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Thrift Stores Selling Stolen Property??

post #1 of 13
10/15/09 at 6:27pm
Thread Starter 
So there is this thrift store in Omaha that in the last two months has had a AKAI MPC2000, a $1500 Roland sequencer, a $600 canon lens, a $500 Hassleblad lens & multiple very nice 35mm SLR cameras and lenses. My only thrifting experience is in Omaha, but this at all normal? The 6 or 7 other thrift stores that I frequent don't have anything that comes close to these types of electronics.

First of all, I don't understand who would give away a $600 canon lens and secondly why this thrift store just doesn't sell these items on eBay so they will receive their full price. This thrift store is the middle of the poorer, Hispanic neighborhood in town, which makes it even more odd that they would be selling this merchandise.

Am I asking too many questions here?
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post #2 of 13
10/15/09 at 6:41pm
That's weird. I hope you bought it all.
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post #3 of 13
10/15/09 at 6:47pm
Thread Starter 
They don't sell them for "thrift store" prices. Like the sequencer I think went down to $1000 or $1100 and then I didn't see it anymore. The mark everything down on Monday and so you basically have to be there when the door opens to get some of the discounted gear.
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post #4 of 13
10/15/09 at 6:54pm
Very, very odd. I know I had a buddy in high school who was part of a winning class action and he blew some cash on electronic gear and then eventually ended up pawning some of it... but thrift stores? The most I've ever seen at a thrift store is a Gravis gamepad.
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post #5 of 13
10/16/09 at 2:45am
Pawn shops sell stolen property all the time. In Edmonton the police actually track pawnshop merchandise against a list of stolen goods for precisely this reason. I know a guy who got robbed for a bunch of photo equipment, the police tracked it down at a pawn shop 2 days later. When he went to collect it, it was still on the shelves going for 1/2 of what it was worth.
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post #6 of 13
10/16/09 at 11:47am
Thread Starter 
Yeah, I understand about the pawn shops. It went through my mind that maybe the pawn shops move items they know are stolen through this thrift store. The thrift stores buys the merchandise of course.
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post #7 of 13
10/16/09 at 11:51am
Quote:
Originally Posted by michaeljkrell View Post
Yeah, I understand about the pawn shops. It went through my mind that maybe the pawn shops move items they know are stolen through this thrift store. The thrift stores buys the merchandise of course.

Or gets it donated... who would donate that kind of gear?
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post #8 of 13
10/16/09 at 10:08pm
krell- was this in Omaha or Bellevue... i haven't seen anything buy instamatics and polaroids for about 2 months now.

we still need to get together and shoot sometime.
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post #9 of 13
10/17/09 at 11:11am
Maybe someone in possession of such goods died? Probably stolen.
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post #10 of 13
10/17/09 at 11:16am
Doubt they were stolen...look in the Thrift Store Bragging thread, people find $2500 to $6000 items with decent frequency.
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post #11 of 13
10/17/09 at 2:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by unjung View Post
Or gets it donated... who would donate that kind of gear?

This.
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post #12 of 13
10/18/09 at 12:05am
Could be a crooked store being used to launder stolen goods. Pawn shops are required by law (at least in my state) to keep records and file with the police when items are taken in, or to cross reference their inventory against police records, or something like that.

Thrift stores. . . not so much. If you knew someone who ran a 'criminal' thrift store, they could buy it from you stolen and resale at a profit, while having a lot of junk clothes around to make the place look legit.
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post #13 of 13
10/18/09 at 9:54pm
How were the items priced? Last time I donated stuff to Goodwill I saw some vintage Bang & Olufsen gear behind the glass case, but was priced $$$.
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