To think charity shops have got just too expensive?

[Arnoldthecat]

The high streets of even the fairly affluent towns now often have a selection of charity shops because no one else wants the retail space. Inevitably i often browse them and i dont think im alone in thinking that they have just got way too expensive.

I tend to look for factual books but as a matter of interest, i look at other stuff and prices. Example,used mens shirt £8 ! It was nothing special either.

I spotted a woman looking at a teapot. The label was partly obscured nd she thought it was £1.99 when it was actually £19...oh i dont think so,she said,as she put it back on the shelf.

No one is buying anything. They get it all for free,why not just keep prices reasonable,shift volume,get the money in and get new stock on the shelves/hangers?

I agree. The charity shops in my area have had the same stock for god knows how long, no one is buying it because it's overpriced. I live in a naice area so wonder if they think people are wealthier (not me) so they'll spend more, but the items aren't amazing quality or even priced well. However, the nearest Asda to me has just open a "pre-loved" section in aid of breast cancer and it is so cheap! DD bought two faux fur coats, one with the tags still on for £7 and another which was like new for £4! 2 less items for landfill and £11 for charity. Their stock changes regularly and it's always busy, it doesn't smell weird and it's fashionable items. Surely that's a better business model.

Bring back jumble sales. When I was growing up in the late 70s and early 80s there was at least one jumble sale per month in our small town (2,000 people). We weren't well off at all and most of my childhood clothes came from jumble sales.

Slight derail here-sorry! Was interested to read above about storage of out of season donations and would like advice please. Have a bag of mostly summer clothes ready for charity shop. Should I hang on to them until next year and risk them going damp in the attic, give them to a larger charity which might have more warehouse space, or fill up a bag for one of the endless door to door collectors who promise that for every tonne of clothes collected, a token sum goes to x charity? TIA

People have to stop saying about Primark labour and supply chains, they are no worse than Arcadia or marks and Spencer and many of the so-called top brands.

This information is online for anyone to read but many of the top brands are comparable or worse than the lower end of the market. Paying more does not mean the person who made your garment got paid more, this is an entirely false fallacy.

I dont even look anymore. Pricing is ridiculous and it smells funny!

Bring back jumble sales

Tricky though. One of my BF's family had to rely on jumble sales when we were kids in the 80s and found it really humiliating, especially as we were in a small town, so everyone knew who was buying what. Charity shops feel less like you are having to buy your neighbours' cast-offs, and more like you are exercising choice as a consumer, I think.

@Arnoldthecat YANBU.

Charity shops have got more expensive and cheeky for sure, and it doesn't help that many shops do clothes and bags and footwear and houseware cheaper (like Primark, Peacocks, B & M, Home Bargains etc, as well as Tesco and Asda and so on...)

I rarely buy from them now as I do find most stuff overpriced. As little as 5 or 6 years ago they seemed OK, but they seem to be rather greedy now. I have lost count of the amount of times I have seen a £2.99 faded Primark t-shirt for four quid! (And many similar incidents...)

They also sell lots of (overpriced) new stuff, and it's very unfair on other shops who don't have the luxury of cheap business rates, free stuff given to them, and voluntary staff!

Me and DH wanted to buy a DVD the other week, but it was in the 2 for £4 section. We didn't want 2, we only wanted the one. We said 'can we pay £2 for the one?' The manager of the shop said 'no, it will mess up my accounts otherwise!' We didn't want anything else, so we left it. So that shop lost a sale.

Made us wonder how often she does that, and how much money/how many sales she is losing! I won't name and shame, but it was a very well-known charity shop.

Paying more at least opens up the possibility that the people along the supply chain are being paid reasonably though @flirtygirl. If you buy at Primark/Walmart prices you know damn well they haven't been.

When I was struggling my daughters dad was stealing my money I was literally on my arse with a baby the charity shop in the town offered me five childrens items for a pound then told me to shove a bit more in it really helped us as he said he cant stand to see kiddies going without

We have a lot of expensive charity shops in my town but a few who remember people who buy when they are poor will donate when they are better off

Completely agree. The worst I have found is BHF, the furniture stores in particular. The one near me sells sofas ‘FROM £99’ and the sofas really aren’t anything special, you could buy cheaper on eBay. They have a double bed frame in the window atm for £199, same price in an actual shop .

I am going to defend my local Barnardos. It is all very reasonable.

I saw an IKEA office desk that was reasonably well worn priced up at £35 more than the brand new one in store!

I take to the points on here. Some of the pricing is erratic however their only aim is to generate revenue for the charity. These shops are generally staffed by volunteers who by their very nature, are generally well meaning but not pricing specialists. The flip side to virtual freebies where volunteers have missed a designer label or expensive item is that sometimes they'll over value a cheapy. Its part of the experience at the end of the day.

There are three option if you don't like the pricing. 1. Pay it, suck it up in the knowledge you're not patronising a self serving empire like primark, but instead contributing to a worthy cause. 2. Volunteer your self and try to influence pricing policy and lend your expertise to ensure that revenue is maximised (as noble as it sounds, its not there to feed and cloth the poor) or 3. Vote with your feet and don't go in there. There is no law saying you have to. If teh rest of the nation shares your opinion the shops will be forces to reassess things or face extinction.

