Charity shops and their hugely inflated prices..

[Charityshops21]

I've always loved charity shops and usually pop in whenever I pass one but I've noticed since they reopened post lockdown the prices have more than doubled in many places.

Take the Sue Ryders local to me, women's tops and dresses used to be between £3 and £5, I went in this afternoon and saw that the same type of clothes (not expensive brands in the first place) have at least doubled in price.

£9.99 for a second or third hand faded jumper with loose threads.

£7 for an atmosphere (Primark) blouse that I know only cost that brand new.

£15 for a battered pair of shoes.

I understand the need to recoup losses but AIBU to think this is bad and will alienate their most frequent customers? IE poor people me

4fingerKitKat - there is a point where prices are going to put potential customers off.

It's counter productive, they won't sell anything!!

@BilindaB

£6 for a second hand Wet Wet Wet CD. Actual value 50p.

Ridiculous, though. I've just looked and used Wet Wet Wet CDs go for £2 - £3 from Music Magpie (with free postage).

Our YCR does CDs for 50p, or 20p if they have a sale on. Even the more expensive shops down our way don't charge more than £2 for them.

We have been through this "all charity shops should be like Goodwill" before.

The average US Goodwill store is the size of an average UK supermarket or somewhere like an out of town Dunelm or Hobbycraft. Cavernous.

Most UK charity shops are the size of a couple of rooms in the average house.

The charity I volunteer with is actually trialling a "superstore" model close to their head office to see if going bigger and going out of town works. At the moment they can only open 2 days a week because if it takes 40 to 50 volunteers to keep a small charity shop running over the course of a week, it takes 10 times that to keep a massive warehouse stocked and staffed.

I agree with @4fingerKitKat - the key to a successful shop isn't just donations, it's having a team of reliable volunteers prepared to turn their hands to anything and who turn up week in, week out for months or years to gain experience. I have been volunteering for 5 years and am still learning new stuff every shift. I'm a better volunteer/pricer now because of that 5 year experience. If you're trying to run a shop with a transient workforce of Duke of Ed teenage volunteers who do their 12 weeks and then leave, it's impossible.

On a REALLY good day, our shop takes £1k (usually on the run-up to Christmas when cards, homewares and decorations are flying out of the door). Usually it's around the £400 to £600 mark. Every year we get a statement from head office saying how much we contributed to the "cause" after all running costs are taken off. Last time we had one for a complete year without pandemic shutdowns, I think it was about £125k.

Charity shops are mostly hugely overpriced. It’s second hand donated goods, they should sell for a fairly nominal price and then they’d shift so much more. We’ve had charity shops close down on our high street, completely avoidable if their pricing was keen. I only shop in oxfam sale shop, £2 for a top etc which is what I think a charity shop should charge.

@mathanxiety

4fingerKitKat - there is a point where prices are going to put potential customers off.

Of course, no-ones saying there’s no upper limit on pricing! But the fact that some potential customers are put off by the pricing doesn’t mean they’ve got the pricing wrong.

No-one thinks that Waitrose has the wrong pricing strategy because you can get the same basket of goods cheaper at Asda.

And before anyone says “but charity shops aren’t Waitrose” - research has shown that people from all social groups are equally likely to shop in charity shops, so shops can target more affluent customers as well as those on lower incomes. The idea they are primarily serving those who can’t afford new is a myth.

And yes there will be pricing mis-steps - when you’re really on volunteers (who may be well seasoned charity shop pros or may be newbies or kids doing their DofE) to ID things ranging from rare vintage items to primark you’re going to get some things wrong.

@mathanxiety

...a case in point last week when I was in a customer purchased £40 worth of dresses, all of them had been in the other shop for 2 weeks reduced in price and taken to shop 2, that particular customer mentioned she didn't come in before it always looked tatty, for that customer her tremendous bargain was getting high quality dresses, Boden, White Stuff, Sea Salt for not much more than the other shops are charging for Primark, George etc and not having to trawl through an overstocked rail and disorganised shop to find what she wanted, that's what is going to get other customers coming in to browse, not the vain hope of finding a Gucci scarf in a 50p bin or a new Kath Kidston bag incorrectly priced for £2, once THOSE customer don't find those bargains they rarely come back, that customer will be back week in week out.

