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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Big Issue Sellers

101 replies

DBD1975 · 22/03/2025 00:29

Brought a Big Issue today from a nice lady who was so grateful. Went past her again a few hours later and she asked how my day was going. I said good and asked her the same and she said not good as she hadn't sold any more and I had been the only person to buy from her today.
I feel so sorry for her and it is playing on my mind. I know Big Issue Sellers are homeless but I assume she would have somewhere to stay?
Just wondering what other people might think but am I being unreasonable to think it doesn't hurt to lend others less fortunate a hand?
This was in a very affluent market town and I observed people just walking past and ignoring her so I do believe what she said.

OP posts:
MidnightMillie · 22/03/2025 00:32

The majority of Big Issue sellers aren't homeless.

And no-one can give to every person who asks them for money anyway.

ChaosDream · 22/03/2025 00:47

Last time I bought a Big Issue it was £4. I thought the price was a bit punchy tbh

HeddaGarbled · 22/03/2025 00:53

I used to buy regularly but for the last few years, I’ve noticed a change in the sellers and am suspicious that there’s some sort of scam going on.

MidnightMillie · 22/03/2025 00:53

Plus it's a fortnightly magazine, so the OP would have no idea whether anyone's already bought one from her previously, or from another seller.

saraclara · 22/03/2025 00:59

I used to buy it when it was sold by random people who were either homeless or getting their lives back after being so. But now all those people have gone, and every Big Issue seller in the towns in a ten mile radius of me, are Roma.

A Roma seller wouldn't be an issue to me at all if s/he was just among the random sellers I used to see. But it seems as though the Roma have the whole gig sewn up for miles around, and I wonder what happened to the original guys. It's concerning.

setmestraightplease · 22/03/2025 01:05

There is Big Issue seller near me who say she doesn't wear the official tabard ID because 'she doesn't want to'

The site she sells from is not an official Big Issue seller site, according to their website.

She doesn't have change for you if you can't pay the exact money and will happily take 'donations' above the magazine price.

Other Big Issue sellers I see wear the official tabard, sell from an official/named site and never accept money/donations above the official selling price.

I know which ones I believe

murasaki · 22/03/2025 01:11

It used to be a genuine way for people to get back on their feet. Years ago. The original owner is no longer involved, and these days it's a scam monopolised by gangs who use it as a gateway to exploit people and gain state benefits. I used to buy it 20 years ago, it was a good read so worth it for doing some good but no chance these days.

Snugglemonkey · 22/03/2025 01:24

There is a big issue seller outside my nearest supermarket. I stopped buying it from her when I noticed that she had a fabulous new haircut (I cannot do this for myself nearly as often as she can) then I noticed that her nails are always professionally done with claw nails and diamanté kind of things (again, I couldn't afford this for myself and couldn't have claw nails even if I wanted because I use my hands a lot to do work!).

So I have decided that I need my money more than her.

viques · 22/03/2025 11:03

I stopped buying it when I learned that people were using it to get round housing allocation rules. ie people who werent actually eligible for social housing . It was a great idea that in the past helped a lot of people to move on with their lives, but like so many things it got hijacked by scammers.

I now give money to St Martin in the Fields near Trafalgar Square which does amazing work for desperate people in its community and elsewhere.

BeholdOurButterStinketh · 22/03/2025 11:16

saraclara · 22/03/2025 00:59

I used to buy it when it was sold by random people who were either homeless or getting their lives back after being so. But now all those people have gone, and every Big Issue seller in the towns in a ten mile radius of me, are Roma.

A Roma seller wouldn't be an issue to me at all if s/he was just among the random sellers I used to see. But it seems as though the Roma have the whole gig sewn up for miles around, and I wonder what happened to the original guys. It's concerning.

Yes, this has concerned me too. I live in a not very diverse small market town and I cannot remember seeing a seller who is not Roma and with limited English.

As you say, it's not about their race at all; but you expect BI sellers to be people who were living in Britain whose lives subsequently took a turn for the worse and so they sell the magazine to try to improve their situations.

It was never intended as a standard basic job option for people from other countries to specifically choose and plan to move to the UK to do it.

GettingOlderandBetter · 22/03/2025 11:42

Where I live they are all clearly migrants and almost certainly all Roma. I don’t buy from them any more. They can afford takeaway drinks from Starbucks, have better phones than me and appear to commute in daily. Big Issue has little relevance to the place I live and tbh the magazine is of no interest but I used to buy it because it was helping someone get back on their feet. Now it appears to be a career choice.
I donate monthly to several charities because I’m lucky how my life has turned out and it could have been very different but Big Issue has lost its way.

BeholdOurButterStinketh · 22/03/2025 11:54

There's also the fact that ALL printed magazine sales in general are plummeting.

When the BI started, it was probably quite an entertaining distraction - especially for commuters who would otherwise sit bored on the train for however long; but now everybody has the world available on their phones - and, let's be honest, it's never been the most thrilling magazine anyway - it is effectively just making a donation now... to somebody who can afford a fancy expensive phone and who appears to have chosen to sell the magazine as a deliberate career option.

limefruit · 22/03/2025 11:55

Where I live nearly all the sellers are Roma women, who are dropped off and collected by a man. The same man is often seen interacting with the people begging with the identikit 'I am very hungry god bless you' signs. This is not a criticism of the sellers or the beggars, who - perhaps patronisingly - I imagine have been trafficked, or at least have very little choice in the matter.

