or is my local charity shop having a laugh?

[AmberNectarine]

Just popped in for a quick browse, and was staggered at the prices:

Not terribly nice Kurt Geiger flats - £45
Radley bag - £100
Primark acrylic jumper - £6.50

Haven't done any charity shopping since I moved to the area (though have dropped off a couple of bags) but is this the norm now? While I appreciate they are trying to make money for the charity, surely people would buy new rather than pay these prices? As a case in point we bought MIL a Radley last Xmas - it was £95 but John Lewis were doing a 20% disount so it ended up being seventy-something, and it was brand new...

Flame me if I'm wide of the mark here but aren't they going to put themselves out of business?

Ours are the same, really expensive to the point where their tatty old second hand out of date items sell for just a few £s less than brand new ones in the local New Look and Dorothy Perkins!

There's another local place where they sell toys for stupid amounts. For example a naked Barbie with half it's hair missing would cost you £3. A lot of the stuff has bits missing or is broken. Having said that, they were so over run with kids bikes they were selling them off for £1.

I'm just glad the people in charge of charity shops don't run the country!

I am manager (of 7years) of our local chain charity shop I would just like to say a couple of things, firstly i agree that some charity shops have gone mad with their pricing, if i get something nice ie radley bag last month i researched it on ebay priced similar £50 and sold it in a week, had it not sold in 2 wks or so i would have reduced by £5 or £10 then eventually sent it to our company ebay seller. i have 1 year old and i buy most of her toys and clothes from charity shops inc mine(not priced by me) we have rules that state all items must go on shop floor for 24 hrs and priced by another person before being purchased with 20% staff discount.

we do have set price guides to stick to if item not worth min on guide chuck/rag/recycle it but at our disgression to mark up(I often research on ebay and internet and aim for 33% of new price).

yes we do get alot of rubbish the usual: incomplete toy/games, broken kitchenalia ripped chewed books etc but among the worst things I have found are USED loo brushes, USED loo seats,USED vibrators, unwashed stained underwear, burnt frying pans, broken glasses, tupperware with contents in and so on. I hate car boot season cos on sat afternoon and monday morning (usually left on sunday afternoon so is vandalised by monday) we are inundated with unsold car boot crap, if you didnt sell it at car boot what makes you think we will sell it!!. we do earn money for rag clothing, shoes and handbags and unsaleable books but the loo brushes etc have to go in the bin at a cost to us!!

also charity shops that have leases do pay rates(poss reduced), rent, gas, electric, insurance, and all the other normal business stuff I am paid (not very well) but i am reponsible for h and s, risk ass, stock rotation, stock processing, takings to bank, managing vols and general company guidelines our shop is profitable for the charity (about 40% of our sales is profit)

not only are charity shops for bargains but we also have a great team of vols that contribute up to 100 hours a week mostly retired, unemployed and special needs that are looking for someting to do, gain work experience, trainees for nvqs etc i have a couple of vols that have been recomended to volunteering for help with confidence and depression and it has helped them

Update: was walking past yesterday and saw the Radley had been reduced to a more reasonable £75. Also saw a Miu Miu Matelasse in the window priced at £55. Bargain thinks I, so went in to have a look. On closer inspection it is a very obvious cheap and nasty fake.

Pointed it out to the manager (as wasn't sure whether she would have realised, and presume it may be illegal) and was scathingly told that "for £55? Of course it's a fake, when you see it priced at £300 you'll know it's real"

So sad that there are some crappy charity shops giving the whole system a bad name :(

I work at one and we get given some real shite. You would be sickened if you saw some of it. But we always smile sweetly and thank them. And we NEVER just throw stuff away. Books and clothes that aren't good enough to sell are recycled for money, we get 50-65p per kilo for that. Toys etc are only chucked if they don't work or are broken.

I really really wish people would think about what they're giving. It would be great if everyone donating would separate stuff first and label bags with "good to sell" and "rags", for example. It takes a massive amount of volunteer time to sift through it.

We are easily the most popular charity shop in the town centre, because we really care about the stock and making it all look decent.

Oh, and yes charity shops do get prices wrong - I am very frustrated when I see something go for much less than its worth (never more in our shop) - but these are volunteers doing the pricing, not experts. There simply isn't the time to check things.

We would rather see something go too cheap than see it not go because it's overpriced. At least we get some money for it, and the customer is more likely to return for more bargains :)

Our local charity shop had a day birger et mikkelsen drss for sale for a (beyond cheap) £17!!! I grabbed said dress as they are one of the few designers who make gorgeous clothes in a size 12/14 and gave the lady £70 for it as the same dress is still for sale for £280. I got a new dress for 25% of the retail price and the charity shop got more than they were asking.

What really surprised me was to see it hung next to a florence and fred @ Tesco dress priced £15

I have the same f&f dress in a diff colour... I paid £18 new!

Yeah, this is the thing. They've switched their market focus. £17 is 30% of my weekly income. Charity shops are not for poor people any more.

That's fine, but I do think they should pay full rates etc as they are more like, what, ethical businesses? than my old conception of charity shops.