To think Vinted has killed charity shops?

[Finlesswonder]

I'm sure in posh towns or areas they are still alive and well but I went into 3 or 4 in my city yesterday and they were completely barren, I guess because people are now thinking why give their unwanted stuff to a charity when they could make a few bob?
It's a bit sad I used to love a mooch around a charity shop but these were seriously slim pickings! Anyone volunteer in one and know if that's true or did I just get unlucky with the day?

Completely agree, @ShanghaiDiva . According to @chupachucks - "Simple fact is allot of the workers cherry pick the donated stock and don't pay. Having voulenteerd at alot I have seen it most places."

"Most" places have volunteers who are there to steal. So it's OK for them to generalise that we are all scummy thieves, but not OK for volunteers to say that actually, they have never seen the £10 bobbled primark t-shirt?

Yes we get first dibs. Yes we pay FULL PRICE for anything we buy. That's really unusual for retail, DD recently worked at Next, she got 25% off all purchases. A friend's son works for Gregg's and gets 50% off. We pay full whack.

On the haggling - I blame shows like Bargain Hunt when they NEVER pay the stated price for anything.

We have a system in our shop which helps us work out how long something has been on sale. Yes we will perhaps reduce something originally priced at £50 or more if it has been out for 3 or 4 weeks and not sold - we often do this with paintings or ornaments. But no, I'm not going to reduce something from £7 to £5 just because someone thinks it's too expensive.

Yeah but the thread title is all about the death of charity shops so you've got to expect doom and gloom. And you always hear about the one bad apple, not the 99 good ones.
Perhaps you need one of those TV fly-on-the-wall documentaries to tell your side of the story.

They do put their best stuff online, or with things like fine jewellery, ceramics and antiques, send them to an auction house. They are presumably duty bound to try and get the best price for donated goods, and if that's the best way, then that's the best way.

They are presumably duty bound to try and get the best price for donated goods, and if that's the best way, then that's the best way.
Is it the best way, though? They only get stock through goodwill. Piss your customers off and that goodwill has gone. They need to think more holistically.

The stuff we send to auction is only the rare antiques or paintings. Last thing we sent was a copper Victorian jelly mold which sold for about £150. The local auction house very kindly waives seller fees for us so we get the full amount. So why wouldn't we take that opportunity to raise £150 for the charity?

Another shop in the same chain had a donation of a rare first edition of some book, can't remember which one, it went to auction and raised about £2000. Sticking it on the shelves for much less than that is not the right thing to do, ever.

To be honest even if volunteers are able to have first dibs on buying donations it doesn't bother me, they give their time up for free and it's so vanishingly unlikely that anyone is buying every decent bit of clothing and whatever else (taste is subjective anyway).

I think some have a bit of an inflated sense of what a charity shop is. At the end of the day its a bricks and mortar shop that people donate stuff to and is sold to raise money for the charity. Makes sense to auction the more valuable stuff online if its niche- more likely to get a buyer to pay what its worth as the market is much bigger than just whoever happens to pop in.

I often give DS a few pounds and he has a browse and can choose a toy or book (as long as there's something he wants of course) and then we donate toys and clothes when he's finished with them; works well for us. I haven't seen the fabled primark t shirt for a fiver either, some stuff I do find surprisingly priced but it works both ways in my opinion, I have got some absolute bargains that they could have for sure charged more for!

There might be a reason @GulesMeansRed & @ShanghaiDiva that the ‘mythical’ bobbly primark top is mentioned time & again - because enough of us who shop in a variety of charity shops regularly enough have seen it. Repeatedly. Even today I went to one shop that was selling a Zara dress for almost new price with massive bleach stains down the front. I’m sure nothing like that would get past your very high standards but it’s something I see in that branch - BHF - ALL the time.

Your condescension doesn’t help address the fact that some shops are chancing their arm & regardless of how much your rent, utilities and salary costs are, no one is going to buy substandard stock at inflated prices.

You have settled one thing for me though : I will only be donating to local charities that support community initiatives from now on.

Charity shops are killing themselves.

