Were these gifts shoplifted? Or just really old?

[PamFritters]

I have posted before about my SIL and her over gifting at Xmas and birthdays. It’s often clothes, very rarely anything I would wear. I usually take to a charity shop but this year I decided to be a bit more frugal and return them for credit. All had price tags on, various shops but today I took the Next and M&S ones in as I was near.

All of it scanned and came up. But all of it came up as ‘not sold/no sales record’. Oh and all the Next ones were coming up as £3. The lady in Next said she had worked there for 4 years and didn’t recognise any of the items. Basically they are either a) nicked or b) older than the system.

I think this might finally be the push I need to tell her to stop giving me clothes I don’t want, because she’s either stolen them or had hanging around with tags on in her wardrobe for five years. I’ve spent the last 20 years being subtle and it clearly doesn’t work.

I’m not being unreasonable to think these are weird gifts, right?

At the risk of being completely outing, our husbands are ID twins and she gives DH clothes that are HUGE. He wears size S and she gives him t shirts in XXL for example. It’s all so weird. Why does she do it? Any guesses welcome.

I work in next and probably charity shop if no record of sale . It goes off the system after about 18 months .

I've had that loads before and people argue that they are presents so can't be old . He had to tell people before they are probably from a charity shop 🤦‍♀️.

If you can post the label I can see if I can tell you what the date is .

And yes also if stolen there will be no record of sale but obvs the sales assistant wouldn't say they were old items .. we can accept returns from outlets and they show up on the system

How were you able to return items without a receipt anyway?

It will be old stock 'no longer on file'. As someone who worked in senior retail operations for years there is lot of misinformation here about barcodes and what 'they' can 'tell' from them. The data contained in the barcode is simply the item, in it's specific size or colour and the season it was sold - eg AW23 and it's price history. Every single item in the shop does not have it's own barcode, every item exactly the same in the shop will share a barcode, with differentiation for each size and colourway - eg ending 1234 (size 8) - 1235 (size 10) and so on.

There is no way of knowing an item has been stolen by the barcode, the security barrier at the front of the store cannot store this information or scan a barcode at all to know it has left the building. Loss is primarily determined by a stocktake, and counting what is in the building vs what stock arrived in the building. High street retail is an industry struggling since the pandemic, and frankly before that, they are cutting hours and closing premises - not investing in tech at the level people imagine to access this kind of data. The till itself is not a particularly high tech piece of equipment - it simply scans the barcode, if the item is on the stock file therefore they will know the current selling price, and that is what will be refunded without a receipt.

After a certain amount of time and policy which differs by retailer the product will be removed from file and can no longer be sold in store, it won't scan on the system or stock file at that point.

Plenty of people sell things second hand 'brand new with tags' including the charity shop so I'd assume they got them from elsewhere.

fAs someone who worked in senior retail operations for years there is lot of misinformation here about barcodes and what 'they' can 'tell' from them. The data contained in the barcode is simply the item, in it's specific size or colour and the season it was sold - eg AW23 and it's price history. Every single item in the shop does not have it's own barcode, every item exactly the same in the shop will share a barcode, with differentiation for each size and colourway - eg ending 1234 (size 8) - 1235 (size 10) and so on.

When I take something back to NEXT they scan the barcode and refund me. They absolutely are individual.

There's a lot of mumsnetters learning about RFID technology today. 😅

OP I think unless you ask her you'll never know for sure but I'm guessing they are just really old and were purchased in the sale and hid in a present cupboard, or bought from the charity shop.

Its probably something like this. My MIL does it. She buys random stuff shite throughout the year and at Christmas time, she divides it into big bags and hands us all a bag. DH gets shirts that never fit (and he would never wear them if they did fit), the kids get 'bargains' from Lidl and TK Maxx, clothes that are too small (because she's obviously kept them for too long), toys suitable for pre-schoolers etc Opening the bag is like a lucky dip. Anything from gone off flower bulbs, to kitchen utensils, to paper clips. Some bits can be useful but most is not and we give it to the local charity shop.