My issue is with the Big Issue itself who totally refuse to acknowledge that is clearly a thing that is going on, and instead accuse anyone who wonders why the demographic of BI sellers has completely shifted over the past 20 or so years of racism, not understanding that (ahem) 'most importantly, though, the vendors, usually men, mistaken for gang operatives are in fact simply fortunate enough to come from large, loving families.' Yeah, right, that's exactly what's going on here.

BeholdOurButterStinketh · 22/03/2025 12:04

limefruit · 22/03/2025 11:55

Where I live nearly all the sellers are Roma women, who are dropped off and collected by a man. The same man is often seen interacting with the people begging with the identikit 'I am very hungry god bless you' signs. This is not a criticism of the sellers or the beggars, who - perhaps patronisingly - I imagine have been trafficked, or at least have very little choice in the matter.

My issue is with the Big Issue itself who totally refuse to acknowledge that is clearly a thing that is going on, and instead accuse anyone who wonders why the demographic of BI sellers has completely shifted over the past 20 or so years of racism, not understanding that (ahem) 'most importantly, though, the vendors, usually men, mistaken for gang operatives are in fact simply fortunate enough to come from large, loving families.' Yeah, right, that's exactly what's going on here.

Large, loving families... but nobody who can help them out in any way so that they aren't out on the streets? Hmmmmmm...

How do BI HQ explain the fact that just about all of the vendors speak very little English, regardless of their race or heritage? Almost as if they had been deliberately brought in to the country specifically to take advantage of another country's goodwill/business system, eh?

MrsClatterbuck · 22/03/2025 12:09

There used to be one outside a local supermarket. I bought one of her one day and a week later it was Christmas and I gave her £20. The next week she stopped me and said she had no money for lunch and more fool I I gave her a fiver. This was before covid. Decided never again and I believe not allowed.

Neodymium · 22/03/2025 12:40

Seems like it’s a loophole to be able to claim benefits. As migrants can claim they are self employed. There is an article in 2012 about it. Good to see they have fixed that.

Starlightstarbright4 · 22/03/2025 12:44

I don’t buy magazines so never buy one .

Alliscalmallisnotbright · 22/03/2025 12:48

The OG sellers were all genuine and homeless. When I lived in Dublin it was the same people, all had badges and all were very open about their personal journey .
The demographic has absolutely changed and it’s become begging so to speak. Local sellers to us would near chase you looking for change. Worst thing is, a car comes and picks up these sellers at the end of a day and brings them home so the sellers are absolutely not necessarily homeless anymore.

offmynut · 22/03/2025 13:31

Got loads of sellers im our town men and women i never buy from them because i do believe its a scam somehow.
The latest one is a pregnant Romanian woman she's been pregnant now for about 18 months no baby yet just a huge miss shaped bump.
She has a mum to be badge and a sign that says help homeless mums.
The other one well known near the bank he asked £4 for a big issue and hes always hungry homeless yet ive seen him in the pub and doing shopping at tescos with his i believe to be his other half.
Lets not forget the Ukrainian man and his girlfriend that shouted abuse to a young couple because they said no thank you after they were asked if they wanted a book they called them rich fuckers that look down in the poor.

Sunshineandoranges · 22/03/2025 13:36

I am not saying that none are homeless but the lady outside our Waitrose has been there for about fifteen years. She has a little chair, coffee and her phone. She is very smiley and friendly but definitely does not look homeless. She is not there every day but definitely is there every day around Christmas. I don’t understand how Big Issue don’t give someone else her pitch..if that’s how it works.

ducksinarow123 · 22/03/2025 13:53

the lady that sells the big issue in my town has been selling it, in the exact same spot, since I was a teenager in high school. I’m now in my 40s. No way do I believe she is still homeless after 30years.
I believe in the concept - a way to get homeless people back on their feet, but it doesn’t seem to be that any more.

Dearg · 22/03/2025 14:08

This thread interests me. I have long wondered about the legitimacy of two local sellers - both women, both foreign. Have talked to one and it’s clear she is not homeless. She is a pleasant woman, but I only ever buy the mag as a means to help her, and it seems I am misguided in that.

A check on the Big Issue website suggests we have one, male, registered seller in the area.

His ‘pitch’ is occupied by one of the women. The other ( the one I talked to) appears to be at an unofficial pitch.

Anyway, that’s me decided - no more.

Whitelight25 · 22/03/2025 14:14

Big issue was brilliant when it started but the founder left and it’s not as well regulated so treated with some suspicion now. Where I lived in London there was a group selling it who were in effect begging in quite an intimidating way.
Not the woman you met by the sound of it but it has a bad name.

Whitelight25 · 22/03/2025 14:16

On the other hand I happily gave money to an honest young man who admitted the magazine he was offering me was not a big issue but a free paper he found in a bin!

WellsAndThistles · 22/03/2025 14:16

I live in a very rural part of the UK and we've had the same lady standing outside M&S selling Big Issue for at least 7 years now. She has a gang of pensioners connected to the local church who take turns to buy her a weeks worth of M&S meals every Sunday afternoon. She isn't homeless and seems to be doing quite well for herself. Funnily enough she always has lovely hair and nails too!

I used to support the magazine sellers but not anymore as it seems to have changed to a lucrative career instead of short term support while the person gets back on their feet.