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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Would you ever do this to a charity shop?

78 replies

BupcakesandCunting · 07/07/2011 15:29

Would you ever try and knock them down on a price? Would you ever return goods for a refund if you changed your mind on them?

AIBU to think it's a bit of a shitty thing to do?

OP posts:
altinkum · 07/07/2011 15:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

altinkum · 07/07/2011 15:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

FlamingoBingo · 07/07/2011 15:32

No I wouldn't. I would consider any overpayment to be a donation.

Celerydion · 07/07/2011 15:33

YANBU i couldn't do that in a charity shop, seems a bit mean to me... do you know someone that has done this? Shock

lisad123 · 07/07/2011 15:33

i have returned items, main clothes that dont fit, rather than chnaged my mind. BUT Im at my local one 2-3 times a week Grin

Itsjustafleshwound · 07/07/2011 15:34

Perhaps tell them if I think some things have been wrongly priced, but certainly wouldn't ask for a refund.

YANBU

LoopyLoopsBettyBoops · 07/07/2011 15:37

Depends how skint I was.

reelingintheyears · 07/07/2011 15:39

No i wouldn't..

I'd consider it a donation and then give the thing i had bought back to them to re sell.

Original poster
BupcakesandCunting · 07/07/2011 15:41

"do you know someone that has done this?"

Yes. Blush Not me, though! (Disclaimer)

OP posts:
manicinsomniac · 07/07/2011 15:42

No way! I'd feel like such a scrooge bartering in a charity shop!

Although I did once face a return or be undercharged catch 22:

Years ago I was a leader on a youth camp and we played a game where you had to spend an afternoon in town with £3 and had to find or buy the biggest, smallest, longest, roundest etc item that you could in teams then compare with the other teams bac at base later.

The kids were 13+ but I had the youngest group which included one very small, baby faced angelic looking girl. She went into a charity shop and came out with a huge pet blanket (for 'surface area' I think). I was really impressed until I asked how how much of our budget she'd spent and she said "oh, it was £5 but I pretended to cry and said I only had a pound so she let me have it"!!

I made her take it back.

biddysmama · 07/07/2011 15:44

i bought my wedding dress at a charity shop for £10 Blush i couldnt try it while i was there and the lady said i could return it if it didnt fit, but it did, i got dd a playskool indoor roundabout thing this morning for £2, i think ours are pretty cheap round here so wouldnt be any point haggling

MadYoungCatLady · 07/07/2011 15:50

I bought a Diane von Furstenburg dress at my local for £60. On getting it hope, I have realised (due to bad stitching, dodgy 'market stall' label on the inside where the put the washing instructions, seams not sewn together along the right place) that it is most probably FAKE.

I haven't taken it back - but I feel I should! I'm on a pretty low income and can't afford to 'donate' £60 for something that probably cost £20 new Hmm

Tchootnika · 07/07/2011 15:53

Discussed this recently with a friend who does both: haggles and asks for refunds...
I thought this was, erm, 'surprising', but charity shops in that area can charge fairly steep prices (e.g.

DoNotTakeMeSiriusly · 07/07/2011 15:57

I used to volunteer in a charity shop, those things are nothing, nothing compared to the people you catch stealing from charity shops!

ElectricSoftParade · 07/07/2011 15:58

I volunteer in a charity shop and you do get people trying to haggle over prices. Fortunately this charity shop is an "old fashioned" type, you know the ones with stout older ladies with wills of iron.

You should see them deal with the occasional shoplifter. They could make a grown man cry.

DeWe · 07/07/2011 16:02

I've argued the other way.
I used to buy most of dd1s clothes 2nd hand. Rarely if ever bought new clothes other than shoes and underwear. One time I found this beautiful wool coat in a charity shop for £1. It had a dry cleaning label. I said to them that it wasn't fair to sell it for that price as the person would have spent more on having it dry cleaned so they'd be better to bin it and donate the dry cleaning money. They replied that their policy was that all children's clothes were £1... if I wanted to donate more. So I donated what I thought reasonable for it.

DilysPrice · 07/07/2011 16:09

If something was actually broken (or flagrantly missold like the "DvF" dress) then at the moment I'd count it as a donation, because I can afford to write off the money.
But if I was actually broke, then I would definitely take something back under those circumstances, and I would advise MYCL to do so.

WhoAteMySnickers · 07/07/2011 16:11

I've haggled over the price of books. One particular charity shop is so expensive that you can buy the books brand new in supermarkets or bookstores cheaper than the charity shop sells them for.

Angel786 · 07/07/2011 16:14

I'd like to say no,but if times were tough and I was scrimping heavily might have no other choice.

takethisonehereforastart · 07/07/2011 16:16

I don't think I would haggle in a charity shop but I have refused to order from their websites because of the postage charges.

I wanted a fridge magnet from The Heart Foundation which they didn't have on sale in the shops. The magnet was £1.99 and the postage was £5.00. I wanted to send it to my friend, who collects things with rainbows on them, but felt £7.00 was a push too far just to get a magnet with a nice picture on it.

Also on the SANDS website, I wanted one leaflet sending to me. The leaflet costs 10p and the postage for it was again £5.00. I just can't justify £5.00 for a leaflet, no matter how important the charity.

Electric I would love to see your old ladies at work.

starfishmummy · 07/07/2011 16:18

I've never haggled but I have walked away if I thought something was overpriced, especially a certain charity and their shops that just sell books. (probably the same one that whoatemysnickers mentions).
Sometimes though if I think they have underpriced I'll put a donation in the collection tin as well.

takethisonehereforastart · 07/07/2011 16:19

In the end, the local Heart Foundation shop started stocking the same magnets for £1.50 and I bought one and posted it to my friend for 65p postage.

pigletmania · 07/07/2011 16:24

Look at it this way, the more you knock down price, the more you spend in the shop, then just getting one overpriced item

LDNmummy · 07/07/2011 16:33

People steal from charity shops Shock

Are they very poor people?

I have seen some very overpriced charity shops but just don't bother to venture in them.

I would never haggle a price in a charity shop unless it was something flagrantly overpriced, but I have never encountered that before.

Some years ago I went with a woman whom I was sharing a flat with to some of our local charity shops as she bought lots of clothes in them. This was in the Paddington area so the things are genuinely very nice and you can find real bargains.

I was busy browsing when I heard her call out loudly to the assistant from the other side of the store. She started haggling very loudly over the price of a beautiful silk tunic. It was only twelve pounds and was obviouisly not overpriced. I was even more mortified when I heard what her motivation was for haggling the price down. The fabric had bubbled ever so slightly at the rear of the tunic due to it having been worn. It was hardly noticable and she in fact had to struggle a little to highlight the supposed damage of the item to the assistant (besides, they are second hand clothes for goodness sake!). Eventually the assistant just let her have it for cheaper but I was mortified. She had been shouting out all this from across the store till the assistant was able to leave the till and venture over to see what she was talking about. She shop was pretty crowded and everyone was looking at her and I had to walk out of the shop with her Blush

I never went shopping with her again but apparently she has done even worse when out shopping with other people. And she was certainly not poor BTW.

HelloKlitty · 07/07/2011 16:36

An assistant told me once that people come in and try to swap things! A lady walked in and took a fancy to a mac...she then tried to hand them HER own old coat in exchange and thought this would be fine as "Its all second hand!"