@Over40Overdating
I also shop in a variety of charity shops (over 13 in the town where I volunteer) and always have a browse when I am on holiday in the UK. Without a doubt I have seen items which are overpriced (imo) and some which are under, seasalt dress for £8, imo.
i don’t believe I said people would buy substandard stock at inflated prices. Indeed, I said the opposite: shops which have inflated prices and poor sales do not survive.
With regard to ‘my very high standards’ of course I make mistakes and sometimes items go on sale with a hole in or a stain. We sort through bags and bags of donations and items slip past. In this situation we will either sell the item ‘sold as seen’ for a nominal amount, give it to the customer for free or rag it.
am not sure where @GulesMeansRed or I have been condescending? We have stated clearly how the pricing works, whether we reduce items, why we sell online etc.

Ive been in about 15 charity shops this weekend
Long story
They are truly alive and well in my experience

As for haggling, I think the reason people have started doing this is precisely Vinted (haggling is built into the model of offers) and car boot sales (all car boots are an opportunity for haggling). Auction houses and antique shops the same. Second hand stuff is often haggled over, so it's not that weird to do it in a charity shop.

I mean I don't haggle in a charity shop as it's not the done thing, but I don't think it's strange that people have started to do it.

Ceri where is your evidence for this? The Charity Retail Association has provided figures (detailed earlier in this thread) that charity shop sales have increased year on year, two new charity shops opened in my small town within the last couple of months, the chain I work for is planning on opening more branches.

And I do think those of us who work or volunteer in charity shops do listen and take note of comments ... on the back of a very similar thread(they crop up every other week) I had a 'make an offer' week in my charity shop, I've done £1 rails, and I am willing to barter occasionally ... but, as another poster said, it is not purely down to price point ... if someone doesn't want something (ie: the polyester slacks example) it doesn't matter how cheap they are priced.

I’ve never haggled in a charity shop either tbh but I just vote with my feet.

Id rather go into the shabbier looking shop that’s cheaper / better quality than the show room styled that’s Charging more for less.

With my example up thread I think the flasher one makes it’s money on it’s new goods or referb white goods rather than it’s clothes so they don’t mind so much it sitting there. Maybe the clothes draw people in and then they buy a dishwasher or donut maker by chance who knows.

Where as shabby shop goes for fast turn over of cheaper yet good items and thus people know that one’s good for the clothes but you won’t be buying a bike from it unlike flashy.

There are two good charity shops near me, both have recently put their prices up but not ridiculously. I decided a few years back that I would try not to buy any tops and dresses new and have bought lots from both shops. I find it more fun than normal shopping because I can buy things which are a bit different and fun without thinking ’can I justify this?’. And also it has to work on serendipity, popping in each week to see what’s there, rather than trekking round the shops for something specific that can’t be found anywhere.
So I hope those shops carry on doing ok!

I find it’s often difficult to tell when something’s on the hanger whether it will be flattering on me. I thought this was normal - in shop changing rooms people would bring in four things, say, and buy one or none. And photos on websites are even more difficult to interpret. I just bought a pair of boys shorts from M&S that looked teal in the photo and when they arrived they were proper emerald green.
But obviously I’m not typical, since buying clothes off Vinted/EBay is so popular.

Interesting article on BBC news website this morning about second hand clothing, Vinted etc and charity shops. The CRA (Charity Retail Association) reports a 15% increase in charity shop sales for the first three months of this year vs first three months of last year.

Clearly many people are enjoying shopping in charity shops.

And clearly finding things to buy, at a price which is acceptable to them

Am I the only one singing the title of this thread to the tune of Video killed the radio star?

In all seriousness I do buy from charity shops now and then and they aren't too bad. It's just sometimes tricky to donate.

I'm having a massive sort out.
The good stuff (decent handbags and BNWT) goes straight on Vinted. I've made a few hundred this month.
The more worn out stuff is given to charity shops with a very clear "This is rag man stuff, don't bother sorting through it and wasting time"
The VERY worn stuff goes to the recycling centre.
The slightly worn bits, hats etc go to che charity shop itself. NEVER one of the big chains with million pound head offices. The little ones run by locals that ACTUALLY help people.
I love trawling charity shops, I've not found a single item I've wanted to buy in a couple of years now ☹️

This.

Did a shift this am, our shop was busy.

Charity shops started inflating prices a while ago so it’s actually often cheaper to buy on Vinted.

I think it's this Tory government that started inflating prices...

That's right. We all had a memo direct from BoJo and Rishi to stick another quid on all the prices. 🙄