Would you ever do this to a charity shop?

[BupcakesandCunting]

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?

Gah! My MIL who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing buts all sorts of hideous china from charity shops and brags about how much it's worth compared to how little she paid for it. I think this is immoral. She has plenty of money.

She complains that the charity shops have nothing decent in them because they send it all to eBay

I used to work with adults who gave LD, there was one chap who loved going into charity shops to buy CDs, he was on a very limited income. He picked up a cd ( very old one not new) and it was £3.50 he could not afford it. Mycolkegue with him told the lady in the charity shop that it was too expensive. And that they should price things realistically. I have bought brand new CDs from amazon for £3

Meant who have learning disabilities

I work in a charity shop on sundays and it is amazing how people try to haggle, and what people expect. My boss (she's not technically a manager but she works there FT and is in charge on sundays) is getting quite sick of it, people really treat her badly.

The other day somebody came in asking to return a £2.50 belt because it didn't fit. Fair enough but company policy is no refunds without a receipt - otherwise people would treat it like a library for clothes! He threw a massive hissy fit complaining that he'd spent loads and he could bring a bank statement. More shouting because my boss told him they couldn't do a partial refund. So he actually went home, and brought every single item back and returned them, just to prove a point

They do General loads of them are savvy about vintage and antique stuff these days and a few of ours have a "vintage" section...mostly ridiculously priced...as a collector I know how much is a fair price...and 15 pounds for a late 1960s dolls frock is NOT a reasonable price!

I am happy for them to know somethings worth...the dolls frock in question would have fetched a fiver TOPS on Ebay...where things generally make their realistic prices....

Haggle no, return goods yes. The ones near us think they are chic and upmarket but really sell the usual brick-a-brack. They over price their goods (20 and 30 for boots!!) and so these days i prefer car boot sales.

I've been short changed a few times in a charity shop (by the amount it would cost me to buy a loaf of bread) and have always pointed it out but been made to feel i shouldn't have..

Not infrequently I've had charity shops telling me that something's overpriced, and trying to charge me less than the price on the label. If I was prepared to pay the price on the label, I'm certainly not going to give the charity less.

If the shop worker refuses point blank to charge me the full amount, I accept with grace, and then put the additional money in the collecting tin on the counter.

I used to volunteer in an oxfam shop and the manager explained that there are different grades of shop. Ours was quite low grade so prices were low (next door to wilkinsons and around the corner from primark and we had to compete). I think pricing depends how on the ball the shop manager is and how well trained the volunteers are.

The worst is when people try and 'return' an item without a receipt!

I bought a dress, got it home and noticed the fastening was broken and therefore unwearable. I got a refund.
Charity shops don't accept damaged goods - this one slipped through the net and I don't feel immoral. I wanted the dress, the charitable donation would have been an added bonus.

I volunteered in a charity book shop. Hagglers tried it on every hour or so .

Just as often as overpricing, you get underpricing too, when the person doesn't realise something is rare or valuable. Don't forget the people sorting the stock are usually volunteers, and there is little enough time in their shift to sort through everything without checking up on a particular item. They aren't collectors or experts. It probably balances itself out in the end (between over- and under-pricing) and hey, if somebody less eBay-savvy pays top whack for it, and is happy to do so, then that's more money for the charity :)

YY to the 'vintage' charity shops. Not like that round here thankfully, we have strict guidelines about damage - not like when I was young - but basically sell any brand etc.

But my friend who lives in West London was desperate for a job and tried to volunteer in the charity shops (that's actually how I started, I wanted retail experience, but I really love it so I'm continuing despite having a job) but they have incredibly strict employment criteria because they have such high standards. Unlike here, where I turned up, the manager said "you seem nice, when can you start" and that was basically it!

I work in a charity shop and we do have a refund policy, its on our receipts and its displayed in our shops, we will refund anything apart from books DVDS
and CDS (unless faulty) as long as our ticket is still attached to the article and as long as a customer has the reciept we dont quibble at all however we do have to ask for name and address (company policy to ensure the staff and volunteers are not putting through false refunds and pocketing the money) and that sometimes causes disagreements.