I’m betting she buys it on Ebay /Vinted BNWT.

so what if its regifted or eBay or vinted - why does she have to buy you brand new stuff? just say thank you and pass it on if you don't want it

I agree with others that they sound like Ebay purchases.

Don't knock your SIL for that. I have bought a huge number of gifts for people from Ebay and saved a fortune. Why should she pay more than she needs to?

If she's got rubbish taste you can criticise her for that.

Next put date codes on their stuff. Look under the care label. They pic below is Sept 2021.
We have a Next outlet called Choice where I live that sells rails of stuff that would have been in the store or directory at some point. It's all a bit random, like trying to find something in tkmaxx, but when they reduce it you can get it really cheap. I reckon that's what she's been up to.

My SIL has a shopping addiction where she is compelled to hoard bargains. So will buy the same thing in multiple sizes if she perceives it to be a bargain. She knows it is a problem so hides bags of stuff from my DB. Gifting it is a way she justifies buying it - could this be happening in this situation?

No idea but she’ll definitely know this thread is about her if she sees it! Daily Mail do love a MN family drama

Sorry, random, but you and your sister, are married to 2 siblings?

Rather than upset your relationship with your sister, you could say “next year let’s stop giving each other gifts.”

Tell her you’re decluttering then cutting back on what comes into your home so whilst it’s a really kind thought, you’d prefer it if your families don’t swap Christmas gifts anymore.

Just agree to stop the exchange of presents! Simple!

If it's old stuff that the assistant doesn't recognise would it have the new barcodes? I don't shop at Next but I think it's quite new at M&S.

I don't think it is very appropriate for the assistant to suggest they are stolen, I think your SIL would have a valid complaint if you told her that.

I bought two identical coats from Next. I needed to return one. Mixed up the receipts by accident and when I returned it they told me that every item has its own barcode. Not that style size etc, every individual item.

I can’t get why you think shoplifted is an option? Shoplifted many years ago?

She's her sister-in-law.

I was gifted a toddler outfit for my newborn from a friend of grandmas and it was hideous. It was from Woolworths and had tags but the price bit was removed.

They scanned the tag and nothing came up. It ended up with a few staff being involved and a lady exclaimed that it was indeed sold by them but approximately eight years ago as she had bought the same outfit for her son! We all had a good laugh but sadly they couldn't offer me an exchange or refund so it went to a charity shop.

It had obviously been kept unworn all of this time until passed on to me!

I like to think that it's constantly being regifted and travelling the world!

@Blahblahbatshit

I bought two identical coats from Next. I needed to return one. Mixed up the receipts by accident and when I returned it they told me that every item has its own barcode. Not that style size etc, every individual item.

Exactly, I don't even know why people are arguing against this when they know nothing about it.

I usually return online purchases and they just scan the bar code and credit my account or card without any other information.

This is actually pretty sad to read. Perhaps she doesn’t have much money so buys things in the sales so she can take part in the gift-giving rituals at Christmas and birthdays etc? We used to know someone who was a bit of a quirky gift-giver and it was only when she passed away we heard how devastatingly poor she actually was. Her friends said she liked to give people a little something as it made her feel normal like other people and brought her a little joy.

National Business Crime Centre: The fashion retailer Next has taken bar code identification further and increased the security of the bar code so that each and every single item now has its own unique bar code known as UID. An example is in the case of dresses of the same style, colour and size, each dress has a unique bar code, individual to that particular dress, which enables Next to track it from the warehouse to store, and also to capture the details when each individual item is sold through their tills or returned for a refund. It will also record the method of payment against each item purchased.

Interesting. I knew someone who tried to return a jumper they were given by a family member to M&S and was told 'this was sold for £1 quite some time ago'. So it looks as though the items you've got have never been sold by M&S, at least.