comment: >
  
  They lose money when people don't come in. 
  Take Goodwill for instance.  8-10 years ago I would go in, find a few good deals on clothing or other items relevant to my interests, maybe notice a table or whatever.  Then Goodwill started reserving the best items for sale online and resellers would raid the rest the minute it hit the shelves, so when I stopped by after work there would be nothing worth buying.  After a few times of this I stopped going to Goodwill for almost a decade.
context: You want to talk about exploitative? Did you know that a lot of thrift stores that take 'donations' aren't even non-profits? Your rage is misplaced. >
  
  I think that is Goodwill, looking at several sources the Salvation Army has operating costs of about 15-20 percent, which is pretty decent for most charities. >
  
  Only a small portion of stuff at the thrift store gets purchased and most goes to the landfill. There is plenty at the thrift store for everyone >
  
  There are plenty of ugly things and a few good stuff. resellers strip the stores from anything that could sell and would be worn and loved ,likely by people who are not that fortunate. Then the resellers mark up the prices and the clothing is no longer reachable to poor people. >
  
  They have the same opportunity as you to buy these things. >
  
  Honestly they don’t. Someone who is on depop or owns a consignment stall has all the time in the world to stake out thrift shops. They usually come from money already and start it as a hustle. They’ll get there while everyone else is at their 9-5 and snatch anything good to resell for a huge markup. It cancels out the benefit these stores offer to lower income households. >
  
  It doesn’t cancel the benefits. It just means theres competition for the higher quality stuff. There’s still literally tons of functional clothing. >
  
  Thrift stores aren't food Banks. You are buying used goods. Not receiving charity >
  
  All food banks aren't the same either. We have two near us in different churches. One is income based, they want to see some paperwork to show you qualify and the food is either free or extremely cheap.
  The other doesn't care about your income, they are just trying to make money to fund church programs. Everything is donated as a tax write off, and usually close to its expiration date. We get a ton of restaurant grade meats for cheap there. >
  
  come on now, you know comparing thrifting to a food bank is disingenuous. What's the income cutoff where I have to stop reselling stuff? >
  
  So OP. If I get a car for cheap, fix it and sell it for a profit is that the same thing?
  What about house flipping?
  What about repairing and reselling broken electronics?
  What part does the actual consumer play in this? Are they more to blame? Surely if there was no market there'd be nobody marketing to it. >
  
  All the examples you provided are fundamentally different in that you are buying something and adding value to it. In the example OP describes, the reseller is forcing themself into a transaction as a middle man and adding no value. 
  Closer examples would be a bank buying up all the housing in a neighborhood to drive up the price and reselling them. Or someone who creates a bot to clear out the inventory of the newest game console. >
  
  If they paid for it then it's fine.  The thrift store still gets its money.  Antique and art dealers do this too. >
  
  These people cost thrift stores tons of money. Part of the motivation for going to a thrift store is the thrill of stumbling upon great deals. If Johnny Scalper knows the delivery schedule and is ready to speedrun the store when a new truck comes so he can snatch up any valuable item, that makes the thrift store experience worse for everyone who comes in after him, and makes those people less likely to return. 
  A thrift store usually exists to help the community. People donate to the thrift store because they want to help those who are in need. If some jerk comes by and buys all the best and most valuable stuff to resell, they are basically pulling a reverse Robinhood. The people donating would not donate if they knew their item was going to a reseller, and the thrift store wouldn't sell it if they knew. Unfortunately, there's no easy way to figure out who is abusing the system and ban them, so people are able to take advantage.
  It's basically the same as scalping. Sure, technically, by the letter of the law, it's not theft. But the person who is scalping or thrift flipping is forcing their way into a transaction in which they extract a profit, add zero value, and in which both the buyer and seller would prefer to not have the middleman. >
  
  How are thrift stores losing money? The longer the shit sits on the shelf the further they knock down the price. One of the problems thrift stores face is sufficient space for everything. People moving this stuff are doing them a favor.