ShopGoodWillReviews 651

Goodwill is ran buy experience ebay sales staff. They have in house bidding to drive prices up. Their shipping is a JOKE. I mean what kind of charitable organization makes money off shipping. I have bought a few things off the site and every now and then I will go on there for something that is broken because I fix electronics. However, even if I do get a deal I still get ripped off with a handling fee and shipping. Then the 10 day wait. Pathetic. Also, goodwill is not a nonprofit organization. Here is some light reading. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-hrabe/the-worst-corporation-in-_b_*******.html

The system at goodwill auctions is horribly stacked against the buyer. I have purchased 4 binoculars and 3 cameras from the auctions and NONE has been in usable condition. Problems most encountered were inoperative cameras, and with the optics, fungus in the lenses, bad collimation of binoculars, and in one case a pair of Bausch and Lomb elite binoculars with one tube completely blacked out. What is the common thread? All were described as in good working order, and not returns. It is virtually impossible to assess accurately the condition of an item because of the amateur descriptions of the items, and the really poor photos accompanying the listings. As a final insult the shipping charges are often wildly inflated and may not reflect the charge listing in the live auction. Basically they are selling other people's discarded junk. It won't sell if they list the condition accurately, so they exaggerate or lie.

Really watch your check out receipts because it appears to be regular practice to charge obscene shipping charges and by that I mean an item posted as 2 pounds on bidder page suddenly became 33 pounds at check out and it keeps happening over and over again. If you contact the store they will correct it but it happens so much I have to believe it is intentional and making them lots and lots of extra money when people check out without looking, shame on you Goodwill. Good stuff bad shipping.

Shipping & handling is egregiously inflated. My husband received the winning bid of $5.00 on a fishing lure and the total with shipping & handling came to more than $15.00. I cannot justify the inflated cost of shipping even if I imagine it is to provide extra care in shipping; on two occasions, I purchased a ceramic figurine and a necklace, and the figurine arrived at my home broken in several pieces and the necklace chain was broken, because neither were adequately packaged. The site also fails to give the buyer the opportunity to rate the individual "seller" store, or provide feedback, like eBay does, to ward off future buyers. Buyer beware is not reasonable consumer protection in today's ecommerce market. It is time to levy consumer protection from our state government! Stay away!

Their descriptions and photos are poor quality (horrendous) and misleading. They obviously put no effort into this. Always check the shipping & handling fees, which could very well double your final cost (win an auction for $15 and pay $50 for S&H). I had an item shipped to me in a very flimsy box that arrived badly damaged. If you contact the seller with a question, you will not get a timely response and the reply is not likely to be very helpful. You can end up bidding on what you think is an 14k necklace only to find (after you've purchased it) that it's 14k electroplate. They state that they test their "gemstones" but do not guarantee that the stone is real/natural because their testing equipment doesn't differentiate between natural and synthetic. They follow that up with stating that the items are being sold "as is", that they are not "experts" and therefore cannot guarantee that their description is accurate. Do not even think about returning anything as ALL sales are final with a no-return policy. For the money that they pull in on this site, they SHOULD be required to hire a few experts so that you know what you are bidding on. Just remember, you will NEVER win in a case against them even if you are right. If you initiate a claim against them because you purchased something that was not as described, they just ban you from using the site. (I was told that a lot of dealers now use the site as they can afford to bid high and can afford the risks.) The Attorney General should be checking out this site. If it was any other business, they'd be deemed "fraudulent." Great way to take advantage of customers -- and pull in tons of cash.

Obscure descriptions and images, you will receive damaged items with no returns, rude customer service, PayPal sides them. After receiving an expensive camera lens with a rattling noise inside I opened a case with PayPal and still lost. Never got a return, never got part of the money back. This would never happen on other sites. These people sell junk for a lot of money, take no responsibility and get away with it. This is out of control. They should be stopped.

The overall attitude in the company is keep selling them the garbage out of the retail side and the important or collectible or more desireable stuff goes to ecommerce. Period. EVERYTHING is touched - NO LOT IS UNSEARCHED> if anything they can load an auction with value and sell it with the crap. I know everything Goodwill. I worked for you - I taught YOU things so I know what I know I have asked the NY TImes to send an investigative journalist to your company to bring to light what your doing to America really. Would not allow me to pull a blanket out of our garbage to give to a homeless freezing cold person - you must never ever give anything away period ever no matter what. Well guess what? I got the man his blanket a**holes while you weren't paying attention lol. Please NY Times would you please bust these people?

I have spent much money on this site. While I did get a few good deals the overall experience was awful. Besides paying ridiculous shipping fees many items are not as described. But that is just the beginning.

I won an auction. No one else bid so it was a low price. The seller wrote to me and said the item was no longer available and refunded my money. I kept checking and sure enough they posted the exact item again. I wrote to them to explain and they basically said. We lost it and now found it and if I wanted it I could bid again! Try that on eBay.

In another auction that I won they wrote to tell me that the cost to ship item was underestimated and if I still wanted item I would have to pay a third party shipper!

Now I just received a portable cassette recorder. They state that it couldn't be tested and sold as-is. I opened it and it was filled with dirt and dead bugs! I'm still itchy. Also, it had old very corroded batteries in it. All someone had to do was look at item before posting it.

Don't make the same mistake. STAY AWAY. You may be tempted with low prices. Make sure you check the shipping and handling fees.

I have recently purchase some items on shopgoodwill.com sometimes i get a fair deal other times i get the shaft. The last item i purchased was like no other dealing i have had with shopgoodwill or any other Auction site. It was flat out robbery. They listed an item and described it as in good condition with no damage just some normal wear, the pics that they added showed the item with plastic wrapped around the globe as it was securing the item from damage, when i received item the plastic was no longer on globe and exposed was about 10 inches of cracked globe that had been re glued with a clear silicone and a crappy job at that,, even a blind man would notice this damage. So looking at the pictures again i realized they had put the plastic wrap right where the cracks were so they could not be detected when being view. I would have to classify this as organized crime with a bunch of low lifes as employees.!

Shopgoodwill used to be a good website to get good deals years ago. Back in the day I spent tens of thousands of dollars with them. I'd say it ended about three years ago when they acquired far too many ignorant users. People need to realize that not all of these goodwill locations are honest and some are completely dishonest. Nowadays when you look at their website is get that up to roughly eBay prices but unlike eBay, there is absolutely no guarantee of functionality or damage being disclosed. And when the return policies you usually lose more money by returning the item just throwing the garbage. It amazes me that for every new group of users that get burned and subsequently abandon Shopgoodwill, they somehow managed to find just as many users to replace them start the process all over again. That being said there are far better options out there and I feel sorry for everyone is been burned by Shopgoodwill. The process will just continue as it has for years. People paying top dollar for mostly garbage.

If so beware - cherry pick there lots and then inaccurately describe and photograph the leftovers to deceive buyers.

Ask questions before bidding / buying. This is not a place to buy on a whim.

Customer service is responsive, but will not benefit the buyer if they have your money already.

Goodwill should not be a name associated with this location.

On my first visit to shopgoodwill, I won a nice lot of vintage dollhouse furniture. I thought the shipping more than it should have been( I sell on Ebay and am familiar with rates). My package arrived on time. When I opened the box the odor of cigarette smoke was appalling! I have believe an employee was smoking while packing the box, I don't think it was from the items themselves(though they are now permeated with the stench). I had planned to keep some of the items and sell the rest. I am not sure if I can rid them of the odor enough to sell them and make a bit.
I realize that this issue is a problem with the seller and not shopgoodwill.com directly, but there should be some standards across the board for care and handling a merchandise.