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

It's a bit of a paradox, buying from Vinted and Facebook marketplace is a way more positive experience than selling via them, IME anyway.

Charity shops also sell more valuable items on eBay.

I have a favourite charity shop to visit in person, but donate to various ones.

Where in the UK are you hearing this?

I never go into charity shops for clothing as don't have the time and if I did probably would leave empty-handed as have never previously found suitable clothing there. Vinted, however turns up loads of the brands and sizes I want in seconds. Never heard the term 'chazza' to describe charity shops .

You aren’t. It isn’t financially viable to return £3/£5 items that aren’t as described so I re-sell or send to charity. I usually have a pile of stuff for both. I often can’t be bothered to take photos and write a description although I watched a programme about earning an extra £10K a year yesterday and the presenter was using AI descriptions to save time.

I sold pretty much everything I owned following massive weight loss and found that very big sizes sell very quickly. Size 12/14 doesn’t fly, probably because it’s a more common size? I have multiple items hanging over a wardrobe door currently. I might attempt to sell them.

The trouble with Vinted for me is that I see something or I think I need it in every colour and it’s so easy to just buy it very cheaply. I’ve bought a dress for a wedding but now need a matching slip/jacket/bag. 🤦🏼‍♀️ Charity shops are just too expensive to do this, although I went back to one recently because something in the window caught my eye.

"Chazza" no.

Charity shops will be fine. They satisfy the "right now", and being able to inspect the item which you dont get with vinted.

Not sure Vinted specifically are that significant.

My guess is it's probably a mixture of two things. One, COL issues may mean more people feel they need to get money for their old items, rather than valuing the more convenient option of dropping them off and forgetting about them.

And two, new clothes are getting steadily worse quality overall. So an item from a bog standard high street place bought in 2024 and washed say 20 times probably looks worse than the equivalent item bought in 2014 and washed 20 times. So people will pay less for it now.

I used to love a charity shop as a skint single mum

I lived up north and kitted the kids out from the bhf (it was on my way home and id spent my last few pennies on stuff they needed)

Then I moved away (midlands) and lived in a few near my work-we kitted out our whole house from the furniture ones near us

There was one on my walk home which I could walk into and come out with bagfulls of stuff (and I made sure to re-donate regularly)

Then covid hit and they where all shut

When they reopened the quality of the donations had dropped massively but the prices had shot up

One seems to open when it feels like it (they must have volunteer issues) ones prices have tripled and another has staff that glare at you as if your a shoplifter

We have two furniture ones-one is in a dusty,dirty warehouse with rude volunteers (and really poor quality furniture-thats not their fault but the prices are full price or more than new) and the other has almost nothing in it apart from shabby/broken tat for expensive prices

It's a shame as I've been buying from charity shops since I was a teenager and it certainly wasn't trendy to do it then

Round us there is a noticeable difference in the quality of the donations in certain age brackets since vinted etc. took off.

Not so much in the older lady and older mens clothes but definitely in the children's and younger womens clothes. There are still plenty of nice clothes for the more mature woman or man, but there is barely any Zara, whistles, Oliver bonas ect in decent quality (the odd bit there is is faded/ well worn/ gone out of shape). Most of the women's clothes are supermarket brands or primark.

Same with baby clothes, barely any baby gap, JoJo mamam, frugi, blade and rose ect even very little m&s, John lewis and next unless they are very well worn or heavily stained. It's mainly supermarket or primark clothes.

I've given up going in as many are selling supermarket clothes at nearly new price. This is what is killing the shops, too high price for "low perceived quality" donations which means there isn't the stock turn over and so then it goes a bit stale. The only one I visit regularly is an independent and sells almost everything for under £10. Children's clothes are usually 20p -£2 max, women and mens clothes are usually £3-10 max. Brick a brack can be anywhere from 10p - £10 and some odd bits are over. They are always busy and always have lots of turnover of stock.

There is also the growing frustration of how little of the money is going to the actual cause in certain charities.

The top and bottom of charity shopping is that 98% of customers are looking for a bargain. It is not a bargain to buy a child's Asda George brand top and bottoms for £4, when you know that it was in a 5 pack of top and bottoms for £12 last summer. However that same top and bottoms for 50p is a bargain. Vinted and other selling sites give customers bargains and at the moment are full of the decent stuff that used to go to charity shops and the seller is getting the money. With times as hard as they are for many, if you can flog bits in your wardrobe on vinted then it's a winner for a bit of extra cash.

I don't think it's quite fair to blame vinted for the drop in the quality of donated clothing. Most clothing is of a poorer quality than ten years ago - unless you pay top dollar you can't expect a high content of natural fibres any more. Also due to COLC people are probably buying less and using things more so they are more worn out than perhaps a few years ago when people would have the money to replace outfits more often.

