To wonder why charity shops are so dear.

[InisSunset]

I went in about six charity shops today and really couldn't get over some of their prices. I understand that they have overheads and some of them have to pay some of the staff, but some of the prices are ridiculous. A worn looking t shirt £5, some scuffed shoes were £5, a tatty old dressing gown £6.

They won't take any less than what's on the ticket either. Surely if they brought their prices down they'd sell more. Some of the stuff you can buy cheaper brand new.

I agree. When my GKs came to stay they forgot their toys. I thought would get a few bits for them and give them back to the Charity shop when they went home. I was quite shocked by the prices. We only have a small parade of shops which are quite expensive. I managed to pick up new stuff cheaper and better from the little supermarket.

I get they need to maximise their "profit" for thir charity but where is the sense in trying to sell a worn shabby Primark t shirt that cost £3 NEW for a fiver. It's a pointless task. They may as well just ask for a fiver from passers by.

Shabby t shirts are not bought to be worn but maybe for something else - dusters (Chester in the pound shop) arts and crafts maybe - cushion stuffing???? - again probably cheaper in the pound shop.

Charity shops have totally list sight. They could start with selling back those fucking stupid convaluted tills that involve some poor elderly volunteer struggling to use. Pressing 30 buttons to put through a 1 item purchase. Ffs.

I think sometimes it depends on what you're buying in a charity shop, tbh. For instance, in a lot of our local ones things like clothes, shoes, DVD's and CD's are stupidly priced. And I say stupidly because you can walk into a shop or have a dig around online and get them brand new for much less. So in that regard, I'm right there with you OP.

However, if you're popping in to have a look around for knickknacks, books, jewelry, children's toys and the occasional designer find, then charity shops can be bloody fantastic. One of my best finds was a Vera Wang dress that looked like it had never been worn. I paid £12 for it. Googled it when I got home and bought new it would have cost closer to £200. Other finds include £3 French Connection jeans (like new), a 24 piece Denby dinner set that would have been an eye watering amount back in its day for under £5, a £4 Blue Willow teapot, the entire Harry Potter book collection for 50p a book, classic literature novels for pennies each (I got a copy of Wuthering Heights for 25p the other week) and a huge plastic bag of Barbie clothes and accessories for DD that cost £1.00 - one new Barbie outfit from our local Tesco toy aisle will set us back a fiver.

DD and I love charity shop treasure. We usually have a good rummage on a Saturday afternoon when I pick her up from drama

I've found some have great prices, while some are dearer than primark! I got a nearly new pair of juicy couture velour bottoms for £6, bargain. Also a pair of Nike Air Max for £9. I live next to an old historic market town that is quite a wealthy area, so the 4 charity shops dotted round are always worth a look. You get a better quality of stuff in nicer areas. The grotty town I was living before I moved to this beautiful bit of countryside had some charity shops, but they were not worth going in. Nasty smell!

A woman in one charity shop told me they have to price items/brands at certain prices with no exception for condition.

The little independent shop I volunteer in 2 X per week, we choose the price per item based on condition and brand. We are very very cheap and as a result get people coming 20 miles or so. We have a great turn over of stock too.

Near where my mum lives the local hospice shops are renown locally for being the most expensive charity shops. They've recently opened a discount shop with all the stuff they couldn't sell at its original stupidly over priced amount!

I mean really - discount clearance charity shop!! I think that says everything you summed up your opening post OP.

They have to adjust to their local market / clientelle.
On my local High Street, there are 2 shops that sell stuff for £1 a throw. They are always packed and the tills never stop ringing. There's a HUGE turnover, so it's worth going in regularly, which, of course, drums up more trade. People buy things they aren't sure of, and just donate them back.
There's another one which looks like Mary Portas has been in there - all matching coat hangers and colour co-ordination, with prices that are just too high, which does very little business.
I suspect the first 2 make a whole lot more for their charity than the expensive one.
I also suspect that the cheaper ones get a lot of their stock from stuff that hasn't sold in more expensive areas - yes, some might be stuff you wouldn't have if they gave it you, but it's easy to find a lot of bargains in there too.

I think this may be partly due to the "professionalisation" of charity shop management. People are earning good salaries to apply the kind of marketing strategies that are used in real shops. Some of them try to treat volunteers as if they were paid workers, in terms of the demands they make, from what I've heard. Maybe it works in upping the charity shops' take; or maybe it doesn't. It would be fascinating to find out. But I agree it's hard on people who actually don't have much money and used to rely on cheap charity shop bargains.

Your charity shop sounds great mudandmayhem, and really in the right spirit.

To pay for the fat cats to drive around in expensive cars, to pay staff, they aren't all volunteers

The charities I've worked for - yes, for a salary, my bad - certainly don't have 'fat cat' bosses swanning around in fancy cars. Of course charities need to maximise their profits, and to that end are 'run like businesses'.

Your tat is someone else's treasure - just because you think a fiver for a t shirt is extortionate doesn't mean that it's not exactly what someone else is looking for. Stock does, eventually, sell in the main - of it doesn't, it's usually sent on to another branch in a less naice area which sells for lower prices.

It's utter tosh that there aren't bargains to be had - just this year I've found a genuine Mulberry bag for a tenner, a cashmere Pure Collection coat with its tags still on for £6, a Radley bag for £2, new with tags M&S dress for £1... My local chazza also sells all its books for 4 for £1, too.

Charity shop staff do a brilliant job in the face of aggressive hagglers and tutting moaners. They need to generate as much revenue as possible, especially at the moment when so many people need to rely on help from charities.

