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DISCOUNT SHOPPING MANIFESTO

All of us here at Discount Retail Store (formerly Bid & Buy) would like to share some lessons that we have learned along the way. We want to continuously increase the value we provide to all of our customers, friends, and family who loves discount shopping as much as we do. Most of our items are new, but we do have some excellent used goods and quite a few vintage treasures. Our merchandise comes from our estate auctions that we run, business liquidations, direct from brand partnerships, and more often lately donations from customers like you. Because we are selling everything for less than retail, our margin is already smaller than what other retailers have, and their margin is already miniscule! One does not start a retail store to become rich. You can usually depend on a retailer having a great amount of passion for the business and overall experience, which is true here! The one thing that immediately dampens our spirit is an unhappy customer. We will do whatever we can to correct any fault on our side. We did notice over the years however, that some faults are defaults of a discount retail store. Before you get upset with us and lose your happy demeanor, check out these basic rules we have learned along the way.

RULE #1: We reuse boxes and packaging material to avoid more landfill burdens and keep our costs down. 

We know how thrilling it is to get things in the mail, and how important the unboxing ceremony is. Part of the passion in this business is giving merch a longer life or repurposing it for new life. Keeping products out of landfills is winning, and we want to keep that up, so we reuse our boxes and packaging materials to also keep them out of landfills (at least a little while longer).


Please look past our perhaps slightly crumpled boxes and/or mis-matched packing material, and remember the money you saved and footprint reduction we both played a part in. PS- make sure to look thoroughly through your box, we promise there are some free gifts and good coupons for your next purchase.

RULE #2: If you want an absolute perfect retail experience, then we recommend you paying full price at the store of your choice. 

Even paying full retail is no guarantee; but chances are good that the box is unmarked, the product is brand new, and the staff is prepared if you have questions. Paying full retail does come with certain luxuries.


Our team will take excellent care of you because we like people and love our mission. We do, however, sometimes miss seeing a dent, pass the item as functionable without properly testing, or we forget to detail the damaged box in the description, and you ordered the item as a gift. We deal with revolving large quantities, unknown product conditions, and small margins. In order to sustain this business, we need to move our merch from "Product Intake" through to the "Customer Purchase" with minimal rework. We mess up sometimes. We apologize when we do not get it right the first time, satisfaction guaranteed right away is something we cannot promise 100% of the time. With your patience however, we can make up for any unmet expectations.

RULE #3: Google it, Bing it, Yahoo it.  

Listing products online is very expensive. There have been a few people so far that have tried making apps to make this process easier, but brass tax is it still comes down to a lot of manual data entry. Whether it is in a .csv file or directly into a POS. It takes 30 minutes to put one product into Shopify, KSL, Mercari, and eBay. Taking into account the hourly wage of this individual, and the amount of questions people submit about the item, it is most likely that posting the product cost of money rather than making us even a dime. Warning- corny moment! We do get a little glad regardless, because we do not want to see good things throw away. We appreciate the value you receive and the less toxic our landfills are having less burden. Right now, "Good Will" does not pay our bills however, so if you have a question about a product, look it up! It is all we are going to do anyway.

RULE #4: Please make respectable offers, this is our livelihood not a game.

In the book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad", Robert T. Kiyosaki talks about getting real estate offers; hypothesizing that we should be grateful no matter how low, or ridiculous they are because an offer means you have someone that is interested. We are enormously grateful for YOU and giving us your business. But when we are offered $10 for something that is brand new, and worth over $100 retail, it feels disingenuous. If you want to pay pennies on the dollar, then learn the hard way like the rest of us did and buy a truckload of merch from a liquidation company. 


The reason why we retailers pay less for products initially is because of the quantity we buy, our overhead (rent, cleaning everything, staging products, photographing, pricing, labeling the products, etc.), the insurance and licenses we keep ensuring our staff and customers are safe, and of course the time we give to entertain offers from our customers. We have empathy for you, it is why we price products for less; please give us the same respect and make us offers that support the immense effort operating a storefront takes.

RULE #5: We are not the manufacturer nor were we involved in the product creation.  

We carry as many high-quality, reputable items as possible. We may be a discount store, but we pride ourselves on not carrying the same quality goods you would find at Big Lots or Ross. Those stores would have you believe that major, expensive retailers send their overstock to them, but that is not true. These major retailers specifically create less durable goods for stores like those to keep their brand relevant. We try to carry the best in name and craftsmanship.


If you have a poor experience with something bought at our store, please do not judge us based on the products performance or quality. We assume you search for retail prices when shopping with us to make sure we are not fibbing, so make sure you look at the ratings too.

RULE #6: We are considered a Reseller; therefore we cannot make any warranty guarantees. 

Regardless of the "new" condition 90% of our products are sold as, we cannot guarantee or promise you that the manufacturer will honor the warranty if you submit one. It is best to go into the transaction with zero warranty expectations, be happy with the exceptional price you have received, and be surprised if you are successful. 


To be clear, do not expect a manufacturer warranty from any product we sell, or a warranty from us. 

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