Do you think charity shops will become unviable?

[thedevilinablackdress]

Reflecting on my own experience of 35+ years charity shopping, reading threads on here, and speaking to friends who work in them. Will the overwhelming amount of low quality donations and competition from online second hand markets eventually lead to fewer customers, lower profits and the shrinking of the charity shop sector?

I would hate to be forced to be buying online because I can try 10 things on and not find a single thing that fits ok

Do you gift aid? You must do, if they are emailing you. So in both charity chains I have worked in your gift aid number generates a unique barcode with your number on it, when an item you have donated is sold, that gets scanned. The computer software then totals it up - £10 dress, £2.50 gift aid claimed.

As for "just move it all online" - online sales are really time consuming. That's why only the most expensive or most unusual stuff goes online. Putting everything online - writing descriptions, setting prices, taking photos, dealing with queries/offers, packaging posting - is far more time consuming than pricing it and sticking it on a hanger. Most charity shops are struggling to get enough volunteers and you'd need an army of them to run this sort of operation. An army of internet-savvy volunteers at that.

Rates are usually discounted.

We pay exactly the same as anyone else would for rent, electricity, gas, telephone, internet, waste disposal etc etc.

Interesting to know where you all live as I don’t recognise this description of charity shops and I go most weekends.

Recent purchases include brand new LK Bennett boots for £20 (retail price £399), Tommy Hilfiger blazer, a couple of Jaeger dresses, Jacques Vert jacket plus lots of what I would call classic brands like Eastex, Viyella, Basler and don’t forget to rummage in the men’s section! Also all my hiking gear is from charity shops plus lots of bags, shoes, coats and accessories . In fact I reckon 80% of what I wear is now charity shop and I’ve never had so many compliments.

And I love how most of them do refunds so you can take it back after trying on at home if they don’t have a changing room in the shop.

Suburban Glasgow. We do get a lot of outdoor stuff and the best buys are often occasion wear - people who buy an outfit to wear to a wedding and then donate it.

We get weekly figures broken down by department and we take just as much in bric-a-brac and toys/games as we do in women's clothing.

That's good to know. I can hand in bric-a-brac (of decent quality) with a clear conscience!

I was back from the car boot this morning before 8:45 so it is early. Our charity shops are not very good to be honest. Although I did get an Anya Hindmarch bag recently for £6. This morning I got vintage Cath Kidston, Laura Ashley and some next collabs I need to Google as I don't recognise the brand, but beautiful batik linen so should be good. I'm a part-time reseller on eBay and charity shops are generally too expensive to resell. I did have a whole collection of Paul Costello, I think the lady might have passed away and thought that would be a winner but it hung around for ages.

I needed specific colour t-shirts this weekend and bought them from next. I was horrified at the price of £105 for 9. I'm so used to paying 50p or £1 an item in whatnot I've lost track a bit,

Me too! I'm a busty size 14 Apple shape and you can't return stuff on EBay so I'd much prefer to buy in charity shops. I recently bought a pair of beautiful patterned straight leg trousers that had been in Fatface for £55 only last summer. I was thrilled! I'm fact I got a ton of stuff for my summer holiday recently. I don't care about brands, just what suits me. I'm lucky enough to live near a wealthy town that has 12 charity shops. I probably go there at least once a month and often find great stuff. I hope it continues...

I price things sensibly, I don't have a head office telling me what I have to charge so I can do that, others can't.

I think this is the problem. Too many of the big chains have a “computer sez no” attitude, with the same price for a new top with tags (for example) being applied whether it’s M&S or Primark. Why would you pay £5 for a “new” Primark top in a charity shop when you could probably get one for £8 in actual Primark - and it will be available in every size, rather than just being suitable for a small sub-set of customers?

@Appalonia , you can return things on ebay even if the seller says you can't.
You need to pick a reason like 'item not as described'. They side with the buyer not the seller.
It's put me off selling because you have to accept a return because the buyer says something like the 'blue dress' wasn't the purply blue the buyer wanted.

I imagine that the Mounjaro effect is fuelling larger size donations atm?

I don't even bother looking anymore to be honest. I know the aim is to make the most amount of money for the charity, but realistically I'm not spending the same amount on an opportune find ie ah that looks nice ill get that that I can spend on vinted or similar on something I really really want. It seems lots of others have the same idea because before I stopped being arsed looking around you'd see the same clothes for weeks on end on the rails and signs saying no more donations; why not price to clear and accept more donations? Surely makes more in the long run. I used to volunteer before online selling became huge and stuff would sell pretty quick, the donations were generally better quality though as less fast fashion flooding the market.

The only exemption would be from business rates.
Rent - will depend on the landlord.
Utilities - same as any other business manages to negotiate

I can't see why I'd ever use a charity shop when I can use vinted..

I still have good ones near me and I always mange to get a few bargains during the year.