Has it occurred to you that a customer who finds a tremendous £2 or 50p bargain might come back for more? Do you not think you should be aiming at getting every single browsing individual back across the threshold?

'Uniform pricing' doesn't mean bargain basement pricing, btw. It means that everything costs somewhere between $3.99 and $6.99, with a few items costing a little more. Uniform pricing doesn't signify poorly presented merchandise either, or a tatty environment. It generates billions in annual sales.

As you seem so convinced that people will come back time after time if they find a bargain I put your point to my DH who is the manager and makes the decisions (not me), it was he who says they rarely come back, he bases that opinion on the fact that the dealers don't come into his second shop anymore, dealers who make their living finding little gems in charity shops and then selling them on for a profit, he got loads before the make over, but not now.

He would also like me to point out that like all the other shops and supermarkets (which I am sure you must go into yourself) social distancing restrictions means he can only have a limited amount of people in his shop, as he points out he can't aim at getting all the browsing individuals into his shop he needs the ones who actually buy, the way his shops are laid out facilitates this, having everything organised with stock easy to find means that people spend less time in his shop but he takes more money.

When social distancing ends (if it ever does) Charity shops will be able to welcome back people who spend hours trawling through the stock hoping to find that elusive bargain but not at the moment.

@NCtitleofyoursextape

Charity shops are mostly hugely overpriced. It’s second hand donated goods, they should sell for a fairly nominal price and then they’d shift so much more. We’ve had charity shops close down on our high street, completely avoidable if their pricing was keen. I only shop in oxfam sale shop, £2 for a top etc which is what I think a charity shop should charge.

How do you know it was their prices? even the big high street ones are closing some shops, mainly ones where the lease is up, nothing to do with pricing

@NCtitleofyoursextape

Charity shops are mostly hugely overpriced. It’s second hand donated goods, they should sell for a fairly nominal price and then they’d shift so much more. We’ve had charity shops close down on our high street, completely avoidable if their pricing was keen. I only shop in oxfam sale shop, £2 for a top etc which is what I think a charity shop should charge.

I look at this from a different perspective: people donate to us because they want money to be raised for the charity and often have personal reasons for donating eg a relative who died of cancer. How would they feel if we threw their donated items in a box where everything’s a £? Or sold all tops (regardless of condition, brand or tags) for a nominal £2 per top? As a donor I would be disappointed if a charity shop sold my donated sea salt tunic for £2 and would donate elsewhere.

@Oldsu
She knows more because everyone who works/volunteers in a charity shop is either a bit dim, has no idea how to attract customers and price stock or is there to skim off the best of the stock.
Yep, we’re all in it for the huge perks.

I have been reading the posts with interest as I am keen charity shopper and eBayer. I can, like most, see various points of view. In our small town we have four charity shops. I rarely buy anything from the pile-it-high, sell-it-cheap one because it never seems really clean. On the other hand, there is one that is much more expensive and, in my opinion, has overpriced items recently. I would still rather look round this one as the items are displayed rather better and I have had some good buys. My favourite is the local hospice shop as the prices are reasonable without being too cheap and they have a nice selection displayed well. When it comes to donating, my good items (nearly everything) will go to the hospice shop or the more expensive one as I know they will get good prices for them. Anything that I feel is still saleable but not as good quality will go to the cheaper shop. If I feel that items are not good enough for sale l will put them in a bag and mark them clearly as rags so that the charity will still benefit. I also gift aid.
As it happens, in my general shopping l am much more of a Waitrose, M & S and Sainsbury’s shopper than Aldi or Lidl. I like a bargain but l also like quality.

@Oldsu the two most overpriced charity stores closed. So I’m going to guess they don’t sell enough to be sufficiently profitable as a store. Guess which shop is always buzzing with customers, tills ringing. Yes the cheapest one.
@ShanghaiDiva you sound like you’re taking it very personally. The fact that a lot of charity shops ARE perceived to be overpriced doesn’t mean anyone is implying that the store staff are dim or are taking the best stock, come on. It just means that there is a difference in the perceived value of items between pricers and customers. I’ve advised retailers for 20 years on improving their business, including charities with retail arms so this is a professional perspective as well as personal opinion. Incidentally, as a donor I prefer my item is sold to raise valuable money for the charity, than stays on a shelf doing no good. I’m not precious about how much it goes for.

