There were a couple of yarn lots I put a minimum bid on in December, but they ended up in bidding wars that knocked me out of the competition. I thought I'd point out why high bidding prices make thrifting as expensive as buying new for retail.
This 22 lbs. lot probably has about 50 skeins in it (if you do the math, that's how many would weigh 22 lbs.) They're mostly Red Heart Super Saver skeins, which I like a lot, and retail for $4.99 each, or about $250.00 for 50 of them.
It's a lot of yarn, so I only wanted to bid the minimum $15.00 (shipping and handling would have been an extra $22.00.) There were no pics of what was in the box, and it would be a bit of a hassle to store, so that was all I was interested in paying. I was the first bidder but the bidding war began almost immediately, and the winning bid was $77.33. That's probably going to run over a hundred dollars with shipping, which is $2.00 a skein.
Here's a slightly smaller lot of yarn that weighed in at 21.6 lbs., so about fifty or so skeins worth about the same as the first lot. I was also the first bidder on this lot with a $10.00 bid, as the shipping and handling would have been a whopping $33.74, and it was difficult to see the labels and colors of the yarn, so that was all I was interested in bidding. Another war ensued, the snipers started shooting at the last minute and and the winning bid for this lot ended up being $97.99. With shipping that's around $2.63 a skein.
The reasons why thrifted yarn isn't worth high prices at auction: lots like these are always a hodgepodge of colors and fibers, with very few matching skeins, so they're only good for multicolor or one-skein projects. You don't know what condition they're in until they arrive at your doorstep, and that includes any storage odors or insect infestations that may come with them (I've been lucky so far, but this is a valid concern, especially with large lots.) I mentioned the storage factor, which can make your stash become too big to handle easily.
There's also life, which can throw curve balls at you. I had a bunch of projects lined up for December, but I'll probably only finish a couple because I sprained my finger. Imagining winning all this yarn, and then being unable to use it. If you want specific yarn for specific projects, and you can thrift it for an afforable price, please do. But don't get caught up in bidding wars -- go buy it new instead. You'll likely end up saving money.
Image Credit: the two pics in this post came from the original auction listings at ShopGoodwill.com.
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