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?

Say what?

Everything has gone up. Everywhere. Meaning in other counties too. I doubt everything is the fault of the Tories.

(That reply was for just incase your post wasn't in jest )

I'm late to the party, but I certainly don't think charity shops have had their day.

I have still managed to get items of clothing for less than a fiver, and I'm gobsmacked on some of the posts claiming £25 for a faded Per Una top or £10 for a bobbly Primark one. I wouldn't even buy anything from Primark new because their clothes are not made to last.

I live near a University city, and the charity shops in town are always busy with people from all demographics. I would also point out that some plenty of people will not have a Vinted or eBay account especially if they don't own a smart phone.

There are two closer to where I live, and I suppose, they are what most of the posters on here would call "proper" charity shops that charge only a couple of quid for clothes. I saw a pure silk Reiss top for £1.99 the other day in my size, and I have in the past bought Denby items there again, for a couple of pounds including a tea pot, sugar bowl, and milk jug, when they were having a half price sale.

I used to work in the other one, and they really do charge very little for their stock. I had a lady who paid 10p for a ball of wool, and because their wasn't a price label on the other in a different colour, I said 15p and she challenged me on that! Some customers really do want something for nothing! Some lucky person managed to buy a Hermes scarf, in its box for £15, but did try to offer more money for it.

Re volunteers taking all the good stuff: yes, we get to see it first but the rule was, it needed to be out on the shop floor for at least half a day before we could buy it ourselves. The discount was 25% then.

I use eBay and Vinted of I am looking for something specific, bit sometimes of I have the time, it's quite satisfying to wander into a charity shop and find a quirky item for a few pounds.

I had a medical appointment this morning in quite a poor area of town. There are lots of charity shops in this area so I went in for a browse to kill sometime.

There was a nice George marine striped cardigan on the half price rail but it had no original price on it. I asked the lady behind the till how much it was and she said it was £5. I then asked her if that was before or after the discount because all the other pieces of clothing had a label on, with a sign on the rail that all items were half the marked price.
She then barked at me that of course it would not be reduced and why would I expect it to be? Well because it is sitting on a discount rail with no tag on it.

I then suggested that the cardigan should be moved to the full price section and perhaps tagged to avoid further confusion.

She then said to me in a very curt tone, so your not buying it then? I said no thank you. She asked me why? I was honest and told her I found £5 for a second hand George cardigan a little steep. Well she was enraged and told me I could not buy it new for that. I said well I have paid £7 brand new for a similar quality cardigan quite recently. In all honesty her tone and customer service skills were terrible. As I said previously high end stores would not talk to customers with such disdain so I have no idea why so many charity shop workers feel entitled to do so, especially when asking such a simple question.

The manager in my local charity shop told me that they now scan the barcode of books with a special system to establish the original price of the book.
Say, a new Nigella book would be £20 in the bookshop, they want €5 for it. But, what if the person who donated bought it in a charity shop? What if it’s not the latest release, but a few years old? I see what they’re trying to do, but…

If it’s a latest release, where the donor bought the book is irrelevant.
if it’s not the latest release, it should be priced accordingly. I price books in the shop I volunteer in, just look at the publication date, no need for any special system.

SD, yes you’re right there on the first point of course. I know folk who own fashion consignment stores, and they often source at markets / charity shops & then price them up.

You were wrong arguing with her.

If someone came in your shop and said they could get things cheaper elsewhere then you'd say go and buy it then.

Pointless arguing about people's prices.

I'm not surprised she said so you dont want it then.,

Well you obviously did not read my post correctly. I never mentioned anything to her until she specifically asked me why I did not want the cardigan? She asked a question. I answered truthfully.

It was a totally serious comment actually-nothing funny about inflation:

Britain has a bigger inflation problem than either the US or the eurozone, according to Bank of England policymaker Catherine Mann.
The latest official UK inflation figures show UK price rises have slowed from double digits to 8.7% for the 12 months to April 2023. But this is still above the 8.2% rate forecast by the Bank of England earlier this year.
The UK rate is also nearly double the equivalent US rate and significantly higher than the eurozone’s 7% rate of inflation for April, which slowed to 6.1% for May.
All three regions experienced the economic shock of the COVID-19 pandemic. EU countries and the UK struggled with dramatically rising energy prices due to Russia’s war in Ukraine. But two UK-specific issues are exacerbating the country’s inflation woes: the adverse economic shock of Brexit, and the UK’s reliance on its financial services sector.

