To think charity shops refusal to reduce is sometimes unreasonable.

[roseforarose]

I realise that some charity shops aren't allowed to but i think some shops must lose quite a bit of business by their outright refusal to accept a "knock down", usually saying "we aren't allowed, it's a set price" sort of thing.

I wonder if that's always true, because recently i asked if they'd take a bit less on some walking boots which i thought were a bit dear, got told "no we can't" then i noticed the brand new price underneath theirs and it was only about £2 less brand new. When i pointed it out she said "well if that's the case I will reduce them for you" . So she did have the power to reduce after all.
So when they say they can't reduce, maybe in a lot of shops they can if they want to?

Please tell me you don't haggle in charity shops

You can haggle in normal shops - maybe not in Next but you can in places like furniture shops & I always do - can usually get 15% off at least. Small retailers will also reduce items for regular customers & treat you favourably. Try it & see.

Yes of course shops give you discounts as Big says,see my earlier post about manager's discounts.

No thanks - I'm sure I can find plenty of other ways to look like I can't afford stuff

We also get people coming in regularly with their phones and googling prices while they're in the shop. We had some fairly rare books in recently, I don't deal with the books so can't remember what they were but they were pre-war and priced up at something like £50 for the set. In comes a customer, googles on his phone, comes to the till and shows me that a similar set was on Ebay at £20 - no bids - so he was assuming I'd reduce the price to the same?

Err, no. For a start, there was one more book in our set. He could examine the books carefully, check for rips, marks, staining, missing pages. He could take them away immediately. He could even stand and read one in the shop before buying.

We do use Ebay to look at prices but everyone knows that just because an item is on Ebay for a certain starting price doesn't mean it will sell. There are other sites which are far better for checking the value of things like old china.

The small shops generally have smaller profit margins - and we wonder why they close down...

Look at ebay completed listing that will show what items are selling for

Look at ebay completed listing that will show what items are selling for

Can you come in to the shop and tell the customers that? Staff are well aware, some customers are chancers.

Look at ebay completed listing that will show what items are selling for

Yes, and often it is us, dumbass charity stiffs doing the ebay selling... giving our time for free to list some of our 'stuff' nice and cheap so skinflints customers can feel good about their bargaining skills

I use charity shops to support a charity in way that also benefits me, but for the life of me I cannot imagine bickering/haggling over the prices of their stuff in an attempt to get a bargain price at the expense of the charity. That's just.... mean.
I appreciate what pps have said about people in need who're on a very strict budget and therefore need to save where they can so I understand sometimes haggling must be acceptable.

However op, YANBU to be annoyed that that one worker said she couldn't reduce a price and then later did when you kept on at her, she should have either stuck to her guns or reduced it the first time. Now anyone who saw you succeed will keep pestering her to reduce other stock and lose money for the charity which is a shame.

Thank you for all the replys. Most were what i expected. No it isn't my normal thing to ask for a reduction in a charity shop, even though some are massively overpriced and would have more chance of surviving if they had more realistic pricing.

The main point i was making was the fact that they were trying to sell used boots at £2 less than the original price (and yes they were used and yes the sticker was still on (on the sole hidden by their sticker). Just because some of you think this is unlikely doesn't make it less so. It isn't a massive deal to me, i just thought it'd be something interesting to discuss.

I'm aware that this is an aibu thread but what's annoyed me is the way people are blindly missing the point in their eagerness to spout off all their self righteousness on behalf of the shop (where incidently I'm told only about 20% of the profits actually get to the charity). But that's beside the point. Believe it or not the shop also has a duty to the shopper as well as the charity its supporting. Where i live a lot of the shoppers literally haven't got a pot to piss in, and have no choice but to ask for a reduction. That certainly doesn't make them "mean" at all.

Most people go in charity shops to get a bargain, the fact that it's also supporting that particular charity doesn't even occur to most people, they tend to drift in and out of each shop along the high st. If people want to support a charity they do it directly.

