Aibu to make money from a charity shop purchase?

[Partnerprobs]

Recently went to a charity shop and found a couple of items for sale that I liked and were in very good condition. A handbag and a book. Both were in a locked cabinet. I bought them for £25 in total and have sold them on eBay for £75 and £34 pounds, so I’ve made about £84 (less eBay fees which I haven’t seen yet)

My best friend was really shocked and said it’s like stealing and I should donate the money to the charity - this has surprised and unnerved me as I thought it was fine (as they were in the cabinet so had been picked as higher end items, and also they were more expensive than normal items)

I thought it was a lucky break and was looking forward to treating myself.

Aibu?

Sounds like a win-win situation to me!

@Whinginadeville
As others have said, the aim is often to keep stock moving and money coming in. I had a an accordion that was easily worth £300 but nobody on EBay would pay me that - the nearest I got was £180. In a charity shop with a small footfall it’s highly unlikely anyone would have paid more than £80 for it. What it’s worth is meaningless. Better they offload a few items at “way under value” (which of course actually cost them virtually nothing) than have some fantastic valuable item sitting their and not getting sold for half a year and taking up space of saleable, popular items.

@5128gap
it's more that the charity and its beneficiaries have not made as much money as they could have

The charity would likely prefer £20 right now for an item they got for free than £50 for said item when the “right buyer” who is willing to pay the top price eventually strolls along in two months time. Quantity matters.

I wouldn’t do it myself but I have no problem with other people doing it. You paid what the charity asked, they got the price they wanted job done and space for another item in the charity shop.
You paid for the item and took the risk that it would sell for a higher price on EBay it might not have sold at a price to cover your costs , or may have taken a while to sell.
But whatever happened the charity got they money they wanted and straight away with no delay

Once somebody has bought something from the charity shop it’s theirs to do whatever they like with. The charity shop has done their bit with it and got their money for it.

Someone could make thousands from what they’ve bought in a charity shop if they know what things to buy and what people are willing to pay for them. It’s none of anyone else’s business once those items belong to them.

truth is, i have recently sent some stuff to charity that I know I could have sold for cash, BUT for the fact that i listed them loads of times on our local selling pages and they went nowhere.

One was a Hobbs dress still with tags that was an aspirational purchase (size 8). After periodically listing it I just sent it to the charity shop. They put a £25 price on it. But, fair's fair - from the same shop I bought an original Cecil Aldin for £90 that I then sold for £240 and a real Burberry trench for £30 that I wear alot.

My attitude is influenced by the high prices charged by charity shops for fairly ordinary worn clothes. It used to be that people going through a hard-up phase would be able to clothe themselves for work, etc., at a very reasonable price. Now, in London, blouses are £8, skirts £12, etc, and ironed to look good, but actually a bit washed out and floppily thin. Outer clothing, such as coats, are often the only items in very good, thick and firm condition.

So, the shops make the profit by charging a lot for all types of thing. What you made was nice, but not like the apocryphal stories of a collector buying a Victorian bird painting which turned out to be work 66 grand. ( True story).

If your windfall was really big - into thousands - it might be nice to give some back to the shop. If you were a dealer, you'd say your gain was payment for the expertise and know-how which has taken you years to acquire via hard slog round antique fairs and car boot sales.

Maybe the people who bought your stuff on eBay were muggins, and the shop charged the right rate for what the things were, and you chanced your arm a bit and found somebody without a clue who either liked the things a lot, or wanted to be a dealer - and got it wrong.

Anyway, you've given the charity shops some publicity with this post, and I'm sure many readers will decide to mosey round their local Cats Protection League shop, etc., in the hope of emulating your success.

Items are priced to shift in charity shops. If its worth £50 on ebay, you could be waiting months for anyone to buy it in a charity shop. Unfortunately everyone wants a bargain in a charity shop and wants everything for peanuts. Better to sell five items for £10 in a week than put £50 on something and have it sat there for weeks. I volunteer in a charity shop and have no issue with people buying things to sell. We get antiques dealers coming in and know they're selling things on!

