was undersold in a charity shop

[rosyleigh]

So I needed a frame for a picture I have, saw the perfect one in a charity shop, didn't pay much attention to the picture in the frame, just liked the frame. Bought for princely sum of £1.99.

Get home, take picture out to replace with mine and notice the picture in the frame I bought is an original watercolour by a little known South American artist called Lopez Baylon. Look him up on the internet and find that there are oil paintings on canvas (this is watercolour on card/paper) by same artist going for between £350 - £1000 on Ebay.

Take back to charity shop or sell on Ebay?

Sell on eBay!

Depends how much you need the cash tbh. If I was desperate then yes I would sell it. If not then take it back and tell then charity what it is worth.

Oh wow how exciting! I would sell then give a decent donation (half?) to the charity shop

Why not sell it and make adoration back to the charity if you do to want to take it back . Of course you know the right thing to do but that would a compromise .

Sell on ebay and donate half the profit to the charity.

Word for word what fish said.

Are there watercolour paintings on paper on eBay?

I wouldn't presume that it's worth the same as oil on canvas, but it's probably worth something. As you only paid for the frame, and you can keep that, I think I'd take the picture back. Maybe.

Then again, it's some luck, so I don't think it'd be terrible to sell it on eBay! You bought it, and the charity shop didn't do due diligence in checking the picture...

I'm torn. In an ideal world, you'd take it back, they'd give you some money to thank you and sell it on eBay for more. In reality, you'd probably get a thanks but not much more, and you wouldn't know if the staff member sold it on eBay themselves.

Hm.

Sell on eBay, donate some of the profit when you sell it.

I would sell it, and give a good donation back to the charity.

I'd sell it and give half to the charity

Think I will do exactly as most of you are saying, sell it and give a donation to the charity. On further investigation, it would seem his watercolours don't go for nearly anything like his oil on canvas, so that's put pay to my Del Boy moment. Ah well - those few extra pounds will come in very handy all the same and its just made my addition for hunting in Charity Shops even stronger.

*addiction

And now I've just discovered that some pottery items I bought at the same time for £3.49 for a set of 3 are worth £50!

Charity shops are great for getting things that can be worth quite a lot! I used to work at a charity shop and when we priced things it was just a random guess based on how 'nice' the item seemed and how much we thought people might pay for it so some things would be priced really quite cheap but could be sold on ebay for a lot more. There's no point us pricing them higher because people won't pay higher for things from a charity shop generally so I wouldn't feel bad about getting something for so cheap.

The whole point of charity shops is to snare a bargain :)

Which charity shops are you going to OP??!! The ones round here never have anything good

Keep the cash

"The whole point of charity shops is to snare a bargain smile"

And there was me thinking the whole point was to make money for charity......

The point of charity shops is to make money for their charity AND offer a valuable service the community.

Shiny just the local ones to me, I don't live in a posh area at all. In fact when I go in the posh area ones, I find that there are never any bargains to be had at all.

Today I also saw a Sticky Fingers coat for £8 and some Mint Velvet leggings for £4.00. But they weren't to my taste so I left them for someone else to enjoy the 'find'.

I must admit, I'm addicted to charity shops, I just can't resist having a 'quick' look in if I'm passing. I guess there are worse things to be addicted to so I'm embracing it as my hobby.

I'm addicted too OP! I'm hoping to start working part time in a charity shop again soon so I get first pick of whatever gets brought in

Well done! Most of the big charity shops have people who give more knowledgable valuations to stock so it's not often you get such a find these days
I'm another in the sell (unless you got it because ou like it and want to have it in your home!) and share profit with charity

Sell picture and pottery stuff on eBay and keep all of the money.

You found the bargain, it's yours to decide what to do with it.

What pps said - sell and give half to the charity. That way everyone gains and you get some extra cash and have done a good think by making the sale and a decent donation

Trouble is how do you prove its an original ? Presumably you don't have any documentation
Are you sure it's an original?
How do you know?
But yeah if you can sell for more making a donation to the charity is the right thing to do