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?

There's a shop near me called Refurnish which I think is run really well, some stuff has price tags on (all really low) other suff they tell you price at till and its guaranteed to be low, craft suff etc. When you drop stuff off it is priced and put out straight away, even before ive left the shop after dropping off donations.

They will pick up furniture from you if you send photo first and they offer extra discount if you are on benefits .

I was in the British Red Cross shop in York and they had some shocking prices £25 for a jumper £12 for a men's checked shirt. I know that they need to make money but when their CEO makes £195k they can get lost.

Well done volunteers.
You are fab.
Cut through the Mumsnet despair and unknowing.
The label of thick, thieves.
Stock those shelves.
Plunge your hands into another bag of God knows what.
Work the till.
Raise the funds.
and price, price, price.

I prefer to use vinted now as its cheaper! Charity shops are a joke nowadays.

Charity shops round here don't sell at those prices.

Why don't you naysayers just shop elsewhere?
Leave the charity shops to those of us who love shopping in them.

@KimberleyClark yes the books by colour is just ridiculous. It really annoys me as well because it can mean sets of books by the same author or in a series or a trilogy get split up because they have different colour spines.
I wanted to read a particular trilogy and I was in a charity shop and I saw books 2 and 3 and I thought "oooh" but obviously I need to read book 1 first so I was about to not buy them but I suddenly spotted book 1 over on a different shelf no where near it's siblings. I bought all 3.
But had I not spotted book 1 I wouldn't have bought 2 and 3.
(and it was obvious from the cover designs this was a trilogy)

@GraceFairbrother I love charity shops. It's almost a hobby for me. But sometimes I do get frustrated about the way they sell things (see my comment above about book spines 🤣)

@Needmorelego , that would frustrate me too, but I've not seen it.
I don't like clothes sorted by colour. They sort of merge into each other.

@GraceFairbrother yes the clothes by colour is another odd one. People shop by their size surely 🤔

Not everyone - and do you really think that if shops thought they could make more money sorting by sizer they deliberately ignore that?

Also there is a massive issue with sizing - a size 12 in M&S is not the same as a size 12 in H&M or Zara. Zara's sizing is all over the place, I have clothes from there in a small and an extra large which fit. Anything you buy in a charity shop you have to try on as there are no guarantees.

I think it's telling that the majority of people still defending the current charity shop pricing strategy are the people who volunteer in them. That's not how business works though, and people are already voting with their feet by switching to Vinted and eBay.

If I went to a shop like M&S I'd be more likely to be on the lookout for something specific like a pair of black trousers, so would be happy to look at a block of black trousers, arranged by size and style.

Charity shopping is more serendipitous in nature. I don't mind rummaging, but if I wanted something like a coat, I'd be looking for something in my size that I liked.

I shop by size and colour. I prefer clothes sorted by colour as it makes it easier for me as a jewel winter to look for clothes.

Whatever people say on MN, the sector as a whole is seeing sales rising.

https://www.charityretail.org.uk/charity-shop-sales-continue-to-soar-as-charities-report-record-sales-quarter/

"a 15.1% growth in like-for-like store income in January-March 2023, compared to the same period in 2022." So again, people are clearly finding things they want to buy, at a price they are prepared to pay. Or sales wouldn't be increasing by 15%, would they?

I still find the odd bargain in our local charity shops but yes the prices have generally soared. What I don't understand is how they expect people to pay good money for clothes that really should be cut up for rags. Worn out, bobbly sweaters, stained blouses etc.

We used to have a fantastic "forces support" charity shop near us on an industrial estate. It was huge and sold everything. I had some amazing things from there. I wore the £1, good as new, woollen Warehouse coat I got from there to a carol service the other night.

@RampantIvy to be fair I don't really buy clothes from charity shops. I can't be arsed with doing clothing rummage - I don't buy from tkmaxx for the same reason.

@CoatOfArms , I hold the item up in front of me by the mirror, or try it on in the shop. Most things fit fine.
You could take a tape measure to the shop.

I volunteer in a charity shop on the shopfloor and find most of the good branded items go very quickly. Often I can put something out first thing and it’s sold before the end of my four hour shift. You get to know the resellers, there is one couple who will practically clear the rails of the better brands.

I can only comment on the one I used to volunteer at, but there the manager said high value stuff should be left aside for her to price - except that she was often seen carting a load of it to her car

Challenged on this, she giggled, did a flappy hand and insisted it was a perk of the job and "only fair"

I get that. some shops are a bit like a jumble sale - remember those?

Our charity shops aren't very big so it is OK to rummage, but I can't be bothered with TK Maxx or the H & M in Meadowhall. I prefer to see at a glance what is available without having to rummage.

I often go to an Oxfam in Central London (I know, I know - but its close to my office and used to have really good stuff so I wonder in sometimes during my lunch) - and I think they completely lost it. Jackets - brands like Zara, Mango, M&S - priced at £80 -£100, anything by COS £40-£50 - sweaters, skirts, etc. All other, non-COS items are not much cheaper. These prices are insane and not far off the prices of buying most of these clothes new. I have no idea who buys it/ if they make any money at all.

I mean, one thing is buying an expensive designer item for a lot of money (like, I once bought new Yamamoto trainers for £30 - but they would cost me much more new!) but paying almost full price for a last season high street jacket is ridiculous, who would do that??

There are obviously examples of stupidly high prices on this thread, but also examples of stupidly low prices - like a Warehouse woollen coat for £1 cited above. Or a PP said their local shop sold “5 books, any books, for £1” which unless all the books are something like tatty kids’ picture books or old Mills and Boon is way underpriced.
The point of charity shops isn’t to provide fantastic bargains for customers but to raise money and I’m sure the coat would have sold quickly even if priced at £7/£8 - or £10/£15. There’s a happy medium.

but that is not necessarily happening where we volunteer. Where I volunteer sales are increasing year on year and we are a very busy shop in a town with probably 15 charity shops. We get good quality donations, steam all clothing, merchandise well and customers seem happy to pay £15 for a nice quality sea salt dress when a new dress would retail at £60 +

Some of the large chain charity shops are also awful to their paid staff. Tantamount to bullying. There is one chain I will never shop in again tbh. I'm not naming tho, as I've a mind to not get called out on it.