Are Charity Shops Becoming Greedy

[BettiG]

I love shopping in charity shops, well I did years ago. However why have they become so greedy and overpricing?

I went into one charity shop last weekend and they were selling all summer dresses for £2. I bought 5 dresses and spent £10. I saw that as an absolute bargain as I am going on holiday abroad in Sept and don’t want to spend too much on clothes that I will be putting away once I’m back off holiday.

I then went to another charity shop whose clothes were so overpriced for example a dress I picked up to look at from Primark was £7. I left empty handed from that charity shop so really I see that as that particular shop losing out.

So my question is are charity shops becoming greedy and taking the fun away from people shopping in them? I personally think before long they are going to fall flat on their faces as people will stop shopping with them which I think is so sad.

Charity shops are CFs trying to raise as much as possible for the cause and clients they were set up to support 🙄

Charity shops are trying to raise money. Five dresses for £10 is ridiculously cheap. The charity shops near me are much more expensive than that, but they have good stuff and people travel from all over to come to them.

Certainly around where I live they have put their prices up considerably. I’m simply not prepared to pay £15 for a very well used dress, even if it is Boden. Many of them have forgotten that volume selling is the best way to shift this sort of stock.

I totally understand that the whole point of charity shops is to make as much money as they can for the charity. A shop where customers can get a bargain from donations that people are bringing in. If they are going to overprice things people will stop shopping in them surely.
The shop I bought 5 items from for £10 were clearly making way for winter stock. They have the right idea of doing this by selling summer stock off cheaper. The shop selling a Primark dress at £7 will possibly but stuck with that dress once winter is here.

It’s a great way of making way for winter stock and not having left over summer stock that they couldn’t get rid of because they were overpriced.

Half the stuff in my local one will end up in land fill as they had £10 on primark and Shein dresses!

This has been a persistent complaint for a few years now.

I know a few charities manage to charge much more reasonable prices in their shops than others eg my local Hospice shop has much more affordable stuff than the other charity shops in the area and incidently has much more interesting and good quality stuff.

I know that the shops have to cover their overheads but I find that I have conditioned myself to still regularly go in and look but rarely buy. Whereas in the past I would probably buy something on most visits.

So I do wonder if the higher pricing is counter productive .

It's probably to do with their overheads. They still have to pay rent and use lighting, water etc. The shop manager and assistant manager will likely be paid roles.
A charity near me with about 15-20 shops is in the process of closing down all their shops when leases fall due for renewal because they aren't making enough money to make it worthwhile. They have moved to different funding models.

There are threads on this subject quite often.
I'm unsure if some are managing to get the high prices from people who are willing to pay a premium to be more environmentally friendly or whether some are accidentally misprint as they don't know the RRP and perhaps they drop the price.
I personally think unless you are in a upmarket area selling very high value brands then pricing very cheap is the way to go. There is so much clothes waste these days selling cheap and keep it moving seems much more likely to keep it in use. Otherwise they end up in landfill or sent abroad and damage the economy elsewhere.

They most definitely take the piss where I live (SW London). I get it that they are obviously trying to raise money but their pricing for some very used stuff is ridiculous.

I don’t go in them anymore. Vinted is far cheaper even factoring in the postage costs

They are going about it horribly then.

most of ours won’t take stock cancer research hasn’t for month… as they have no room because they can’t sell their “unreasonably priced” existing stock

The ones near me get super excited about high street brand names and charge a fortune no matter how knackered the item is The prices on the grubby shoes are hilarious lately. They've lost touch with reality
I've given up on my sustainable streak and gone back to fast fashion.

I imagine the person pricing doesn’t realise the significance of it being an item from primark? As it was probably only that new (although I don’t think primark is that cheap anymore!)

I guess it also depends on their overheads. £2 a dress they’re going to need to sell an awful lot if they’re paying a market rate rent on a busy high street.

There was actually a thread on this yesterday and a few posters explained how this works.

Upper management wants prices to be as high as possible so they can make most profit. Costs are high, people don't buy much, shops can't accept donations. Zero stock turnover.

