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This Instagram Page Shares ‘The Wonderful, Bizarre And Insanely Overpriced Items” Found While Thrifting, And Here Are 50 Of The Best Ones
Interview With AuthorThrift hunting is basically a journey in Wonderland. You never know what you’re gonna find there, but that’s the whole point of it. Initially, buying thrift was something savvy shoppers would do. But soon, it became a whole new trend with professional thrifters and vintage aficionados who, thanks to their trained eye and knowledge of secondhand, manage to dig up some real treasure that stood the test of time.
At the same time, thrifting can bring some pretty unusual and unexpected findings. Thanks to the Instagram account “Ridiculous Thrifter,” we now know what to expect. And it gets weird real quick! Run by a “Professional thrifter and reseller,” the account showcases “the wonderful, bizarre and insanely overpriced items” found at secondhand points from Facebook marketplace to secondhand stores and charity shops.
Below are some of the craziest items found there. Psst! After you’re done reading this post, be sure to check out our previous posts with crazy thrift treasures from people who couldn't believe their luck here, here and here.
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Do You Need One Of These? Imagine Always Carrying Around This In Your Pocket Or Purse… Busting It Out When Someone Is Being A Total Whinebag
My brother legit bought a mini violin for my poppa as a gag Christmas gift coz our poppa loved to complain.
Bored Panda reached out to Sean, 41, the creator of the “Ridiculous Thrifter” Instagram account from Atlantic Canada. “I purchase items at thrift stores and re-sell them on eBay and Facebook marketplace as a side hustle,” he told us.
Sean first started thrifting after high school in 1999-2000 when a major thrift store (Value Village) opened up in his city. “They sell items on a much larger scale than the smaller boutique type thrift stores I was used to. They are considered the 'Walmart' of thrift. So as a young & broke college student, I saw a great opportunity to 'flip' these items for a decent profit on eBay… it was a no-brainer!”
If 2020 Was A Shirt... “I Just Can’t”
Shoe-A-Bunga Dudes!
Imagine The Absolute Cringe Of The Thrift Store Employee
Sean got completely hooked and from then on, he’s been enjoying this side gig for over 20 years now, while working full time as a Youth Corrections Counselor. “Over the years, I’ve brought many of the teenagers I work with out thrifting along with me. As a learning experience, I would teach them my craft, showing them some of the items they can make an easy profit on,” Sean said and added that most of them really enjoyed the experience. “Some of them would even ask, ‘Sean, can we drive to Value Village today?’ Haha. The thrill of the hunt is addictive…”
Rooster Smash!
It's Bad When A Thrift Store Doesn't Like Our Odds For The Future
A 1960s Batman Water Pistol Toy For Kids. Interesting Design
“Just before the Covid pandemic hit in early 2020, I was at Value Village one evening and I noticed they were selling small bags full of Canadian one cent coins (pennies… around 250 of them in each bag) for $3.99 plus tax. This was crazy! So roughly $2.50 worth of Canadian currency for $3.99 Canadian currency? How was this possible? Whose idea was this?”
The creator of the Ridiculous Thrifter page said that he laughed a lot in the store at how absurd this was while taking several photos of the bags. “When I arrived home, I posted one of the pictures to my personal Facebook profile, which became quite popular. I think it was shared close to 400 times, and because of that popularity, I knew there was something bigger here.” That’s how Sean decided to create a separate Facebook page (and Instagram a little later) to feature this post along with his other “ridiculous” thrift store finds.
“Well, it really took off… it became much more popular than I had anticipated. Followers began submitting their ridiculous thrift store finds as well for me to feature. It has been really enjoyable and I didn’t realize how big thrift culture was.”
Cheeseburger Phone! Who Would You Call On This?
For When Your Relationship Reaches A Certain Threshold...
Vintage Cat Novelty Transistor Radio, Made In Hong Kong Circa 1970s For $6.99. This Thing Really Cleaned Up Well With Goo Gone & Microfibre Cloth. What A Score!