It is not the job of charity shops to provide cheap goods for the community. Their obligation is to maximise income for their charitable purpose.

Oh, and if you don't think suitably competent people running charities (and paid accordingly, but a hell of a lot less than they'd earn in commerce) is a good idea and value for money then look at what happened at Kids Company.

Surely it is better to have a higher turnover of stock by selling it and having people come in more often than higher priced stuff lingering on the racks?

My local, and most favourite, charity shop puts the tax week an item went out on the rails. If its been on the rail 6 weeks they drop the price by a 3rd. If it has been their for 12 weeks its dropped to 99p.

The system works well and this is a shop that sells good quality (not talking labels but stuff that has been really well cared for) jackets and dresses from £4 - £15.

I have no problem spending £15 on a second hand Item. I bet many do on ebay! same thing.

I bought a wool coat for £15 brand new it would've been far more and there have been times I have given more for an item because its worth it.

People are earning good salaries to apply the kind of marketing strategies that are used in real shops

They are 'real shops'.

It is not the job of charity shops to provide cheap goods for the community. Their obligation is to maximise income for their charitable purpose

This.

No. It's not about them maximising profits for their charities.
This is a new thing, the prices I mean.
They never used to sell as high as they do now and we are talking relatively speaking.
It's being greedy and unrealistic. Many more people shop in charity shops than they used to, looking for bargains, trying to eek out money as best they can, so the charity shops hike up their prices because they think they have enough customers to piss some off but still have enough who are prepared to be robbed buying old tat for silly prices.
I see the same old stock sitting there week in, week out, it doesn't shift then they have to put on a massive half price sale.
It is cheaper to buy new in primark that's for sure.

Prices seem to have risen massively in charity shops recently, they're cutting off their profits in the long term as I'll not buy something a bit worn and second hand from there when I could go to Primark and get new.

It's being greedy

In whose world is raising as much money as possible for charity greedy?!

Because the hike in prices is not relative to inflation and people's pay. Most public sector workers haven't had a pay rise for a long time. Supermarket food has not gone up in price, intact it's gone down, a lot of it. Despite this fact charity shops have hiked their prices up massively.
The major players, not they independents have all had 'makeovers' to look trendy, clothes are all colour co ordinated blah blah . On the re-opening of the shop the prices are considerably higher than they were before the refit.

In my town there are 2 help the aged shops in the same small road! One has decent-ish prices, the other extortionate ones. I have uno idea why this is as they type of clothes is exactly the same. The cheap one is always full of people, the other one is always empty.

It is really is beat up on charities today!

I bought a brand new Monsoon dress from my local charity shop for a tenner this last week. Bargain!

I gave up going to my local charity shops after they started selling paperback books for £5 (hardback books cost a lot more!). It was cheaper to buy them new elsewhere. Its a shame as I would support it if the prices weren't so excessive.

It must depend entirely where you live and how well run the charity shops are - I shop exclusively in charity shops and I always find loads of bargains - I have wardrobes full of designer gear at very cheap prices.

I also volunteer in a charity shop and we are very careful about the quality of clothes we put out, and price fairly - we have a very loyal following of customers and our P & L clearly shows that we make a profit. .

I think a lot depends on how much of a piss take the landlords & councils are with regards to rent, business rates etc.

I live in a deprived area and there are 2 charity shops in the village. One is cheap but most things are beyond the point of useful and the other is mid range on its pricing but the stuff is much better quality.

I tend to go to the banardos in the big town near me, always excellent condition things and never over priced. I also take a huge amount of stuff that dd no longer plays with in and clothes that she has outgrown

I work in them. Coupla points:

1. A lot of charity chains insist on set prices for garments, which are set nationally (from a shiny office in Central London, natch).

1. Because charity retail is now very big business, and ludicrously easy to make big bucks at, there is relentless pressure from said shiny offices to keep upping prices.

Even charities that help the poor in that local area will put pressure on shop managers to put up their prices. I know of one shop locally that everyone loves as it's about the only place in South London where you can go for a truly satisfying retail fix if you're not a banker.

Last week the UK Head Office told the staff sharply 'We're running a business' and immediately upped all the prices. The same Head Office that runs children's centres and poverty programmes in that postcode. Bye bye, customers.

1. Don't feel bad about asking for a discount. A lot of charities make vast sums through shops but don't give much to, er, charity.

BHF and Cancer Research UK, I'm looking at you - barely a third of profits goes to fighting disease. Most of the money? That would be spent on directors' lunches. Allegedly.

1. If you want stuff cheaper, car boots are the way to go. You're helping the poor there too, and much more directly.

1. If you're bothered about what charity you support, this one's a no-brainer: the tinier, the better. Smaller charities actually spend the money on the cats' home/hospice/kids' centre.

1. Finally, FGS don't complain to the volunteers. Email the charity. The Head Offices generally read emails and react - you can get prices pushed down if you try.

Oh, Grabby - most of the stock is not sold, it's ragged. In every charity.

Because the hike in prices is not relative to inflation and people's pay. Most public sector workers haven't had a pay rise for a long time. Supermarket food has not gone up in price, intact it's gone down, a lot of it. Despite this fact charity shops have hiked their prices up massively

But as a pp said, it's not the job of charities to provide the community with cheap goods. Everything is more expensive - gas, electricity, other overheads - so of course charities need to charge more to make a profit. Also, people ate donating less than ever to charity shops - anything worth selling often goes on eBay these days rather than to chazzas. So shops are stretched very thinly indeed.