The staff at thrift stores are well-meaning, but most always blissfully ignorant of the value of bikes plus or minus. They are also almost always overwhelmed by the sheer, humungous volume of STUFF OF ALL KINDS, including vast volumes of TOTAL CRAP, including bikes, that they receive, and by necessity have to immediately trash/recycle huge volumes of same, including, alas, bikes.

At times the staff is aware they their customers at times get outrageous deals on certain bikes, and they try to make up for it by pricing some shiny bikes (that in their wild imagination could be super valuable) really high. But they still mean well, they are trying the help their hard-pressed organizations make money.