I'm waiting for it to open those eyes and dazzle me with the brightest golden orbs
“An average thrift journey for me usually lasts about an hour or so. Longer if I find a lot of items I can sell. Some days I can walk out of the stores with absolutely nothing. I mostly concentrate my time on looking for valuable electronics, retro toys & games, video games/consoles, books and movies. Small stuff that’s easy to mail cheaply. On eBay, high shipping costs on big and bulky items can really ruin the profit, so those items I try to sell locally.”
Sean also said that every now and again he discovers an item that he knows nothing about. “I will have to take out my smartphone and search what it sells for on eBay. My phone is so important in this case… several times my battery died in the store and I would have to leave items on the shelf because I didn’t want to take the risk buying a worthless item. But most times I already know the profit that I can make, how much I can sell it for pretty easily.”
Absolutely Hilarious
These Thrift Store Chairs Have Cushions With Celebrity Portraits On Them
This Is How Legends Are Made
When asked whether thrifting has become more popular lately, Sean said that’s definitely the case. “It has actually exploded. Television shows such as 'Storage Wars' and 'American Pickers' have really popularized the hobby. In the early 2000s I was one of only a handful of people in my city who were selling thrift store items on eBay. I was able to pretty much fill my shopping cart full every visit.”
Now, however, thrift hunting became very competitive, says Sean. “There are lineups outside the thrift stores before they open in the morning. The early bird gets the worm… and as I work full-time now, it’s pretty much just for fun for me. I can’t compete with the younger generation. But I’m not upset at this. I’ve had my time in the sun!”
Today, Sean’s thrift store adventures are mostly to gather content for his Ridiculous Thrifter page. “If I happen to stumble on valuable items to sell while doing this, that’s all a bonus. It’s still really fun!”
The Helicopter Ceiling Fan
“Pickle Me” Elmo - $10.00
The Man Was Then Rolled In The Rug And Thrown In The Trunk Of A 1979 Cadillac Coupe
When asked about the craziest and the weirdest items Sean has found, he said it’s definitely “the bags of Canadian pennies for starters… a normal beach rock for $2.99 (we are surrounded by beach rocks where I live), a 3/4 full bottle of bleach for $3.99, a full-sized canoe made completely out of popsicle sticks and empty (yes I said empty) generic brand tomato sauce jars for $2.99 each, to name a few.”
This Is “Not Unusual” At All! Lol What A Thrift Find! Carlton Score!
This Wins The Internet Today! Lol
Caution: Beverage May Evaporate In Proximity Of Pillow
“But the weirdest item ever found has to be the rice cooker that actually had cooked rice still in it! I’m not sure how the employees of the store missed that. Completely ridiculous!” Sean told us.
For anyone who’s into thrift hunting, Sean's advice is to keep thrifting fun and enjoy the hunt. “Don’t get upset if you see someone with a shopping cart full of the things you were looking to buy… there’s always another day,” he concluded.
Who Remembers This Vintage 1980s Playskool Flashlight That Had 3 Different Colours?
Would You Buy This?
Someone Had A Lot Of Fun At This Thrift Store
Lol - I Absolutely Love This Thrift Store Find! 🤣🤣🤣 T-Shirt Fail!
When Your 3 Year Old Wakes Up At 5am And You Aren’t Ready To Face The Day... A Couple Hot Wheels And This Hoodie Will Do The Trick!
It’s Been 45 Years And Cliff Still Can’t Get Over That Terrible Night In 1975 Lol
Get Your Limited Edition Mario Milk Before It Expires!
Gotta Give’m Credit For Clever Marketing
I guess leather is technically an animal print, so maybe split pleather is too?
This Made Me Laugh A Lot
I’m Euro-Peeing My Pants!! Value Village In Pembroke Ontario Canada Is Selling 20 Euros For $34.99+tax ($39.54)!! You Can Buy This Bill At Any Bank For $29.68 With Todays Exchange Rate, Tax Free!! They Are Literally Selling Money For More Money!!! This... One... Takes... The... Cake!!! Absolutely Ridiculous!
