Charity shops aren't doing themselves any favours

[Downatthefarm]

I can afford to buy new but prefer to buy second hand. I enjoy the experience of sifting through the varied clothes in the charity shops and finding things I wouldn't otherwise see on the high street at that time, and of course I like other thrifters love a good bargain.

Over the last 5 years charity shops have really gone downhill where I am. They price second / third hand clothes similarly to the original RRP, sometimes even more expensive.

They are stocking more and more brand new items, like Frenchic furniture paint, priced higher than it costs at places like Wilko's and B&Q.

I already know somebody will say "the shops purpose is to raise as much money for their charity as they can, not to cater to people who don't have much money" but hasn't being accessible to people with low incomes and being good value for money always been one of the most appealing aspects of them?

I still donate but do the vast majority of my own second hand buying on vinted now and I know lots of others are doing the same.

AIBU?

I have a whole heap of lovely items that I’m about to take to the charity shop! I spent the best part of a day posting it all on vinted, and have sold a handful of items for hardly anything, the offers you get are ridiculous. People really do want something for nothing - I’d rather the charity made some money from it rather than trotting down to the post office each time to make £2 here and there.

no more donations signs - possible reasons have been explained multiple times on this thread.

On the back of this thread I looked carefully at the local charity shops on my walk today. What I noticed:

• old jersey dresses selling for £8-9. This is really too much for an impulse buy for me. I could go on Vinted and choose basically any dress I want for a £9 budget.
• the price tiers are often weird - apparently Next and Dorothy Perkins are in the same bracket as Monsoon etc. PLT/Shein/Primark always overpriced for the quality. White Stuff and Boden command top dollar regardless of quality, so could be a bargain or a rip off depending on the item.
• the best bargains are always on the mark down rails - I got a Massimo Dutto skirt for 50p!

I agree about the colour coding. The colour is the easiest thing to see so sorting by category then suze makes the most sense.

In the US charity shops are called thrift shops, which I think is a better name for them and might remind some charity shops why people actually shop there.

Agree, and it needs to be pointed out that anyone can be thrifty.

@CoffeeCantata it's not CFery to expect to find a bargain amongst the fast fashion. The business model of Goodwill in the US involves pretty low uniform pricing and people do indeed turn up and sift through the whole (colour-coded, gender-sorted, size-sorted, type-of-clothing-sorted) store looking for bargains. Some customers make money selling clothing (or other items) bought there online, and some clothe their families and themselves there. As long as the stuff sells, who cares what happens to it afterwards? Items on the shop floor are colour tagged and there are weekly sales on items with tags of a certain colour. There are loyalty cards, and customers can get a discount on their next purchase if they rack up a certain amount in purchases. After a certain number of weeks on the shop floor, clothing is removed and sold on for rags or sent to their regional warehouse stores where it is sold by weight. The point of selling fairly low and constantly refreshing merchandise is to keep people coming in through the doors. Hardly anyone leaves a Goodwill store without buying something.

I'm still a big fan of charity shops but I do think they have an issue with recognising quality. Ours sells Phase Eight and Primark for almost identical prices even though one is made of better quality fabric and will last far longer than the other. A well-worn bobbly Primark tee (that was only £3 originally) shouldn't be marked up at more than a 50p-£1 really.

It's hard to argue with Vinted, I've had some awesome buys there in the past year. New with tags Birkenstocks for £25. Boden jeans for a fiver...

I'm not sure how my local Cancer Research price, it makes no sense. Today I went and saw

• Hobbs gorgeous maxi dress £5
• Shein blouse £3
• Boys Primark shorts £2
• M&S Autograph mens shirt £3

Some great brands at £5 and fast fashion £3

Their dresses are all a fiver. Be it a vintage Jane Norman maxi or a stretched out cheap and bobbled mini dress from Pep&Co
In a way I’m glad they know nothing about clothes as I’ve got some really good stuff from my local superstore

People are selling on Vinted to be able to afford food and heating... charity comes in many forms and frankly, i'd rather purchase from someone who needs their Vinted income to support themselves, than line the pockets of a CEO at Oxfam!!!

Plus not the be rude, but the little old ladies can't recognise a lot of the higher end/trendy brands. I think they pick it up and go "oh thats pretty... £5" but that £5 pretty top was a £3 bit of primark toot.

As a charity shop manager I have almost lost the will to keep commenting on these threads ... so full of 'experts' who seem to know how to run a charity shop (despite their protests that they never shop in them ).

