To think £34 for a charity shop cardigan is excessive?

[malificent7]

Lovely cardigan...great condition and colour. Nice cut but unbranded and made of acrylic. £34!!! The shop keeper said she could go down to £30. I mean it was a bit unusual as in a bit bohemian but not strlikigly so. I would have paid £15 happily. £20 max.

I used to manage a charity shop. We were told that our main aim was to make as much money for the charity as possible- not to be a cheap clothing shop.

Ours had primark kids t shirts for £4.00

primark had them brand new in clearance at £1.75!!

This is why I'm donating straight to charities who give the toys out now. Not shops. Can't bear how they're overpricing things

Isn’t it just silliness with the rules about pricing though? Obviously no one will buy a second hand primark top for the same price as new, so it is daft to tell volunteers that all t shirts must be at least £4. They need better guidelines.

And nice coffee shops, I love the Alice in Wonderland themed one. I'd also say that a place with a Heron isn't up it's own arse! Also - dare I say it? - the Specsavers there is very nice and friendly! But we've wandered from the subject, the item of clothing I bought in the expensive charity shop is the one thing that I wear that I always get complimented on, so I can't really complain.

We have vinted and i checked eBay and vinted and with the insurance and cost of postage etc - it wasn’t much more we would get and the ones asking for over £10 had been listed for weeks.

Id rather rotate the stock than have it sat here forever. Someone will really love it and enjoy the bargain they find. 😊

The Alice in Wonderland one is so adorable! Good old Barney. Enjoy your clothes! I love a good charity shop haul.

The fabric production (via sheep or other in the case of acrylic), knitting factory, packing and transportation should be done for free, do you think? Or do you think maybe the shop staff shouldn't be paid so you can buy below cost price goods?

No, I just hate cardigans, and anything with sleeves tbh. I tolerate some hoodies and some jackets. But I am not going anywhere near a cardigan. No idea where you think I hate people getting money for production etc. and anyway an unbranded acrylic cardigan should not be £34 in a charity shop, that is taking the piss.

most charity shops know what they're doing. Even the expensive ones tend to be 'just' pricey rather than actually insane. £34 for a generic, non branded cardigan makes no sense. You said it was a bit bohemian looking. Are you sure it wasn't actually a hippie or sustainable type brand that cost a fortune when new? Could just be a brand you don't recognise? Namaste, Gringo, Ethical Roots or similar? Or even something like Desigual? So designer but not conventional household name kind of designer?

My local charity shop has a pair of old white trainers in the window for £25. Not a designer brand. Just someone's old shoes. £25!

Last time I went to charity shops in London was late 2022 and was shocked by the prices. I was better off going to the high street.

The charity shops around me have ridiculous pricing. I only ever donate stuff but never buy in them as they are too expensive. I donated some of my son’s clothes to one of them and they priced them higher than the original brand new price.

I thought you were going to say it was cashmere!

We're local to there, and yes, the charity shop prices are insane. Head over to Spenny/Consett etc for the bargains. I had a Zara shirt for £4, and a Liberty Italian silk blouse for the same. And a whole bolt of quilting cotton fir £6.

Blimey. I paid £18 for a Fat Face cardigan from a charity shop the other week and I thought that was steep.

Info is available online if you want to see where your money goes, how much the CEO makes etc.
www.bhf.org.uk/what-we-do/where-your-money-goes

I volunteer with BHF and we have detailed guidelines regarding brands, what to sell on eBay etc. I am responsible for the book section and have general guidelines and then will check myself what’s on offer at WH Smith and adjust prices accordingly.
not all volunteers are involved in pricing and we are lucky where I volunteer that we have very experienced volunteers. Errors do get made, of course and it’s never a problem if a customer points out a mistake.

I've noticed though that people are only talking about clothes. I've bought some lovely bits of crockery, ornaments and paintings, often under a pound.

I entered a charity shop the other day with a sign that they can't take anymore donations. I went it and everything was terribly expensive.
I wanted to buy 3 items but when I check online it was the same price as new.
This was towards the end of summer so the shops were on sale. I showed one to the shop assistant and told him to feed it back that the prices are unreasonable.

I love a charity shop but mainly they are over pricing their stock. Things are cheaper on vinted. So stuff ends up with the rag man which is such a shame.

My experience is that charity shop prices vary according to location. There is a view that 'posher' towns are good for charity shopping as they'll have better quality stuff. In my experience this is simply not the case. They have just as much Primark as anywhere else, it's just priced higher. I went into one in a local town that is perceived to be very upmarket and found a sweater I owned in one of the charity shops. It was priced higher than I had originally paid for it in a boutique type shop.

I've had my most incredible buys in my local shops where the average price for a clothing item is £3. I also find that the shops on retail parks or with good parking nearby are the best - it is so easy to donate to them.

I do think some charity shop chains need to consider price per item vs volume of sales. Our local BHF is, in my view, very expensive. They also seem to have some strange ideas on which brands should be priced higher. A ropey old acrylic sweater will be a few pounds more because it is M&S. You don't see people buying more than the odd item in there and items are on the racks a long time. It is far busier at the Sue Ryder down the road where everything is £3.

In our highstreet (London, zone 3) the charity shops have pretty much established themselves as boutiques.
The prices are ridiculous - not odd at all to find a cardigan in the 30-50 pounds range, coats easily go around 100. And we are not talking designer clothing here (sometimes there is an odd designer item but that price is a completely different level then...).
To be fair to them - the clothes they sell is in pretty mint condition, not new but often as good as.
I donate there - and this is where I have the issue with this fancy boutique attitude. I find myself now contemplating if they would even accept a clothing item when I go through my wardrobe - perfectly good t-shirts, sweatpants, baby clothes - I feel as if these are not good enough for their image.
I feel like they end up throwing away bunch of items in perfectly good condition, e.g because they can not justify a 20 pound mark for a plain t-shirt.
And I find that so sad because there are people who would be happy to get that t-shirt or jeans or whatever fir a symbolic price...
I sometimes feel as if nothing other than a current season fancy item is even welcomed to the charity shops in my area.