Pricing is the biggest headache in thrift. Volunteers all price differently, and since they’re donating their time, managers can’t exactly hand them a pricing manual and a spreadsheet.
The cost of getting it wrong is real. Overpriced items sit on the floor, making the whole store feel stale. Underpriced items walk out the door at a fraction of what they’re worth. And either way, pricing eats up volunteer hours that could go toward helping customers or keeping the store looking great.
Meanwhile, thrift’s tech-savvy cousins, eBay, ThredUp, consignment shops, are pulling ahead fast. Since 2018, resale has grown 650% while traditional thrift has grown just 36.8% (source at bottom).
The closest thing thrift stores have to a pricing tool is Google Lens, and almost nobody actually uses it. Even when they do, it’s only for the obviously expensive stuff. The process is brutal: take a photo, tap into eBay, toggle the “sold” filter, scroll through listings, eyeball an average, then mentally translate that to an in-store price. Multiply that by hundreds of items a day, and it’s just not realistic.
TrueTag eliminates all of that. Its autocapture technology means you just slide a piece of clothing into view. It automatically takes the images it needs, and in about two seconds, you get a final price. Adjusted for your store’s policies and current demand. No tapping, no scrolling, no mental math. You don’t even need to touch your phone.
SOURCE:
https://capitaloneshopping.com/research/thrifting-statistics/