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 agree.
And I am not sure that higher prices lead to more revenue.
I have a couple of big chain charity shops near me, they are really expensive- and always empty.
I do have another charity shop near me, independent, raising money for local charities- prices are low, £1 for a t shirt, £3 for a coat.
The place is always super busy- not just people buying, but donating too, and the large number of customers means the stock is always fresh, has a swift turnover.
I am sure the cheaper shop actually raises far more money for the charity overall, despite havinng low prices.
I know charity shops are trying to raise as much money as possible, but high prices don't always mean higher revenue.

Which is understandable, but business rates, staff costs, ect have also risen, therefore they cannot run the business at a loss ?

This post comes up every few months.

The law states charities must use their assets for the purpose of the charity, not giving members of the public a benefit (unless e.g. tackling poverty is one of the aims of the charity).

So, any items donated must be used to provide maximum benefit to the stated beneficiaries (e.g. rescuing animals, doing cancer research, whatever).

There is no ambiguity.

So, charity shops MUST, by law, be run to maximise the money raised for the stated beneficiaries of the charity. If that means pricing high, it means pricing high.

The 'big name' charity shops, like any other retail chain, have detailed information about the performance of their shops, and high targets for their managers. So if they consistently price high that is because that maximises the income for the charity. Unless people struggling with poverty are one of their beneficiaries, that is their legal obligation.

Environmental benefits are irrelevant unless it is one of their reasons for existing as a charity. Realistically, like many retailers, they recognise that the environment has an impact on the whole of society, and generally will recycle what they can't sell as far as possible. Our local shops accept old clothes not suitable for resale as they get a small amount of money for bulk rags - it helps them if you separate out anything worn, dirty etc and let them know it is for recycling so they don't waste time sorting through it.

This is also why they do not accept every donation, and do not put every article they accept on sale.

If you don't want to shop there, then shop elsewhere.

Interestingly the one example you gave of BHF just happen to be routinely more expensive than other charity shops anyway. The irony is they pay someone tens of thousands of pounds to look at ways of saving them money and their CEO is on more money than the PM. It's one charity I just don't shop at because they have lost their way.

You'd think that some charity shops would just be more conscious of the cost of living crisis and the fact that people have historically gone to charity shops for an affordable bargain.
Plus there's the environmental reasons. We should be encouraging people to reuse and buy secondhand, not putting them off!

Charity shops exist to make money for the charities, not to try and achieve wider societal benefits that aren't related to what the charity is actually for. They aren't there to try and give people affordable clothing and nor are they there for environmental reasons, unless either of those things is within the specific remit of the charity. That's not how it works.

They do obviously need to consider whether they're pricing themselves out of the market, as anyone who's selling things does, but the proof of that will be in the pudding.

It's a balance though - charity shops are meant to be raising money for the charity in question (not just charity to all comers) and with paid managers plus rent plus the rising costs of energy, in lots of areas they won't make any profit selling things at £2. It's also not great for the charity when designer things are priced so cheap that people buy them for £5 and go and sell on vinted for £50, which has certainly happened around my area.

The Primark issue is part of a bigger underlying one with fast fashion. No new clothes should cost £2 new, the cost to the environment in terms of water and energy use alone is higher than that, so that people can have continually new things that barely last, and/or get passed on unworn to a charity shop. I do appreciate that many of us are under financial pressure, but the people in developing countries being shafted to make these are in far worse off conditions.
It then puts charity shops in a hard place - their donations are full of cheap stuff that is in bad condition, or is barely worn but worth pennies.

The only job of a charity shop is to raise money for the charity in question. They will review their takings regularly and adjust their pricing as necessary. What people don't, I think, appreciate is that it's a lot easier to sell say, 1 book for £2 than 8 books for 25p. Selling everything off for pennies might be nice for the person buying but is no better at raising revenue than selling half the items for double the price.

I absolutely agree, I saw a coat yesterday in one for £60!!!! For a used, musty old coat.
The stock is free, they should be thinking about selling quantity, as that makes more money than selling a tiny amount for extortionate fees.
I have gotten some really good furniture bargains over the years but the clothes are just getting ridiculous

Oh, and there are strict regulations on what soft toys can be sold. If they don't have the right tags showing that they meet regulations on e.g. being fire proof, they go straight into recycling.

As I have a dog that loves ripping soft toys apart I get a huge bagful of soft toys every so often for the donation of a couple of pounds. Then, once she's ripped them up, return them as recycling. A win for them and for me...

