TrueTag — smart pricing for the $26B industry tech forgot

About this idea

Pricing is the biggest headache in thrift. Volunteers all price differently, and since they're donating their time, managers can't exactly hand them a pricing manual and a spreadsheet. The cost of getting it wrong is real. Overpriced items sit on the floor, making the whole store feel stale. Underpriced items walk out the door at a fraction of what they're worth. And either way, pricing eats up volunteer hours that could go toward helping customers or keeping the store looking great. Meanwhile, thrift's tech-savvy cousins, eBay, ThredUp, consignment shops, are pulling ahead fast. Since 2018, resale has grown 650% while traditional thrift has grown just 36.8% (source at bottom). The closest thing thrift stores have to a pricing tool is Google Lens, and almost nobody actually uses it. Even when they do, it's only for the obviously expensive stuff. The process is brutal: take a photo, tap into eBay, toggle the "sold" filter, scroll through listings, eyeball an average, then mentally translate that to an in-store price. Multiply that by hundreds of items a day, and it's just not realistic. TrueTag eliminates all of that. Its autocapture technology means you just slide a piece of clothing into view. It automatically takes the images it needs, and in about two seconds, you get a final price. Adjusted for your store's policies and current demand. No tapping, no scrolling, no mental math. You don't even need to touch your phone. SOURCE: https://capitaloneshopping.com/research/thrifting-statistics/

Impact

Thrift stores are one of the few businesses where nearly every dollar goes back into the community. Goodwill funds job training. Salvation Army funds shelters. Local thrift shops fund churches, animal rescues, and youth programs. But they can only give back what they earn, and systematic mispricing quietly costs them millions in unrealized revenue every year. TrueTag helps thrift stores capture that lost value. More accurate pricing means more funding for the missions these organizations exist to serve. It also means a better shopping experience: stores with fair prices, fresh inventory, and faster turnover attract more customers and more donors, creating a cycle where more goods stay out of landfills and more people have access to affordable clothing. The secondhand economy is one of the few models that's simultaneously charitable, affordable, and sustainable. TrueTag helps it work better.

What I'll do with $5,000

Thrift store managers don't live online, they live on the sales floor. They're not scrolling LinkedIn or checking promo emails. Most stores don't even have a dedicated marketing buyer. The decision-maker is the same person sorting donations and working the register, which makes them nearly invisible to traditional ad targeting. But walk in the door? They'll give you 30 minutes on the spot. We've gotten meetings just by showing up. And thrift managers are tight-knit — they talk to nearby stores constantly, swap vendor recommendations, and group-text each other. One signed store becomes a referral engine for the whole area. So $5K funds a multi-city road trip to sign up stores face-to-face. Three founders, a few months on the road, 3-5 store visits per day. We keep costs low: camping, shared rides, no hotels. Every dollar goes toward miles and meetings. At a 10-20% close rate, that's potentially hundreds of stores onboarded before the money runs out.

Quick Bio

Michigan-raised, Calvin grad. I build tools for people to genuinely enjoy using. Currently deep in custom AI — training models tailored to specific industries instead of one-size-fits-all solutions.

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