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?

I went into one yesterday ..looking at paper back books...all were £1-99
I can buy new ones for that in local discount book store

I've also found the price of books creeping up. I was in BFH the other day, and noticed quite a few of their paperbacks were more than £3. I appreciate it isn't a huge amount, but it does feel expensive for a second hand book.

I have noticed that the particularly expensive ones in my town have significantly fewer customers.

I needed a cafetière and thought I'd just pick one up in a charity shop for ease. More expensive than new (nicer) one in Asda

£16 for a faded bobbly dress - I presume because from Boden.

There was a toiletry bag that was free years ago (I know because I bought a lot of the brand for DD's as teenagers). DD thought it would be cute as a lunchbox. But £30!! It's still in shop 5 months later.

Just a thought. I live in an African country and there are bales coming in of every type of clothing and shoes that you can imagine. All of which has been donated.

What we assume is happening, is that if goods are not moving in the charity shops that they were donated to (I know they were as some still have the charity shop tags on), that they just eventually get sold off per bale. Perhaps they are selling as bulk for a bale which proving simpler and more economical for them, to get a set price per kg. Perhaps they get put out once in the shop at a higher price hoping it will move at that price, but if not they will get per kg price for it anyway.

And there is no way some of the stuff has had a second chance at being sold for a low price. There are designer brands and all kinds of pricy items in those bales. I am quite sure a lot of it never even saw a charity shop rail.

That’s interesting @murphys

There are masses and masses of clothes here. The churn is unreal. I haven’t paid RRP for years (other than for underwear) because you can always get something lovely on offer, or vinted or eBay. There are some business sellers on eBay who offer good high street brands like Sandro and Gerard Darel really cheaply. And no matter how cheaply they’ve priced they will always accept an offer. Cashmere and wool take a little more chasing but they’re obtainable.

I don’t visit the charity shops much at all now. Maybe it’s the competition from the internet sites as well as the overproduction of clothes that causes so much stuff to make its way to Africa.

What do you do with it all?

What do you do with it all?

Some does go to its intended purpose, to the under privileged.
Some gets sold into industry, so for example t-shirts, will be cut into rags and sold per kg.

Some come in with the intent to be resold per item.

1 and 2 are done legitimately, everything will have been cleared legally for vat, tax etc. So for eg, the company buying bales to make rags, are not allowed to resell items as complete. It is quite strictly regulated.

3 not so much. There are often raids where the items are resold. The siezed items are cut up and destroyed. Resellers buy per bale, and that is their sole income. Most don't sell with a massive mark-up, so items are getting re-used and not going to landfills, but someone made a buck on the way. Is this right? I don't know, but people are buying more second hand items and less new. There are pros and cons to this. Of course the items are not coming in free. Someone somewhere has paid out for the bale and the shipping, and then the duties.

This, Shein, Temu etc has had quite a knock on effect on the local textile industry. As a result our government has just introduced a 45% duty on clothing coming in to the country. I am not sure how / if this is affecting bales though as it was just introduced this month.

@murphys

Thank you.

Shein and Temu are cheap tat. It’s so depressing both from an environmental point of view and in terms of workers’ rights.

Southern charity shops are much more expensive than Midlands charity shops (I always have a good browse when I visit family in the Midlands) but London is the worst! I was in London recently and went into an ordinary-looking charity shop, a national chain, and they were charging £30 for canvas shoes. It's bonkers.

Having said that I do still visit charity shops in my small Southern town and I occasionally find great bargains. Some of the non-chain local ones also have times when they do "everything £2" or similar.

Yes, its the same here. Shein has a huge market here, as unfortunately local manufactures just cannot sell at these prices.

There has been uproar about the duty increase, I suppose only time will tell if it is an effective move.

I couldn't comment on clothes prices. However, last year DD bought her own place and needed to get furniture for it so she checked out local charity shops. Sue Ryder had some great stuff at very reasonable prices. A lovely solid wood round table with four matching chairs was only £60. A three seater settee in pretty good condition was £100, plus they charged £20 delivery for that. They have a fast turnover of furniture. No wonder!

She has also been able to pick up various smaller items like rugs and things and kitchen equipment at other stores. She got a fantastic enameled cast iron casserole with lid (like Le Creuset but not), good as new, for £6. I have seen the same one new in Sainsburys for £45.

So maybe it depends what sort of thing you are after or where you are. We are in the North West.

BHF is the worst here too. Primark/H&M clothes listed for the same or more than they costed new.

They also don't have a changing room here, even though it's a huge shop - I bought a couple of dresses for a wedding on the proviso that I'd be able to return them if they didn't fit. Well they didn't so I returned them and the woman on the checkout looked HORRIFIED that I actually wanted my money back rather than re-donating. She actually tutted at me. They were over £30! I'm sorry but if I could spare that much money I wouldn't be buying second hand 😅

There are a couple of charity shops supporting local charities that are realistically priced and I shop there regularly.

I’ve stopped using them. There are a lot of fakes in them too. Vinted is way cheaper.

The massively overpriced one near me has just closed! I can only assume it was making no money. There are 4 within a 2 minute walk of each other. 3 of them have kids clothes for a couple of quid or less (49p bins outside), books are 99p or 3 for £2 for example. This one had second hand baby vests for £1.50-2, baby grows £2-4, girls dresses £6 or more even if a cheap brand. Any kind of label and it was priced extortionately. Second hand badged school uniform (so only saleable to a tiny minority who attend that exact school) £5 a jumper and so on. I used to go in there and see the same stock, week in, week out. Clearly wasn’t working for them!!

There really shouldn't be - charity shops (or any other shops) cannot legally sell counterfeit goods. Straight in the bin for recycling where I volunteer.

Obviously that depends on a volunteer or paid manager spotting the fakes. Some charity shop volunteers just aren't switched on, some are ignorant of the law and think that putting something out marked "in the style of" is fine, when it's not. In my experience the larger chains are much better at training than the smaller chains and independents.

New books are £10 so prices of donated books will also increase. I price the donated books at between £1.50 and £2.25, unless it’s a newly released book in vg condition then i will price at least £3.50 and they often sell the same day. We have WH Smith’s opposite us so will check their offers first.

@BeEasyonYourself that’s not a great refund experience. We do have a changing room but still refund items and the only question we ask is if there something wrong with the item. We offer refunds so there should be no tutting from staff.

It depends where you buy your new books. Supermarket price is typically £4 - £5 for a paperback.

Of course. And the price you sell at also depends on condition. Shop next to us sells at 50p, but condition is not as good and books are not arranged in any order. There’s a market for both types of shop.