To think charity shops are charging too much and are losing their way.

[TheoriginalLEM]

I appreciate that they are wanting to raise as much money as possible for their various causes but they are charging way over the odds for many things now.

Clothes from primark and tesco - £5?? really? probably cheaper to buy it new.

But what made me really sad tonight was walking past a charity shop window and seeing toys being sold at really expensive prices. Some mega block dragon sets £15 £17 for some hotwheels tracks. Both really bashed up boxes, obviously secondhand.

Now charity shops have become trendy, i think they have forgotten, that whilst this isn't their primary aim, they used to be a godsend to parents with little money. They could go to the charity shop and pick up some half decent toys for their children for christmas etc. I'm lucky, i can afford to get my DD new toys, i would have bought the megablocks if they had been reasonable, as an extra but not at £15 - sale lost.

So where do parents with little cash have to go now? poundland? cheap plastic tat that wont last five minutes. When they used to be able to pick up half decent stuff in charity shops.

Like i said, their aim is to raise money but ive seen back rooms of charity shops with bag upon bag of "stuff" ready to be sorted and put on the shelves. I have lost count of the times ive left something on the shelf because ive been unsure of it, but if it were a couple of pounds i would have bought it and taken the chance. I can't afford to shell out a fiver on something that might not fit and i don't always have time to try things on if i ve just popped in. So whereas i might have gone and bought 2 or 3 tops for a £2 each spending £6 on stuff they were GIVEN, i leave with nothing because i think either, no, not taking the chance, or fuck that i can buy it in tesco for that price.

Its the toys that have made me feel sad tonight.

[notquitehuman]

My local Oxfam is like that too. We are in a naice area with lots of hipsters who will buy vintage shit. The staff have therefore decided to price everything as if it were a posh boutique. Incredibly worn shoes from the 80s? £18 because vintage. Book from the 70s about interior design? £15, and stick it in the window because everyone is just dying to pick up old hardback books.

The rails are incredibly sparse too. Part of the fun about charity shops is flicking through the overstuffed rails. If you only have 5 Monsoon and Coast dresses on a rail for 20 or 30 quid, it's just not the same experience.

[MackerelOfFact]

I think they're ridiculously overpriced given the cost price is £0.

Yes, something might well be going for £40 on eBay, but that's because people from across the country have been able to search for it at the click of a button and create demand because it's a bigger pool of buyers.

The chances of those same people stumbling upon it while rummaging in a charity shop on a run-down high street in the suburbs between the hours of 9am and 5pm is pretty slim. The pool of potential buyers, and therefore demand, is going to be drastically lower.

I know it comes from wanting the most money for the charity, and that's understandable - and it must be frustrating when they know people are buying things and selling them on at a profit online. But people are surely far more likely to come in (and therefore spend) if there's a regular rotation of reasonably-priced stock?

[Yokohamajojo]

Totally agree, I did the round of charity shops around me as I was looking for a trench type coat, found one in a shop but was very worn, washed out black. I would have bought it if it had been a fiver but they had priced it at 16.99! it was Zara Basic. That was a few months ago and it's still there

[SevenOfNineTrue]

Some charity shops are still reasonable, we have a local one that is good. However I never go in Oxfam anymore, they are far too expensive.

[Girlfriend36]

I completely agree op I find car boot sales much better for cheaper clothes and toys.

Some of the charity shops round here are ridiculous with their pricing and I think they lose a lot of money because of it.

[roaringfire]

There are bargains to be had if you rummage but you need to set aside time. They are a business but I think, by their very raison d'être in being a charity, they do have some corporate responsibility to provide people in need with cheap clothing.

Perhaps we should forward this thread to the charity retail association!

[KakiFruit]

Most of these charity shops are on highly favourable or pro-bono rents

Where did you get that idea from? Perhaps in some cases (I've never come across it) but certainly not "most".

They forget their other none verbalised role of being a fall back for those less able to afford things new.

That has never been their role, non-verbalised or otherwise.

[tokoloshe2015]

The purpose of any activity by a charity has to be directed towards the aims of the charity.

So if 'helping the less well off' isn't an aim, then the responsibility of the trustees is to get as much as possible for the charity. If the shops are making a loss rather than raising money for the charity, then the trustees should spot that and take action. If they're doing their job they should be able to tell you how the salary of a paid manager contributes to their fundraising - it may not just be that they raise more money (though I would guess that is one part of their job), but also saving potential cost by risk management in making sure that the relevant legislation is complied with etc etc

[Dipankrispaneven]

Kaki is right. A friend who works in a charity shop tells me it's going to have to close because the landlord wants to put the rent up from £24,000 a year to £40,000.

[northern78]

Actually some charity shops rrly on those on jsa and they definitely can't afford their prices even with discount. Although agree some volunteers are more privileged.

[FreeWorker1]

Its the charity shops selling new stuff that bothers me. They get a lot of tax advantages and put other shops out of business by buying in and selling new stuff.

[Daisysbear]

I think it depends on the Charity. There's a couple of charity shops right across the road from each other in my local village and one has stuff priced very reasonably, while the other is much more expensive.

Something I've often wondered about. Now and again I've given a really nice old children's book to a charity shop as opposed to selling it on line as I thought it might be a nice discovery for someone who can't afford on line prices. But I've never seen them on the shelves (and I am in and out of local charity shops quite frequently). Sometimes the books look a bit old and dusty, but someone who's in to old children's books would realise what they are and snap them up.
Are books like that just thrown out (shudder) or do they sell them on Amazon or Abe books to raise more money for the charity?
I'm not talking about really valuable books, but ones that have been long out of print but are still popular with adult re-readers.