On Mumsnet people are regularly lauded and applauded for buying from charity shops and then upselling privately (FB market place / Vinted) and charity shops are 'blamed' for having cheap prices. So charity shops cannot win. They're either too cheap and unethical / morally vague shoppers sell on or they are too expensive to counteract and those they are intended to help miss out.
Pick a side people and vote with your wallets.

We have a chain of hospice shops that sell at ok prices and then everything gets moved to their bargain shop where everything is a pound. I donate all my clothes and bric a brac to charity. They are currently desperate for donations. I think people will be holding on to stuff longer and there will be more replacing only when necessary plus selling instead of donating. I have discovered Facebook market place as I am looking for a set of dining chairs. The amount of stuff for free or cheap and all manner of stuff that may have been donated before. You only have to look on here when people are hard up it’s recommended to try and sell unwanted stuff. Plus vinted is really cheap, only bought one thing but it was a specific sports item that is no longer made.

Except if selling more for small amounts of money would result in greater takings, they would be doing it. The fact so few do that shows it isn't the best way of generating income for the stated aims of the charity.

The only job of a charity shop is to raise money for the charity in question. They will review their takings regularly and adjust their pricing as necessary. What people don't, I think, appreciate is that it's a lot easier to sell say, 1 book for £2 than 8 books for 25p. Selling everything off for pennies might be nice for the person buying but is no better at raising revenue than selling half the items for double the price.

There's also the issue of space. The 1 book sold for £2 will take up a fraction of the space that 8 books for 25p will. That has to be factored in too.

I was in the UK in the summer and went charity shop browsing hoping to get some good bargains and was shocked at the prices, way more expensive than the charity shop in my town, a Red Cross one. I used to work (well, workfare type thing) there and we had a pricing guide that put tops at 30-50c, trousers at 2 euros, dresses, tunics, nice shirts etc. ranged from 1-4 euros, children's clothes were 20-50c apiece. We had some leeway for good quality or branded clothes but mostly stuck to those prices.

Books were also way too expensive, I wanted to buy a few holiday reads but most of the charity shops had prices I couldn't justify.

What people don't, I think, appreciate is that it's a lot easier to sell say, 1 book for £2 than 8 books for 25p. Selling everything off for pennies might be nice for the person buying but is no better at raising revenue than selling half the items for double the price.

But the flip side of that is the other 7 books priced at £2 that don't sell just sit there and that also doesn't benefit the charity. Yes there's a fine balance, but pricing the books for 50p - £1 each and actually selling them is surely a better idea than pricing high and just having items sit on the shelf remaining unsold for weeks on end?

In comes the person who has a- never been in a charity shop and b-never shopped at primark it seems.

They don't usually pay b rates.
Imho they get subsided rents too because I can't fir alove of god figure out how they would make rent in some of that places.

We have a Niamhs Next Steps in our town and it's great! £4-£6 for really nice items. Although, jeans etc tend to be over £10. I will have a look at the Air Ambulance and BHF one next time I go in as they were ok but NNS is a treasure trove.

I think due to the image of NNS with that little sweethearts family as the founders it gets a lot of generous donations.

The YMCA near me also has amazing furniture fir reasonable amounts.

There was a dress (a day time dress) in a charity shop from one of the better high street shops and they had it on sale for £30! I couldn’t believe it. It was nothing special. I’ve also noticed that very ordinary items are going for much higher prices than I’d expect in a charity shop - I did think Gawd I can’t even afford to shop in charity shops anymore 😨

There was this one woman who came into the charity shop I worked in who liked to do that, one day we had been donated a collection of really nice copper pots and pans and when my boss saw her coming she hid them.

I understand the need to get the most value for their respective causes, but if charity shop prices continue to rise as they have been then people will stop buying from them.

I’m more of a book (than clothes) buyer from charities, and I think s/hand paperback prices have become ridiculous.

Hey @AutumnFairy01 try unicef in Benfleet, total bargains in there!

That's true. A couple of weeks ago I bought a lovely brand new coat for £10 in Scope which I then found out costs around £65 in St Michael's. Beside it was a much cheaper brand with an obvious and badly repaired split seam down the sleeve which was priced at £25.

When they are sold they don't take up any space in the shop. Charity CEO salaries are a disgrace.

I understand the need to get the most value for their respective causes, but if charity shop prices continue to rise as they have been then people will stop buying from them.

Well if this does happen, then obviously at that point charity shops will need to address their pricing. But they do also need to see what the market can bear, that's part of what they do. And there's also the question of whether the next income bracket up will get priced out of what they used to buy and start buying the increasingly expensive charity shop stuff. We're going to see a lot of change in spending habits across many income levels in the near future.