Thinking Vinted will see Charity Shops out of business?

@YellowPixie But surely the cheaper brands would sell if they were priced correctly? ie Primark, Boohoo etc for £1 or 50p? I'd have thought they'd sell well for that price & once you've got someone in the shop, more likely that they'll pick something more expensive up at the same time?
I dunno, never worked in a charity shop or bought from one for donkey's years, once the prices started going up, that was me done, & I guess lots of other folk too!
If there's 'too much stuff' I'd just reduce it all & empty the shop for the rest of the stock coming in..

I don't even see anything I like in normal shops these days! Sent for some in the sales after Christmas, sent them back.. jumpers too short & sleeves a mile & a half long.. (why?) size 18 dress I could barely squeeze myself into (I'm size 16/18)

Probably, but this is just the same internet revolution that pretty much all sectors experienced and had to contend with about 20-30 years a go!

Sometimes you are in the mood for a rummage, but mostly I find myself wanting something in particular - not walking to the charity shop and spending my time searching through racks of clothes that are still bizarrely grouped by colour not size (!) on the off chance that they have a pair jeans that I want or a specific style of dress.

Some charity organisations have moved with the times. A lot of the online second hand booksellers via eBay etc are charities and I know some do try to shift some of their higher end clothes and accessories stock on eBay and Vinted.

I swear we have this thread every two weeks.

I have volunteered in charity shops for a decade and yes they have got more expensive over that time. Show me something which is the same price as it was in 2015.

The pile it high sell it cheap model may work for some shops but there are two key reasons why it would not work in either of the large chain shops where i volunteered.

1. Volunteer staff. In order to keep constantly putting stuff out you need: someone on the till, someone stocking the shelves, someone sorting stock and pricing, someone steaming it. 4 people. The last place I volunteered could not open on certain days because they could not hit the minimum of 2 people per shift.
2. We owe it to people who donate good stuff to us to get a decent price for it. Selling a BNWT M&S lambswool jumper for £1 or a expensive designer party dress for £5 is not doing that. People will not spend MORE if prices are cheaper - you go in looking for a jumper with a mental budget of a tenner and find one for £2 what do you do? Congratulate yourself on a bargain and walk out to spend the £8 elsewhere, or remember you'd set aside a tenner so buy extra things you don't want? Exactly.

Charity shops are deluged with stock, most of it is not good quality. The bottom has fallen out of the rag/waste textile market as it has been flooded with so much poor quality shite from China. People might think they are doing us a favour by bringing things "for recycling" but when you're getting £1 per black bag it's not exactly a great money spinner. Nobody wants second hand Primark, Boohoo, Pretty Little Thing, ASOS or Shein unless it is still brand new with tags and even then, it's worth hardly anything unless it's something like boots or a winter coat.

Mistakes get made, especially when you have perhaps one paid member of staff who is not there every hour the shop is open. Pricing on clothes is easier than bric a brac and google lens does make it easier to work out whether you're looking at a rare piece of Japanese ceramic or a sixth form project. But we are only human, and do our best. We also get loads of management data from the till showing exactly how many women's dresses, men's jumpers, toys etc have sold the previous week/month/year so can give more space to what's selling, and reduce what's not.

Some people are choosing to sell on Vinted and fair play to them. I sell and buy on there too. But others can't be arsed or want to support charity and there is still loads of space for charity shops on the market.

And finally - the reason you can't find anything on Vinted is because there is TOO MUCH STUFF. We have enough clothes on this planet to clothe the next six generations. Seriously. It's OBSCENE. Don't be buying something thinking you'll wear it a couple of times then whack it on vinted. That's not OK.

charity shops near us have become way too expensive. they used to price cheaply and have a high turnover. now they want four times the price and are turning away donations because they have no room.

one of the charity shops closed down and went online, and then opened up again a couple of years later when it realise that people wouldn't pay high online prices.

maybe the word "chazza" is regional. I am rural south west and have never ever heard anyone use it

That’s a false comparison though - garments of way higher quality are always going to be more expensive even pre loved. Would you expect a Jaeger jumper to be cheaper than Primark?

I love to go to charity shops for a rummage, but I'll go to Vinted if I'm looking for something specific, or short on time. I think they can share the market. I've been shopping in charity shops for decades and it's only recently become cool! They always were quiet before.

