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?

Sometimes it depends on the volunteers and how much control they have over things. Occasionally we have an issue where things have come in and the volunteers who press them price them too high/low. When they come to the shop floor, it can be a bit of a sensitive issue if this is the case - they have threatened to walk out if we don't abide by their pricing. However, usually the manager's word is final.
As you say the tired stuff should be priced accordingly. And there are some shops where a load of the stuff should just go straight in the bin!

More silly prices in one of our local charity shops yesterday (including an over 50% mark up on some cheap acrylic yarn - I have seen the yarn in a local discount store and it's branded specifically for said discount store). At the moment I am trying not to buy things that I really don't need, so in a way the silly prices are helping me decide how much I do really need that 'thing'!

Yep I’ve noticed this too sadly
I still look but unfortunately can’t believe some of the prices and walk out without buying anything

I agree Charity shops are there to make money for charities but they do have to understand that they are also selling items that have been discarded as rubbish in a lot of cases unlike Nearly New shops when the donations is a business transaction of good quality looked after clothing and the clients received a commission is an item is purchased, totally different strategy. Charity shops were originally there to help people on lower incomes. where many of their customers will have very low incomes. If you price at/ above new prices, your stock will sit on the shelves. Surely a smaller take and a regular turnover is better than having stuff unsold and eventually junked?
They sell mainly used goods such as clothing, books, music albums, shoes, DVDs, toys, and furniture donated by members of the public, and are often staffed by volunteers. Because the items for sale were obtained for free, and business costs are low, the items can be sold at competitive prices. After costs are paid, all remaining income from the sales is used in accord with the organization's stated charitable purpose. Costs include purchase and/or depreciation of fixtures (clothing racks, bookshelves, counters, etc.), operating costs (maintenance, municipal service fees, electricity, heat, telephone, limited advertising) and the building lease or mortgage. I have approached managers of various charity shops and asked if they have a central pricing strategy and moat don't understand or say no they price the goods themselves. The organisations need to be held accountable for the over priced goods and stop giving each shop/outlet such high targets. Its greed. When they took on the premises they would have had a budget for the overheads. I have gone to to see certain labelled garments priced at £85.00/95.00 outrageous.

have approached managers of various charity shops and asked if they have a central pricing strategy and moat don't understand

Yeah, all charity shop managers are thick, innit. 🙄 That's the ones who aren't stealing all the "good stuff", obvs.

The organisations need to be held accountable for the over priced goods and stop giving each shop/outlet such high targets. Its greed.

Why? Why should any large charity be "accountable" to people who think that they should be selling things cheaper? The ONLY people who charities are accountable to are their donors and the charity commission. Again the myth that charity shops are there to help "the poor people" when their aim is to maximise income for their cause.

Some people are really pissed off that they can't get cheap designer bargains any more, aren't they?

Still cheap round here (sw london). Often find barely worn designer stuff for a couple of quid.

A beautiful coat in the charity shop window caught my eye today, i recognised it as the same one my cousin bought when i was with her last year, she paid £55 from Matalan. The one in the charity shop today had a button missing and was priced at £50 !

And similarly, @CorinneJane , I do hope you share your "expertise" with other stores which you feel are overpriced and should be lowering their prices. Do pop back and let us know how you get on educating the manager in your local Waitrose about how they should be reducing their prices and working out cost of sales.

Corrinne what is your source for the fact that 'charity shops were originally there to help people on lower incomes'? . It is well recognised that one of the very first charity shops was Oxfam in Oxford in the late 1940s .. to raise funds to help famine victims...not to give bargains to 'lower income people'.

This myth is continually touted on these threads (of which there is a new one practically every week ....) that charity shops exist to provide bargains .. they don't .. they exist to raise funds for the charity they represent. If you don't like the price then shop elsewhere. If a charity shop is over pricing and therefore underperforming.. it will be closed down. I have worked in charity retail for many years and seen less successful charity shops close down and the successful ones will flourish (like any retail business).

@Ragwort
posters on the charity threads generally don’t trouble themselves with facts or evidence.

I agree with you @CorinneJane . Charity shops are way too greedy now.
@FamilyTreeBuilder some of us do have expertise. I'm an antiques dealer and nearly all charity shops are copying Ebay prices for vintage items.
I saw a Sadler teapot which was priced at £50! The actual sold prices on Ebay varied from £8 to £14 but because there was one for sale at £50, the shop had chosen that price. It was obviously overpriced on Ebay. I pointed this out to the shop manager who just said that it would sell eventually! Pure deceit and greed.

You are incredibly naive if you think that shop staff aren't stealing the "good stuff." I have personally known at least 2 volunteers who sell vintage items at car boots. They freely admit they "screen" stock as it comes in! Not to mention the husband of the manageress of a local Tenovus shop who regularly brings his van round the back of the shop at closing time!

