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

I popped in to 2 shops today thought could get a cheap small casserole dish. One wanted 5.00 for a scratched one. Got one in wilkos for 6.00.

@Belledan1

I popped in to 2 shops today thought could get a cheap small casserole dish. One wanted 5.00 for a scratched one. Got one in wilkos for 6.00.

I was in a shop for a local dog rescue on Saturday and they had loads of casserole dishes at £1 each. There seems to be a pattern of the more local the charity, the cheaper the goods.

I've noticed the local ones don't pool goods - I've seen my own donated stuff on the shelves sometimes - whereas that never happens with the national ones.

@mathanxiety

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.

You wouldn't have heard of Del Boy in your country but a lot of people on here would, so let make it clear they are not all 'lovable rogues' case in point, glass wear, a dealer came in shop 1 and was trying to get some glass wear at a knockdown price badgering DH volunteer, told her it wasn't worth the price, DH intervened, that glass wear was Wedgewood Glass donated by ME, yet that dealer was trying to say it was cheap tat, of course it was sold at the price marked to a genuine customer, that's the type that often come into the shop, he does deal with genuine dealers who he trusts for certain things who have but not the ones who come into the shop and try it on

@Ragwort

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 .

any customers actually complimented me on my lovely shop and doesn't that make you proud, I am only a volunteer in my DHs shop, it's he who does the hard work, sets the standards and has all the ideas, but I love it when people compliment the shop, especially the ones who compare it to how it used to be, but apparently according to another poster my DH is mistaken that a clean organised shop is better than a messy haphazard smelly one

You are correct OP, but the people "in the know" won't have it (every thread on this subject ends the same). Prices are ridiculous in many shops, and the trend for colour blocking displays, while pretty, is utterly off putting when actually looking for something. Consequently many people like myself now vote with our feet and no longer spend our money in these shops (I used to spend loads). From the replies on this thread it seems that those "in the know" don't much care about that though. I suspect we are no longer the demographic they wish to attract or serve, which is a whole other level of sadness. For the record, I live in the city that has Mary Portas flagship charity shop, and it's pretty, but as a consumer, useless.

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?

I don’t have any problem in principle with dealers or people reselling on eBay. But they will always want to buy below the market value as, obviously, that’s how they make their money.

Sometimes that’s fine as a charity shop will be hard-pressed to actually find the market for some goods to sell them for what they are truly worth. But if the charity shop can sell an item higher than a dealer is prepared to pay, why sell it for less to the dealer?

I have seen charity shops getting carried away and not recognising the difference between the value of a product and being able to sell it. I remember seeing a very niche text book on prominent display in a local shop for £40. I’m sure if you went online that would be the value of that book (an out of print academic text)...but the chance of anyone who actually wanted it stumbling across it in the local shop were slim to none. It’s that kind of thing where the shop needs to either sell online themselves or engage with specialist dealers.

@4fingerKitKat

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?

I don’t have any problem in principle with dealers or people reselling on eBay. But they will always want to buy below the market value as, obviously, that’s how they make their money.

Sometimes that’s fine as a charity shop will be hard-pressed to actually find the market for some goods to sell them for what they are truly worth. But if the charity shop can sell an item higher than a dealer is prepared to pay, why sell it for less to the dealer?

I have seen charity shops getting carried away and not recognising the difference between the value of a product and being able to sell it. I remember seeing a very niche text book on prominent display in a local shop for £40. I’m sure if you went online that would be the value of that book (an out of print academic text)...but the chance of anyone who actually wanted it stumbling across it in the local shop were slim to none. It’s that kind of thing where the shop needs to either sell online themselves or engage with specialist dealers.

Not to mention SOME of the local dealers in our area don't always inform HMRC (or the DWP) about ALL their income, DH cant sell electrical goods to the public as he has no PAT tester, he takes then to a shop who specialise in electrical goods, they do the PAT testing and ensure all conform to safety regulations and then sell them, DH gets a 1/3 of what the shop will charge which he puts through as a donation - that stops him from being abused by donators who don't understand why he cant take them, or having to take them and throw them away. Its a good partnership

@IDontKnowHowToBeBetter

You are correct OP, but the people "in the know" won't have it (every thread on this subject ends the same). Prices are ridiculous in many shops, and the trend for colour blocking displays, while pretty, is utterly off putting when actually looking for something. Consequently many people like myself now vote with our feet and no longer spend our money in these shops (I used to spend loads). From the replies on this thread it seems that those "in the know" don't much care about that though. I suspect we are no longer the demographic they wish to attract or serve, which is a whole other level of sadness. For the record, I live in the city that has Mary Portas flagship charity shop, and it's pretty, but as a consumer, useless.

