I love second hand stores, especially ones that sell heaps of electronics and audio equipment etc. I saw a hard-off in Taoyuan while passing through on the train. Unfortunately the outbreak happened and I haven’t had a chance to go yet. But if it’s anything like the hard-off’s in Japan, it’s exactly the type of store I’m talking about. Hoping to go there when I get the chance but in the meantime I’m wondering if other, similar stores exist in Taiwan?
Help appreciated.
I have been to 5 different second-hand shops in Taipei/New Taipei area.
The selection of electronics is not worth visiting as everything is very outdated and it’s much better value online. There are some used appliances (e.g. hair dryers), however not many. Having said that I bought card reader (for health card) for 50 TWD in such shop.
I would recommend going there if you need small household items. It can be as cheap as 10 TWD.
That’s my kind of shop…
Please include some in the kaoshiung/Pingtung area.
There’s one in 潮州 that like a junkyard and curiosity shop combined stacks of old electronics that may have come in and good quality but left there to rot.
There’s also taxidermy heads tons of gods old records in the thousand other things.
There’s a stack of turntables on the shelves there but they won’t let them go for cheap and rather than just fall apart.
Could you describe what a hard off means? Im not really sure.
For second hand shops, the ones that are good seem to all be more specialised in certain categories, not like the huge broad range of lack lustre experience type shops. Examples i have found usefull are shops like gas tanks, pumps, fans, fabrication, milling etc are all fairly focused on their spectrum in their own shop. They sell their garbage to the general “machinery” related big shops with bright lights and hired staff in company uniforms. shops which sell to ignorant retail customers or the recycle companies. Which ever comes first in regards to floor space clearing. Perhaps taipei has some better than the status quo? I would presume so, and they should be adverised if they are known 
I saw one in Danshui, it’s around the Yinjhuan rd/Shuifu rd area…
I think the OP means general consignment shops or places that sell old consumer goods.
Here’s an example of one. They take almost everything in my opinion they sell things too high and would rather let the stuff rot.
There probably are better managed stores
There’s Japanese store in Neili near the train station beside Nitori . It may be the one you saw. Got all.kinds of cameras, video game machines , stereos , guitars. Get the train to Neili…Easy.
Flea market in Yonghe. Right next to the Fuhe bridge.
Might pick up a Sony Walkman.
Cassette tapes are the new vinyl.
Jeez flea markets in Taiwan are like digging through the trash of the trash. Come of think of it that might be flea markets everywhere. What we need here are yard sales. But Taiwanese are far too canny with money for that.
I often see old antique looking stuff at flea markets but the amount of fakes out there put me off from bothering buying anything.
Thanks everyone for the replies. I guess I could have been more clear about what I was thinking of. They’re kind of like big pawn shops but less seedy. The stuff is usually in decent condition and on display on shelves with visible prices. In Australia the equivalent would be cash converters, but hard-off in Japan is like cash converters on steroids.
But still, I’d be keen to go and check out flea markets as well, so I appreciate the tips.
Yeah, that’s the one.
I’m not sure if this is what are you looking for , but you could check some of the stores at Beimen Camera Street 台北相機街
Also you can search for Second hand electronics nearby 二手3C回收租賃
like this store US3C - 台北小南門店
https://g.page/US3C-Taipei?share
sources:
I don’t think there’s anything remotely as good as that store. Keep searching though.
Chinese New Year on the streets curbside. Just hope it doesn’t rain that week.
Seriously when it first came here about, 20 years ago my roommate had his hallway full of good stuff found on the street… He had a background in electronic repair.
I don’t live in this city but when I did, I noticed the neighbors got rid of a lot of perfectly good things around New Year’s time. Just don’t take home any u-bikes
I had found pawn shops in the us not worth the bother sometimes. I found a Bosch colt that had stripped out height adjustment and they still wanted 60 dollars for it. MSRP on that tool is 99 dollars but sometimes you can find it for 80 or so on sale. For a damaged tool it’s too expensive.
How are pawn shops in Taiwan? Is it an OK place to buy things?
In the US they seem to be connected in reputation to fencing stolen property or Grandma selling valuable heirlooms for much less than their worth just to put food on the table.
According to google map, there are some in my area. Maybe I should check it out. My guess is they probably won’t give the best deal to the buyer.
What’s the difference between pawn shop and consignment shop here in Taiwan?
Pawnshops pay you up front. Consignment shop pay you when items are sold?
Hard Off in Taiwan import a lot of the stuff from Japan. They hoped a similar scenario of Taiwanese selling 2nd hand stuff to Hard off would take place.
That is what my half Japanese friend told me when he went there and enquired with the Japanese manager shortly after it opened.
The flea market in Yong he which I frequented for a few years every weekend used to be good. You could still find the odd bargain if you put the time in and are lucky. But many of the sellers have cottoned onto the value of their ‘junk’. Some would get their phones out and show you how much they sell for online. Telling them what they had may not even work fell on death ears in most cases.
Finding a working Sony Walkman on the cheap for example would be rare as hen’s teeth.
For old tools, you could try the junk yards.
A friend has a whole workshop with reclaimed junk yard tools and machinery. He can repair broken machinery though…
Junk yard is hit or miss though… It would be nice if I can find a bandsaw there but most the time it’s household junk and old appliance that’s been out in the rain for weeks, that if the appliance worked when it got there it won’t now.
As for machines like bandsaw, milling machines, lathes, etc. Don’t expect a big saving vs buying from used machine dealers. They are basically sold at scrap value, which for a 2000kg hunk of metal is still quite a bit of cash.
These days the recyclers pick up most stuff and then they sell it or whatever.
There are government yards for buying recycled bikes and furniture, the good stuff gets snapped up very quickly.
The best place to get stuff is if you could live in a big community and before CNY they throw out a lot of stuff that is decent. I myself have thrown out a lot of semi decent stuff just because I didn’t have the time when moving to deal with it. Most likely it gets sold on somehow anyway.
Anyone know where i can find cheap or secondhand eyeglass frames and where i can have cheap graded lenses made?
Isn’t that stuff already cheap in Taiwan ? Sorry for not answering your question .
