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?

No, the Gift Aid is claimed by the donor, the person who originally gave in the dress. Not by the person who buys it.

To me it comes down to ethics; personally I find these actions morally abhorrent. I know when I donate it's with the hope that someone could have something nicer that may usually be beyond their means (price wise), not so someone else gets to make a quick buck.

I agree with pp - you are very naive. All the people I know who shop at charity shops are not buying from them because they can't afford new clothing. Also a young man I know searches for stuff which is popular with students and sells it to them - and the charity shops know he is doing this and put things aside for him.

Complete lack of any business sense or understanding isn't "morals".

If your priority is for people to benefit from your cast offs, find the deserving poor and give them away yourself for free. Perhaps suggest they help relieve their poverty by earning money as resellers?

Oh, and I've sometimes bought stuff from charity shops to rip up or stain with fake blood for Halloween. Hopefully none of it was yours.

What do you mean by "ooak"
Op?

One of a kind

I don't think it's a bad thing to sell something you bought in a charity shop 🤷🏻‍♀️

Everyone really should just go look up how much the bosses of these big charity shops get!!!

Might stop moaning about someone making a small profit then.

I buy in small old charity shop were anything is a few pound they are real charity shops the big ones are just like any other business with a small portion donated to the actual charity!!!

Ah yes sorry I got my donors mixed up! Either way the charity could easily have made £75 on this dress!

Genuinely, what’s the purpose of the thread if the OP is so convinced that she’s done nothing wrong?

My local Salvation Army has wedding dresses in the window right now for dirt cheap. Perfect for Halloween

She hasn't!

I know.

Lots of people buy and sell stuff. I would be sending in a complaint about the "worker" who posted an incorrect price and incited hate against you along with examples of the nastiness you got online and the results of that

I've recently bought a huge pair of Laura Ashley at Next curtains from a charity shop for £55 . Looked on ebay and same pattern /size are selling for £300 plus . I did think about selling them at that point and had no moral qualms whatsoever as this particular chain of charity shops have a website where they offer higher priced items so had the same opportunity as me but chose not to exercise it .Decided in end to pay to get them altered to fit 2 windows in my home as I bought them cos I genuinely like them but wouldn't have felt guilty or expected unpleasant remarks from would-be buyers either . Not my problem. You did nothing reprehensible IMO .

Totally agree with this..pretty unacceptable

You’ve done nothing wrong but honestly if I’d paid £100. I’d of been really annoyed. Can’t really work out why I’d be annoyed though!!!

Stuff costs less in charity shops. It's their selling point. It's also why they can't price stuff too high, or people won't go.

You have done nothing wrong. The same can't be said for the person who works in the charity shop.
If she wanted more money for it she should have charged more.
The keyboard warriors have piled in.
Block, ignore and move on OP
Good luck

OP said the dress was a OOAK from a local designer. It was not like it was a pair of jeans from Primark.

frankly I find charity shops are frequently overpricing items these days. I would never barter but often walk out disappointed that something I liked was priced over the odds for what it clearly was

Yes - charity shop prices have shot up recently.

I don't blame them for trying to raise as much as they can, obviously - that's what they're there for - but most people who have to shops in charity shops don't have a lot of money to spend. The unsold (often because overpriced) items then get stuck on a 50p rail for a couple of weeks, and if they still don''t go, then they are bundled up - often some very good stuff - and sold by weight to the "rag man" who does whatever a rag man does with the "cabbage" he collects - I imagine he has it sorted through for anything obviously decent and then the rest is shredded and recycled.

There is no guarantee that the charity shop would have got 60 quid for the dress if OP had returned it.

I think you’re perfectly entitled to sell your possessions for as much as someone’s willing to pay. I once spotted a vintage mulberry handbag in my local charity shop and paid £7 for it with a view to eBaying it. I did and got £50. The charity shop sold it for a price they knew someone would pay as it’s no good to them stuck on the shelf. I supplement my income from eBay sales and often buy things cheaply in charity shops to sell on. I donate heaps of stuff to the same charity shop so I don’t feel I’m cheating anyone. YANBU

Nothing wrong here. They stated a price, you paid it. It was then yours to do what you liked with.

Yep!

I love a charity shop and have spent a lot of time volunteering in them. I've been the ebayer more than once.

I don't think you did anything wrong, OP.

I'm pretty sure that some (eg Oxfam) instruct managers to put good condition designer items aside, and they are collected and advertised and sold online.

You should give the extra £40 to charity. No doubt about that in my mind.