Goodwill offering online shopping for secondhand items this holiday season
It’s quite the operation — goods come into the facility where they’re sorted and tagged. The items then make their way into a giant warehouse where they’re sorted again. The nicer items get their picture taken, get a barcode, and then uploaded to the internet at ShopGoodwill.com.
“A lot of the things we try and sell on our website are collectibles, antiques, some of those unique items, those rare finds that might fetch more,” said Spencer Bayless, Goodwill’s director of retail sales. “The way it works, we typically list almost everything starting at $9.99 on our website, and then it goes from there. It’s like a bidding process similar to eBay.”
All of this happens at Goodwill’s E-Commerce Center, and some of the items for sale carry big names.
“It’s not as widely known as we’d like, but it’s a fantastic opportunity,” Bayless said. “If you can’t get out of the house to be able to see a lot of unique, different things, it’s all donated goods.”
There are a lot of brand-new items for sale both online and on Goodwill’s retail floors. People are fighting inflation and getting a lot of Christmas shopping done here.
“We’ve got tons of Christmas decor, Christmas trees, Christmas lights, lots of stuff for the house, Christmas presents.”
This time of year, sales are up at Goodwill stores. Officials say online shopping accounts for 37% of sales, and that number is on the rise. All of the money made at Goodwill goes right back into the community.
“We have a lot of free programs, lots of job opportunities, lot of job training both in north and south Omaha,” Bayless said. “A lot of opportunity for people to get a leg up. We help them with that. It’s all free of charge.”