If I ran a charity shop....

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.....I think I'd do a better job than our local one.

They are rarely accepting donations as they have too much stock, but when you go in its the same stuff that's been there forever as its hugely overpriced and most of it is tatt.

The donations of potentially good stuff are given in elsewhere, and the shop cling on for dear life to their junk.....a Primark tshirt for £4, or a single toy car for £1.

As well as making money for the charity I always thought another aim was to provide the community with affordable stuff. Not in this case. If I were in charge I'd do a huge sale, 50% off everything for the next week, and get things moving. I volunteered to help for a few hours a week but they don't need me....Damn!

It comes up often that it’s terrible that volunteers have first dibs on the clothes. I don’t understand this mentality, if the charity are still pricing them up so staff are paying what someone else would pay, why should it matter to the charity if they get that £15 from a volunteer or another member of the public? As these people are giving their time for free, there is only one small “perk” the charity can give to those giving up their time, and that’s to have the opportunity to get in first to buy items being sold.

the only way staff can take things home for free are things that would otherwise be thrown out. There might be some dodgy behaviour in shops that aren’t monitored as part of a chain but generally, the big charities know roughly how much money shops should be making in different areas and would notice.

I agree with you @LimeCheesecake . Our volunteers are the best customers. Our policy is that you don’t price anything you’re thinking of buying, but first dibs at a fair price is fine.

Totally agree. The rotation aspect is key; a month is long enough and if it hasn't shifted it needs to go, or at the very least be on some kind of 3 for £1 rail.

I'd love to run a charity shop.

Absolutely agree with this.

If you’ve got a problem with first dibs to volunteers, then volunteer!

as long as it’s been fairly priced by another member of the team then it doesn’t matter who buys it at that price, and it’s the only perk people are given for giving up their time. It’s an easy thank you that actually makes money for the business - where else can you do that?

When your cost of goods is zero and you’ve basically got an unlimited supply of free stock it makes no sense to price stuff high. Just price to sell and have really rapid stock turnover. The one near me prices stuff reasonably, it’s always busy and they have cars queueing to drop stuff off so they never run out of stuff.

Me too! I don't go to charity shops to look for something specific that will go with another item that I have. I go to look for random bargains/nice things.

I rarely if ever hang around in a colour sorted charity shop. I wish they'd actually realise that, instead of focusing on their shop looking pretty.

The charity shop near my parents house is amazing, it sells some great items, very cheap and lots of variety. I’ve bought a lot of excellent things from there, it’s like an Aladdin’s cave.

Unfortunately, they take too many donations and there is nowhere to store it, so the store is chaotic and verging on dangerous (bags spilling out onto the floor, boxes stacked up precariously etc)

The lovely lady who owns it is an angel & will literally take everything, she drives out of hours to pick things up from peoples houses. She’s in her late 70s too. She has a few volunteers but whenever I visit my parents and we go to see her, the ‘helpers’ are always just stood around with a cup of tea chatting. I have never seen them actually doing anything. My mum goes often and says the same.

My mum and sister have helped out on many occasions, clearing up and sorting through stock, repricing etc as they feel sorry for the owner, who is clearly struggling to keep up with demand. My mum has suggested several times she should stop taking donations till they sort out the store, but it falls on deaf ears.

I like to buy books in my local one. The book shelves are half empty and haven’t changed. Yet I can see boxes and shelves of books in the back. Gave up going. Which was a shame as I used to buy a ton of books in there 😶

Not true. As with all retail it’s profit per square foot. You still have finite space. You price to maximise your income. You can use that space and fill it with 50p tat t shirts (which makes everyone think you only sell tat) or fill it with £5 high street store tops (which makes people think - sometimes they have nice stuff in there, I might have a look)

Which makes the charity more money?

I volunteer in a charity shop and we do have this system. Unfortunately most people who donate seem to dislike it. I try and direct them to the warehouse but they usually get quite huffy about it.

I often think the same , drop the price sell it cheap get things moving.

I'm not always too fussed about prices. I will happily pay 2 or 3 quid for a book if it is one I am after - but if it's one I am specifically after I want to be able to look on the shelves and see quickly if they have a copy (so alphabetically on shelf) not scan through shelves and shelves because I don't know the colour of the spine !!

We sell hundreds of books per week (4 for £1) and still send probably 30-40 crates of books to the rag man every week, we really don't have time to shelve them by genre or alphabetically.

But then your point is about stock selection and what to sell, not pricing of a given item. What I’m saying is if you price a given item lower more people will be prepared to buy it ( basic price elasticity of demand). The more people are prepared to buy an item at a price, the quicker it will sell. Say a high street top priced at 5 pounds takes 3 days to sell whereas priced at 3 pounds it takes a day. Assuming you have an endless supply of tops, you’re making 9 pounds out of that rack space vs 5 pounds over 3 days. Plus people come in as they see new stock all the time.

some stuff is just priced way too high, especially books.