@HalzTangz I expected my volunteering at a charity shop to be around sifting high-end wear because I have experience in that market (clocking designer labels etc.). What they actually need me for is cleaning the hell out of a really grotty building and bundling clothes for rags.

If someone pays what the shop considers its value then who would give a toss; if your profit was substantial a gift to the charity would be nice.

And I don’t just mean one expensive item like a handbag.
I mean cheap things like CDs. People collect them and look for them. So with that in mind, you could buy a bulk of CDs for £20, test them and sell them off. Repeat repeat and you suddenly end up with
££££ in profit.

As long as you paid what the shop wanted for them and didn't haggle, what you did is fine. It's not stealing. Shop wanted xyz. Shop got xyz.

Many dealers do just this- scour car boot sales and charity shops finding stuff of value.

I don't see the problem.

I often find undervalued stuff in charity shops from first editions to high end clothing. I let the staff know after purchasing said items! They really need to sort their staff out as a lot aren't v savvy when it comes to pricing, I've found. I know many are volunteers and probably don't know any better but charities are losing out....

[quote supermoonrising]@5128gap
it's more that the charity and its beneficiaries have not made as much money as they could have

The charity would likely prefer £20 right now for an item they got for free than £50 for said item when the “right buyer” who is willing to pay the top price eventually strolls along in two months time. Quantity matters.[/quote]
Yes, the post from the charity shop volunteer and others have explained this and the reasons that's the case, which was interesting as I hadn't seen it this way before. I posted before reading that.

I’ve done this with a Burberry duffle coat - I initially thought I could have it tailored to fit me (it was an 18-20 and I’m a 12) but at the back of my mind I knew this was not likely to be possible and if it wasn’t, I would sell it. I think I paid £30 for it and sold it for £110 - I’m still absolutely gutted it didn’t fit me as it was so beautiful!

The charity shop could have easily found out how much they were selling for online. What you do with them after you have bought them is your business.

It doesn’t sit right with me the same way it’s not right to take freebies of friends to sell them on cheap things of marketplace to sell it on. I often sell things way below market value in a hope they go to somebody that needs it.

Morally dubious I think. The charity has still obviously benefited from your purchase but the items could have been bought and actually used by someone in need. Instead you purchased and sold them on for profit.

@Hemingwaycat

Morally dubious I think. The charity has still obviously benefited from your purchase but the items could have been bought and actually used by someone in need. Instead you purchased and sold them on for profit.

You could say that about absolutely any inexpensive item. It was a handbag and a book; not essential for life, and an impoverished person couldn't have picked up cheaper ones in the shop if they really needed a bag or something to read.

DH works in a charity shop and is fine with people doing this. They don't have the space or resources to list everything on Ebay and the shop looks rubbish if they have the same stock sitting around for months, so unless something is worth literally hundreds it goes in the shop with a realistic price tag based on what they know people will pay.

As I always say on charity shop threads they are expected to run the shops like a profitable business and like any business hassle-free money now is better than slightly more money later and after a lot more hassle.

It's a lucky break OP. treat yourself an think no further.

I've found some good bargains in charity shops for my kids and myself but never anything worth selling on. I think if you paid the asking price to the charity shop then you're not doing anything wrong - crack on.

@Whinginadeville

I see things undervalued in a charity shop and I let them know, backing it up with online evidence on one occasion so I think it's a bit off tbh. I think buying intentionally to sell on is morally dubious but if you're skint and struggling I'd give you a pass. Comfortable financially and using your knowledge to mug off a charity would make me judge you. It's definitely a spectrum.

'if you're skint and struggling I'd give you a pass.' Wow, how magnanimous Who on earth do you think you are to judge people like that?

And why is it 'mugging off a charity'? That's an insult to people who work in the shop and price the stock; as several people in the know have said here, charity shops generally know very well what things might be worth, but price them according to how it works for them.

Why not give them half the profit?

Yes I think charity shops - particularly the ones run by the larger charities are part of very substantial businesses. My DM volunteers in one and they have a valuer come fairly often and anything they are unclear on has to be put aside until it can be looked at.

My Cecil Aldin for £90 is a case in point. £90 for a little drawing in a charity shop is fairly punchy. They had put a price on it that they knew would sell, but was not outrageous.