I don’t think I am taking it personally, but some of the donors I come into contact with do take it personally: they are often donating items that belonged to someone who died and do want the donations to make a difference and raise as much as possible for the cause.
With regard to charity shop workers being a bit dim or stealing the best items, you only need to read through this thread to see these accusations coming up again and again...
I do think the price of second hand items is a subjective issue: one person’s high price is another person’s reasonable price. A poster upthread mentioned £2 for tops in a charity shop as a fair price. Personally, I think that’s pretty cheap.
As I stated upthread the small town where I volunteer has 11 charity shops. If we were overpricing items or perceived to be overpricing items we would be empty.

I found a skirt I donated before lockdown in my local one. I had bought it for about £6 in the next sale. British heart foundation were trying to sell it for a tenner.

I've never bought anything, I look for toys and books occasionally but everything is really over priced or manky.

As you seem so convinced that people will come back time after time if they find a bargain I put your point to my DH who is the manager and makes the decisions (not me), it was he who says they rarely come back, he bases that opinion on the fact that the dealers don't come into his second shop anymore, dealers who make their living finding little gems in charity shops and then selling them on for a profit, he got loads before the make over, but not now.
@Oldsu
What your DH told you reinforces my point.

Is he happy that people with money in their pockets are going elsewhere? Is he sure they will return when restrictions are lifted?

You can have lots of stock that's easy to find and still sell the kind of bargains that entice people back. It's not a binary of cheap-messy-dirty vs. pricier-organised-clean.

I can go into my local thrift (which is still limiting customer numbers and doing social distancing, including shutting all but three of the fitting rooms) and buy a size L cashmere cardigan for $5.99 from a neat 'women's long sleeved knitwear' rack on which all clothing is size L, and all arranged by a strict colour order that is replicated throughout the store in all the different racks, which are all sporting signs identifying what's on them. Beside the cashmere cardigan there may well be a crew neck jumper in the same colour from Walmart, also costing $5.99. People approach the checkout with trolleys piled high. Sometimes I take a look at the stuff they're placing on the counters; there is truly no accounting for taste.

In the last two months I have bought a Modalu Pippa bag costing $4.99, a Lucky foldover style handbag at $6.99, a pair of Levi's Bermuda style shorts costing $5.99, a pair of Josef Seibel Sandals costing $4.99, and brown leather Franco Sarto sandals which were NWT priced at $4.99. Also a Boden dress for $5.99. I have a good few family birthdays coming up and the birthday people are all committed recyclers/green enthusiasts who like good quality clothes and accessories and are very happy to get thrifted items.
(I am an Aldi shopper, Violinist64).

@ShanghaiDiva, if you are not selling your higher value items online you are missing a trick.

Pricing is absolutely not a subjective matter. There is a science behind it.

@mathanxiety
I already mentioned on this thread that we sell high value items online.
Price is a subjective issue: I consider a £2 top to be cheap others on this thread would disagree. Clearly all retailers (including charity shops) have pricing and product placement strategies, but there is still a subjective element for the consumer with regard to value/brand value/perceived value/company’s ethics etc.
There are certain companies I would never buy from regardless of price.

[quote NCtitleofyoursextape]@Oldsu the two most overpriced charity stores closed. So I’m going to guess they don’t sell enough to be sufficiently profitable as a store. Guess which shop is always buzzing with customers, tills ringing. Yes the cheapest one.
@ShanghaiDiva you sound like you’re taking it very personally. The fact that a lot of charity shops ARE perceived to be overpriced doesn’t mean anyone is implying that the store staff are dim or are taking the best stock, come on. It just means that there is a difference in the perceived value of items between pricers and customers. I’ve advised retailers for 20 years on improving their business, including charities with retail arms so this is a professional perspective as well as personal opinion. Incidentally, as a donor I prefer my item is sold to raise valuable money for the charity, than stays on a shelf doing no good. I’m not precious about how much it goes for.[/quote]
Again you cant know it was their prices alone that caused them to close its pure conjecture, some of the shops my DHs charity had to close were among the cheapest including 2 'value ' shops, both of them were at the end of their leases and due to the LLs wanting more to extend the leases they closed, for those shops is was nothing to do with price if they had managed to secure the new leases at the same rate, or had been able to secure new premises at the same rate they would not have closed , yes it's a reasonable assumption that they closed due to their prices but an assumption is all it is unless you have seen their books and are making a professional judgement.

