Habitat for Humanity in Asheville..

[Flaxbee]

has Mission chairs and ottomans on sale for the next several days for $295.00 (includes chair and ottoman); cast-offs from The Grove Park Inn and have a certificate of authenticity on each one. However, I am mightily cheesed at them... I live 1 hr away, they're only putting a few on sale each day starting at 10am Friday (10/22) and while they accept phone purchases, anyone actually in the store gets first preference. And, they won't tell you how many are on sale each day, so I could conceivably drive out there each day by 10 and end up empty-handed. Last week, I went in and they had a cool chair on sale in the lobby, I walked in to pay for it and one of the managers ran out and stopped me, said it wasn't for sale, he'd discovered it could go for 10x the asking price on eBay, blah blah blah. I almost got fully cranked into a rant about offers, acceptances, the law, etc., and the shitty fact that A LOT of thrift stores are now culling the best stuff for eBay rather than selling to the public they're supposed to serve. But, I didn't. Should have.

Anyway, eBay has become a curse. There are no more "deals". I realize Habitat and other thrifts use the money for community service, but why even stay open if you're gonna put anything remotely valuable on eBay?