Every thrifter knows the feeling of walking into a secondhand store and seeing two tags that make no sense next to each other. One shopper in Southern California hit that wall on a recent run, finding a $15 vintage stool sitting near a $200 stone table and a $280 piece she flat out called a prank. Her name online is The Flipped Piece, and she spent a full day hopping between thrift shops in the Oceanside area to see where the real bargains were hiding.

Her first stop was Veterans Thrift in Oceanside, a red, white and blue building she says she visits about once a month. She loves the place, but she warns that the furniture there has gotten expensive, and the price tags she found in the furniture section proved her point almost right away.

Walking in, she grabbed one of the store’s carts and headed for the furniture. A vintage stone table was priced at $200, and she let out a groan about it on camera. A big bamboo corner shelf she liked was marked $150. “Who prices these things?” she asked out loud.

The $15 Stool That Stood Out

Then came the one that made her smile. A vintage stool with fabric still in good condition was sitting there for just $15. She flipped it over and found it was stamped Town Square 1989, Hillsboro, Texas, and it went straight into her basket.

She figures a stool like that would look great in a kitchen, perhaps displaying crocks or the enamelware that is trending right now. The gap between that $15 stool and the $200 table a few feet away was exactly the kind of mismatch that makes thrift prices so hard to predict.

The rest of the furniture aisle kept the whiplash going. A buffet in very good condition was $125, which she said was still expensive for a thrift store but fair for the shape it was in. Another large piece, which she thought was too grand and too big for her own style, carried a $280 tag. That was the one she said she actually believed was a prank.

Fair Prices Hidden in the Back Aisles

Not everything at Veterans Thrift made her wince. A French dresser that needed a lot of work was marked $120, and she said she would pay that if she had the space. An old oil lamp above it was $65.95, an old secretary desk was $200, and a beautiful dresser with a totally broken drawer was only $35, which she figured explained the low price.

Near the end of the aisle she found a set of old Spanish leather chairs at $25 apiece. She said she would grab them in a heartbeat to go with a huge antique mahogany table in a grand dining room. A rattan lamp shade with a birdcage and birds inside was $30, and she wasn’t sure whether she would take it home.

In the home decor area, which is mostly piled on top of the clothing racks, she says you have to dig. She picked up a hand-painted wooden trinket dish for $2.95, then put it back later because the hinge broke. She kept a candle holder made of wicker and cast iron for $6 and a heavy, giant shell for $6.95, since people display shells all over their homes in Southern California.

She walked out with three items: the stool, the shell and the candle holder. The total came to $32.31, which she rounded to about ten bucks a piece. She also planned to spray paint the candle holder and flip it.

The Estate Warehouse Across the Street

Right across the street sits Estate Sell Warehouse, which buys out whole estates and puts everything on the floor. She says she gets a lot of good furniture there and visits so often that one of the staff, Matt, recognizes her about twice a month.

The store showed off a very different price range. A tiger of her own could be hers for $475, and she asked who could imagine having that in a home. A set of four Crate and Barrel chairs was $125 each, which she thought was a decent deal. A vintage trunk was $45, a ceramic woman planter was $28, and an antique clock was $45.

Her cart filled with smaller pieces. Two vintage enamel skillets were $10 each, which she grabbed because enamel and patina are having a comeback. A wood dish was $5, handmade Portugal pottery was $6, a brass etching was $12, and a Ball USA pottery pitcher was $18, a style she says is collectible and trending in home decor right now. A huge solid wood swan was $10 and a framed clown print was $6.

When she tallied it up, she had spent $142 at the warehouse, and she called that an absolute steal.

The Last Stop and the Big Payoff

After a quick lunch from Sprouts, she finished at Amvets Thrift Store, where she remembered prices being reasonable. It was only September, and she was surprised to see so much Christmas stuff already out. Nutcrackers there were just $4 each, which she said made the prices much better than the first shop.

She went up and down the aisles twice, her habit anytime she thrifts. A set of two metal candle holders, wine holders at $3.99 each, two matching lanterns at $2.99, a brass pot at $3.99 and a basket for $7.99 all landed in her cart.

The star was an old crock she pulled from the bottom of a shelf for $5.99. She called it huge, the size of two of her heads, and she plans to research what the number two on it means. Her total at that store was $57.25.

Her total for the entire day came to about $235. She says the crock alone might bring about a hundred dollars, and she called thrifting the best free dopamine hit in the world.

How to Shop Thrift Prices Like She Does

Her day offers a few easy lessons. Prices swing wildly even inside a single store, so a $15 stool and a $280 piece can sit a few feet apart. Do not assume the pricey shop has the best goods; her cheapest big win came from the store with the most reasonable tags.

• Walk every aisle twice. She says the second pass is when she spots what she missed.
• Look for sets of two or more, because matching pieces are easier to sell or display.
• Flip pieces over and check the bottom for stamps, marks and dates, like the Town Square 1989 mark on her stool.
• Know your own limit. She passed on a $200 secretary desk even though she thought it was beautiful.

As she puts it, sometimes you just have to get things when they speak to you.

More Stories You May Like

• Chunky Plastic Bracelets In A Thrift Store Bin Could Be Bakelite Worth Thousands And A Warm Water Smell Test Can Help You Tell
• She Kept Seeing The Name Dolores On Handmade Pieces All Over A Thrift Store And Pictured The Older Couple Behind Them
• Her Favorite Thrift Store Went 50 Percent Off, So She Waited On Fenton Cranberry Glass She Passed Days Earlier, And It Paid Off