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How to find treasures in op shops and garage sales

Can you still find anything in op shops that is worth more than what you paid for them? Or at garage sales, or trash and treasure markets? It often seems that even people who dump the contents of their back shed on a tarp know the exact value of everything. James Cockington with a vintage magazine he has collected.CREDIT:SYLVIA LIBER

You can blame this on online auction sites and smart phone apps that give you an estimated value, usually optimistic, at the click of a button. "But this is what it's going for on eBay," the sellers will tell you.

There are still bargains to be found, just fewer than there used to be. For example, the $4 op shop cup that sold for more than $75,000 at a Sotheby's Australia auction in April 2013. The astute vendor spotted this on the shelf in a Sydney opportunity shop and…

Trash or treasure: Do you know the difference?

A tsunami of unusable donations is overwhelming Australian charity shops. Can a clever social marketing campaign change donor behaviours and solve the problem?

William Holmes Donations

A tsunami of unusable donations is overwhelming Australian charity shops. Can a clever social marketing campaign change donor behaviours and solve the problem?

William Holmes When it comes to charity stores and bins, would you consider yourself a champion donor? Unlike the garden variety donor - who takes items to charity stores that may be of no use to anyone else - the champion donor considers what it is they're donating. They judge whether the item is in appropriate condition, and check all the parts are present and working. While the champion donor is not contributing to the 60,000 tonnes of unusable product that overwhelms many of Australia's 2,500 charity shops each year, the same c…

Op shopping: A beginner’s guide

In the past couple of years op shopping has experienced a huge boom in popularity. Unfortunately I’m a little behind the times and haven’t quite caught up on the craze, so I’ve enlisted the help of Anthony – my little brother and op-shopper extraordinaire – to give me the lowdown. So, first things first: What is an op shop?

Vinnies Op Shop

An op (short for opportunity) shop is a store run by a charitable organisation where goods are sold to raise money for their cause. In Australia, op shops are often run by associations such as the Salvation Army (Salvos), St Vincent De Paul (Vinnies) or Lifeline who use the proceeds to assist people who are doing it a little tough. Goods sold in store are generally second-hand items donated by people in the local community and are sold for a fraction of the price you could expect to pay in retail stores.

Books,…