Hard to sell today because everyone's giving stuff away free?

Our local charity shops are ridiculously expensive, i don't bother donating because I've been put off by the entire experience.

I use vinted and Facebook all of the time. I am quite fussy and only buy decent stuff that I know we will use. We have a toddler so most of my purchases are for him and locally people tend to ask for a small amount for toys, books and clothes that goes into their DCs money box.

Exactly. I never do one with the intention of making a massive profit- its more of a fun morning, get rid of bits and see a few bargains myself. Haven't done one in years though tbh

Yep it's chancers on Vinted who have made me not bother and just take stuff (even fairly valuable stuff) to the charity shop. I cannot be bothered with the pisstakingly low offers. It's a far nicer feeling knowing a worthy charity will earn a decent bit of cash than the exasperation with many prospective Vinted buyers.

That is what those large, charity shop bins in supermarkets carparks are for!

I don't mean for adding crap, but its often just easier to add a bag of clothes/toys etc to one of those, than wrangle with the charity shop person!

Well, yes. This is why Oxfam bookshops are so bad for secondhand booksellers. They have to buy their stock, Oxfam get it for free.

Some charity shops are quite arsey about accepting donations which puts me off

That’s a good thing though, much better to help people out by giving it away for free on a local Facebook site than selling it.

Two issues

Amount of Material Goods Due to Cheap Mass production

I think part of the problem is people have too much stuff because there is a lot of mass produced crap from China/ Far East that is very cheap - especially clothes, electronics and plastic stuff. thirty years ago a plain white t-shirt would be more expensive, good quality and last ages. people looked after them better.

Now you can get a shitty white -shirt for £2 that will look ok for a few wears, maybe one wash and then be crap. So people buy another one but don't chuck out the last one thinking it will do for home lazing. Shoot forward 10 years = approximately 200 shitty white t-shirts that need disposing of. Everyone is trying to do the same so you have no chance of selling anything that isn't basically unworn or new or designer. Because if a person wants one, they too can buy a new one for next to nothing.

Cost/time benefit of selling

If you think of your time as having a cost, it doesn't even have to be your actual wage. Minimum wage is about £11.40 or so an hour.

Think of selling something and time expended. You have to photograph it nicely (time to photograph, arrange it, select photographs). List it (time taken to write what it is, set a price, upload photos). Probably spend time keeping a watch on the selling site (checking in or checking emails). Responding to queries from buyers. Pack it up. Go to post office/ drop off point to dispatch it.

That all adds up to a lot of time in most cases it will be well over half an hour and probably closer to an hour including travel, queueing time for dispatch. By the time you have discounted the postage costs,packaging costs, possible petrol to drop off point unless you are selling something for over £11.40 you have wasted your time really because you've made so little v time expended. You could have had more bang for your buck doing something nice for yourself like having a bath or playing with your children or watching your favorite show.

I think more and more people realise this - that selling tat is a fools errand and makes you no profit and is a waste of time - so end up giving stuff away for free.

After several spurts of excitement while uploading photos to sell . . . I totally agree! It just needs to be gone.

I give new/near new items to charity shops- I can't be bothered with the faff of trying to sell for a few £'s.

Even giving away things for free can be a PITA! I'm on olio and freecycle and get sick of people arranging a time to collect, then not showing up. 1 person had so many back and forth comments about collection, the time blah blah. I sent the full address (which partially on the listing) and she accused ME of wasting her time, because she lived in another city! 🙄

I don't really give money to charity any more. Or not very often. But I give a lot of clothes and good quality items to the charity shop of my choice. It sort of makes me feel like I'm doing my bit and it's easier than selling.

Stuff just doesn’t sell these days unless it’s really valuable top quality like solid wood or leather furniture, designer stuff. Lots of cheap plastic tat for sale now which wouldn’t cost much more to buy brand new. I couldn’t sell a glass tv table a few years ago even for £10 because there are too many of them for sale (it was second-hand when I bought it)

I give stuff away for free as i cant be bothered with selling or it goes in the bin.

Charities don't always accept everything all of the time.

Watched Call the Midwife last night and Jumble Sales were mentioned, Whatever happened to them? I remember the school jumble sale and buying dresses for my dolls that people had hand-made. My mom used to knit jumpers for dolls as well. There was lots of other stuff. I bought my grandmother some earrings once and a dog garden ornament for my mom.

Some of it was stuff that people were getting rid of and some had been specifically made.

But other PPs are absolutely correct, we have far too much stuff

I guess we've finally reached the point where we have too much stuff as a society. We are full!

Just to add I live in a cul-de-sac, so can't do the pavement sale.

Yes - I put most things outside as free to take.

It's too much hassle to sell, so many time wasters nowadays. I gave away 4 sledges earlier this year on a local FB group. So many people arranging to pick up and then delaying. I wish I'd just left them on the driveway!

I have a small table and 2 nice rattan storage boxes to go out when the weather improves.

I le ave spare second hand items out on the pavement. Old Hoover gardening tools etc. Goes like hot cakes!

DS aged 20 and his GF seem to sell a lot on Vinted type sites, which seems to be thriving. They do sell for a fraction of what they cost though, usually quite expensive brands costing 5/6 new compared to what they sell for, figuring it's free money once they don't wear them.
DD recently bought a ski jacket and salopettes that, although new, was a quarter of shop prices.

I also think what you pay for an item is often less relevant than who you're selling to. MIL had to give away a huge mahogony furniture set that cost thousands when she downsized.. She thought it would sell easily for £££s. Even auctions wouldn't take it. Sustainable natural toys, Boden, etc. will sell to buyers who do not want to buy new, they're buying into an ethos. They don't want plastic tat and cheap brands even if it's pennies.
I guess it depends what your'e selling, how much and to who.

It's also easy to get stuff for free, so you don't need to sell your stuff.

I'm always surprised at the things people are trying to sell. Old knackered sofas for hundreds...they must be mad.

I think there's so much for sale on FB, ebay and Vinted etc that market is saturated so I do try and sell but end up giving the majority away.

The key is to buy less in the first place, hard with growing kids but I also donate and receive from our local clothing bank. I think they are a lifeline. It was one the only ways to get clothes for my kids in lockdown