To think a charity shop is taking the piss asking these prices?

[FrasierReboot]

Went into a charity shop today. Yes, I get that the charity needs to make money etc etc but....

£40 for worn bobbly Primark and George at Asda coats. Would probably have been half that price brand new

£7 for worn jeans with holes in the bum and or/crotch or seams, again brands such as Primark or George.

AIBU to think this is mad?

I bought my coat from my local charity shop recently, £11.99 for a George one, tags attached so new

Where do you live? Definitely not the case where I am— where I can go to the more more affluent areas and get a bargain. But yes, that is pretty awful.

Actually a quick check on eBay has some copies of the 1970 Beano annual at various prices from £12 - £50.
But it will only be worth £50 if someone actually pays that for it. Which is unlikely (unless in totally mint condition). So it's not worth that.
The problem is the volunteers might check eBay and think that's what it's worth because it's advertised at that price.

Though the one I volunteer at doesn't sell cheap items like primark t shirts because we need to actually raise money and there's not enough margin to put them on the shop floor

Don’t tar us all with the same brush. We work really hard to sell clothes, toys etc at very reasonable prices. Without these shops a lot of charities would struggle to keep going and people that rely on the charities would not be helped. Lots of threads on this subject and it would be nice if some people recognised the hard work us volunteers do

I was in a charity shop once and a man was arguing the George shirts were more expensive than they were selling them new around the corner. It closed down anyway.

I now regularly go to an out of town place, it’s big and everything is cheap, they rely on a high turnover and have an outside door you can donate stuff straight from your car. So they need to sell to take the new stuff in. It’s great.

I buy a lot of beads to make jewellery. This place it’s always £1 a necklace. I can go to other places and it’s £6-£10. I could buy new for that and get more for my money. These are places refusing stock as they are not shifting stuff as well.

This week I had a long chat with a lady donating her husband's clothes. We stood in the car park as she cried on me. Talked about him, what he liked and what she was doing for Christmas. I shared with her bereavement I have experienced.
When we had finished speaking, emptying her car etc she pressed £10 in my hand. I put it into the till.
As a volunteer I regularly see people in the shop checking Ebay thinking how much they can make from a charity shop. There are many, many videos on TikTok, about this.
This Christmas/New Year I urge you to donate if you can, pop in and buy something if you can, and remember we are trying to beat cancer, save the children, help a cat's home, etc.

To answer a few questions.

This was in the shop belonging to a local charity that has shops throughout the county I live in. This shop isn't in an affluent area. It's not a deprived area. Just somewhere in the middle really.

Those of you saying 'if you don't like the prices don't buy the items', well of course I didn't bloody buy anything. I wouldn't want an old bobbly coat or jeans with a ripped crotch even if they were 50p!

And of course the old 'think of the volunteers' comments. I don't think anyone has been rude about volunteers, but let's face it if they are putting old Asda coats on sale for £40 then they're hardly making the charity any money are they?

This is why I use free giving site. Can't stand the amount charity shops charge now. And I have been to a few that quite frankly I wouldn't have even given the clothes away they were so bad or smelly

All clothes in Cancer Research shops are cleaned before they go on to the shop floor.

Local charity shop charges £30+ for dresses which is insane
Went in recently and bought a toy for £12, sealed up with sellotape so couldn't check. Got home and it's broken so I returned it and showed them how it doesn't work. Next day it's back out for sale, same price 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

@FrasierReboot somebody will be the over- seeing manager of all the shops though. Perhaps find out how to contact them and send them an email. They might not be aware what is actually happening in the individual shops - unless someone tells them.

Here's my input.

Thank you to all who volunteer at the charity shops, You are utter stars!!!!

Thank you to everyone who donates items to charities.

And thank you to anyone who has found something to take home from a charity store. My DH always browses the book section and passes on anything he has read to someone else or back to another charity.

I like the idea of charity shops.

But as someone who is fairly new to Vinted, it can't be beaten.

It turns out I don't mind second hand clothes after all... indeed I can search by item, colour, condition, size, and I can haggle over the price, see pictures of it and have it delivered to my door.

I don't know how charity shops can compete TBH.

Charities need to really consider their revenue streams.

That 1970 Beano annual seems to go from £50+ online.

@Needmorelego it wasn’t an Oxfam bookshop, a regular Oxfam with a couple of shelves with books on.

As a volunteer I regularly see people in the shop checking Ebay thinking how much they can make from a charity shop.

And what of it? Items bought from CS do not come with T&Cs. Once the item is legally yours, you can do what you want with it. A CS is free to put things on Ebay/Vinted too. The shop where I work has its own accounts and we list lots of things.

@FrasierReboot It’s just the same rubbish spouted all the time. Actually I find your comments very dismissive. Easier to be negative about the good these places do. The shops in the town I volunteer in sell things at a reasonable price. @AyrshireTryer Very touching moment, was heartening to read that, appreciate you posting that

Charity shop in a deprived area near me is ludicrously expensive. It’s a big one for a local hospice and I don’t know who sets the prices but they are much like the OP has suggested.
My last visit I picked up a coat, possibly wool but quite battered, threadbare on one elbow, many buttons missing and bobbles everywhere. £140. It was apparently Hugo Boss. It was totally knackered.
They even had a set of kitchen scales, knock off salter type ones with a sign pointing out they didn’t work but were decorative. £15. I could have gone to Argos next door and bought them brand new and working for the same price.
I have noticed it’s mostly the same stuff every time I visit now so stock turnover is very poor.
Madness.

@ProudDada yes but just because a 1970 Beano is priced at £50 on eBay doesn't mean anyone has actually bought it at that price.
It's only worth 50 if someone pays 50.

@AdobeWanKenobi I suppose people who buy things to use as props in TV/films would be able to make use of a "decorative" set of scales or an old coat that would work for certain eras - but that's kind of specialist buying 🤔

Indeed. Quite correct.
You should always filter by sold items, which reveal the most expensive Beano 1970 Annual went through at £25 for a near mint copy.

You can list anything you want on eBay for any price you choose, doesn’t mean it’s worth it.

Of course they wouldn't.

These threads are on here all the time and lots of posters seem to think that those of us who volunteer in charity shops rub our hands together in joy at bobbled Primark stuff and have a competition among ourselves to see how much we can price it for. And then get even MORE giddy at the thought of stuff sitting on the rails for months without selling. Such fun! 🙄

Meanwhile, back in the real world, you have a shop open 50+ hours a week with possibly one member of paid staff there for 35 hours. The shop I am currently volunteering in is entirely volunteer-led, no paid member of staff at all. Volunteers have differing abilities and mistakes can get made. A shift is usually so busy that we just don't have time to go through every item out on sale and check the prices.

We want to sell stuff and we want to get good money for the people who generously donate us their possessions.

This again! Seems only a few weeks since this debate was ongoing.

My contribution then was the same as it is now. I love the recycling element of a charity shop. I get great brands at fair prices. You’re looking in the wrong shops! Crap won’t sell ~ why worry about it?