Another thing that's annoyed me on this thread are the posts off people acting all shocked and "i've never heard of haggling in a charity shop" type posts. Quite frankly, I don't believe you. If shops are having to put up signs stating "no haggling" it's pretty obvious it goes on.

I think it's time some of you woke up, there's people out there using food banks, haggling for a little reduction in a charity shop isn't morally wrong when you're skint. So give over with all the moral outrage, it's pathetic.
I'm going to hide the thread now, can't be bothered reading any more of all the pearl clutching bull shit. Byeee.

I still think there appears to be a general perception on here that some charity shop volunteers and paid staff simply don't know what they'ew doing. According to posters they are overpricing stock by a massive amount, stock is sitting on shelves for months, nobody is buying anything because it's expensive, then it's all going in the skip. Do posters really think people who run charity shops are that stupid?

I don't care if you believe me or not - I've never heard of anyone haggling in charity shops.

If you are concerned prices are too high or only 20% go to the charity then um, don't shop there

Yes it is morally wrong. People can't haggle on essential stuff like food so it's a stupid argument that they should haggle about clothes and toys. And by haggling in small shops you increase the chances of them losing profits and closing down.

I'm a bit surprised by the venom of your reply though - I think you need to calm down a bit

And if you aren't prepared to pay the full price, someone else will or they will get money from the ragman.

where incidently I'm told only about 20% of the profits actually get to the charity

If the OP hadn't flounced off in a huff I'd love to get some elaboration on this. What does she mean? In the big brand charity shops on every high street, there are overheads but all of the "profit" goes directly to the charity. Charities are held up to huge scrutiny, publish accounts and have to show what percentage of their income goes to the cause, and what percentage goes to overheads. These figures are VERY easily google-able. I think (might be wrong) that the industry standard is around 25% on overheads and 75% on charitable activities.

A charity shop which is giving 20% of their profits to charity isn't really a charity shop, is it? It's a for profit business, which gives a percentage of profits to good causes. Not the same thing AT ALL. What's happening to the other 80%?

luna usually when people say that about profit they are talking about gross profit and not net and often willfully ignore the fact that if you don't pay your employees market rate, charity or no, then you won't get very talented staff. A business that makes 20% net profit to plough back into itself would be amazing but for some reason people think it's terrible when the same is said for a charity.

Who 'told you' this stuff about the shop, OP? Because it sounds to me like you're talking out of your arse, in an attempt to get round the fact most people have disagreed with you.

Hey ho. Another thread to chalk up to the 'AIBU?' Almost all posters: 'Yes' OP: 'No I'm not and you're all mean' pattern.

In our shop it is rotated by a volunteer and taken by someone who is going to another shop anyway - so it costs bugger all

And it isn't rotated for eternity - it gets ragged if it doesn't sell after rotation and the ragman PAYS for it - even if it is broken.

A charity shop where only 20% of profit goes to the charity? I'd like to see this.

I have worked in a number of charity shops. I've seen profit and loss reports. Of the 3 major shops I worked in 100% of profits went direct to the charity. Of course there are overheads, rent, rates, wages etc. But these shops exist because they are a great income for charities

It depends on the chain I think, everyone does it differently. There's a Debra shop near us which has its own Debra branded vans, and I've definitely seen Marie Curie vans moving stock from their shop too. The place I work doesn't run a fleet of van or drivers, they have contracts with couriers. So if we're snowed under with stock or have lots which we've tried to sell and can't, the manager will get on the phone to other shops and see who is short. The other shop which is short of stock will organise and pay for the van. Buf if they're getting £1000 worth of stock and it's costing them £100 for the van, that's a good deal for them. The charity doesn't deal with the admin or hassle invovled with owning and running vans or lorries. Stuff doesn't get rotated eternally though, it maybe goes through three shops maximum and then goes to be recycled for rags.

I used to occasionally work on the event stand of the charity I worked for at the time... I once had someone come and try and haggle with me for brand new mugs as I was packing up to leave the show. She was really aggressive about it too! Kept banging on about 'recessionary prices' I ended up having to be quite brusque to get rid of her.

Don't be that person, please...