Charity shop prices

[Worryworms]

Went to a local charity shop today and the prices were ridiculous. £16 for a jacket that wasn’t in good condition, £8 for a worn bobbly primark jumper, £6 for a kids jumper that was very worn. Kids white school polos that were discoloured, £3 each. I recently bought a pack of 2 brand new ones for £3 at a supermarket. has any one else noticed this in their local charity shops?

Anyone who thinks that these charity shops are selling for money for the charity is absolutely deluded. Surely everybody knows, like with the vast majority of the hundreds of thousands of charities, very little goes to the actual charity in question. It goes to those at the top of the charity feeding their big fat bank accounts.

I only ever take stuff there to get rid of stuff that I really genuinely don't want anymore, because I can't be arsed to skip it. And I buy stuff that's convenient for me and that's reasonably priced.

Yep, some stuff is ridiculously outrageously priced. Three out of four items I pick up in most charity shops now, I put back down because it's two to three times more than it should be ... It's been like this for the last four or five years. I used to get proper good bargains from there, and I used to buy loads ... (Something 3 or 4 times a month...) Now I very rarely buy more than one or two things every 3 or 4 months.

The local authority will usually grant s peppercorn rent and extremely favourable rates for charity shops, rather than see the shop sites sit empty. Hence the more charity shops there are in an area, the more it is seen to be in decline.

My reply to @Ragwort

The local authority will usually grant s peppercorn rent and extremely favourable rates for charity shops, rather than see the shop sites sit empty. Hence the more charity shops there are in an area, the more it is seen to be in decline.

Yep, we have a few round here and it’s ridiculous. I saw a faded bobbly M&S hunker that was lovely and originally £18, for £8. I’m amazed anyone buys these things!

Exactly this. It's pretty unfair on other businesses that would bring more interest to the highstreet and fill a genuine need / gap in the local market. The frequency with which these threads appear on MN shows how out of touch charity shop prices have become. I used to buy nearly all my clothes in charity shops, but nowadays I can hardly find anything in there at all that is a) in good condition and b) reasonably priced. Much prefer Vinted now, whilst the greedy pricing of charity shops has put me off donating my own items to them as well. It's a poor strategy they are following.

According to the most recent information provided by the Charity Retail Association charity shop sales performance has increased by 15% compared to same period last year ... so clearly most charity shops are doing something right ...

This. Shop managers are paid a wage and have sales targets to meet just like any other store. They won't be pveroricing donations if they aren't selling.

Totally agree.

Well said.

I see it from a slightly different angle. There are a lot of items that may have been priced too high and not sold. They have most likely been auctioned off by the charities and are baled up and sent to 3rd world countries.

The bales are then sold, shipped out, and this is how I buy items.

Just for eg for the jackets and coats, quite a lot of the time the charity shop tag is still on. Many of them are British Heart Foundation, some Oxfam and a smaller amount of other charities.

I did often wonder why I see so much more from these two charities, so it must be that they don't move as much due to their pricing. OR they are getting a decent return on bulk which gets sent out elsewhere.

I have seen way more Primark, Shein, Boohoo items recently, so I assume these are priced too high, or there are too many of these items.

@PurpleButterflyWings
80 p from every £1 raised ait BHF goes to research. But don’t let facts get in the way of your charity bashing…
https://www.bhf.org.uk/what-we-do/annual-report-2023#:~:text=Did%20you%20know%20that%2080p,to%20the%20British%20Heart%20Foundation.

@PurpleButterflyWings
so you take unwanted items to charity shops because you ‘can’t be arsed to skip it..’
why would anyone else want your stuff which is just fit for the skip? How is this supporting the charity?

I’m a volunteer for a charity shop and sometimes act as manager when she is on leave. I do get paid when acting up, which is the princely sum of minimum wage.
The main problem we have is that we can only sell what has been donated. I’ve noticed over the last couple of years that the quality has fallen considerably. I assume people are wearing things for longer and anything half decent gets sold on eBay/ vinted.
We price most stuff at 50p or £1 but lots doesn’t sell. We then try and get rid of it but the problem is a shortage of volunteers. Those who come in have an average age of 76 so can’t work at the same rate as someone 30 years younger.