One poster said she was a shop manager and went against their policies and reduced prices significantly. People were coming into shop and buying lots of stuff, which meant they had space to accept donations frequently, which means they had high turnover if items and were actually making a lot more money overall.

I agree OP. I'm not in the UK but some charity shops here have put prices up. I believe they would be better to shift more stock at a cheaper price than have it sitting in the shop because of the higher prices. I spotted a kitchen utensil recently in one which wasn't much cheaper than the one I had just purchased from a retailer.

I watched a documentary somewhere (can’t remember which streaming service) that said that the quality of their donations has reduced dramatically now that people sell on Vinted etc.. Where people just donated before, they now tried to sell themselves.

I can see from what the local ones post on a community website that they are massively out of touch price wise. That Boden dress they’re selling for £18 can probably be bought for £20 new in the sale or at the outlet.

Do you remember when charity shops were a little oddity on the High Street?

Well meaning, kindly folk and a few bargains to be found.
Now they are massive businesses and not particularly welcoming sometimes!

That's such a good point.
I still donate good items to charity and dropped a box off just last week.
However, I do sell some stuff on vinted too whereas it would've all just gone to charity in the past.

I used to get pleasure in donating items that someone would get use of for a low price. I spend two earlier decades being reliant on charity shops for household bits and pieces, and for "new clothes" due to finances (I'm wealthier now). I saw charity shops as a double charity--helping people on lower incomes have fun shopping/getting what they need. Now, there's a particular one near me that even a used spatula will cost the same or more than a new one. Wildly overpriced items, clothes, bric a brac, used furniture. I've started using Freecycle to give away items to local people that need them. I'm sometimes on the receiving end of that too when it's pricier things. And also selling on vinted, trying to do 'less is more' and allowing myself one piece of fancier clothing in exchange for 15 pieces of high street clothing.

As people struggle there are and more folk, me included , who sell on Vinted too to try to keep clothing purchase cost neutral. At the same time you have supermarket clothing marked up at £5 or more and it just sits there. I don't go to the charity shop any more

I went in one last week and picked up a computer game for my DS. It was out on the shelf but had no price tag. Took it to the woman and asked how much. She got on her phone and said well it's selling for 20 on ebay so 20! Now I know that when you sell on Ebay, there's fees to list and a percentage when you sell and you also have to pay for postage etc. So that £20 potentially drops to a lot less, and you have buyers protection if something doesn't work. The shop in question has huge signs saying NO REFUNDS OR EXCHANGES, so why should I give them my custom? I may as well buy it off ebay. i thanked her for the info and bought the game off ebay, for £17 as the seller accepted best offers.

I’d agree with you op and I used to love a rummage in a charity shop, I now get books out the free community swap telephone box or the chuck 50p (or what you can afford) bookshelf in supermarket as £3 for a paperback is too much for me. Clothes are often Vinted. My local charity shop hasn’t been accepting donations for a while . I assume it will close when lease runs out.

There is a thrift store the next town over which is fab though. It’s a permanent shop but is taken over by various local groups and charities for a week at a time. Stock stays but at least 25% needs to cleared for the next lot. Rag bags and a run to place that pays by the kilo. It’s a pile it up sell it cheap but for local causes scouts, toddler group, sen lego group, kids Halloween party, local repair group, singing group for the elderly. I’ve volunteered a couple of times and we’ve cleared over 2k a week after costs. It’s £100 for rent/ heating.

It’s very much for the community though and they do nice things. Free childrens wellies/ free kids coats/ free school uniform rail. It’s definitely where I donate my things as I come from an eco perspective I want stuff to be reused. So would rather it was sold cheaply or given for free to make that happen.

Charity shops get free items so they are already selling at a profit. The get reduced rents. People who didn't have alot got a bargain clothes were recycled and the charity got some money but now they have become greedy. Selling items people could get new. People just won't use them anymore and they end up binning the clothes they cannot sell.

Most charity shops are over priced. Some I don't even bother going in to now because of the prices they charge. These shops barely have people in them. There's an independent charity shop in my local town that doesn't sell anything for more than a fiver. They have a 59p, 99p and £1.99 rail. I always end up buying items from there and they have a high stock turn over as the prices are cheap, it's always busy.