“The Bins” Survival Guide: Shopping for Resale
There’s a special kind of thrift store that doesn’t get enough attention in reseller guides. There are no racks, no price tags, no sorting. There are just rows of huge rolling bins, sometimes grouped by category, that you dig through to find items. You pay by weight for discarded items that were surplus or just weren’t selling at regular thrift stores.
We call these outlets “the bins”.
A few weeks ago, I traveled from Toronto to Montreal to visit one. I spent exactly $62.46 for 31 items at a Renaissance Kilo location (the picture below is from my visit), with my finds ranging from heavy coats to sealed DVDs. One of those finds was a women’s Danier leather jacket that I sold a few days later for $80 – more money than I spent on the entire 31-item haul. That math is exactly why the bins are worth a visit.
There’s a catch though. The bins are chaotic. They’re hot, loud, physically demanding, and competitive. They are the exact opposite of a relaxing thrift store visit, and if you don’t go in prepared, you’ll end up empty-handed, frustrated, and potentially with a cart full of items you can’t sell.
What “the bins” actually are
Pay-by-the-pound stores sell clothing, shoes, and other goods by weight rather than by item. The most common option in North America are Goodwill Outlets, often called “the bins”. These store types represent the final stop for donated goods before they’re sold off in bulk or end up in landfill. Most items have already cycled through regular thrift stores without selling or being put out for sale. That sounds discouraging, but that’s why the prices are low, and you can still find genuinely great pieces if you know what to look for.
Where to find them
In the United States, there are approximately 140 Goodwill Outlet locations. California, Texas, and Florida have the most, and per-pound pricing varies by region. Some Goodwill locations in Texas charge a flat $1.49 per pound, while locations in other areas can go as high as $2.99 per pound.
In Canada, options are less common. Goodwill only has three bin locations in the country; one in London, Ontario, and two in Alberta. Quebec has two Renaissance stores, but otherwise, choices are very limited.
What to bring
A visit to the bins always requires careful preparation. Even as a regular thrift store visitor, my recent trip to the Renaissance store in Montreal made me rethink what I need with me. Here’s what I recommend taking:
- Gloves. You will run into sticky items, dirty clothing, and sharp edges. You don’t want to use your bare hands.
- Your own bags. Most stores do not offer bags or anything you can use to bundle clothing. On my last visit, I didn’t have enough bags and had a very awkward walk back to my car.
- Hand sanitizer. Use it before you touch your phone or your face, and after every visit.
- A crossbody bag for essentials. You need your hands free for digging. At minimum, have your phone, keys, and wallet close at hand.
- Comfortable shoes. The floors are concrete. Items may fall. Assume too that you will likely be in the store for more than two hours.
- A fabric measuring tape. There are no change rooms and usually no mirrors.
- Water. Stay hydrated.
The yellow line and other rules
Most bin stores work roughly the same way when rotating bins out. Picked-over bins are periodically replaced with fresh ones. When that happens, staff wheel out a new bin and place it on the floor. Shoppers must then step back behind a yellow line and wait. Only start picking through items when staff give a verbal signal that the bin is ready. Jumping in early can result in you being asked to leave the location or even banned.
Here are some other rules to keep your visit running smoothly:
- Don’t touch other shoppers’ carts.
- Don’t sort items as you go. Grab anything that looks promising, put it in your cart, then go through your pile when you have downtime or are ready to leave.
- Don’t bring kids under 16; they’re not allowed in many locations.
When to go
Mornings are best, ideally weekdays early in the week. Saturdays tend to be the worst, with difficult parking, crowds, and picked-over bins.
If you’re a casual visitor, plan for a two-hour visit to take everything in and find a few good items. If you’re sourcing for resale, plan for three or four hours so you can catch at least two full bin rotations.
Avoid late November and early December, when retail stores tend to hold more inventory for longer to accommodate the holiday shopping season.
What to buy
For most items, remember that pricing is by weight, so your ideal goal is to find light items that sell for a lot. Here’s what I recommend looking for:
- Silk blouses, cashmere sweaters, and wool coats (high value, light weight, but always check condition).
- New items from activewear brands like Lululemon and Arc’teryx. Old items don’t sell as well, so being able to recognize newer items can be important.
- Genuine leather coats and accessories, especially from known brands.
And here are some things you should skip:
- Generic Shein, Old Navy, Forever 21, H&M, American Eagle, and similar brands.
- Heavy sweaters and parkas.
- Mass-produced athletic wear from Nike and Adidas.
- Luxury bags from brands like Louis Vuitton and Gucci, as they’re much more likely to be fake at the bins and you won’t be able to authenticate them. Having said that, for other items some resellers take the risk if they’re cheap enough just on the slim chance of a high payout, but then authentication becomes important.
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After your visit
This is the part many beginners skip, and it’s the part that turns a fun day out into actual profit.
Wash everything in hot water before you wear or list it. Bins items have been handled by dozens of people over a long period of time. Go through every item carefully and check for condition, then look at comp pricing on resale platforms. Not everything will end up being something you decide to list.
List your best pieces for resale within the first week, when you still have energy and excitement from the trip. I personally like to play a game where I see how quickly I can recover my costs from a visit to “the bins”. For my last trip, it took five days.
Want the full reseller playbook?
If you want the complete framework for building a profitable reseller business (including more tips to profit from “the bins”), with detailed chapters on sourcing strategy, pricing, listing optimization, operations, and more, I wrote it all down in The Complete Guide to Clothing Resale. It’s a comprehensive reference book based on years of hands-on experience and feedback from our community.
Give the tips here a try on your next visit to your local thrift outlet location. Let us know in the comments how your visit went!