Interesting comment about the amount of waste that charity shops dump. Where do you think this waste comes from? Volunteer in a charity shop and you will see the amount of stuff donated that you just would not put out on the shop floor. But hey, as we are told, it will do someone a turn. No, a sweat stained t-shirt, a chipped cup, a bag with a ripped interior will not do someone a turn. Customers expect a quality item whether they are paying a pound or higher.

My storeroom is bulging with stock and it has nothing to do with stock not shifting. I make good money, I rotate stock every two weeks. I am just lucky to have lots and lots and lots of donations.

I joined Vinted as I had a load of kids clothes in good condition and my mate told me it was great place to offload as well as make a couple of quid. I was sceptical as I work FT and don’t have time to be going up and down to a postbox for £3 for a dress.

After the first sale, I was right, I don’t have time. As a result DH has taken bags and bags of the DCs clothes down to the charity shop instead. To be fair we didn’t really need the money anyway.

But the message doesn’t get through. The shop where I volunteer discards so many unsaleable items. Luckily we get some money for textiles that are sold by weight. However we are seen by some as an extra bin. We sell lots of toys, cleaned up and tested (if they run on batteries). But who wants to buy broken toys or incomplete jigsaws for their children?

The only rate reduction is for business rates, they pay full price rent and utilities.
I know that for fact.

I volunteered for a local charity shop (hospice) a couple of years back and there was a scandal about how the chief exec had been misusing funds and it really affected them. I left not long after but locally a lot of people said they would never donate to charity shops again. I think there have been quite a lot of scandals like that and it does affect some of them

I had a look a few months ago in our local one and it was £4 -£6 for a top with holes, or showing a lot of washwear...I will stick to buying on the sales or vinted.

Proof of all of these subsidises, please?

As a charity founder and manager of our shop we pay FULL rent, FULL rates on our storage (rates go by footage - not business), FULL utility costs, FULL insurance costs, FULL training costs, FULL f&f costs, FULL maintenance costs, FULL H&S costs, FULL p.o.s costs... the list is endless, we are the l costs.

So, please share the source of your knowledge. I'm intrigued now.

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

As I said previously high end stores would not talk to customers with such disdain so I have no idea why so many charity shop workers feel entitled to do so, especially when asking such a simple question. Maybe because high end stores pay their assistants?

I used to buy designer wear from my local market and sell on eBay (think Spanx leggings bought for £5 and sold for £60).

The market got wise to eBay and they do this themselves now.

So I’m not surprised charity shops sell online, people are willing to pay more.

@NatanneKer are you getting your 80% rates mitigation relief? Our council tops it up to 100% so there are no business rates to pay.

The shopping centre locally has several charity shops and some creatives and they pay a £30 p/w nominal rent.

They need to cover bills, PLI and maintain the units but the "staff training" in each of the stores is simply shadowing until you get the hang of it and basic fire awareness and heavy lifting training. The shopping centre provides that to any retailer that wants it

Sorry, the training is provided to any retailer that wants it...at a small cost to nationals and multinationals but free to charities.

They are also able to make use of the mall space for free whereas the nationals pay around 20k a year depending.

They’re not all the same. We have returning customers who like our staff, our volunteers, our stock. We often fill a tub with tops for £1, and regularly reduce more expensive items after a couple of weeks. Bargains are still to be had!

Its also helpful to have volunteers who have an interest/some knowledge in music(cds,vinyl etc), jewellery (hallmarks, vintage, good makes), ceramics and collectibles, and books.

I enjoy volunteering. Several of our volunteers are retired, and live alone. There’s always someone at the shop to have a chat or a cup of tea with. I’d recommend it for anyone who is bored, with time on their hands.

As an independent charitable organisation outlet, we have to pay for separate storage/group use costs which we get no rates relief on. That's on top of the rent we pay on the space.

I think it's an insult to suggest that charity retail training is merely 'shadowing!'
Our training consists of safe line working, mental health first aid, suicide intervention training, leadership training and much more. All of which incur costs.

H&S costs go beyond simply showing someone how to lift safely and correctly. Fire alarms COST, fire extinguishers COST, maintenance of these systems COST.

There really is no free ride for many charity shops. Our outgoings quite often tip any of the outgoing costs attributed to running a mainstream outlet on the high street.

"I think it's an insult to suggest that charity retail training is merely 'shadowing!'
Our training consists of safe line working, mental health first aid, suicide intervention training, leadership training and much more."

Yours may well be but not in this shopping centre. The stores all do it the same way and make use of the training I just told you about. It's not insulting 😅 it's fact!

There are 5 different charities with 7 shops overall. They all do it this way and their storage space is included in the £30pw nominal rent.

Not all charity shops are the same and here, they certainly benefit from very low outgoings. All of the shops make a profit (which is fantastic).