Charity shops are big business but with a massive unfair advantage. They get stock and staff for free, pay reduced rent/rates, tax breaks etc. They are destroying regular businesses like clothes shops, book shops, toy shops and antique dealers because of the advantages they enjoy. If they want to act like businesses, they should pay like businesses.
It's about time the Government stepped in or soon there won't be any other shops left in towns. 😡

The whole ‘the prices are high due to a massively overpaid CEO, and paying staff’ aspect of this depresses me hugely. There’s a huge thing of 100% of what I give to a charity should be used for its core purpose.

You are incredibly naive if you think that shop staff aren't stealing the "good stuff.

No, 8 years volunteering with two large household name charity shop chains, worked with dozens of volunteers, never seen any stealing. First dibbs at a fair price yes, but no stealing.

Also, if they are sold at that price online I'd guess the rrp direct from D&G to be half as much again.

Why did you dig up this zombie thread? Honestly this has been gone over so many times. In summary:

1. you don't have to buy from charity shops
2. they are there to raise funds for whatever cause they represent
3. when I volunteered for a charity shop that sold clothes and general bric-a-brac, the manager told me that 75% of donations, yes, three-quarters of donations were thrown away because they were not in a saleable condition, and the charity had to cover the cost of disposing of that rubbish.

Your tone is quite aggressive, which I can deal with if you have a hidden issue.. It is not a zombie thread. Perhaps you want to do a catch up on the current discussions out there. I have also worked in a Charity shop and had my own Nearly New business, so quite complicit with the running of both. Charity shops do get tax concessions, as all shop profits go to fund the work of the charity, which provides public benefit. The key concessions are no VAT on the sale of donated goods, no buying in cost, exemption from Corporation Tax, and 80 per cent mandatory non-domestic rate relief, which is funded by central Government.
Some of us do have a choice whether we shop in the charities but for those who are struggling , they were an essential support mechanism. Don't forget, the The charity shop opened by the Wolverhampton Society for the Blind on Victoria Street in 1899 sold baskets, chair seating, and mats made by visually impaired men and women in their Alexandra Street workshop.

Charity shops are big business but with a massive unfair advantage. They get stock and staff for free, pay reduced rent/rates, tax breaks etc. They are destroying regular businesses like clothes shops, book shops, toy shops and antique dealers because of the advantages they enjoy.

Surely not, if they're overpriced? People won't buy from them if they can get better deals elsewhere.

They're overpriced for what they sell but are quite close in prices to some regular shops and unfortunately some people prefer to feel virtuous rather than give a business a profit. We can't compete and charity shops are also getting free stock I used to pay to get!
Local charities here dump their crap for nothing at the tip too.
Charities are as corrupt as any business - remember the Oxfam
hookers in Thailand scandal?

Some of us do have a choice whether we shop in the charities but for those who are struggling , they were an essential support mechanism. Don't forget, the The charity shop opened by the Wolverhampton Society for the Blind on Victoria Street in 1899 sold baskets, chair seating, and mats made by visually impaired men and women in their Alexandra Street workshop.

This is disproving your point though even though you seem to think it proves otherwise...

The charity shop you are talking about was selling goods made by people with a disability, to raise funds. Just as if you go into an Oxfam shop in 2024 you'll find fair trade things made in Asia, or into a Cancer Research shop and you'll find race for life merch.

The shop was not set up to provide "the poor" with an opportunity to buy cheap baskets and mats.

As a child in the 1980s I remember charity shops being for the poor... nowadays it's more for middle class people to prove their environmental credentials .... actual poor people are more likely to be found in Primark or Poundland

In our local Scope shop, the manager has daily/weekly targets made for her by HQ for different sections of the shop. For example, she'll say "I'll ring this vase up as a jumper because that's what they want me to sell today".

Charity shops aren't for the poor. They're not for the middle class.

They're for the cause they represent.

Yes that's true but the clientele has changed. Years ago my mum had a friend whose husband had lost his job and she had to shop in the local charity shop. My mum would whisper about this to my dad and when I overheard I was told to never ever mention it to anyone.

"First dibs at a fair price" is tantamount to stealing if you have put the price label on in the first place! Of course the volunteers take/buy all the good stuff before it hits the shelves; it is exactly why they volunteer!

These threads are always, “charity shop stuff is overpriced” with volunteers/managers countering with “no it’s not”. And any suggestions for improvement are invariably stonewalled.

A local independent charity shop has a permanent rather rude notice “No donations” outside, with a big hand sign. I ventured to ask if they wanted some genuinely good stuff I had, but the manager snapped that, as the notice said, no donations. She said that they would not be accepting more until they had cleared the current stock. Well, one year later, maybe two, the sign remains because they have exactly the same stuff in there. Primark tops £7, mugs £2.50, broken-down old shoes £5….