Thinking Vinted will see Charity Shops out of business?

[Monty27]

If you're a chazza fan like me have you noticed how they're not busy?
Vinted is new in the great scheme of things and fantastic. It's a new discovery] for me.
I'm not sure how sympathetic I am towards chazzas losing business because the profits aren't shared

Not at all, I think in general they have very different demographics.

I love our local chazza. It's an RSPCA one and I take all my unwanted and outgrown clothing there. I also donate to other local animal charity shops. I've noticed that some days they're quite quiet when i go in but then again sometimes busier. I've never tried Vinted can't say. Lots of people love a rummage in a charity shop so I think they will always be a need for them (well I hope so)

I don't think 'chazza' will catch on

I don't manage to go to charity shops but do use Vinted as it's very easy to search for exact brands / items . I don't think they are in competition with each other particularly .

Charity shops are too expensive and overwhelming

I need organisation

I agree they will close. But not necessarily because of V. More to over pricing due to their other heads and entitlement.

Cancer Research Uk are closing 600 high street stores this year...

To what?

They should catch themselves on do you mean? They've gone too corporate IMHO.

If Vinted is so successful, why don't the Charity shops do a Vinted style site?

Some of them do

chazza?

Well about 8 percent of revenue from shops can be directly attributable to funding some differences to the advertised charity. This is going to cause differences of opinion, but is fact

I actually think that thrift stores have outlived their usefulness because they are simply too expensive compared to what we can buy new things for today.

And there are fewer SAHMs to staff them. It's an issue here that less people volunteer than ever..

I don't bother with Vinted or thrift stores. I give away to family or friends. We only have surplus children's clothes because the child grows.

We wear out our things and don't buy a lot - and that's probably how many people feel in these expensive times.

For every person selling on Vinted, there must be a hundred like me who can’t possibly be arsed with all that and just find it easier to donate to chazzas.

I was surprised to see a charity shop in my suburb of outer London close down.
I love a browse for the unexpected find!

I dunno, I dropped a massive box of stuff to the charity shop yesterday. Lots of stuff that I could have put on vinted but can’t be arsed to do all that for the sake of getting a couple of quid for things. If I’m likely to be able to get at least £20 for something then I’ll go to the effort of selling it on vinted or eBay, but I’m having a massive purge of my house and I just want things out of the way.

They absolutely do. They are under regional instruction ( yes every charity shop has a a tier of management paid for by your donations) to price against a reseal value on websites. This is why their prices reflect this. They check before pricing.

I work for a charity and Vinted has really hurt charity shops because all of the best condition, highest value garments are now being sold on Vinted leaving bags and bags of either fast fashion, low value, or often dirty/damaged and undesirable clothing being donated. This is hard to sell at any price.

previously the latter category could be sold by the tonne to the rag trade but in many instances charities are having to pay to dispose of it or the cost they receive barely covers sorting, storage and transportation costs.

overheads of charity shops have soared leaving profit margins ever squeezed.

and for those saying charity shops should sell online like vinted. Many do and have tried it but the logistics and fulfilment which is done for free by the users of vinted, but requires staff, warehouses and postage costs for a charity means it doesn’t always remains profitable. For most users of vinted, selling an item for £3 isn’t profitable if you have to take into account time to pack an order and dispatch but we do it because we don’t think of our own time in that monetary value way.

anyway, all of this is to say that some shops are thriving but many are struggling and most of them will be shutting down in the next few years as the model isn’t very viable.

the ones that are working are either a) in affluent areas that get good footfall and good donations, b) retail park superstores whereby they can see house clearance items like furniture too and c) benefit from last season brand new without tags stock from high street retailers which is high value, reliable and free to the charity to sell. However the latter category is not guaranteed or reliable in terms of volume or frequency making it hard to build a business model around.

I think a lot of people can't afford to donate. Vinted is a way to make money.
A few years ago people had money 'free cash'. Or they did around here.
A lot of people struggle today. Buy less and donate less.

This is definitely a complaint from
local charity shops I know plus vintage shops which say vinted are putting them out of business. I really can’t say much, I used to use these shops more when I was in town a lot but now I’m mostly close to home, so used vinted more.

This is really, really the point. If what charities are doing to raise money isn't working then find another way to earn income.

No. It was EBay was before vinted for years

Charity shops are now just way too expensive. The mistake they're making is trying to match vinted resale prices but have totally overlooked that it should go two ways and provide good value for those on a budget too.

I used to buy most of my clothes from chazzers. I occasionally by from vinted if I know what I want to buy generally just carefully choose new now.

I think they have different clientele.
There's lots of people who can't use the Internet that still need charity shops.
And also I go to charity shops to get bits like the odd book or stuff for a fancy dress costume or just random things I might need but aren't bothered about how they look. I take my young kids in to pick up toy cars for 50p.
I'd go on vinted for any clothing because I can get exactly what I want rather than just hoping there might be something in the shop.
Charity shops tend to be ridiculous with clothing now days anyway. Anything they happen to get that's of any quality they massively overprice. I understand they are trying to raise money but its so pointless now vinted exists.
People are looking for cheap clothing they dont want to pay what something would cost new fir an item.
Oxfam are particularly bad for that for clothing.... you may as well just buy brand new clothing fir the prices they charge

I still prefer trying things on without buying them, anything I buy off Vinted is a risk and can’t be returned so I’m not wasting my money on buying from there, I just look around in charity shops or buy new.
Similarly if I really can’t be arsed to post items on it and just bag them up and take them to the charity shop.