To think I've done nothing wrong by making money on a charity

[Thealarmhasgoneoffagain]

I bought a dress for £60 in a charity shop. I didn't think many people would recognise the brand as it's locally made but it would have cost about £300 I think and would probably be a ooak. I'm asuming the charity shop knew this though because of the high price.

I bought the dress for me but it doesn't fit. I didn't want to get a refund from a charity shop but at that price I can't redonate it either. So I put it on my local FB page askimg for offers. I said it was from the charity shop but I didn't put how much I paid. If anyone asked I would have told them.

Someone offered me £100 and I accepted. They collected it and messaged me afterwards to say how happy they were.

Before I could remove the post someone commented that they worked in the shop and it cost £50. Now I'm getting lots of abuse about being greedy and ripping off the charity. The lady who bought it has put angry faces on it. I also have a couple of things on there for free and people have made nasty comments on those. I've removed all my posts now.

I don't feel bad about making money on the dress as that was never my intention. £60 was much, much more than I would normally spend in a charity shop and tbh I don't want to donate the £40. It was a proper charity shop, not one run by little old ladies who price everything at 50p because they don't know any better.

The lady who bought it, offered £100 and never asked how much I paid and was happy until she found out I paid less. I do feel bad that she won't enjoy the dress though as it's a beautiful dress.

AIBU for keeping the £40?

Lots of people get refunds from charity shops. It isn’t a rare occurrence.

No, you haven't done anything wrong. I would be surprised if the charity shop actually had a changing room because most places don't now.

I personally wouldn't have sold it on on Facebook as I would be suspecting something like this may happen. But, you haven't done anything wrong. Keep the £40. This shop made £60 profit, why can't you make some?

The charity shop made more on the deal than the OP .
Why would they mind?
Every ones a winner.
Luvvley jubbley.

The shop advertised the dress at a price they were happy to accept. You paid it. You sold it and accepted a price you were happy with.

What you paid for it makes no difference. Keep your profit.

"Technically", you said, followed by suggesting she should have told the shop the online value (they already knew, it's ok) and mention of a "clear conscience".

She really, truly, no qualifiers or implications required, did nothing wrong.

Absolutely you’ve done nothing wrong. Even if you had purchased it with the intention of making a profit. That’s the way of the world. The huge corporations buy cheaply to make a profit and we are happy with that, so why can’t the little guys?

I’m basing my suggestion on a very successful,
tiny independent charity shop in my town which photographs its best stock and posts it on the local FB selling pages. People comment to express an interest and either go in to buy the item or ring up and pay over the phone to collect later. They regularly shift really quite high-value items this way, eg prams for £100-£150.

I don’t think OP’s done anything wrong and I literally said as much in my first sentence. However if her conscience were as clear as she claims then she wouldn’t be posting here. I’m making a suggestion.

What about those poor people who need to make an extra buck out of your cast offs

Nice to act so morally superior when you have the money to give away your old stuff for free.

The whole point of charity shops is to make money for their charity not to means test or track their customers

I am sure there must be some GDPR ruling that staff (even unpaid ones) can not identify a customer and reveal what they spent in a tore and on what items.

Because to many, for some reason, it's amoral or omg, kinda thinking, if the lower earners make a small profit,

Could.

Not should.

Could.

I think you should have donated half of the profit so kept £20 given £20 - everyone’s a winner

BHF gets so many donations they are very much relying on quick turnover. They sold a dress today for £60, they could have got £100 leaving it there for 2-3 more weeks but in that time that dress could have been replaced with 2 more £60 dresses. That’s their business model. BHF are big enough that they don’t need to squeeze every last pound out of a donation. Their turnover was £150m last year and they’ve got £127m in the bank in cash. I am sure they will survive.

I manage a charity shop and find this over reacting bizarre. I do not care what my customers do with items they have purchased-if they make money then good for them. Sometimes the sad reality is people will only pay so much for certain items in charity shops, we have price guides that include brands and I tell my team that as frustrating as it is sometimes things are only worth what people will pay ie brand new John Lewis item worth hundreds going for £50 on eBay.

Same.

Great. Your local shop has the resources to make that a profitable use of its time. If they regularly receive items like prams, that makes sense.

Most charity shops don't have those resources, or regularly receive large, high value items. Yours is highly localised.

If OP has a troubled conscience, it's because of people who don't understand how local markets work or the usual charity shop business model. It's not because she's done anything wrong and she doesn't need people to imply she has by suggesting any guilty feelings are appropriate.

Seriously, OP, ignore these people.

YANBU Nothing wrong with making a profit on the dress

Why?

I used to buy a lot of stuff on eBay. Time it right, or catch a misspelled listing, you get an absolute bargain.
if I then go on to sell that item for £s more later on, am I morally obliged to contact the person I originally bought it from, and give them half my profit?

Yes of course she COULD. Like you COULD give every last spare penny you have to charity but I'm guessing you don't. If I kept banging on about how you COULD do that, I'm making a clear implication that you SHOULD.

You’re very naive.

The charity shop had already won

The charity shop has the money you paid for the dress, what you do with the dress afterwards is your business, not theirs. Ignore the sanctimonious idiots.

A lot of pp’s on here don’t seem to understand that charities are businesses.
They hassle old people constantly. Everytime I visit my df I have to sift through bundles of begging letters from charities.

Everyone was a winner anyway! The shop made £60, if you sold an item from any other shop you then wouldn't go hand half your profit to that shop.

The shop has made AT LEAST £60, plus an extra £25 if the OP gift aided the donation.

Sorry plus an extra £15!