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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think Vinted has killed charity shops?

422 replies

Finlesswonder · 10/06/2023 15:01

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?

OP posts:
LuvSmallDogs · 10/06/2023 15:17

If I want cheap clothes for fast growing DC, I can either cross my fingers that the one charity shop in my area that doesn't overcharge has something for the right season in the right size...or I can go on Vinted, filter for clothing type, sex and age, and have my pick of hundreds of items!

SophieD1987 · 10/06/2023 15:18

This reply has been deleted

We've removed this post as the poster has now started a separate thread about it.

FijiSea · 10/06/2023 15:18

I think charity shops have killed themselves off.
There are 5 in our town centre all national chains and all priced really high , like £8 for a supermarket brand dress etc.
Its purely pricing.
I can get clothing cheaper on Vinted so I buy on Vinted instead of buying in charity shops.
If our charity shops had a pound shop I’d shop there instead and buy loads.
So for me charity shops price too high for what they are selling.

Forgetmenott · 10/06/2023 15:19

It used to be worth having a look in charity shops. But now the charity skims off all the best stuff to sell online so there’s no point going because you already know you aren’t going to strike lucky. Before you even walk through the door you know the best stuff has been taken away.

Over time the “stuff we can sell online” has expanded from “a few items with obvious labels that go on Ebay” to “pretty much anything decent including clothes that go on Vinted”. Hence why the shops are empty apart from a few bits of rubbish - they’ve put it all online.

dearJayne · 10/06/2023 15:20

I was in one the other day and saw a sainsburys dress for £12. The dress would have been about £15 new last year.

Some of them are too expensive.

Finlesswonder · 10/06/2023 15:21

So aren't charities noticing a serious drop in the money they're making from their shops? Why don't they do something about it? It's sad. Going to a charity shop and buying 3 or 4 things used to be part of my normal high street trip

OP posts:
Outwiththenorm · 10/06/2023 15:22

Our local charity for refugees has announced it’s no longer taking clothes donations as they have been inundated

sayanythingelse · 10/06/2023 15:23

No, charity shops have killed charity shops. The prices in some of them are laughable. I went in one the other day that was selling tatty kids supermarket clothing for £6.99 a piece. I used to be able to pick up decent labels for £1-£1.50.

The only charity shop that I donate to now is an independent one that donates to local business such as a dog shelter. Everything else does go on Vinted.

GulesMeansRed · 10/06/2023 15:24

I volunteer in one.

My take on it is:

We still get some amazing quality donations. I priced a bag on Thursday which was all Boden, Phase Eight, Hobbs, Reiss, Cos.

Those bags have become less common in the 8 years or so I have been volunteering.

Perhaps some people are selling on Vinted, many of the bags we have handed in though are from people in the 40+ demographic and maybe they aren't as interested in Vinted/Ebay? We are located in a fairly affluent area, they may well think the £ they can get from selling their clothes isn't worth the hassle.

Fast fashion has had a FAR larger impact. Things from Primark, Shein, Pretty Little Thing, Boohoo, H&M - often far too poor condition to even put out on sale, those sorts of brands rarely even hit the rails unless BNWT or something more expensive like a winter coat. Nearly all of it straight to recycling.

A large % of our turnover used to be occasionwear - wedding guest dresses, mother of the bride outfits, prom dresses, ball gowns, hats etc. This is the first year that occasions have been back to normal, we've very little supply of that sort of item.

We in our chain do get corporate donations from large brands, stuff which is mainly online returns, sometimes ex-sale stock, sometimes minor faults like a split seam or missing button. Spent most of Thursday pricing boxes of Zara stock - very little of it to my taste as a 50 year old woman but my teenage DD thinks it's amazing to get a Zara dress for £10 which would have been £30 in the shops. That's our rule of thumb for new - a third of the original selling price. We also have loads and loads of swimwear in at the moment, not Zara, but I think it's stuff which was ordered in for summer 20 and 21 and then nobody bought it as we couldn't travel.

So in short - yes, still bargains to be had but the key is to be checking regularly.

FijiSea · 10/06/2023 15:24

dearJayne · 10/06/2023 15:20

I was in one the other day and saw a sainsburys dress for £12. The dress would have been about £15 new last year.

Some of them are too expensive.

This is exactly my experience too , they price supermarket clothing at higher prices than what you can get in the sales.

kingtamponthefurred · 10/06/2023 15:27

This reply has been deleted

We've removed this post as the poster has now started a separate thread about it.

Hi Sophie, you need to start your own thread. Your husband sounds like a controlling arse though.

Fluffyhoglets · 10/06/2023 15:27

No the ones I've been.to have still had loads of stuff in. I've got quite a few things from charity shops this year.

GulesMeansRed · 10/06/2023 15:27

I'm not sure exactly what it is but yes charity shops get reduced rents etc compared to regular shops.

No, we pay full market rent. Business RATES are reduced, but that's not the same thing. And we pay heating, electricity, water etc just at the same rate everyone else will.

No charity will keep a loss-making shop. It will be closed. But it's not just clothes remember, if a shop is doing really well on bric a brac or jewellery, it doesn't matter if they're not making much on clothes. I was on the till for an hour on Thursday and sold a gold ring for £115 and a big stack of books for £80 - that's covered our costs for the day in one transaction.