I've worked in a finnish red cross charity shop and we had a very decent pricing structure. Clothes ranged from 20 cents apiece to 2 euros except for top brands which would be from 5-15ish euros apiece. Dishes, books, toys etc. were under 1 euro apiece unless something special (collectable dishes cost more for instance). Everything else like furniture and other special items we priced whatever we thought was right for it, it was rare for anything to be more than 30 euros (for example dining table and chairs set). I shopped there myself a lot!

They have a double bed frame in the window atm for £199, same price in an actual shop

Except that the charity shop hasn't had to pay business rates or buy the stock (usually), so has a huge and unfair advantage over a small independent trader trying to sell the same thing.

I don't know what the answer is, because clearly charity shops support some great work that wouldn't otherwise get funded. But, with the independent retail sector so squeezed, it doesn't seem fair to let charity shops have such an advantage. A PP referred to the charity shop she'd worked for 'only' making a margin of 19% but many independents are lucky to make 2% these days.

Very soon, the entire retail market will be huge hedge fund-owner businesses like Boots or the charity sector. Independents will be gone completely. That sends the high street into a death spiral because what is the point of going shopping when every town is the same and you can get it all online anyway?

The British Heart Foundation is the worst in my area. How they manage to sell anything I don't know. Yes it all looks very nice with wooden coat hangers and things divided by colour, but the prices are ridiculous, especially the children's clothes.

Luckily the Women's Aid shop is much more realistically priced and unsurprisingly is busier and seems to change stock more often.

I actually don't even bother to go to BHF or Cancer Research shops any more as I know they are too expensive.

DH and I just bought a perfect condition 2 reclining seater settee for £125 and a round table and 4 chairs, again perfect condition, for £65! Bargains, we're lucky our most local CS is such good value for money.

I watched an old man arguing with an assistant in BHF about a shirt that was £8, which would have been cheaper if he just went to George at Asda to buy a new one.
He pointed out he couldn’t get to George easily (out of town) and he relied on town centre charity shops for cheap clothing.

I find the local independent ones more reasonable and that’s also who I give my things to these days.

"I watched an old man arguing with an assistant in BHF about a shirt that was £8, which would have been cheaper if he just went to George at Asda to buy a new one.
He pointed out he couldn’t get to George easily (out of town) and he relied on town centre charity shops for cheap clothing."

I'm always a bit flummoxed by these threads.

firstly, the job of the charity shop is to raise funds for that charity - not to police who might need cheap clothing and be trying to get it there.

secondly, I don't know how charity shops get such lovely volunteers but who on earth argues with a volunteer in a charity shop.

Bring back jumble sales

I agree . I loved a good rummage at the jumble sales as a kid and teenager . Me and my mates were first in the queue , lol .

As an aside, we have Alice's Attic in town, not sure if it is a charity shop as such but they sell second hand books, china, ornamental stuff etc but also some real mccoy Vintage clothing . 60s, 70s etc.

We live in an affluent area.

There's one charity shop that like to charge very unreasonable prices, put signs outside saying they want ONLY good quality donations.

They then started going through people's donation bags picking out what they wanted, expecting the donator towait and then deal with the rest ie something from Primark etc.

So now because of their attitude the rails in the shop are virtually empty, people didn't want to be made to feel inferior and stopped donating.

And asfor their furniture department, really shitty, tatty chest of drawers and they market it as a shabby chic/up-cycling project and want £50 for it. Or the picture I saw, asked the price and was told £300, on yer bike matey boy!

@owlonabike. I volunteered at a charity shop (large well known chain) and we used to put summer stock in the stockroom . I used to relabel them (as some came from other stores as well as donators), For a donation we would put them in the back and then label them around spring so I would take them in, if I were you.

We have a local store outside the refuse centre for furniture etc it's so cheap!

Kids clothes in charity shops are terrible. Just so bad. The second hand and nearly new kids shops are so so much better and probably better priced.

I don't mind second hand stuff. I use ebay loads but the CS stuff is usually smelly, over priced and faded.

We live in a fairly well to do town on the South Coast .Went to a charity shop nearby ,£30.00 for a picture !. Couldnt believe it .No one is going to pay that sort of money .I asked the chap in store and was told a valuer comes by and states how much they are worth. Needless to say left it .

I agree they are expensive to what they were.
The Salvation Army really takes the pee.
My dh and I went in one awhile ago and we spotted some Beatles albums,when we asked how much are they we were told they are going to be put on E-bay.
We were furious.
That`s not fair to the customers at all .
Hence we do not go in there anymore.

I semi agree without some products but I do think that the concept of a charity shop being somewhere that you buy clothes from when you are skint has gone. A lot of 'chain' charity shops now buy in goods - discontinued lines from catalogues/other retailers etc. They are selling these goods as new. Which they are. (Tkmaxx sources much of it's goods in the same way). So they are going too charge a 'proper' retail price for these. They also sell stock specifically made for them - the Christmas cards and gifts. Again these are new products not donated stuff. I don't see charity shops so much as the 'secondhand cheap' shop any more - I see them as just another high street retailer and I go there to seek out interesting things that I am a collector of.