Not sure what Charities you advise but one thing that surprised me (as a non retail person) is that it seems that the more successful managers do not come from the more traditional retail backgrounds, in fact it seems that these people don't do very well, my DH is a case in point, retired at 65 after a career as a Graphic Designer, volunteered 7 years ago, then paid sales for 2 days then manager of 1 shop and now runs 2, he is actually one of their top managers his first shop is on of the top five nationwide and his second has gone from one of the worse performing shops in terms of achieving budget and KPIs to no 3 in his area, and its not rigid retail directives that has helped him, its innovation and a commitment to his charity that's been the key to his success.

@mathanxiety

As you seem so convinced that people will come back time after time if they find a bargain I put your point to my DH who is the manager and makes the decisions (not me), it was he who says they rarely come back, he bases that opinion on the fact that the dealers don't come into his second shop anymore, dealers who make their living finding little gems in charity shops and then selling them on for a profit, he got loads before the make over, but not now. *@Oldsu* What your DH told you reinforces my point.

Is he happy that people with money in their pockets are going elsewhere? Is he sure they will return when restrictions are lifted?

You can have lots of stock that's easy to find and still sell the kind of bargains that entice people back. It's not a binary of cheap-messy-dirty vs. pricier-organised-clean.

I can go into my local thrift (which is still limiting customer numbers and doing social distancing, including shutting all but three of the fitting rooms) and buy a size L cashmere cardigan for $5.99 from a neat 'women's long sleeved knitwear' rack on which all clothing is size L, and all arranged by a strict colour order that is replicated throughout the store in all the different racks, which are all sporting signs identifying what's on them. Beside the cashmere cardigan there may well be a crew neck jumper in the same colour from Walmart, also costing $5.99. People approach the checkout with trolleys piled high. Sometimes I take a look at the stuff they're placing on the counters; there is truly no accounting for taste.

In the last two months I have bought a Modalu Pippa bag costing $4.99, a Lucky foldover style handbag at $6.99, a pair of Levi's Bermuda style shorts costing $5.99, a pair of Josef Seibel Sandals costing $4.99, and brown leather Franco Sarto sandals which were NWT priced at $4.99. Also a Boden dress for $5.99. I have a good few family birthdays coming up and the birthday people are all committed recyclers/green enthusiasts who like good quality clothes and accessories and are very happy to get thrifted items.
(I am an Aldi shopper, Violinist64).

@ShanghaiDiva, if you are not selling your higher value items online you are missing a trick.

Pricing is absolutely not a subjective matter. There is a science behind it.

But it's not the people with money on their pockets that are going elsewhere, its actually the people with money in their pockets who are spending in his shop.

Dealers may have money in their pockets, but they don't want to spend it, they want to put more money in their pockets by targeting shops where they know things are under-priced and undervalued, my DH will price things more than the dealer is willing to pay but less than they will sell on for - that's good practice and its working.

Likewise with the people who may once have picked up a designer bag for a quid, they may come back a few times to see if they can get something else, but again its not that type of customer that puts money in the till, the type that does is someone who may pay £10 for the same bag, because dearer charity shops may want to charge £25, or the bag may be £90 on Ebay or in a high street shop, and will come back again.

Well organised shops with stock that is clean, steamed and cheaper than the local competitors will always generate more customer loyalty, generate better donations and enhance the charities reputation a lot better then a messy disorganised shop where someone ONCE snared a Chanel bag for a quid.

Where are you BTW? you talk about thrift shops and use $ signs so I assume you are not in the UK.

Well organised shops with stock that is clean, steamed and cheaper than the local competitors will always generate more customer loyalty, generate better donations and enhance the charities reputation a lot better then a messy disorganised shop where someone ONCE snared a Chanel bag for a quid.

You are still labouring under the misapprehension that there is an immutable divide between charity shops where items are clean and neatly displayed and priced to reflect original value on the one hand and shops that are messy and disorganised and items are haphazardly priced on the other. This belief of yours is mistaken.

It is entirely possible to practice uniform pricing, to present the merchandise attractively, to keep the shop clean, and to make $$$billions in annual revenue.

