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?

Actually one of the reasons I sell things on Vinted for peanuts is that I feel in some ways it’s the more ethical thing to do - the item is wanted, at least. Charity shops fail to sell lots of things so they just go to clothes recycling which isn’t perfect. I feel like selling it for a few quid to someone who wants the item adds another layer before the clothes end up in clothes “recycling” which sometimes isn’t really.

I was keen to sell maternity bundles online for instance (and about 75% of my wardrobe came from second hand bundles originally). I’ve never seen maternity clothes in a charity shop and in order to sell them properly they’d probably need a section so you know what what you’re actually looking at.

Books I don’t donate anymore to charity. There are lots of little shelves and old telephone boxes dedicated to book swapping near me these days. This is a fairly new thing I suppose - all within the last 5 years. I pick up the majority of my books from these shelves for free and donate all my used books here too. It’s quite satisfying to pass the box a few hours later and see that someone has taken your book already.

I suppose I think that when I was young there was really only one of acquiring second hand items or passing things on and now there are so many, you can use the method that suits you.

I suppose it's worth remembering that the high street in general has been in trouble for years.

Actually one of the reasons I sell things on Vinted for peanuts is that I feel in some ways it’s the more ethical thing to do - the item is wanted, at least. Charity shops fail to sell lots of things so they just go to clothes recycling which isn’t perfect

That's a good point to be honest! Hadn't thought of that.

And yet, industry figures show that charity shop sales are increasing.

https://www.charityretail.org.uk/charity-retail-sector-outlook-3/ "overall year on year growth in March of no less than 15.9% (March 2022 was 14.4%), once again significantly outperforming commercial retail."

They do also acknowledge : "most of our members are reporting that donation volumes are very strong. However, there is little doubt that a well-reported trend of declining donation quality is continuing, perhaps reflecting the fact that more people are either hanging on to their better quality items or maybe selling them through pre-loved platforms."

Anyway, come into out shop and you'd find most tops are £5 - £7, or £3 - £4 if it's cheaper end or sleeveless. £5-£7 for trousers/skirts. £6 upwards for dresses, of course we're going to charge more for Hobbs than H&M. Lots of BNWT Zara for around £7 for a top and £10 for a dress. Brand new still in the pack swimwear separates for a fiver. No end of quirky retro homewares, fabric, glassware.

All this "nobody is going in charity shops and they never sell anything" is clearly nonsense.

I was brought up to think that charity shops sold clothes to poor people for a reasonable amount of money, which benefitted poor people here, whilst still helping the charity to raise money for the needy abroad but now it just seems to be, that they make as much money as possible, to pay their CEO's and other staff, as much as possible and providing other staff, with luxury accommodation in which to abuse the destitute and needy abroad, with no thought whatsoever given to helping poor people here.
( As a very small kid, i thought charities like OXFAM would be grateful for cash as all i was used to seeing them get was milk bottle tops and used stamps, lol, i thought they must be pleased getting real money for a change lol, how kids think, eh?! :-D )

@Twentypastfour Books I don’t donate anymore to charity. There are lots of little shelves and old telephone boxes dedicated to book swapping near me these days. This is a fairly new thing I suppose - all within the last 5 years. I pick up the majority of my books from these shelves for free and donate all my used books here too. It’s quite satisfying to pass the box a few hours later and see that someone has taken your book already.

Very sadly, we don't have anything like that near me but it's a great idea. I pass mine onto a friend who then puts them in those supermarket book boxes or whatever after he's read them, if they're not his sort of books, i take them to the local holistic centre.

I suppose I think that when I was young there was really only one of acquiring second hand items or passing things on and now there are so many, you can use the method that suits you.

When i was very young, i only ever remember there being OXFAM and it always seemed filled with strange exotic things ( joss sticks lol ) and stunk to high heaven tbh :-D it wasn't a place for the likes of us though, it just seemed to be frequented by those middle class hippy types, that always looked to be away with the fairies.
Instead it was church jumble sales if poor people were looking for clothes, otherwise neighbours would pass things on to other families, woollens were pulled out and reknit into something else.
Now the poor just go to Primark or Pep & Co, cheaper to buy new than go to a charity shop.

I had a clear out and uploaded a batch of things to Vinted on Friday. 26 hours later, I’ve made the best part of £80. I can take my daughter on a day out with that. Frankly, I can’t afford to donate to charity shops these days when there is a simple and quick option to make money at my finger tips!

What a selfish and stupid comment- do you actually understand the point of charity?

Charity shops exist to raise money for the charity. They don't exist to provide poor people with cheap stuff. They don't interrogate customers to find out how wealthy they are and they don't care what you do with goods once you buy them.

Impoverished people are actually more likely to buy new from inexpensive fast fashion places like Primark than from charity shops.

Mishandling of funds is a separate issue.

Perhaps if the people working in some charity shops weren’t so rude to people donating.