Charity shops are pricing themselves out of business. They are dearer than Primark.

sone do!

The independent charity shop I work in is as busy as ever . We keep prices very low and everything goes to the animal rescue except for 3 paid staff for 3 shops. The problem is , I think , that other shops over price. I've bought 2 items from Vinted and both have not been good ie short length trousers stated as regular and a shabby jumper . Maybe I've just been unlucky.

Prices are up because fixed costs are up - salaries, rents, utilities, rates. For many charities the takings from shops is their core funding each year (mine is in a small chain supporting a local hospice). There is a real need to maximise takings. Pricing is a fine art and often depends on the location - some stores in the same chain have very different pricing because the local market can take it, other locations might be better off with your 50p rail. It’s not necessarily the cheapest stuff that sells. It’s the high value brands that would otherwise be unaffordable that are popular - a £90 Boden dress for £15 for example.

Don't use either.. some charity shops are dusty & smelly, some like boutiques. All charge too much. I liked looking at the furniture (really good condition) our hospice shop used to sell, but that seems to have disappeared now to make room for more teeny sized clothes. I do donate lots there though. The ladies always look like I'm donating a bag of dog poo.. it's decent stuff! Cheer up!

Never used Vinted, hated the idea, & comments I've read on here haven't changed my mind.

I look for mid range brands like cos and arket on vinted. I don't and have never seen these in a charity shop where I live. I think a lot of the charity shop clothes where I live generally are for a much older or younger market and cheaper brands.

There are also lots of car boot sales in my local area too. Great for a bargain.

I like a bargain

I have never used Vinted

I like to browse a real charity shop, with real items & real people. The shops are like a treasure box & you never know what you will find.
Some charity shops also sell brand new donated items with tags.

I recently found a charity shop that had a cafe in it selling hot drinks & cakes. I told the cashier how lovely it was & that I would return again.

I bought something from Vinted the other day and it turned out it was from a hospice shop

A (welcome) trend I am seeing is young people coming in with phones, taking selfies and saying things like "that's giving disco.'

It's an area where influencers can do some good in encouraging sustainable shopping.

I prefer Vinted. I can get stuff for a fiver off there. The last time I bought something in a charity shop I paid £14 for a jumper! I stupidly didn't look at the tag. I wouldn't pay that much for a jumper on Vinted, charity shops are overpriced where I live and there's much more choice on Vinted too.

Huge Chazza fan here. There are many of them in my town and I have noticed the prices creeping up over the last 4/5 years.
I know they have targets to achieve but surely keeping the prices low means more sales. Just last week I went into one of my favourite ones and behind the counters they had huge piles of clothing waiting to be sorted and put on sale. They had a 50 pence clothing rail which was crammed with items,
I went in a day later and it was empty, while all the other rails were still full.
That speaks volumes to me, cheap stuff is what folk want and it sells!!

I don’t know if Vinted/eBay etc will kill off charity shops but they’ve made them much less interesting to visit.
Ive bought furniture items from eBay that were being sold by charity shops directly and I know from a volunteer that our local charity shop googles the prices of everything, meaning that a faded Ralph Lauren tee is priced as a new-ish one would be on Vinted.

Not at all i love both. I’m very lucky to live a 5 min walk from 3 charity shops and they’re always heaving at the weekend.

Charity shops will close because of their ridiculous prices. People used to love going in, getting a little dopamine hit because they felt like they had found a bargain. Now all they're finding is an overpriced shirt that was cheaper when it was brand new in New Look!

Used to work in the charity shop field and the shops would be run on an absolute shoe string and this was in the days when NMW was less than £8 per hour. If the shop didn't make enough money then we would have to make the sales assistants redundant (unless they opted to reduce their hours). Of course most of the staffing is volunteers so there was a skeleton staff of paid staff to begin with. Maybe one shop manager on ft hours on min wage with a couple of paid assistants on 2-3 days. I can only imagine how much more squeezed they are now with min wage and NI increases.

If vinted was going to kill off charity shops it would have done so by now. Vinted peaked a few years ago, it's horseshit now, full of scammers, shite customer service, the sizing was the final straw.

I don’t know - I like browsing in person discovering stuff. I wouldn’t buy big purchase items on Vinted as I can’t see it in persons. I find the cost of delivery a bit high on Vinted too. It’s also easier to return things to charity shops. Lots of positives still.