I acknowledge that occasionally mistakes can be made regarding pricing ... the shop I manage is 'volunteer led' which means that the manager's hours are part time and so the shop is open for a lot longer than the manager's paid hours. People have different views in what is 'attractive' ... no one complained when my well meaning volunteer priced a pair of Levi 501 jeans at £5 of course ...

I currently have a brand new Seasalt dress with its label on for £59.95 .. I have priced it at £20 which is fair.

I do think it clearly comes down to the individual manager ... like in any business ... some charity shops are well run and some aren't.

But I can't emphasise enough that it is just not about pricing ... I used to do a £1 rail to clear unsold stock ..it never worked, if you price things right in the first place items will sell. The issue is the dross we are donated, sadly no one wants it whatever the price, and dealing with loads of unsaleable stock in a small shop means limited space to accept new stock ... a viscous circle.

But charity shops continue to be very popular and clearly make money for the charity they support .. our small town has nearly 20 charity shops, with a new one opening this week!

Plus not the be rude, but the little old ladies

Yeah that's rude. And ageist. And back to the "all charity shop volunteers are just thick" nonsense.

Is putting the poor quality / damaged stuff on a rail outside for free not an option to make space? I'm sure there will be some who'd be happy to take it off your hands.

I'm not being deliberately sarcastic by the way. It must be incredibly annoying for charity shops to be lumbered with a load of stained / ripped / well past it's best stock taking up space and preventing anything good quality going out.

Agree Genie and all these 'experts' (no doubt 'young' ) who know their labels would be very welcome to volunteer in charity shops .... I don't see an endless stream of people offering to get involved....

Excuse me I did volunteer in a charity shop when I was 'young'

I'm not able to now as I'm a full time carer but if there comes a time I'm able to then I would absolutely do it again.

I must say some of the charity shop employees have been considerably more rude to and about us customers than we have to and about you throughout the thread.

Down unless the charity shop actually owns the space outside the shop you can't just put out a rail on a public pavement? I know some shops do but it is very poor practice and if someone trips over stock in the street the charity would be liable. But no, generally people don't want stuff for 'free' ... believe me I have tried to off load so much stuff over the years of running a charity shop ... and endless runs to the tip if we have too much for our 'recycling company' to collect. During the aftermath of Covid when everyone had their massive clear outs it was a nightmare, I did occasional leave stuff out with a 'help yourself' notice but more than likely people just added more rubbish donations.

I've explored every possibility... Car Boot organisers, Freecycle etc etc ... there is just too much unwanted 'stuff' in our lives.

No one is being personally or deliberately rude, it's good to have a robust discussion and hear different points of view.

Is putting the poor quality / damaged stuff on a rail outside for free not an option to make space? I'm sure there will be some who'd be happy to take it off your hands.

Really? This comment just shows that you have never been in a charity shop sorting room. Yes, just stick the crusty old single socks and empty DVD boxes outside on the pavement and the grateful local people will be beating a path to your door!

The stuff which goes to rags is NOT FIT FOR SALE. People do not want stretched beyond all recognition tops and single socks. They are only fit for the bin/recycling.

But we do know the brands when we are taking all the best bits for ourselves…

Still waiting for a definition of "all the good stuff". My "good stuff" is knitting yarn, craft kits, books related to my profession/interests, quirky 70s storage jars, vintage Christmas decorations.

I bet everyone else's "good stuff" is entirely different. Agree with the sentiment though - how can volunteers be simultaneously dim little old dears who don't know their Papaya from their Prada, and grabbing all the "good stuff" to hoard in their loft?

We have a branch of a hospice shop near us which is the 'boutique' version, and while I have no issues at all with a charity trying to make as much as they can for the cause from their donations, I do get annoyed with them putting things out that are too worn to be wearable because the label means they can charge a premium. A heavily bobbled dress is not worth £20 whether it is Shein or Boden.

I really like the colour schemed displays - makes the usual random selection of stock look much more attractive and intentional, less like a jumble sale.

I go straight past the pink, blue, yellow and beige racks as they are not my colours - I head to teal and turquoise, purple and burgundy, black and grey.

And I do sometimes go in saying I need a black skirt, so the colour scheming is additionally helpful.

Tranquilize. Settle down. How about a big hug?

I agree with you. They can only sell if there is a market. I don't understand why they don't knock stuff down to rock bottom prices and get rid of it to be circulated out there.

It's better than the alternative which is going to landfill or textile waste recycling at best.

A pricing strategy only works if people are prepared and able to pay the price you are asking.

There should be stats on how much they throw away.