Those complaining about charities how much time do you give to make things better?

3h a week currently. Managers have always got paid. That's not an argument for charity shops becoming more expensive than ever.

@ichundich
charity shops’ costs have also increased - utilities, rent, wages.

I agree. Prices are INSANE. Primark clothes more expensive than they cost new. I shop on vinted now and get proper bargains. It’s a shame. Used to love a charity shop and supporting local charities but I won’t be ripped off

I got a couple of skirts for work at the weekend at my local BHF shop - lined, proper waistband, can't recall the brand but they were £6 each which seemed 'the' price for a skirt but I was very impressed! I also picked up a pair of unworn court shoes for work for £6. Usually find something in the Air Ambulance shop but they are going through a phase of having more 'trendy' stuff which doesn't suit me at all.

It's sad when they increase prices I went into one the other week toys are usually around the £2/3 Mark for dolls they were suddenly selling for £5/10 they are naked and covered in sharpie plus that was the price of an un-sharpied clothed doll why WOULD I pay that price for used few weeks later the basket of dolls is still there still just as full surely hanging onto stock makes no sense? It's just catching dust

We actually have a charity outlet shop everything is £1 occasionally there is furniture you can get a sofa for thirty quid we thought they wouldn't last long but they survived covid with minimal increases and are still going strong price it low get it gone

Proces at the national charity shops are ridiculous now. I prefer to buy from the very few shops supporting local charities - I just got a lovely hoodie for my 6 year old grandson for £1.75 and joggers for the 1 year old for £1!

Must be about a month since we last had this and I'll make the points I always make....

1. Charity shops are there to make money, not provide people with cheap stuff.
2. Charity shop managers have oodles of information about what is selling, what is not selling, sales by department, average selling price, sales against last quarter, last year, against other shops etc etc etc.
3. Volunteers are not stupid, but mistakes get made. Because if there is a paid member of staff, they are not there all the time.
4. No charity shop is going to have the active policy of pricing something second hand at more than it cost new.
5. Quantity of donations is higher than it ever was. Quality of donations has decreased overall.
6. People are always hung up on clothing prices - our shop sells more bric a brac and toys/games than we do clothing.

We've already had the "bobbled Primark more than new", all I need is for someone to make the comments about little old ladies not knowing fashion, and how all the grabby volunteers take all the "good stuff" and my bingo card will be complete.

Agree OP, went into an Oxfam near work (upmarket area) and it was selling dresses for £30-40. Some were more upmarket brands like Hobbs and Phase Eight, so would likely cost £100-150 new, but these were older, worn, faded. I’d rather buy new in Next or Tesco!

Equally, I once bought a pair of US branded jeans (not common here) on a charity shop sale rail. They were £7 down to £4. RRP was $300 when I looked online. I did actually take them back as it didn’t seem right!

And as for the "sadly deluded" comments about how all the money is going to salaries - clearly bollocks but you're not going to change the opinions of people who are vehemently anti-charity. Anyone can go to the websites of the big charities and look at their accounts, see what senior staff are being paid, what they're spending their money on. Or get similar information from the charity commission website. The charity sector is far, far more transparent than any other sector of retail. And it all comes back to this weird perception that everyone working in charity should be unpaid, or on minimum wage at hte very most.

Chill out, they get a new manager in every now and then who says they will maximise revenue, sticks prices up, clears the clutter, makes it all boutique.

Then within a month or two they tend to go back to normal. A few chains like Oxfam aren't worth looking in because of the prices.

Don't donate to, or buy, from any of the big boys. I exclusively donate to the local hospice shop. They also run a fantastic furniture showroom, collect free from your home too.

It's local, run by locals, mostly volunteer, and all the cash goes direct to the hospice. All management admin on- site too. One day I might even have need of them, so that's nice too.

£7 for a soft toy in my local charity shop yesterday.