Dealers may have money in their pockets, but they don't want to spend it, they want to put more money in their pockets by targeting shops where they know things are under-priced and undervalued, my DH will price things more than the dealer is willing to pay but less than they will sell on for - that's good practice and its working.

You are talking of these people as if they are The Enemy.
They are not. Their money is exactly the same as the money of the elusive return patron your DH is trying to woo. If people frequently find items that are true bargains they will come back again and again.

Your DH's model will only work until one of the local competitors gets marginally less expensive, or cleaner. After that it's back to the drawing board.

@mathanxiety

Well organised shops with stock that is clean, steamed and cheaper than the local competitors will always generate more customer loyalty, generate better donations and enhance the charities reputation a lot better then a messy disorganised shop where someone ONCE snared a Chanel bag for a quid.

You are still labouring under the misapprehension that there is an immutable divide between charity shops where items are clean and neatly displayed and priced to reflect original value on the one hand and shops that are messy and disorganised and items are haphazardly priced on the other. This belief of yours is mistaken.

It is entirely possible to practice uniform pricing, to present the merchandise attractively, to keep the shop clean, and to make $$$billions in annual revenue.

Dealers may have money in their pockets, but they don't want to spend it, they want to put more money in their pockets by targeting shops where they know things are under-priced and undervalued, my DH will price things more than the dealer is willing to pay but less than they will sell on for - that's good practice and its working.

You are talking of these people as if they are The Enemy.
They are not. Their money is exactly the same as the money of the elusive return patron your DH is trying to woo. If people frequently find items that are true bargains they will come back again and again.

Your DH's model will only work until one of the local competitors gets marginally less expensive, or cleaner. After that it's back to the drawing board.

$$$$$???????? are you actually in the UK???? if not do you really understand the UK Charity sector.

YOU are still labouring under the misapprehension that you know what you are talking about.

This belief of yours is mistaken.?????? it's also the belief of the charity my DH works for, that's why my DH was given shop number 2.
a belief that has seen his shop triple the takings, move from being one of the bottom to one of the top, a shop that if they hadn't signed a new 5 year lease just before first lockdown might well have closed, a thriving shop with a good reputation I only work there on Saturday but I have seen the reactions of the local shoppers its always positive, and they seem happy with 'pricing to reflect original value' as well

Dealers are not the enemy, but DH would rather sell something to a customer for £5, rather than a dealer at £3 and have that dealer sell it on Ebay for £10.

My DH is not TRYING to woo the elusive return patron he is getting them, only not the ones you see to think he should be aiming for.

Your DH's model will only work until one of the local competitors gets marginally less expensive, or cleaner. After that it's back to the drawing board. OMG REALLY WOW did you think that up yourself? - seriously how do you think my DH got his base of customers from - yep being cleaner and cheaper than the competition, if other shops want to emulate him good luck to them

No she's not in the UK. Mathanxiety is in the US and quite clearly doesn't understand the UK charity shop sector. She thinks we should all be like Goodwill, which isn't the same at all, they operate out of massive out of town units and provide all manner of services as well as second hand goods.

Doesn't stop her telling people who are actually working/volunteering in the sector in the UK that they're doing it all wrong though.

Dds buy loads of stuff in charity shops in,different areas and have found some lovely stuff at reasonable prices.

On the back of this thread I carried out an experiment in my charity shop today ... I was on the shop floor all day & said to every customer 'if price is an issue, please let me know, I am very happy to negotiate'. The only items that the price was queried on were two homeware items and a book, all of which I was happy to reduce. I took 50% above our normal Bank Holiday Monday takings ... so I am very happy to conclude my pricing is at the correct level, many customers actually complimented me on my lovely shop .

Dealers are not the enemy, but DH would rather sell something to a customer for £5, rather than a dealer at £3 and have that dealer sell it on Ebay for £10.

Why is he turning up his nose at people becoming empowered through having their own small business operation? If a donation helps both the shop and the individual who buys it, what is the problem?

@RaspberryCoulis, I am not just talking about Goodwill in the US. The Salvation Army operates thrift shops too, and there are much smaller-scale operations as well as individual local shops supporting local charities - AIDS testing, animal shelters, breast cancer, etc, which are much closer to the UK model than the big American nationwide chains are. I am familiar with all of them.