I made may first few purchases on Shopgoodwill auctions over the last few weeks and thought I would share my experience.

The positives: Goodwill has a monopoly on reselling donated goods. You can find relatively rare items that you simply can't find other places. The shipping cost was always the same as indicated by the online tool, so there should be no surprises with the final price.

The negatives:

Don't expect to find bargains. When you consider everything is sold "as-is/untested" auction prices seem to be higher than what I'd expect from an item sold in the same condition on eBay. There seems to be a psychological factor at work.

It seems that items that are sold at auction are not treated with any more care or attention than items thrown around in bins at the Goodwill store, even if selling for >$1000. Of the four electronic components I purchased, three were damaged in shipping. With the honest goal of hoping they will improve, I provided pictures of their packing methods and explained in the most cordial manner possible that their packing methods are totally unacceptable for electronics. They are putting one layer of bubble wrap over the item and stuffing several inches of space with airpacks to fill the box. I showed them that with a 30lb item, almost all of the airpaks get popped leaving several inches of space for the item to rattle around.

I also noticed that, while the items I purchased looked to be clean and in great shape in the auction pictures, two of the items arrived covered in dust and cobwebs with a few nicks and scratches that were not in the pictures. It seems that the items were probably placed in a pile on the floor without any care after the pictures were taken.

Bringing these issues up to the various stores has had mixed results. One store reimbursed me for shipping and handling, which I was fine with since I could fix the damage relatively easily. One store was adamant that their shipping method was just fine and that the damage was preexisting but I didn't check the pictures close enough. I had to email her a side-by side comparison of the auction pictures and my own images showing the damage to convince her. The only resolution she was willing to offer is a shipping claim.

Overall, Shopgoodwill has the potential to be a great source for some items but the customer service is on par with the worst eBay sellers. There seems to be an attitude that because they are a non-profit, the customer should surrender their expectation for basic ecommerce etiquette.