Find The Cheetos Crumbs In This Bad Boy!
When Those Covid-19 Pandemic Zoom Calls Finally Fry Your Brain! A Coffee Mug For Every Occasion!
Only The Best Brands For Sale At The Double-V...
Face-Off? More Like “Face-On This Backpack Is Kick-A**!”
This Was A Real Thing And 100% Should Be A Real Thing Again
For people who like socks, now you can wear them all over your face too!
The Clerk Said This Lamp Doesn’t “Cast” A Shadow. Wish I Wasn’t “Broke” ... I Certainly Would Have “Foot” The Bill... Spent All My Money Getting “Plastered”
“It’s Tee-Hee-Ime To Be Bad!” Whatever Shade You Were Mj, You Were The Greatest Of All Time
Some Days I Love Value Village. Look At This 1986 Hasbro Jem & The Holograms Lunchbox With Thermos! Fantastic Condition. $19.99
Ultimate Star Wars Collectors Item
I Toad-Ally Would Have Bought This Too!
What Do You Do With Your Chicken Parts?
The only reason I would buy one of these is to see if I could cook it with a flamethrower.
Haha! Quite The Funny Fb Marketplace Post!
If 2020 Was A Photograph
Couple Of Better Pics Of The Now Very Infamous Ottawa Value Village Donated Casket - Taken By Paul J Bourque
Ultrasound Machine For Sale At A Thrift Store In Florida For $4,000! I Have Soooo Many Questions
Donated Simply Because It Was A Constant Reminder Of That Time They Nearly Burned The House Down
So Value Village Is Selling Bags Of Pennies For $3.99 Each.... I Can’t Even...
There’s Just Too Many People On My Mind!
Maybe I have seen his face too many times already today, but.... does this weirdly look like Nicolas Cage?
I feel like anything can look like Nicolas Cage if you look for too long...
Load More Replies...Check to see if this is a Sergio Bustamante. Very well known artist in México. May be worth a bunch of money.
And judging by the faces on those folks in her head, they are full of misery. Either their own or from their lively hostess. This is a can of worms I would dare open.
No Holds. E-Transfer Only
The Lindsay Lohan Coffee “Mugshot”
“Jada You’s A Thrift Store Shopper”
Note: this post originally had 100 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
Starting to think Value Village is a money laundering storefront for the mob.
I once found an original Tamagotchi while working at a thrift store. They were going to throw it away but I nabbed it before they could. It still works :)
This is why the ultrasound labelled as an x-ray doesn't surprise me. The amount of stuff mislabeled or chucked without thought when I was volunteering in charity stores is silly. We got the entire VHS collection of Star Trek: Voyager in (many years ago, when we still had machines kicking about), they were gonna chuck it because they couldn't be arsed checking if they were all there, took me all of 10 mins to check the cases and put them in order. There was even a couple of doubles.
Load More Replies...Value Village appears to be a step or two below Cousin Cletus's All Summer Long Mega Garage Sale.
Where are these Value Village locations? All the ones I've been to have been reasonable.
90s merchandise are the best way to make me feel older than when the kids asked a aged lady if she was having a dinosaur as a pet when she was a child.
Starting to think Value Village is a money laundering storefront for the mob.
I once found an original Tamagotchi while working at a thrift store. They were going to throw it away but I nabbed it before they could. It still works :)
This is why the ultrasound labelled as an x-ray doesn't surprise me. The amount of stuff mislabeled or chucked without thought when I was volunteering in charity stores is silly. We got the entire VHS collection of Star Trek: Voyager in (many years ago, when we still had machines kicking about), they were gonna chuck it because they couldn't be arsed checking if they were all there, took me all of 10 mins to check the cases and put them in order. There was even a couple of doubles.
Load More Replies...Value Village appears to be a step or two below Cousin Cletus's All Summer Long Mega Garage Sale.
Where are these Value Village locations? All the ones I've been to have been reasonable.
90s merchandise are the best way to make me feel older than when the kids asked a aged lady if she was having a dinosaur as a pet when she was a child.