As f[pr haggling it really does depend, I had two people do that today both on bricabrac.

One item we had in our shop for three weeks and I was just about to rotate it to another shop, so I did go down a price point for a customer.

The other one was classic

Chap wanted a picture in our window (Hove to the Needles by Roger Desoutter) I know just how much to charge for that depending on the print and the quality of the frame, they never hang around for long, bought by both Islanders and Tourists.

He said it was too expensive and tried to beat me down, as I had only just priced and displayed it I said no sorry no can do, he was rather rude and told me to stuff it.

An hour later he came back wanted picture after all only we had sold it (for the asking price) 10 minutes after he left the shop he was NOT happy apparently I should have kept for him in case he changed his mind - stupid man

Islandlady can I ask which part of IW you work in? I'm in north wight, are u close?

Hiya

I live in Ryde but I work In Shanklin

Where are you?

East Cowes but I go to Shanklin quite often! Got some fab bits n bobs from all the Shanklin ones! We've only got one in E.C :(

I'd do it if i thought item was overpriced and it made the difference between buying it or not. They can always say no and carry the stock until someone else buys it.

madyoung I was in East Cowes yesterday _ still cant believe we have a waitrose.

Dont want to hijack thread I'll PM you later and tell you where I work

My favourite people are the ones who shoplift from charity shops - and think it is OK because it's for charity .

I once tried to buy somthing fro a charity shop and haggled over the price. It was a suit jacket, which was priced up with a pair of trousers. The jacket was a size 10, the trousers were a size 16.

So I asked if they'd be willing to accept the full ampunt but only take the jacket. I was told that they could not do that.

Very odd.

Some of the charity shops are big on refunds now, one of them you can buy in one store and return to any of their stores in the country, I think it is to encourage you to just take stuff and not spend hours in their cramped changing room all to spend a couple of quid.

I did take something back recently, to a store which had no changing room, when I tried it on it didn't fit and it was over 10 pounds for a dress. However, when I went back the lady made me feel like a criminal and kept saying 'I've never done a refund before' as if I was extremely unreasonable, so I guess most people don't ask and I certainly won't again in that particular store! I would have liked to write off the money to charity or got a credit note and re-spent it, it did make me feel stingy asking for my money back.

People do steal from charity shops. I bought three box sets of SATC about a year ago (useless now as the blardy video has packed up...yup i'm old fashioned). One video was missing, assistant told me it had been pinched, they didn't catch them quick enough...cost of the video.....10p. Dont think you can get much lower than that!

We have a charity shop near us, one of a lot of businesses staffed and funded by adults with learning difficulties. They also have a recycling shop & a clothes washing business.

In the shop they sell donated items plus some items they've made in workshops such as bags, purses, calenders, belts etc etc

Last week I was in with a work colleague, they had 3 wicker chairs, all white, with different cushion covers on. I admired them & asked the price, £25 - which was completely reasonable, a very low price in fact given that the covers were hand made by the staff.

You can imagine how I felt when my work colleague bought a blouse, a purse and 2 books, which came to £7 & said "I have a fiver here, is £7 really the best you can do".....

I agree their prices are their prices (although their pricing stragegies are sometimes questionable particularly with stuff from say, Primark).

Madyoungcatlady I wouldn't hesitate to take that dress back, £60 is a lot of money! It was priced as genuine and it's not.

It's a business, just like any other.

i bought some jeans the other month that didnt fit and i didnt take them back, felt too cheeky, My mum takes stuff back and swaps stuff, theyu know her and sometimes let her off with the 25p-50p extra.

I used to work in Oxfam and people used to haggle loads - and lots got very offended at the prices (which, I reckon, were sometimes a bit of a pisstake).

OTOH, I went into the shop near me recently, and they'd a book they were selling for 2.50 when you could get 20 quid easy on amazon (it's out of print and sought-after). The woman in the shop was really rude to me when I said this ... dunno why, I was basically offering to donate 17.50 more than she'd expected but she said I would never have been so cheeky in a real shop. So I guess people's attitudes are funny!