Charity shop re-sellers - is this CFery or fair enough?

[NagathaCrispy]

My friend volunteers in a local charity shop, which sells large amounts of clothing. She told me today, that they regularly get people in who buy multiple items and are re-selling items for a profit - I suppose that's the way of it these days! But she told me that there is one person who is a frequent re-seller, who buys a loads of items every week, clearly attempts to sell them - probably on Vinted or similar - but if they don't sell, then returns them to the charity shop for a re-fund of their purchase price, sometimes 2-3 weeks after purchase.

Am I alone in thinking this is the height of CFery, or is simple good practice and fair enough and I'm being a bit self righteous.

Re selling is fine.
Returning un-solds for a refund is a bit cheeky.

I agree with you OP.

It's also disgusting that I know my local Oxfam shop, certainly last year, had a real problem with shop lifters. And the shop lifters knew what they were after and targeted the higher price unique items.

Why is the charity shop giving refunds? I suppose it might make sense if the items are faulty, but as they're second-hand, I've always assumed they were "sold as seen".

Last week, I went into a charity shop in Glastonbury. The cashier told me that they have to be very careful about which notes they'll accept, as the last time the festival was on at Pilton, they lost a fortune by accepting a lot of forged notes (I think it was the £20 ones). Some people have no shame!

Yeah it’s def a charity shop problem for refunding. You can’t control what your customers do but you can prevent that

Yes, they're a CF.

I recall being astonished when I discovered that a boutique owner in Royal Deeside was buying items from the Clan (cancer charity) shop in Ballater and selling them on as vintage items in her boutique.

I can’t see a problem on either count. Somebody buying is paying the price the charity shop has asked for, whether they’re buying to wear or to resell. The shop could list its goods on Vinted and eBay if it thought it would gain a higher price that way, many do. And if the charity shop accepts unconditional refunds then it doesn’t make a difference whether something is being returned because it didn’t fit, because the buyer changed their mind, or because the buyer couldn’t resell it. The retail manager has set the policy and should change it if they don’t want people returning unwanted items.

It's just basic capitalism. Some might say these people are entrepreneurs and admire their effort. They can't make that much money, and it's better than the clothes hanging unworn.
Not sure about refunds from a charity shop! But I guess they are a shop like any other.

There's so much secondhand clothing so the reselling is neither here nor there. I personally think the returning is CF territory, but as the shop allows it that's on them. I'm surprised then shop hasn't reduced their return period tbh.

Agree with this. I've bought stuff from charity shops before and got home and they don't fit or whatever - is it wrong if I put them online to see if anyone wants them? I wouldn't want to return them to the charity shop. And once clothes are in my possession they are mine to do with as I please. Do you mean that they are making it a cottage industry? I have never asked a charity shop for a refund in my life.

Cant see the problem. I'd be able to smell if something came from a charity shop via Vinted.

Love finding bargains and supporting charities but my oh my charity shops stink and so their clothes if they've been there a while!

Oops but yes, returning for refunds are a bit cheeky!

Re-selling is legal. So is returning anything they are allowed to return.

But they are parasites just in general, and a net negative to society. Anything getting sold by them for more money, clearly wasn't going to not be sold for less to someone who needed it.

Is it clothing items this person is returning?

Anyhow, consumer rights law is clear, you are not legally entitled to a refund for items just because you changed your mind or clothing doesn't fit.

Retailers can make their own rules about what and for how long they are able to refund, so if they put a sign up saying (for instance):

"All items sold as seen"
(to stop people damaging stuff on purpose and then returning it because it is faulty)

"Refunds are given on clothing items only, and if returned with the receipt within 7 days of date of purchase"
(to stop re-sellers returning stuff they can't sell)

Worth a try. Is it an independent charity shop or are they part of a larger charity? If it is a large one, perhaps the manager needs to check policy with head office.

If people want to buy things and sell them on, that’s fine. The charity is still making money from the sale regardless of what people do with the items they buy.

The returns thing is a bit cuntish.

Buying and selling on is fine, I think you can do what you want with it once you've bought it.

I would be embarrassed to ask for a refund though, I'd feel I was taking money off the charity.

I’ve never known a charity shop give refunds beyond statutory rights.

Returning a load of stuff for a refund and giving people who are mostly volunteers loads of extra work to do is cheeky.

But if it's within the policy of the charity shop then they aren't actually doing anything wrong. It's up to the charity shop to alter its return policy if they don't like it.

Why is the charity shop offering refunds? I’m pretty sure they don’t have to.
Re-selling is fine imho.

We refund items where I volunteer so if the return was in thirty days, with tag on and receipt we would refund.

I know some kids who sell charity shop stuff. I don't blame them. When I was their age part time and casual work was easy to find.

I do think the charity shop should massively tighten their returns policy. Make it 5 days or something.

Same around here.

Totally fine to sell them on - the charity shop is selling them for the price they ask. But I would never return anything - I just redonate if things don't fit.

Buying to sell on is fine, the charity shop set the price a customer paid the amount asked for, if they didn’t you couldn’t guarantee that anyone else would buy the items so the shop might not get anything at all beyond the rag value. What the customer does after that is up to them. If the charity shop thinks some items could fetch more then why don’t they price the higher at least for a while or sell them online themselves.
Bringing stuff back for a refund is a bit cheeky, the solution is completely in the shop’s hands though just don’t offer a refund, why you are blaming the customer for following the shop policy I have no idea.

Capitalism is our entire economic system, so I'm not sure why people think it's outrageous when someone buys to resell at a profit on a smaller scale.

I don't think it is the resellers buying stuff that the OP's friend finds issue with, it is the cheeky sods who buy stuff, try to sell it at a higher price, fail and then return it to the charity shop weeks later for a refund.

I'd be firmly implementing a returns policy with a much more stringent timeline.