How to value donations

[BMcCalpin · Accepted solution]

Two of the most popular ways of valuating charitable donations of household goods are by using the Valuation Guides from Goodwill and Salvation Army.

These two outfits list the typical prices for which they sell the kinds of items you tend to donate to them. One does the value at "good" condition, "better" and "best". The other gives you the lowest value and the highest value (so taking the average between the two is a safe bet).

Go to your favorite search engine and search for "Goodwill Salvation Army Valuation Guides". You will get a number of hits, because they each have a number of regional organizations, some with their own listings. 

Look for a recent listing. I noticed one high-ranking hit in this search the other day (i.e., on the first page) of a 2010 valuation guide - don't undersell yourself, get the latest prices.

Also, you may have to approximate a valuation - if the site doesn't have a value for womens t-shirts, but does for mens t-shirts, use it.

Note that you will find it helpful in case of an audit if you print the pages of the valuation guides that you used and saved them with your tax papers.

[Edited 3/10/2020 2:35 pm - made year-neutral