For not paying nearly £20 for a second hand coat?

Depends on its value when new. I snagged an oversized weekday coat for £20 on Vinted, it’s £180 new so I mean… No damage at all, the seller clearly had more money than sense.

My DH just bought a suit in a charity shop for £65. It's actually a bargain because it looks like new and apparently you can still buy it for £269.

I think prices have just gone up and charity shops have done likewise on the nicer items.

I mean the logical sane answer would be to just not buy it surely?

I have never got “gotten” second hand clothes for less than £10 to be honest especially decent ones. £18.50 sounds absolutely fine for a second hand good quality coat! A bargain if a good make

You must live in an economically challenged area then.
I have paid £80 for an old coat from a charity shop before and I thought it was worth every penny. That shop does very well and makes a great contribution to breast cancer research, which is its primary goal.

Either the staff are idiots or they know that's the max they can get in your town,

They will price to what they can get in the OP's town, and reduce if it doesn't sell.

I work in a charity shop pricing for the last 10 years . It would have to be something very special to warrant that price. The big charities ie Cancer research , Banados , mind etc are very overpriced IMO . Try the local indepdant charities who don't pay massive wages to their senior managers and price reasonably.

It depends on the quality of the coat

But you are being unreasonable to think that is generally a lot of money for a second hand coat of half decent quality, it isn't at all

You are definitely being cheap , I don’t send my unwanted clothes to charity shops now because people expect to buy them for pennies , I’d rather sell them on vinted and give the cash to the charity

Yes, in Primark, if you want to shop in Primark. All retailers price their items as they see fit, and customers buy or don’t buy. Same goes for OP and the charity shop. This is not a new conversation.

unfortunately I think you are being unreasonable- secondhand prices have moved on.
Expecting to only pay 10% of the original value was never really reasonable £20 for a coat originally costing £200, only really possible if it is in poor condition.
A winter coat is an investment, so spending decent percentage of your annual clothing budget is reasonable expectation, so do you only spend £150 a year on clothes- then £20 on a winter coat would be reasonable.

Can I please ask that those of you who know better than those of us who have volunteered/worked in a charity shop for years please apply to volunteer? You clearly can do the job better.

I've had people moan about prices before. It's a Barbour wax jacket without a mark on it for £40 when it's 6 times that price new. Or a £10 computer game when CEX is selling it for £25 preowned and will give you £9 voucher for trade in. It's a BNWT dress priced at £70, I promise you that £10 isn't expensive, if you don't want to pay that then we have a wide selection for less than £5 and there are even lots on our £1 rail.

I feel like we get this question every few months and I can never understand it.

Charity shops exist to make money for their charities (cancer, hospices, hearts, animals).

They do not exist to provide cheapskates with clothes at ridiculously low prices (that they can later turn over for a profit on Vinted).

If you want to pay £5 for a winter coat, haggle at a car boot sale as the stalls are packing up. Don’t go to a high street charity shop that has to pay rent, utilities, insurance, staff costs, and maintenance before they can earn a cent for their charity.

This happened to me once and I very reluctantly parted with £20 for a nice wool coat in a charity shop only to discover it would have cost £350 new! The problem was, moths got to it after a couple of years and I can’t afford to replace it!

Yes immensely true 💚

Fingers crossed for you! You wouldn’t believe how much weight I put on AFTER I had mine 😂

It really does depend on the make but I have to agree some charity shops are trying it on. There's one local to me who charges more for Primark and Matalan clothes than they cost new.

I put in way too much effort into my hunts but I’m ND so it kinda goes with the territory!
the coats sound fab, I love a swishy one, I’m middle heavy so a belt doesn’t suit and neither does a straight up straight down

I bought a very specific thing to wear for an event and the seller didn't send it so vinted refunded...luckily I had a back up ordered from elsewhere but yes, there is a downside to vinted!

Too lazy to take pictures, sorry! I was wrong: the fabrics are different.
The £90 coat's Gap: black, long, double-faced, oversized, shapelessly swishy, 50% wool, 40% poly, 10% other.
The £25 one's bright red, thigh length, A-line (swing shape), 70% wool, 20% poly, 10% cashmere, lined with nylon 'silk'. Both are really pleasant to wear. No brand on that one.

I looked on Vinted for a big, swishy coat but everything under £100 in my size looked shabby and I can't be arsed to keep going back for repeat searches. That was when I saw the red one, though, and had to have it!

I'm impressed by other people's designer bargains from Ebay & Vinted. I suspect they hunt like professionals, and I simply don't care enough to put in that much effort. Plus I'm a size 16 and there are a lot more people selling designer stuff in 8-12.

It all depends on the quality as other posters have pointed out. It’s also for a good cause. Don’t forget the fees and postage charges on Vinted (an order of mine has gone astray as we speak!🙄).

I agree, 20 is a lot, doesn’t matter what brand, it’s second hand at the end of the day. You could nearly get a new coat for that price in primark.

I'm not sure we have enough info to accurately decide. Context is everything here.

F&F brand that was £25 originally they were unreasonable

Canada Goose that retails an inexpensive of £300 then £20 is actually cheap.

I buy most of mine and dd's clothes second hand. Primarily from vinted as I have recourse if they are damaged etc. But dd is now at senior school, having the wrong brand is social suicide. Everyone has brands like Superdry. I can't afford upwards of £100 so £20-30 from Vinted is my saviour.

I’ve noticed charity shops are getting wayyy more expensive…. I got a lovely coat for £2.10 from Vinted (plus postage) so about £5.50

I live right by a charity shop so often donate things.
It makes me sad when I go in and see my items sitting the for weeks because of the high prices. I sell whatever I think is worth it on Vinted and give away everything else.
its horrible to see a coat I donated for sale at £20-25 and dresses £10 +
we don’t live in a rich area at all, very working class and deprived

I understand the overheads but way too many big charities spend too much on merchandising and branding and it’s a shame for the end users, many of whom go to charity shops because they can’t afford retail shops , even primark when benefits payments are so tight now