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?

“First dibs at fair price” dear oh dear. No wonder there is nothing worth buying if it has been creamed off by the staff.

Not creamed off. Bought. At the same price as it would have gone in the shop for. Any decent shop will have policies and ways of ensuring that volunteers are not stealing or taking things at knock down prices. Where I used to work, every volunteer purchase was recorded in a book which was checked by the regional manager and auditors. Where I am now, the most senior volunteer on duty that day prices something another volunteer wants to buy as there is no paid manager.

Volunteers are our best customers. Also there is this general (wrong) idea that the phrase "good stuff" means the same to everyone. As a 50 year old woman I had no interest in the 26 inch waist Hollister jeans I priced the other day, even if they were immaculate. No interest in kids clothes, nick nacky ornaments, shoes which aren't a size 6, DVDs and CDs, blingy jewellery, clothes which don't fit me, clubbing gear, etc etc etc. My "good stuff" would be 100% natural fibre knitting yarn, history books and scented candles.

Still, if a charity shop acquires a reputation for not selling much nice stuff, then customers will give it a swerve. It doesn’t matter that the volunteers have bought things !

There’s a bit in a Miss Read book where at the village fete the cake stall volunteers have bought all the good cakes before opening, leaving a poor showing on display. Is this acceptable too?

What is "nice stuff" though - I bet your definition differs from mine, and everyone else's too.

Also, how big do you think my house is, to be buying up loads of "nice stuff" which doesn't fit and isn't to my taste just because I can, or to stop other people getting it? I'm paying the same price for my purchases as any other customer would.

Why shouldn't they if they are doing the volunteering

Jumble sales were much cheaper, some real bargains. They were for small local causes, using school, church and village halls Then we had car boots, mainly individuals selling their own clothes etc. No real overheads.

As a volunteer, I know staff in charity shops have to work hard to cover the costs of utilities, maintenance, insurance, wages etc, before the profits go to the support the lifesaving work the charities do. Targets are set for sales, and items are priced via guidelines. I’d love the naysayers to spend some time behind the scenes.

What an absolutely vile comment - to have such a low opinion of people who give up their time to raise money for a cause they are passionate about. What an unpleasant person you are.

@FamilyTreeBuilder
exactly! My good stuff would be new crime fiction which I buy and then redonate to the shop.

Actually these threads tend to be about volunteer bashing- either we are too stupid to price things correctly or we are stealing everything.
pretty depressing really.

Saw some DMs for £60!!!! in our local charity shop!
I checked with the member of staff (thought maybe it was a code, couldn't believe that was the price) who told me that's what they go for on ebay and I was free to buy them elsewhere if I can get them cheaper!

They don't seem to understand that's not how it works - on ebay you can search a wide pool for exactly what you want (and the prices are optimistic, not what the goods actually sold for). Shops have to rely on footfall and are selling one pair in one size, in one colour. They'll be lucky if anyone that wants something that specific just happens to go in.

Shops that don't have much turnover of stock don't attract customers- we go to the shop that has new stock every week, because its reasonably priced and people buy it.

I was gratified to see that a few weeks later the boots were still there in the crap shop's window...

Some people can’t understand why anyone might give up their time for no financial reward.

I can’t remember the last item I bought! Probably a jigsaw, which, if it was intact (some have bits missing) I would redonate. They have set prices, although as a volunteer, there is a discount. Without us, charity shops wouldn’t be viable.

They don't seem to understand that's not how it works

Another variation on "charity shop volunteers are all thick".

I go into different charity shops, we have quite a few nearby, and they’re not all the same. There’s a ‘pile it high, sell it cheap one’, where if people have the inclination to search through lots of items, they’ll find a bargain. There’s a hospice discount shop, where items that haven’t sold in their branch in a more affluent area are sold off.

A couple sell really cheap books, people who don’t mind tatty, dog eared paperbacks might be happy with them. There are others, like ours, where the shop is well set out, there are bargain rails, but also nice items, steamed and well presented, and no smell. The books are dearer, but in better condition. Similarly glass and crockery, lots of volunteer time spent in washing those, some are seriously filthy when they are donated.

I’m sure we make some mistakes when we price random items, it would be difficult to have expert knowledge of every item that comes through the door. Too cheap, someone will get a bargain. Too dear, and they won’t sell. We must get most pricing right, as we are constantly restocking. We do check online, and usually price around 50% of Ebay prices.

I volunteer at a charity shop. If any of the posters who have disparaged volunteers for getting “first dibs” on donations could see the bags of smelly, mouldy clothing, the bags with dirty nappies and hidden sharp knives, the piles of unsellable dross that people can’t be bothered to take to the tip…….they would perfectly understand why we do BUY some items before they go out on the floor

I think you miss the point, Charity shops were originally set up to help and support the very poor. When a charity shops start pricing goods higher than when in the sales of a main stream retail outlets that is wrong. The goods are donated at no cost to the business therefore their is movement is the monies that are used for the charity and costs of the running of the business

Don't get me started on this topic! Our local Barnardo's priced tops at £17 and other stuff higher in price second hand than for new (this was before cost of living crisis). New manager in there now and prices dropped a lot.

@CorinneJane , you miss the point. Charity shops are for raising money for a charity, not for selling things cheaply so that poorer people can afford them.

Exactly. That's why they don't care about resellers and so on. Their objective is to raise money for the charity; it isn't important who buys stock or why.

You were GRATIFIED they were still there. What a peculiar response！ You weren’t frustrated or disappointed they hadn’t thought about the price and the money hadn’t reached the cause，you were pleased that you were ‘right’.

It was a tongue in cheek comment. I suppose your right, I wasnt literally gratified. I WAS frustrated.

I thought it was an outrageous amount for a second hand pair of boots, and obviously I wasnt alone in thinking that or they would have sold.

I found their attitude odd. If prices were lower, they'd sell loads more stuff rather than it just stagnating on the shelves. Then the charity would benefit more.

There's no right or wrong here is there? But there's efficient, and inefficient.

I'm frustrated by the inefficiency.

It reminds me of our elderly relative who has a tonne of old clothes and bits and pieces that she no longer wants. She wants us to sell them for her.

However, she expects to get what she thinks they are worth (based on what she paid for them new). Things for sale are only worth what the buyer is willing to pay.

Also @ShanghaiDiva , you're not making any sense.

I didn't steal the notional £60 from the charity by not buying the boots, so why should I feel bad about someone else's poor decision making?

Don't you feel happy when you're right? (Go on, you do, admit it!)

you misunderstand me. No money had been made for the charity. You pointed out the price was too high and went back and due to the high price the boots were still there. I would expect you to feel frustrated as perhaps they would have sold at a lower price and the cause would have benefitted. But you said you were gratified which is a peculiar response

Sorry that I didn't have the correct feeling 🤷‍♀️

You seem to have an axe to grind.

I support my local charity shops - it's where I get virtually all my clothes. But I can still spot a poor pricing decision and choose not to participate in it.

support my local charity shops - it's where I get virtually all my clothes. But I can still spot a poor pricing decision and choose not to participate in it.
I've pointed out things that have been seriously underpriced.