I’m gonna be honest here I hate charity shops… they stink… they’re so unorganised… and the prices don’t really make up for it. I always feel like I’ve gone back into some weird time warp.

As for vinted…I couldn’t be arsed with that either

I might be more inclined to charity shops if they didn't keep turning away my donations of nice, good quality toys yet when I go in to look it's full of toys that are actually broken. I don't use vinted very often either as it's too overwhelming, only if I'm looking for something very specific so I check it

Posted too soon. There is also, I know from my social circle, people choosing to donate to grass routes/ local charities over the bigger charities.

So what people haven't sold on vinted/ marketplace /ebay are getting donated instead to the local food bank/ hospice/ homeless/ womens/ animal rescue charities over the likes of cancer research/ Oxfam/ save the children ect.

For example I had a huge clear out this summer of clothes. I couldn't be arsed to do vinted so instead took them to the food bank that has also set up a clothing bank, community pantry and pet bank that clothes, feeds and provides for local people in need and runs clothing and pet stalls alongside their community pantry where it sells the clothes for either £3 a carrier bag or 10p and item. They have also linked up with a grass routes baby bank which provides new mothers in need with baby items up to and including cots, pushchairs and prams, mosses baskets, baby toys, muslins and sheets. They take everything pre loved and are very popular places for people to donate their cots, moses baskets and prams. I myself intend to donate most of my decent condition muslins, bibs and baby paraphernalia to them when I am finished having my children.

They're not all like that. There are two extremes - those that are as you describe, where the clothes tend to be very cheap - you can find some bargains if you take the time to look - I found an as-new Claudie Pierlot wool skirt for £1 last year, in a Mind 'clearance' charity shop where everything was £1. Then there are the high end ones that are laid out in a boutique style and have mainly high end high street or designer labels - they are much more expensive but still much cheaper than buying new, e.g. I got a pair of Frame jeans for £20.

The majority sit somewhere between those two extremes. If you spend half your life ferreting round in charity shops to add yet more clothes you don't need to your bursting wardrobe, ahem are a regular charity shopper, you get to know which ones are worth going in.

Agree with this, i know someone who buys stuff in charity shops and sells it for more on Vinted.

I don’t use either tbh. We wear out our clothes. Anything we donate is to friends or clothing/baby banks and we buy new or accept free second hand stuff from friends.

Agreed. Had exactly this issue with Barnardo’s. I don’t understand it at all.

No, using the word 'chazza' won't catch on (hopefully)

Lots of charities use eBay and Vinted as online shops.

I love Vinted and I love a charity shop. I buy from both, donate to charity shops often and have sold the odd thing on Vinted now I’ve worked out the parcel drop thing!

Charity shops where I live are pricing items high.
i popped into one today…..a pair of Clarks leather knee boots, in good worn condition £50.
Men’s adidas hoody - £15. Ladies Monsoon skirt -£12, Men’s H&M sweatshirt £10, Wool scarf (no brand but new…-£15!!!
I know it’s due to high rent etc but I think that is expensive!

I lost loads of weight and needed everything so have a mix of stuff from local charity shops and from Vinted.

I'm a size 12 but not standard size (boobs! and bum!) so buying online is hard even in brands I know. Have got some nice things from Vinted but also things that don't fit that haven't resold so will take to the charity shop -wasted money.

The charity shops, depending on the location can be very expensive. The one near where I work does a fabulous job of window displays and the sorting the items (by colour, the item type, then size) so if I'm looking for green trousers or a pink top I know where to look but if I'm browsing I just look at my size in all the sections. It's great but I'm not paying £20 for a per Una top! I only buy very top end brands there as they price the same for high street brands. Another nearby also does by colour palette and size and is brilliant and competitively priced. Stuff doesn't hang around long in there. And after trying the things on I know they fit so worth paying a few pounds more than I'd pay for a gamble on Vinted.

Also Vinted browsing is AWFUL since they changed the sizing to lump 8 with 10 and 12 with 14. The search brings stuff back but you have to click into everything to find out if it is in fact the right size.

We’ve called them chazzers for years 😁

I used to work for a charity with high st shops, this is going back a good few years but they always had loads of money sloshing about for away days, travel etc. I still have some friends there (in head office roles) who are fearful for their jobs and all non essential spending has stopped. I don't think it's due to the quality of clothes - there are other factors relating to the economy and cost of living crisis making it unprofitable to run the shops like they did - things like min wage, shop rental prices etc. Quality of clothing is probably the least of their worries but this is why they are charging more than the clothes are worth.

Chazza is utterly horrible. Please stop.

Vinted have a lot of scammers- the most I ever buy from there is nooks or kids toys. I'd never sell on there. At least in chazza shops you can see what you're buying

I love the chazza shops but I find them just so expensive. I found a really used bobbly primark jumper for £9. It most probably cost less when new. It’s such a shame.