@slashlover if a shop has time to sort books into pretty matching spine colours you have time to put them A-Z.
I tend to get a lot of books from the BHF or Oxfam bookshops whose shops are laid out more like a 'proper' secondhand bookshop.
If I am after a specific book they are the first charity shops I head too.
However if I am just in browsing mood I don't mind to much if the books aren't A-Z as long as I can see what they are - ie on a shelf with spines out. Not heaped all jumbled up in a plastic tub where I have to sit on the floor and remove all the books to actually see what there is. This unfortunately is often how children's books are treated 😕

I agree with @illiterato - who has explained it much better than me.

I am much more likely to go in to the shop on our High Street that sells things cheaply whenever I am on the High Street, because I know the stock turns over quickly (due to the low prices) and there will always be new stock in there.

I will also often buy stuff that is more cheaply priced, even if I don't particularly need a new top / dress / jumper / whatever, because I think, 'even if I only wear it once, I am happy to give a couple of quid to a good cause', but I would only start spending bigger amounts on an item if I particularly needed a certain item - so maybe once a year rather than once every 2 or 3 weeks.

It seems such a shame as I bet there are hundreds of people out there who wouldn't want to go and sort the clothes / work in the shop but would be MORE than happy to go and sort books on a regular basis - they should put a request out on their local Facebook group, or even a notice in the window (or the local library).

to get a constant churn of stuff moving through a shop quickly and cheaply you need an army of volunteers which most shops don’t have. And again, pricing a Bnwt Hobbs coat for a fiver is not maximising income for our charity.

I know one in a small town where they price items the same according to category. So all tops £3, all jumpers £4, all dresses £5 etc.
They have a good turn over, the shop is organised and spotless. It’s good luck to pop in when there’s a real find for the price.

I've mentioned the American chain Goodwill before here.

They do uniform pricing, arrange clothes by type, and within those categories, by size, and then within each size by colour.

They sell clothes and housewares, footwear, Christmas stuff, books, CDs, LPs, DVDs, craft stuff, sports equipment, luggage, handbags...

They do loyalty cards and you get a discount after you spend a certain amount, and on Wednesdays elderly people get a discount too.

People queue up outside the door before they open. There's a huge turnover of merchandise.

They accept all donated items and sell on rags and recyclables to appropriate dealers, and operate their own last chance locations whereby can buy clothing and other stuff by weight. They're open seven days a week for donations and shopping.

And the uniform prices are low.

You see the odd clothing item for $9.99 but most of it goes for $4.99 -$6.99.

Because they have their own charitable objectives already. If their charitable objective, set out in law, is to save the rainforest or find a cure for cancer, then that is what they must raise money to do. To turn away potential income in the vague hope of weaning the local townspeople off fast fashion would be unfair on the charity's beneficiaries and donors.

Besides, surely they are already providing an environmental service by reselling clothes in the first place?

I do love a cheap and cheerful charity shop, but I trust that the charities who do retail - be it cheap or high-end - know what they are doing in order to maximise profit for the charity. If I can find a bargain that's a bonus for me.

It's not about pricing everything cheaply, it's about pricing things realistically.
I think that so times the volunteers don't know what brands are higher quality/price and don't get what is worth pricing higher or lower.
I got a pair of me+em jeans for £5, great! But I wouldn't pay that for a pair of new look or primark jeans second hand.

Where this happens it’s possible they are a second tier shop - so these are all items that have failed to sell at another shop at a “fair” price.

These shops are usually in towns with poorer demographics who can’t afford the original price so they are sent the leftovers. Better than getting rag money for them.

I volunteer, our clothes are displayed by type and size, tops, dresses, coats etc. books are on different shelves, with local interest, fiction, biogs etc., alphabetically arranged. Jewellery is sorted, hallmarked bits often go to Ebay, bricabrac sells well, all washed and nicely arranged. We get compliments from customers about the layout and displays.

I bought a jigsaw last week, almost finished it, but there are are a few bits missing. Thanks for the donation! We have to take them on trust, we are always short of volunteers, so counting every piece would be impossible.

Indeed, agree with most of this. Most of the stuff is way overpriced, and whoever came up with the stupid idea of sorting clothes by colour means I can't be arsed to spend that much time. They do not have any obligation or wish to do a service to the community, it's all about raising money that mostly goes on huge director salaries. I miss the days of jumble sales when it really did perform a service, and the local church/scouts etc made money directly.