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Thread: "Mandolin Cafe Forum" had donated to Goodwill!

  1. #1
    Registered User bob_mc's Avatar
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    Default "Mandolin Cafe Forum" had donated to Goodwill!


  2. #2
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: "Mandolin Cafe Forum" had donated to Goodwill!

    I owned one of those that was very similar years ago but mine had 8 strings.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

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  4. #3

    Default Re: "Mandolin Cafe Forum" had donated to Goodwill!

    I think what happened here is that the person who posted this saw that SGW mandolins get posted here regularly and wanted to nudge this one towards us!

  5. #4

    Default Re: "Mandolin Cafe Forum" had donated to Goodwill!

    Could be a Goodwill tribute to the people who have pushed all those mandolin auctions into the stratosphere. Just mentioning an item here brings in a whole new bunch of bidders.

  6. #5

    Default Re: "Mandolin Cafe Forum" had donated to Goodwill!

    I think that is giving Goodwill a lot of credit for "tailoring" their listings for maximum results. In reality, they can't lose -- let's see, the item costs them nothing, soooo -- ANY bid is a profit. They can't fail. Every other business has to pay for inventory.

    Not to rag on Goodwill, I am a customer sometimes and think it is fun see what is there. I am amused in thinking 50 years ago, Goodwill stores were modest little places usually located in the not-so-great parts of town, serving that community. Record and book collectors, like myself, were the exception. Nowadays, they command a prominent corner in popular modern shopping plazas.

    Less competition in those days. One of my high school era scores was a rare Elvis 45 purchased at Goodwill for 15 cents -- it was beat-up, but I still sold it for $140 -- quite a feat back then in the days before the internet. Today, they would place it on an internet auction....kinda takes the "fun" out of it for me!

  7. #6

    Default Re: "Mandolin Cafe Forum" had donated to Goodwill!

    Those places still exist, they're just the local shops, typically run by small local charities or religious groups. I like to hit them up occasionally, and I rarely go to goodwill anymore, since it seems like most of the good stuff goes online.

  8. #7
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: "Mandolin Cafe Forum" had donated to Goodwill!

    This listing is really weird. There's no description, no mention of the make or model, nothing about its age and history and condition, just "Mandolin Cafe Forum" as a title where the make and model should be. Weird. And who knows? Maybe that's all they need to do.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

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  10. #8

    Default Re: "Mandolin Cafe Forum" had donated to Goodwill!

    Quote Originally Posted by milli857 View Post
    Those places still exist, they're just the local shops, typically run by small local charities or religious groups. I like to hit them up occasionally....
    We do have a couple places like that around here. One is ran by a local ministry and their profits feed and clothe people in our area. The lady who runs it is nice. They rarely get instruments, but twice in the last 12 years I bought a guitar for $10 bucks. Probably the only guitars they have ever had.

    Another place is some kind of non-affiliated charity ran by a mean-spirited woman who lets everyone know she is the boss. I've tried to be friendly every time I go in, but she doesn't make it easy. It is mostly women's clothing and furniture. The really annoying thing is on the rare occasion when they get a saxophone or guitar amp (FWIW, I've never seen any stringed instruments there) and I express some interest, she always says, "Oh, I can't sell that yet, we just got it in and I NEED TO LOOK IT UP." Keep in mind they don't sell online, plus it only takes about 2 seconds to look something up, but she can't be bothered -- even when a ready buyer is waiting. She always tells me to come back tomorrow. I said, "can you hold it for me?" Oh no, we don't do that, you'll just have to come back tomorrow. Of course, tomorrow it is always gone. When I ask what it sold for she always says, "Oh, it went for $50 bucks." (I'm thinking I would have gladly paid $250 for it.) She probably just took it home, I'm guessing... these are games people play in small-town America. (there is an old quote about give a little person a little power...I can't remember it exactly, but it seems to be the case with this person.) A shame.

  11. #9
    Registered User Simon DS's Avatar
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    Default Re: "Mandolin Cafe Forum" had donated to Goodwill!

    They have a place like that here in the village (in France).
    How the manage it is they have a huge list of relatively poor people or socio-politically important (wise) people and they are the ones who value the items of their specific field, like ‘stringed instruments’ for example. They will often buy the objects and repair for re-sale and keep the money in the local area.
    There’s actually a science of it.
    People do university degrees in how to value local economies. Obviously fraud is an issue, but just one of the many issues that they have to confront. ( they probably even have cops who work with them trying to get people to ‘choose the right path’). It’s complicated.

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