A recent post in the r/ThriftStoreHauls community on Reddit is getting tons of attention and upvotes from envious commenters.
The reason? One lucky Redditor scored a professional camera bundle worth thousands of dollars — for just 100 bucks.
!["No sane thrift store would sell all this for 100."](https://www.thecooldown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/professional-camera-bundle-i-got-for-100-bucks-sony-pxw-x200-v0-0x3zgvy07g6d1.jpg)
The haul, purchased at a garage sale, included a Sony PXW X200 camera, three batteries, two memory cards, a card reader, and three microphones. The camera alone typically retails for several thousand dollars.
"Got this at a garage sale a week ago btw," the poster explained in a follow-up comment. "No sane thrift store would sell all this for 100."
Photos show the camera and accessories neatly laid out, appearing to be in excellent condition. Landing a premium camera setup for a tiny fraction of the retail price had other Redditors cracking jokes.
"$100 is an absolute steal," one commenter quipped.
Another simply replied: "Cha Ching."
Why are savvy shoppers flocking to thrift stores, garage sales, and online resale sites? For starters, it's a great way to save serious cash.
The average American household making $94,003 spends about $72,967 on consumer expenses, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, but buying secondhand can slash that cost by 50% or more.
Rare, valuable, and vintage items (such as designer purses, high-end kitchen appliances, and rare art supplies) often hide among the racks and shelves, waiting for eagle-eyed bargain hunters to snap them up at steep discounts.
What's more, buying used items keeps them out of the waste stream and reduces demand for new goods. For instance, Americans throw away over 11 million tons of clothing and footwear alone each year, according to Earth.org.
But the red-hot global resale market — projected to hit $350 billion by 2028, according to ThredUp — is helping many of those items find new homes and new life. Some research suggests buying a used item reduces its carbon footprint by up to 82% compared to buying new.
Those green benefits are a bonus for the many thrifters who simply relish the thrill of the hunt and the joy of finding incredible deals. For the lucky Redditor who walked away from a premium camera package with a bargain, that feeling can't be beaten.
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