Goodwill

15 Stories

$3.99 Vase Found at Goodwill Sold at Auction for $107K

It turned out to be an exceptionally rare piece from the 1940s

(Newser) - Over her decades of thrift-shopping (not to mention her time spent watching Antiques Roadshow), Jessica Vincent has developed an eye for spotting hidden treasures at secondhand stores. But even she didn't realize just what she'd stumbled upon one day in June at a Goodwill store in Hanover County,...

College Student Finds Quite the Wedding Dress Bargain

Emmali Osterhoudt stumbled upon a $6K Galia Lahav gown for just $25 at an Alabama Goodwill

(Newser) - Emmali Osterhoudt is a nursing student who doesn't see herself getting married (or even engaged) anytime soon, but when she came across a wedding dress at Goodwill during a recent thrifting expedition, she knew she had to grab it. In a TikTok video posted earlier this month, she gushed...

She Had a Hunch on Her $34.99 Goodwill Find. She Was Right
She Had a Hunch
on Her $34.99
Goodwill Find.
She Was Right
in case you missed it

She Had a Hunch on Her $34.99 Goodwill Find. She Was Right

Art collector confirms she bought a stone bust straight out of ancient Rome

(Newser) - Four years ago, an art collector picked up an old stone bust at a Texas thrift shop for less than $40. It was money well spent: The sculpture has been confirmed to be an artifact straight out of ancient Rome. KHOU reports that Laura Young stumbled upon the bust, nestled...

Mom's Lesson for Son About Shopping at Goodwill Goes Viral

Facebook post has been shared nearly 240K times

(Newser) - Cierra Forney wasn't happy when her 13-year-old son started acting "entitled," "like he's too good to shop at Walmart or making snarky comments about kids at school who shop at the [G]oodwill," the Georgia mom wrote on Facebook —alongside a photo of her...

Cops: Austin Goodwill Blast Caused by Military Device

Police believe incident is unrelated to bombings

(Newser) - A blast that injured a Goodwill worker in Austin Tuesday night appears to be unrelated to the series of deadly explosions that has shaken the city, police say. Assistant Police Chief Ely Reyes says the scare was caused by a military training device that somebody had included in a box...

Here's What to Do With All Those Empty Gift Boxes

Give Back Box helps send your unwanted stuff to Goodwill for free

(Newser) - For the record number of Americans who will buy their holiday gifts online this year, here's an idea of how to dispose of all those cardboard boxes. Give Back Box has partnered up with companies to encourage you to refill them with clothes, housewares, or whatever else you'd...

Surprise $4.99 Find in Goodwill Bin: a Purple Heart

Ariz. woman's post seeking its owner goes viral

(Newser) - Laura Hardy says she and her husband were browsing in their local Goodwill in Mesa, Ariz., over the weekend when her husband spotted something unusual in the jewelry section: a Purple Heart medal with the name Eual H. Whiteman on it. "It was just classified as purple jewelry for...

Woman Hunts for Sweatshirt Over 1K Miles Away

The sentimental item was donated to Goodwill by mistake

(Newser) - Alison Williams is willing to pay cash or offer up some "good ole' fashioned Canadian maple syrup" if someone can help her track down a very special sweatshirt in Oklahoma, per her post on Reddit . The Toronto woman is on a mission to help her best friend of 20...

Guy Finds $35K Watch at Goodwill Store

Rare 1959 diving watch had $5.99 price tag

(Newser) - A Phoenix man who went into a Goodwill store looking for a used push-pull golf cart ended up leaving with a $35,000 watch—and getting change from $6 (it cost $5.99). Zach Norris, who became interested in vintage watches after inheriting one a few years ago, says he...

Goodwill Donor Mistakenly Donates Cremated Remains

But workers were able to ID and return them

(Newser) - Two boxes of cremated human remains mistakenly included among household items donated to an Indiana Goodwill have been reunited with the deceased's next of kin. Goodwill employees sorting through donated items found two small, white boxes filled with the remains, a Lafayette police sergeant tells the Journal & Courier ...

Found at Goodwill: Human Skull

Detectives investigating the mysterious donation in Texas

(Newser) - Police are scratching their heads trying to work out who donated a human skull to a thrift store in Austin, Texas. A homicide detective says that foul play is not suspected and that he just wants to know how the adult skull came to be left at the Goodwill store....

Goodwill Reunites Family With 1812 Heirloom Bible

An employee's search turns up NJ descendant

(Newser) - A centuries-old heirloom Bible has found its way back into family hands thanks to a dedicated Goodwill employee. After the 1812 Bible, originally published in England, turned up in a box of donations at a Denver location, Goodwill's Chief People Officer Joyce Schlose knew she had to track down...

For Sale at Goodwill: Other People's Identities?
For Sale at Goodwill:
Other People's Identities?
investigation

For Sale at Goodwill: Other People's Identities?

Indiana TV station finds that personal info often gets donated by accident, resold

(Newser) - An Indiana TV station has a story about Goodwill that should make donors—and identity thieves—pay attention. It seems that lots of people accidentally donate boxes stuffed with sensitive personal information (think Social Security numbers, pay stubs, credit cards, tax returns, etc), and those boxes then get resold to...

$10 Goodwill Buy: $15K Painting

 $10 Goodwill Buy: 
 $15K Painting 
in case you missed it

$10 Goodwill Buy: $15K Painting

Sotheby's to auction Ilya Bolotowsky work

(Newser) - During a visit to Goodwill, a North Carolina artist spotted two large abstract paintings selling for $10 each. That's a quarter of the price a brand new canvas would have cost Beth Feeback, and she figured she could easily paint over them with her subject of choice—cats with...

Senior Donates Suit to Goodwill, Loses Life Savings

His $13K was in a pocket

(Newser) - Before donating clothing, it’s best to check the pockets. An 80-year-old man has paid a hefty price—quite literally—for forgetting: He had hidden his life savings in a suit he donated to Goodwill, he says. Now employees of the store in Moline, Illinois, are sifting through a warehouse...

15 Stories
Most Read on Newser