Charity shops seem to be unrealistic with their prices and I can't afford them anymore!

[AutumnFairy01]

Firstly, this isn't to do with not giving to charity. I give to charity separately and donate items to local homeless charities, food banks, etc but I've always loved supporting charity shops too. They're great (or were great) for grabbing a bargain and reusing an unwanted item. I love secondhand wherever possible.

However, I've now come to the conclusion that charity shops are largely unaffordable for me now. I browse round charity shops weekly I would say (in more than one town) and the prices are just crazy! I always buy secondhand clothing for myself, dh and children but quite often the charity shop prices seem more expensive than buying new or at best, very little difference. For instance, in Chelmsford the other day, I went into the BHF shop and I saw a very simple baby's top, not designer or anything and it was £4! And then for adult clothing, I couldn't see anything below £6/7.

Boots sales and Facebook marketplace are my go to places more and more now. Sometimes freebay too.

I can understand charity shops putting their prices up a little with rising costs of everything but there has to be a balance surely?

AIBU to think charity shop prices are unrealistic for secondhand items?

Are they becoming unaffordable for anyone else?

I was recently looking in charity shops on holiday in North Berwick, half an hour from Edinburgh. Cashmere jumpers (not new or top quality, some pilling) for £30 and a coat from White Stuff or similar, for £125! Also saw a recent secondhand book marked at more than its original price. Bonkers!

Try car boot sales?? They can offer fantastic surprise bargains. I sold a Boden coat once for £2, you get the picture!! Good luck 🤞

I agree. The prices have gone up dramatically which defeats the object. I’ve started shopping in supermarkets now.

Totally agree with you OP. I was in a few yesterday. A basic shirt that should be £3 is now £10. Charity shops near me are now for the rich.

Prices are really unaffordable for many. I think the reasons people donate goods are not always straightforward. I often donate but not because I’m especially aligned with a charity more because I used toile the idea somebody would get some use out of something and make it affordable ( e.g baby things and toys).I’ve started giving most things away for free on thrift sites rather than giving it to the charity shop.

Omg my partner went in one last week and he picked up a jacket he liked and it was £50!! It wasn’t any designer that we had heard of and we looked them up and they are about £80-90 brand new. He walked out after that lol

Yes! £14 for a second hand denim jacket that really looked it and £10 for v worn trousers. Ridiculous. Not designer.

I haven't been in too many, recently. Our local charity shop, shut. But we had a BHF, furniture shop open. Around about the time, we needed a new sofa. So I thought great, I could Puck up a second hand sofa, to save us some money. But no they were way over our budget. We could buy a new one, from Argos for less and spread the payments. It's not just the sofas, all furniture there is dear, yes it's maybe not flat pack stuff, but we cannot afford, one off payments and need to spread payments. I don't think the charity shop will do this.

Charity shops are professional fundraisers on behalf of a charity and will charge whatever an item is worth secondhand. Therefore a primark or george at asda top will be cheaper than a next or per una one, which in turn will be cheaper than Lacoste or Armani! New goods will be more too. These shops are trying to raise as much as they can for the cause they represent, and that is why people donate goods. I have worked and managed charity shops for donkeys' years. If you were to donate a gold and diamond ring and I priced it at a fiver, you'd probably be piddled off and rightly so. You donated it so that we would get good money for it. So please, everyone, remember that these shops open for the charity they support, not as secondhand jumble shops where you can buy cheap clothes.

I saw a nice vintage knitted jumper the other day in the local charity shop and I’m not joking when I say it was £20!!!!!

My favourite is luckily our nearest one. Trousers and tops were 2.50 (now 3.00) and coats were 5. Most toys were 50p to a pound depending on what it was. Now 1.00 to 1.50 unless they're really small when they're still 50p.

It's a woman's aid charity shop if it helps. Our bhf is RIDICULOUS with pricing.

I have been giving to a local charity shop for years. They have a gift aid scheme whereby they are meant to inform you when they sell your stuff. I give them really nice stuff that I know would sell well on eBay. Yet in recent years the e-mails are along the lines of "We made £1.62 from selling your donation." I don't want them to sell at such ludicrous prices that no one can afford to buy them, but I am concerned by how little they seem to be making, especially as the items I see in the shop are quite expensive. I fear they are overcharging, not selling and then bagging the clothes up and selling by weight to a rag merchant. Either that or they are keeping my donations for themselves.

I know what you mean OP. £8 for a thin, worn primark jumper!

I was going to come on and say that our local community charity shop is a lot cheaper that the big names, however as I was in the area yesterday, I thought I'd pop in and have a look.

A set of 5 paperback Where's Wally books = £16 English Pounds!

A bobbly Top Man sweatshirt that I looked at for my DNephew £15!

Where it was usually doing a brisk trade it was dead in there and I soon understood why😮

The ones near ours have started doing the same. It's much easier to use vinted or eBay now.

www.charityretail.org.uk/cra-jobs/

A whole board full of jobs for the experts in charity retail.

I have always bought second hand clothes (as well as some new ones) but yes, some of the prices are a bit crazy. I still go into my local ones to have a look and sometimes do find something, but I probably would not if I was on a low income. Often washed out, bobbled tops and jumpers are only a few pounds cheaper than new.

YANBU.

@Genevieva Due to the COLC my DS's amazing SEN school have set up thier own "charity shop" of sorts except all of the items are free to those pupils and families desperately in need of not just uniform but clothing, nightwear, bedding, blankets, shoes etc, etc.

I have stopped giving to my local charity shops for the reasons you outlined and now send everything into school.

Even If you don't have DC's maybe see if any local schools have a similar scheme and then you know the items are going to where they are really most needed and definitely NOT in the rag bag!

Often the people pricing items don’t know the price of the items new. They don’t know how cheap Primark items are new, or some times how expensive some new items can be.

I wouldn’t donate Primark to a charity shop. It cost a couple of pounds new and isn’t really something that someone will pay more than a few pence for second hand. I’d just give it away free.

When charity shops do t sell their items, then they lower their prices or pass them onto a charity shop in another area that prices lower. They are essentially fund raisers for the charity they raise money for, not a charity service for those looking for cheap items. This is where the confusion lies.

If they find people will pay the higher prices, they will co tinge to charge them, just like any shop. But if people won’t pay them, they will lower prices. It will be interesting to see if they need to do that or not. More people will look at charity shops as new items become out of reach, so demand might actually rise. However, if the customer base think things are too expensive and doesn’t buy, they will be left with unsold stock and reduce prices or move it on.

The mistake people make is thinking the purpose often charity shop is to provide them with cheap items. It isn’t, it’s to fundraise for the charity the ship serves.

The problem is the shop has a lot of overheads (rent, electricity etc) that it needs to cover so each item needs a portion of the overheads added to it. If expensive items are donated you can sell them at a decent price and cover the overheads. If people have donated cheap items (supermarket/primark etc) then the overhead costs that need to be allocated will make them not that much cheaper than the original cost.

@WhosafraidofVirginiaWoolf Brilliant idea! Thank you.

I have no problem with the aim of charity shops. The prices have shot up recently, so sadly, they’ll be seeing less of me and my money.

I agree OP. I went to get a cheap tie to cut up as part of my DDs Halloween outfit and I had to spend £5 on a hideous one that nobody would honestly buy other than for the purpose that I did. It was the cheapest one as they went up to £10! All old fashioned and garish. I was expecting to pay £2 max!

If it was an expensive top to begin with then that makes sense.