11:23:04 AM
G*******e Bid amount hidden until end of auction p****t $87.00 7/6/2018 11:22:46 AM
p****t Bid amount hidden until end of auction p****t $7.99 7/6/2018 11:10:23 AM

I purchased a beautiful 10k gold coral ring on shopgoodwill.com, from a store called Goodwill Retail Services in Racine, WI. I live just one state away in IL and never had an issue with USPS opening up packages and stealing the item inside. Goodwill shipped my ring in a USPS small flat rate box, which wasn't sealed properly - it was glued in only ONE spot at the front, and the sides weren't sealed/taped/glued in any way. There was absolutely no tape anywhere on this box. I paid $8 in shipping for your store to ship a gold ring in a box that wasn't even sealed? Anyone could have opened the sides of the box and taken my ring out. Well fast forward a week later, I get my box and it has 4 stamps on it from the post office with "Received without Contents" and my ring is missing from the box! I contact their store, and all ShopGoodwill say is they cant help me and i need to file a claim with USPS and once the box leaves their store, they aren't responsible. Were they responsible for taping the box and sealing it before it left their store? YES. They failed to do it, and this ring being stolen is 100% their fault. I ship for ebay and I know it costs $3.50 to ship a ring, not over $8. They couldn't spring for some tape? So now I've lost $60, they refuse to refund my money and file a claim themselves, and Im out on my own trying to get the USPS to refund my money. The shaddy part is I don't think the USPS stole my ring, I think the workers at this goodwill store took the ring, sealed the box poorly on purpose so that it looks like anyone could have taken it once it left their store. I never had an issue with USPS stealing an item out of my box and this was being shipped from just one state away. This is a completely unacceptable way to run a business- they need to look into who is working at the Racine, WI store. I dont recommend buying from Goodwill Retail Services, you risk getting an empty box shipped to you and you may or may not get your money back from the USPS.