Startyabastard · 10/06/2023 15:27

Gymmum82 · 10/06/2023 15:03

Maybe they shouldn’t try and rip people off with their pricing. I shop on vinted now instead of charity shops because people aren’t trying to sell primark items at more than what they cost new

My thoughts exactly. I barely shop in charity shops any more and I loved them!

Trinity65 · 10/06/2023 15:30

PrimalOwl10 · 10/06/2023 15:09

Tbh charity shops are known to use vinted and eBay. Over the years they have gotten progressively greedy. It used to be a place helping people who weren't well off get a bargain whilst putting back into charity. Over pricing items to the point they are much cleaner new.

This

I volunteered in a well known charity shop and they were always posting some items that came in onto Ebay.

Forgetmenott · 10/06/2023 15:30

Finlesswonder · 10/06/2023 15:16

OK you learn something new every day! I had no idea that
A) They are putting their good stuff online only now- why???!
B) That Oxfam specifically was a dirty word now

To make more money. For example in a relatively poor area people can’t afford to pay more than £5-10 for something. The charity shop could put that same item online and sell it to a wealthier person from a posher area for £30. Same reason they send all the best stock to certain shops in posh areas - because people there will pay more for it.

GulesMeansRed · 10/06/2023 15:31

Also if all you are finding is tat, that's because that's all that is being donated. Honestly, spend a morning going through bags full of washed out, stretched items, old socks etc and you'll realise just how much rubbish people donate to us. Yes it can be recycled but it's still my time going through it all to find the one sellable item among the dross.

midsomermurderess · 10/06/2023 15:33

I’m not sure about that. Near me there is a part of the city chock full of charity shops. Yesterday, in one, Bethany, I bought a genuine model 90 angel-poise lamp for £25 (they sell on eBay, Etsy etc for upwards of 100, sometimes as much as £250); and a lovely, perfect condition Denby butter dish for £6. I think there’ll always be a place for them.

JaffaCake70 · 10/06/2023 15:34

Ourshoddyhouse · 10/06/2023 15:03

I tend to leave stuff on Vinted for a few weeks, then goes to the charity shop if it doesn't sell. I've also donated stuff I've bought if it doesn't fit when it arrives.

Same

Mirabai · 10/06/2023 15:34

Finlesswonder · 10/06/2023 15:14

@Billyho
No eBay was always quire a user-unfriendly place for sellers in comparison to Vinted, I think you would have sold an eBay if you were going to have this as your sole source of income OR if you had something truly special to sell. But for your standard workaday pair of joggers or GAP jumper I think pre-Vinted people would have just charity shopped their old clothes or given away big bags in their community

Disagree. I find eBay easy enough to use, it’s where everyone sold clothes before sites like Vinted came along. People try and sell anything on eBay.

Forgetmenott · 10/06/2023 15:35

midsomermurderess · 10/06/2023 15:33

I’m not sure about that. Near me there is a part of the city chock full of charity shops. Yesterday, in one, Bethany, I bought a genuine model 90 angel-poise lamp for £25 (they sell on eBay, Etsy etc for upwards of 100, sometimes as much as £250); and a lovely, perfect condition Denby butter dish for £6. I think there’ll always be a place for them.

Bargain! I used to find stuff like that ten years ago but not any more. My local charity shops would have put those items on EBay and local people wouldn’t have had a chance at buying them.

Hollyppp · 10/06/2023 15:38

I can’t be bothered to do Vinted so everything go to charity - Reiss dresses, Topshop jeans, Zara tops

GulesMeansRed · 10/06/2023 15:39

It's not about "giving local people a chance at buying them" though @Forgetmenott . Any charity shop is there to raise as much money as we possibly can for our charity.

It's also about keeping stock moving by advertising it to a larger audience. We had a very niche book on Scots property law. Second hand value was about £100. The chances of someone coming into our shop for a wee browse of the paperbacks, spotting it and realising it's just the thing they were looking for are very slim indeed. So it goes online, and is advertised to every lawyer and law student in Scotland, and sells quickly.

midsomermurderess · 10/06/2023 15:39

Forgetmenott · 10/06/2023 15:35

Bargain! I used to find stuff like that ten years ago but not any more. My local charity shops would have put those items on EBay and local people wouldn’t have had a chance at buying them.

That’s interesting. The young chap behind the till did say I’d had a lucky day. I had to agree! And I’m keeping both, not Ebaying them on.

Mirabai · 10/06/2023 15:40

GulesMeansRed · 10/06/2023 15:39

It's not about "giving local people a chance at buying them" though @Forgetmenott . Any charity shop is there to raise as much money as we possibly can for our charity.

It's also about keeping stock moving by advertising it to a larger audience. We had a very niche book on Scots property law. Second hand value was about £100. The chances of someone coming into our shop for a wee browse of the paperbacks, spotting it and realising it's just the thing they were looking for are very slim indeed. So it goes online, and is advertised to every lawyer and law student in Scotland, and sells quickly.

Yes I’ve bought just such books online from charity shops (not on law) - books with a very niche market.