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.

Nothing wrong there at all, assuming you filled in self-assessment tax returns.

The troublesome bit is listing the stuff on vinted or wherever for several weeks, and when it doesn't sell, taking it back to the charity shop for a refund.

If someone can be bothered to spend the time and energy to hunt for these thing, list them and then package and post them then it’s perfectly reasonable for them to do so. The charity shop has got paid what they asked for so what’s the problem?
The returning them a few weeks later is a bit cheeky though and maybe the shop needs to change their returns policy to make it harder to do.

The shop in question is reviewing its returns policy - currently 30 days - and will be bringing it down to 7 days very soon I think, just to avoid this happening.
I hope they do change to 7 days @NagathaCrispy I think people asking for refunds in charity shops is poor form. I see buying from a charity shop as a donation with the bonus of a bargain thrown in. If the bargain turns out to be a dud, it goes back to the shop as another donation.

In an ideal world someone in each shop would be able to spot something that would sell for more online and set up selling accounts for the benefit of the charity. I doubt they have the time for that though.

The people who are calling resellers “parasites” have clearly not been in any charity shops recently and don’t understand their purpose is to make money for the charity and a lot of them actively encourage resellers.

Charity shops are no longer selling things to people who “need it” at affordable prices. They are selling Joules dresses for £18.99 which is more expensive than the official outlet rather than the £4 they would have been a few years ago, or a vase from B&M for £9.99 when it would have been £1 years ago. All sorts of people are buying these items not just people who can’t afford new clothes or decor for their home.

A resellers business model is no different to any other retail business that buys items at a lower price and then sells them for more money. The returning items that haven’t sold is cheeky if they are doing this in bulk.

I was about to say the same. Why on earth would a charity shop offer refunds?

I have no issue with taking back clothing items that don’t fit to large charities like Oxfam or Cancer Research. It is literally offered and encouraged by the sales staff at the till. The prices are not a couple of pounds, it’s much more like £5-15 for a blouse or skirt, depending on the item. The changing rooms often have flimsy curtains, are directly off the shop and are not somewhere I really feel like getting changed, given the increase in covert filming and photography offences. But I can generally judge sizing quite well so it’s not a regular problem.

I've come round to believing both are fine.

Definitely reselling is fine: capitalism.
The shop allows these mass returns.: should only be with receipt, tags still on, and you can definitely make them wait until the shop is quiet to process returns, like returns have to happen at any other retailer.

Do you know how much profit they are typically making per item that actually sells, OP?

How do the resellers actually make money, though, if the outlets are cheaper? And surely there can't be much that you can buy at B&M that costs enough for it to maintain a decent second-hand value?!

Or is it just people taking advantage of the fact that some people only ever think to check one or two websites for everything and assume it will be the best price? I've heard of people who will find well-priced items on Amazon and then list them on eBay for a few pounds more. Only once they get an order will they actually buy the item from Amazon and get it sent directly to the customer! I'd have thought Amazon would have some kind of limit on how many 'friends and family' delivery addresses each account can set up, though?!

Our local charity shop allows seven days for returns, as it has no fitting room.

Many charities with a retail arm have adopted a businesslike strategy to maximise their income. They know most people will take a punt on an item of clothing for £2.99 and just give it away if it doesn’t fit, but that few people will do the same for a much more expensive item and so simply wouldn’t buy those things without the guarantee of being able to return it if it didn’t fit. They sell more by offering refunds.