Pricing a gift? Tacky or just a smart shopper?

Actually you're being extremely smart! I love thrift shops too, and have found wonderful collectibles that would be extremely costly if you bought them in the antique stores. I have found them selling on Ebay for hundreds of dollars. As I wrote in my will, nothing is to be gotten rid of in my home until someone who knows the collectible business comes in and values it. I have a Christmas pin that a close friend gave me that is worth over $500! I have gotten Steiff animals that I paid 75 cents for and sold for $150. Keep searching the thrift stores and pricing the stuff you find. You'll never know when you'll find that special item that will pay off your mortgage. A good example is the lady that bought a table for $25. She got it at a yard sale and it was a table and chair combination. When it wasn't functioning as a table it would convert into a chair. Anyhow the family hated the thing. The woman loved it and kept it in a safe place. One day the Antiques Roadshow was in her area and she took the table to get it appraised. The fellow that did the appraising pulled her out of the line waiting...it turns out that the "table" was a Thomas Jefferson item that dated back to the early 1700's. He appraised it at $150,000!!! As the lady said when she was on Oprah, she promptly contacted Sothebys auction house. She wasn't going to move it or touch it for fear of damaging it. Well it went on the auction block and brought in over $750,000!!!! All that from an original $25 investment. Keep looking, those wonderful finds are still out there! As for pricing my gifts after I receive them, I don't look for the price tag, I look for the love attached.

If I was in the store and I saw something that I remember getting I would notice, but I would not go looking. I would feel bad if I knew someone was doing that with a gift I bought them. Now I am wondering how many people have priced the gifts I got for them...

I usually dont do that for gifts I'm given...i am aware that people buy things on sale or sometimes regift...I'm curious but I feel a bit rude finding out the price even if its by accident (like i see the item on sale a couple weeks after i was given it) Items i buy at thrift stores or garage sales..secondhand i love to see what the original price would have been and i go online to try and find the item to see what i saved...to me thats different because it was money i spent not a gift i received.

yes that is quite tacky. but also it is also god that we learn the price of the item that we receive. not because we want to know if we really got an expensive price. but we cuold really value the gift they have given. if it is really expensive then we can take better care of it. then it is not that expensive we will still be happy with it.

Smart shopping is one thing. Pricing things before you buy them is the smartest way to shop. Pricing things after you go junking is fun. Pricing a gift that you received from someone else is just plain tacky. The value of a gift that you received lies in the fact that someone invested their time in selecting a gift that they think you would really like and that they picked just for you. It is never about how much they spent be it a dollar or a hundred dollars. I would never ever consider pricing a gift that I received. Rude, tacky and utterly devoid of class.

No thrift stores are near where I live. So, I don't do that. However, I do compare prices online and the like. No, I don't check how much the price of something someone got me is. I think that is a tacky thing to do. Someone once did that to me and I thought it was rude.

I don't understand why any one would do something like that unless they want to exchange the gift but you have to have the receipt to do that. I never cared how much someone spent on a gift for me. i have never priced any gifts that I have received and don't plan on starting now. I just enjoy the fact that someone cared enough to get a gift.

I always price things... but I never price something that was given to me. I don't think it's ANy of my business to see how much someone spent on me & I think it's rude for others to do so. Who cares how much someone spent on you... its the thought that counts.. But I do price gifts to see who is selling what cheaper, but that is for me to buy something... not something that was already given to me..

I agree with others, checking prices before you buy something is a good idea and checking prices after you've purchased something at a thrift or junking is plenty of fun, but checking the price of a gift someone has given you is just plain crude, unless of course it is a corporation, and even then it is questionable. I like to see us all return to a bit of decorum and appreciation and understanding for our fellow human beings.

Smart shopping is what I call it. I guess if you want to find out the price of something its okay to do that. Just don't do it with gifts from people you like.

I am a thrifty shopper and look to find an item for the best possible price, but the thought of pricing something I was given as a gift just doesn't sit well with me. I prefer to remain grateful the person thought of me and could care less if it was something they found a thrift store for $2 or something they bought for me the cost them $20.

I once got a gift from my aunt and I went online to price it. It was $600. I wanted to sell it off but my mum banned me from doing so.