It's fuelling my charity shop shopping! My kids do a sports class on a weekend next to a couple of charity shops and I pick stuff up most weekends - either clothing (cos no point in spending a fortune on new when I'm going to drop through the size quickly) or things like old bedding to turn into clothing, bags or patchwork quilts (cheapest source of big bits of fabric - made a really cute bag with ghosties on from a Halloween duvet cover I picked up recently), or my other big downfall - random baskets that are big and cute.

I find those two to be better than most of the others around here - and the one I really like also offers placements for people with learning disabilities and since that's an area I work in and am absolutely passionate about - I really do make a point of trying to support it.

I went in our big Barnardos one yesterday and it gets a lot of donated stock from random companies so it's always chaotic what's in there - I never find that one nice for clothing - it gets the knackered and bobbly Primark stuff, but it had a huge load of haberdashery stuff brand new, sewing boxes (typically after I had bought one after looking for ages), nice fancy notebooks and the like - picked up bits but nothing clothing related there - just no decent pickings. Bought a duvet cover with a really cute dragonflies print I'm going to turn into a kimono style top to wear though.

I get most of my clothes from charity shops, and when dc were younger I got most of theirs too. Mainly because it’s easier to tell quality when something is second hand and has been worn and washed a few times.
I am finding less now, but then I go into the shops less, so it’s to be expected a bit.

DH buys all his shirts from charity shops, and hasn’t noticed any reduction in quality in the men’s section.

But I do find a lot of charity shops now are taken up with brand new stuff. Which presumably didn’t sell originally when it was in the fashion shops that donated it.

I don’t want charity shops to just be another TK Maxx. I buy from charity shops because I find it better value, rather than cheaper per se.
If everything is poor quality, I’ll just buy it from the most convenient place - which probably is still charity shops for me because they’re in walking distance.
I don’t like buying online, especially clothes.

I still love a charity shop and can't be arsed selling online for clothes - the charity will benefit more than I would from eventually receiving £3 or something. Will be dropping off a really nice John Lewis dress that looked absolutely hideous on me tomorrow.

I don’t think people can be bothered now to lug it all to the charity shops and then find it closed or some snotty person huffing and puffing and giving “rules” so now people seem to be giving stuff away for free on the fb groups round here which I imagine used to end up in the charity shops. Most of the posts now people just put the stuff on the garden and tell people to help themselves .

Charity shops are losing a lot of money just from the staff and volunteers who are manning the shops coz the stuff isn’t even getting to them now whether it’s expensive or not .

I was in a charity shop recently and an oldish I would say from the look of her wasn’t short of money and she dragged some bags through the shop and the shop volunteers looked at her like she had asked them for the till , she told them there’s some really good stuff in there and a lot with tags and they couldn’t even find it in them to say thank you . As she walked away one of them said to the other , why didn’t she just throw it all in the bin it’s all gonna be tat !!!

I was horrified and walked out.

THIS is why charity shops are losing money and people would rather help others directly these days .

I had a massive clear out last year ahead of a big move and I donated bags and bags of clothes and shoes to a local charity shop. No fast fashion - high quality, some unworn, items. I don’t have the time or inclination to market and sell things online and I suspect there are a lot of people like me.

If I have stuff to get rid of...I'd rather sell it or give it for free directly to someone who wants and needs it.

And the charity shops near me charge ridiculous prices....just an average part of suburban London, not particularly affluent. But Primark boots for £18!

I don’t think charity shops will become unviable, mainly because their overheads must be fairly small. They get discounted rent don’t they, and most staff are volunteers. Along with vape shops, cafes, fried chicken shops and money-laundering establishments, charity shops are the ones that seem to be surviving the demise of the high street.

I love charity shops, mainly for kitchen stuff. I’ve got some lovely immaculate sets of crockery from our local charity shop. And last week I got a perfectly working electric drill for £5!!

I do wondered if the sheer number of charity shops we have in most towns is sustainable long term anyway. I grew up in a large village with one Oxfam shop as the only charity shop, then an occasional jumble sale in the church hall. That was your total option for second hand clothing sales. Visiting the same village centre recently, there’s 7 charity shops now. Add in eBay and vinted, it’s a model that requires fast fashion, the local population hasn’t increased a great deal, but now it can sustain a significant second hand clothing market locally. That must be down to people buying more items and getting rid of things quickly while still in a wearable condition.

my local town also has a significant number of the local shops given over to charity shops. I can’t see there could possibly be enough people in my town who are able to afford buying good quality clothing then donate it to charity (when still in good condition), to fill up all these shops. They will have to fill the shops with rags and the 5-10 quality items.

On and for the large sizes - when I volunteered in a charity shop about 5 years ago (so before the weight loss jabs), larger sizes were regularly donated. The manager said when women lose weight, they are certain this is forever and donate immediately, if they gain weight they hold on to the good quality small stuff as a target for diets.