I boycott my local charity shop now after twice trying to donate stuff. The first time they took one look at the bag of clothes that was clean, folded and decent stuff from Hush, M&S, John Lewis and said ‘no, we only want higher end items’.

The second time, they watched me struggle in with a heavy box of good quality kitchenware, waited till I got to the desk then told they they were only accepting clothes.

OK then, you can get fucked and I’ll sell it on Vinted.

Everyone seems to think charity shops in nice areas have better stuff, but I don't find this to be true at all. I have better luck in deprived towns. Often charity shops get things from clothing banks, not just from walk ins, or people deliberately donate to more deprived areas. I'm more likely to find nicer brands in run down areas definitely. I think charity shops are struggling due to a lack of volunteers more than anything else.

Well I do still buy from and donate to charity shops.
Just not the big names anymore.
One reason is the ones I buy from/donate to are for a local cause. Meaning they sell cheap to my local area, and a hospice that took in half my family over time.

Another reason is the big name shops are in town, a bus ride or car journey and parking fees away. The local ones are closer and have free parking.

In one, the guy who runs it, his eyes go wide when he sees me. I once took in a bright yellow white stuff bag. About £20 new. He was all over my bag. But he sold it for a fair £4. I've seen who bought it, it's pretty noticeable. She still uses it. No I haven't spoken to her. I'm just pleased that another woman is using it.

So yes I still give to charity shops, I'm just more careful about which. Once upon a time I'd have given it to the nearest open shop.

I agree with this, a local school does a jumble sale now and again and it's very very popular

@pleasehelpwi3 yeah OK 🙄charity shops have basically stopped helping anyone in poverty by catering for middle class environmental types.

The difference between charity shops from 10 years ago to now is unrecognisable, they now think they are boutiques/antique shops.

If they sold cheap they would shift more items and make more money, think Alan Sugar stack it high, sell it cheap... but what do I know with my stupid and selfish comments 👌

@DarrellRiversCriminalBehaviourOrder

" Charity shops exist to raise money for the charity. They don't exist to provide poor people with cheap stuff. "

When i was a kid, that was fairly much the thinking, it was seen as a symbiotic relationship, not just another way for the middle class to rip off the working class. Everyone knows better now.

" They don't interrogate customers to find out how wealthy they are and they don't care what you do with goods once you buy them. "

Ya don't say?

" Impoverished people are actually more likely to buy new from inexpensive fast fashion places like Primark than from charity shops. "

You should change your name to Sherlock - i have already stated that a couple of pages back.

" Mishandling of funds is a separate issue. "

I'm not sure that i said anything about mishandling funds per se, rather legally obtained funds and perks being used at the same time as abusing the trust that the public has in those supposedly acting on behalf of a charity.

Definitely a shortage of volunteers. Oxfam in the town where I volunteer has dramatically reduced its opening hours due to a lack of volunteers and several other shops no longer open on Sundays.
re post above. Is it rude if we say we don’t want or can’t take something?
we can’t take electrical items as we can’t test them. I suggest taking the items to another shop (two streets away) that does accept electrical items. Does this make me rude? Is this onus on the donor to check what we take before they bring it in or are charity shops seen as a dumping ground for anything no longer needed?

I don't know why you got offended by my response, but it looks like you deserved it, so all good.

I can't be bothered with selling stuff so most of my more decent stuff goes to charity shops and the rougher stuff to the supermarket clothes bank

It was your lecturing tone what did it @DarrellRiversCriminalBehaviourOrder i did point out that it was the impression given/taken in my very young days, before sufficient information was available to to people on which to base any other opinion, as i said, we all know far, far better now.

I got fed up of donating really good clothing to our local charity shop yet I’d never see any of it for sale and what they did have on sale was pretty poor by comparison.
I once queried this and the volunteer at the till couldn’t really give me a straight answer so now I sell it all through Vinted as I’d rather sell it directly to someone who actually wants and values it.

Ah, so you're pissed off because I had the temerity to respond to a post of yours without closely scanning the entire thread for Your Posts, committing them to memory and cross referencing them with Your Latest Post, as Your Posts deserve. They are that significant.

And then what pissed you off was that I was in fact agreeing with you anyway.

I don't generally set out to offend people, but sometimes it happens as a happy accident. All good.

Seems like an ad for Vinted!

@DarrellRiversCriminalBehaviourOrder It was probably all said in the same post, if not, my two posts were very close together i think, not hard to read them before getting to the reply box at the end of the same page, i assumed most people would read to the end of the page before going back over to pick up on a post but maybe some people just can't read a whole page before their typing fingers start to itch.

Our local charity shop is very dear, tops are lowest £5.50

Might as well pay a couple of quid more and get brand new from primark

The job of charity shops isn't 'to help anyone in poverty' it's to raise as much money as possible for the charity.
Alan Sugar would never advise selling things for less money than you are able to get for them...