"Many" people like you may well vote with their feet but there are obviously plenty of other people who are happy with the pricing and shops keep turning a profit.

Charity shops cannot be everything to everyone. As long as we are getting ENOUGH people through the door and spending money that's fine.

@IDontKnowHowToBeBetter

You are correct OP, but the people "in the know" won't have it (every thread on this subject ends the same). Prices are ridiculous in many shops, and the trend for colour blocking displays, while pretty, is utterly off putting when actually looking for something. Consequently many people like myself now vote with our feet and no longer spend our money in these shops (I used to spend loads). From the replies on this thread it seems that those "in the know" don't much care about that though. I suspect we are no longer the demographic they wish to attract or serve, which is a whole other level of sadness. For the record, I live in the city that has Mary Portas flagship charity shop, and it's pretty, but as a consumer, useless.

Plenty of posters who volunteer or work in charity shops have given an indication of price levels on this thread. Our primary goal is to raise money for the charity. The shop I volunteer in has tops and jeans in vg condition at £3.49. I think that’s a fair price and we do turn over a lot of stock. Despite the very sunny weather in my seaside town we had queues outside the shop this afternoon. I do think you will always find anomalies: the £6 cd described up thread. Most of our cds are marked at 50p and we have steady sales considering the number of people purchasing cds continues to decline. Which demographic do you feel is no longer served by charity shops? I see a huge range of customers where I volunteer: Some dealers/looking to resell Some who come in with their carers Tourists Some customers who only come for books by certain authors Young people, elderly, people Who do you feel is no longer catered for? Btw I am not being sarcastic, am genuinely interested.

I agree with Shanghai's comments and am genuinely interested to know who you don't feel is being 'served' by the charity shops? Of course there will always be a few badly run charity shops but, as I keep repeating, if a charity shop is not making money it will be closed down; you may not like the Mary Portas revamp style but I can assure you, the charity (Save the Children) would not continue with that model of retailing if it was not successful.

It's far too easy to say to say 'if prices were cheaper you would sell more', that is not the case ... charity shops need to offer attractive, desirable stock that customers want to buy (and don't get me started on the quality of donations that people give us expecting us to sell them!).

I had a day out with a friend recently to an area with a number of “high end” charity shops. They all managed to have a different feel despite being similarly organised.... I couldn’t explain it but some were less appealing. The one we liked the most had a successful interior ( nice lighting ) was really nicely displayed ( fantastic window display & was colour blocked etc), had very friendly staff including a young, cool woman and had changing rooms that were open. Although It had expensive items( they had new stock delivered from Harrods) it still felt like you could uncover a bargain. The most infuriating one didn’t have the clothes sizes visible on the hanger so you had to check each item for the tag. Ridiculous. Good stock though... really good brands.You wouldn’t have found Primark items in any of them. What you noticed though was all the shops had a steady stream of customers. The more curated “ boutique” styles are not to everyone’s taste but suit people who don’t want to work too hard to find an item and have enough money for the prices not to be an issue. I can’t imagine this customer ever setting foot in the old style higgedly piggedly style of CS. None of the CS in my town would fit in this area though. They’re certainly well stocked and organised and have friendly staff but don’t have the same emphasis on fashion and are definitely less curated. They appeal to a broader range of people. Neither of these types of shop are right or wrong. You can turn your nose up at trendy ones and complain about the prices but they’re in an expensive area and presumably are doing well enough to stay open. I like having access to both sorts and will continue to frequent them all.

You wouldn't have heard of Del Boy in your country but a lot of people on here would, so let make it clear they are not all 'lovable rogues' case in point, glass wear, a dealer came in shop 1 and was trying to get some glass wear at a knockdown price badgering DH volunteer, told her it wasn't worth the price, DH intervened, that glass wear was Wedgewood Glass donated by ME, yet that dealer was trying to say it was cheap tat, of course it was sold at the price marked to a genuine customer, that's the type that often come into the shop, he does deal with genuine dealers who he trusts for certain things who have but not the ones who come into the shop and try it on

Ever heard of BritBox?

Not to mention SOME of the local dealers in our area don't always inform HMRC (or the DWP) about ALL their income,

...which is absolutely none of your or your DH's business, or responsibility.

It's not just charity shops. I had a new look voucher for my birthday and only got 3 items for £40. They have definitely put the prices up.

@Ragwort

Vote with your feet then and try other charity shops.