[KakiFruit]

Daisysbear my best friend ran a charity book shop. When they sorted the books, anything that wouldn't sell in the shop or that would fetch a higher price online were sent to a warehouse and sold online. I don't know if that's generally how it's done though.

[BobandKate0]

I'm sure i recall reading about Oxfam in the 1960's saying they aim is twofold - to help to local poor and to relive the famine in africa.
Also agree with KeyserSophie - most shops are missing a trick and do not reduce stock or give stuff away - they would rather chuck old stock away and moan at the cost of doing so ( do they still spray clothes with bleach to stop any homeless people from skip diving - the very thing charities chastise supermarkets doing.)
I used to pop in to some shops every day/week and would see the staff culling the stock,filling a dustbin bag up to go to landfill - if they had reduced the stock i would off bought a lot - i was told this wasn't possible as it would reduce the value of the existing stock,pollute the brand.

Charity shops also have the emotional blackmail tactic in their favour,they could sell cups of tap water and people would buy them.

The free staff are effectively paying for the privilege of working and one day soon oxfam may realise that they could hire out their free staff to do odd jobs and charge the punters full market rates,like what agencies do.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions,was never more true.

[hiddenhome2]

The Oxfam in our city flogs books that are about 20p cheaper than if they were new

All the hipster students (university city) go there though, so they can get away with it.

[Daisysbear]

Thanks Kaki.

[Oldsu]

RB68 you do have a terrible misconception about charity shops, my DH has volunteered in 3 and has a paid managers job in one first of all (certainly in the high street shops) managers and assistants are paid, there has to be at least one paid member of staff to take the takings to the bank otherwise they are not covered by insurance -even one shop my DH volunteered in where there were no paid shop floor staff, the paid area manager came in everyday to take the takings to the bank. This is taken so seriously by my Husbands charity that he had to sign an agreement saying he would not allow volunteers to do the banking , and that agreement is filed with his personnel file at HO, its the only time he would be allowed to close the shop if he needed to go to the bank and there was no experienced volunteer to cover, I have volunteered in his shop and even though we have been married for 43 years and he trusts me totally I have never ever been allowed to do the banking.

As for pricing two of the shops he volunteered in had price lists that the managers could not deviate from, in his shop he has no price lists BUT the only people allowed to price clothes are him, his assistant and myself, volunteers are only allow to price books CDs and DVDs which have a standard price and only the 3 of us can sort, therefore the pricing and quality are highly regulated.

I am 60, DH is 66 and his assistant is 45, and I can assure you we have a very very good idea about the cost of cheaper clothes, which is why his shop has a very good reputation for pricing he knows what he is doing

BTW I find your comment There is little clue on general costs as the people volunteering are usually drawn from the same sector of society that doesn't experience poverty to the same extent as some of their users fucking offensive

[IgnoreMeEveryOtherReindeerDoes]

Yes and I volunteer in one that has paid manager and staff.

They have set guideline price they have to follow, I was allowed to price kids toys (what I believed 2nd hand toys are what you expect to pay in charity shop) they all sold so manager bumps up my prices to ridiculous amount and guess what they not selling.

Everyday I walk out of there thinking arh if it was my charity shop I would do things differently but as a volunteer I can only say so much I already pissed them off when they was talking first dibs on stuff and commented on prices and condition of some items.

Thing is stuff is only allowed on shelves for set time before its bagged for recycle or sent to storage for another shop. They would rather do this than reduce prices. Same as books if they don't sell they get sent to recycle and charity is paid 5p a book yet won't reduce selling price from £2

[lazycoo]

Yanbu. We have a barnardos children's shop near us. I'll pay their prices and look there first for DD's clothes because I believe in the cause and want to reduce environmental impact. Although I'm a bit at the clothes prices they're still cheaper than tesco or George, but their toys are so expensive - I've stopped looking. It hadn't occurred to me that they would take guidelines from eBay or similar.

[PotatoesPastaAndBread]

I see what you're saying but to those dating the "key" to it is stock churn - it isn't. It's making the profit. That might mean selling fewer items for a higher price. Oxfam won the charity retail award for most profitable shop network ie making the most money (for their charitable cause) for the least cost. People are always telling charities to reduce admin costs and use resources better - that's what Oxfam are doing. Although I can see why shoppers want lower prices, the charity's aim is to maximise income for their cause, not provide cheap goods on the high street.

[PotatoesPastaAndBread]

Oxfam also has an extensive recycling programme for goods that can't be sold in shops. Their secondary aim after making money for the cause is environmental sustainability.

Sorry for dreadful typos, am on phone

[orangeyellowgreen]

I volunteer in a charity shop, one of many in our town centre. Out of every bagful given we probably put 2 or 3 items in the shop and maybe 1 will be sold. The rest ends up in third world markets so is recycled.
We put out only clothes in perfect condition and charge realistic prices.
Many volunteers have no idea of the value of things so you can find great bargains if you look frequently.

[ruthsmumkath]

YANBU

Our oxfam's cheapest book are £3.50. Lots are £7 +.

I saw a pair of Very worn designer men's shoes - practically worn out £60.

There is a couple with toys under £5 but some toys £12-15.

I wonder who is buying this stuff at these prices - hardly go in them now.

[noddingoff]

Hmm, dumping large quantities of clothes on developing world markets probably doesn't do a heap for their own textile industries.