I manage a charity shop and I price to sell and to raise as much money as I can for the charity. My shop performs very well and I have lots of loyal customers who seem happy with my pricing; if something hasn't sold for a couple of weeks I will usually reduce it but I generally find that pricing isn't the issue ... it's whether customers like the stock or not.

This. Charity shops exist make money for a charity, not offer charitable prices for customers. They have to make enough money to pay rent/council tax/utilities/staff costs/all other costs and still have money left for the charity.

Ultimately If the goods were truly overpriced for the area they wouldn't sell, just gather dust and the shop wouldn't cover its costs let alone raise funds for the charity.

Is this STILL going??

My DH had a visit from his senior management today, part of that visits (they went to both shops) was to look at how much money he takes per 'square foot' of selling space, in both shops its clear that DVDs, CDs, Books take very little money compared with how much space they take up, the proposal is that he uses a company where these are scanned, he gets an immediate price, he boxes them up, they are picked up and he gets a cheque to put through the till , to show how this would work for him his AM scanned some of the books he has on his shelf, he is selling hard back books for £1 as he has so many of them , when scanned the price the company would pay was shown, the cheapest was £1.60 some of the books scanned at £3, he wont get that price from a customer buying off the shelf, so this is going to work for him, the upside is he can expand the square footage of stock that does sell, he wont have to keep a lot of books in his back area and he will get more money for them, the downside of course is in terms of customer expectations, people like to browse through books and expect to see them along with DVDs and CDs in a charity shop, however early trials apparently have shown that the shops using this are not showing a downturn in takings. This is going to be the reality for a lot of the high street charity shops where they can use different methods of selling stock which may not be what the customer/donator expects or indeed wants but generates more money for the charity which is the main aim

I am surprised books don't sell. Secondhand books always seem popular to me. Although sometimes I can see why sales may be poor.
Things that do annoy me about books in charity shops include :

• Not alphabetical order
• chicklit/saga put on an overfilled spinner that you have to 'flip' through the books to see what is there but often can't because they are rammed in and also not in any logical order
• kids books dumped in a basket on the floor in a messy heap which again your can't rummage through because it's jammed full
• 'kids books' being anything from baby books to YA books which means you have books aimed at teens with sexual content or violence/drugs/bad language etc on the shelf next to a Rainbow Fairy book.
• no prices
• random confusing prices (book a by famous author is priced £1, book b by same author in same condition 50p)
• books that are the £1 world book Day/Quick Read books being priced at higher than £1

This is how I find books for sale in many many charity shops. Unfortunately.

I am responsible for the books where I volunteer: we have alphabetical order, children’s books separated into YA, picture books, early readers, non fiction etc and all books are priced and no baskets.
I may have an overfilled spinner...
Fiction paperbacks sell pretty well and we get some decent donations, including some that have clearly never been read.
We do struggle to sell hardbacks but It depends what’s donated: biographies of James Corden and one of the Nolan sisters- no more, please! But cookery and steam trains do move.
Condition of books is also important: if I need to wear gloves to touch it, please don’t donate it.

@Ilovemaisie

I am surprised books don't sell. Secondhand books always seem popular to me. Although sometimes I can see why sales may be poor. Things that do annoy me about books in charity shops include :

• Not alphabetical order
• chicklit/saga put on an overfilled spinner that you have to 'flip' through the books to see what is there but often can't because they are rammed in and also not in any logical order
• kids books dumped in a basket on the floor in a messy heap which again your can't rummage through because it's jammed full
• 'kids books' being anything from baby books to YA books which means you have books aimed at teens with sexual content or violence/drugs/bad language etc on the shelf next to a Rainbow Fairy book.
• no prices
• random confusing prices (book a by famous author is priced £1, book b by same author in same condition 50p)
• books that are the £1 world book Day/Quick Read books being priced at higher than £1

This is how I find books for sale in many many charity shops. Unfortunately.

They do sell in both DH shop but its the amount of money they generate compared with how much space they take up is what's being looked at apparently .

My local Oxfam has a big book section which is properly organised - I worked in a book shop for 2 years and am pretty fussy about these things.

I got a brand new pair of children's converse last week for 2 pounds, single fitted sheet in the same shop was 3 . Today I got a few really nice tops in perfect condition for 95p each, a cardigan for 2.49. And then went into the CS directly opposite and the tops were priced at 4.49. Primark, Dunnes etc. Bizarre how they can vary so much!

Bing toy.. £30 in Sue Ryder

Thirty bloody pounds.