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?

Which is great if that's the way you like to buy things, but many people have explained they like to try things on before they buy. Indeed to inspect things generally - what the fabric feels like, what the colour is in real life, the length, the fit, etc etc.

No Ive given up buying things from ebay, never bought from vinted. Been stung too many times with a bad cut, not quite the leg length needed etc etc. Wasted so much money that way. I need to try things on

I took 3 bags to the charity shop today, went to a different shop and bought a bagful.

Not to mention the stuff in most cases is ironed and can be worn straight away if you choose to 😂😂😂😂

Now that people can easily end up paying tax on stuff they sell online it makes a lot of sense to give it away

I understand that but for me the tradeoff is, when I buy from vinted I can generally get exactly what I want rather than it being hit and miss. So for example, I wanted a linen shift dress in white recently ...I can search exactly for that in my size. If I go into a charity shop, it could be absolutely anything and even if I do find something I like, will it be in my size.

I guess that is half the fun of the hunt in charity shops but you are right Vinted is better for getting exactly what you want.

Only if you are trading. Buying with the intention of reselling. Selling your own old clothes is not liable to tax.

Not long back from my shift this afternoon, some nice stuff donated, BNWT Laura Ashley party dress which said £110 on the tag being the highlight, we were doing a "prom/party" window and the four dummies are currently wearing Laura Ashley, Ted Baker, M&S and Hobbs dresses with various accessories - a little BNWT cropped black velvet jacket which was only Primark but very nice and ideal for a special occasion, also opened a bag which was almost entirely BNWT, mostly Dunnes Stores, Peacocks, Dorothy Perkins, thinking maybe things bought a while ago but never used.

I love charity shopping and donate myself. However I actively boycott shops that organise by colour. They also need to price sensibly rather than the price you could buy the same item in the sales...

I actively boycott shops that organise by colour.
I find a block of items the same colour off-putting.

what about not being able to have enough volunteers to keep them open?

Do you think there is/will be an issue with this?

There is an issue with it. My local shops are often closed because of staff shortages.

Loads of ours have closed down.......don't know about anyone else but id stopped donating to loads of them and give to our local clothing bank and a couple of small, local charities that don't have stupid prices instead.

Bigger charities need to seriously have a rethink if they want to keep going because people will just vote with their feet and donate or buy elsewhere.

I prefer using vinted to CS cos the £ goes to a human not a corporate pension fund.

Lone people who need to sell
their possessions seem the better cause. Individs pay more tax, too. They don’t sell their stuff to Ghana to ruin the local
economy via landfill-you-can-see-from-space.

Both recycle, and I suspect that chazzas would bin/export to Africa half of what ends up on
vinted. Yes, that would be the same Africa that many big charities campaign for.

The ones I went into today were the 'bigger charities' but both are competitively priced. My big bag (bag-for-life) of stuff was between £10 and £15.
If I bought it on ebay it would have been several times more expensive.

Some charities have arrangements with retailers to take deadlisted stock, I’ve been in shops before that have had loads of BNWT Zara/M&S, and Kate Spade have a deal with Mind.

They also sometimes shift stock from areas where they get good donations to sell in other locations; it’s true that they get lots of donated Shein/fast fashion which often ends up in landfill but if they’re able to overcome the logistics hurdle of getting good stock across their networks it’ll still be worthwhile shopping. I’m one of the people who would rather donate than sell and I hope charity shops survive and thrive!

My local
one has a deal with pour moi and Zara.

Yes! Barnardo's, I'm looking at you

This is exactly what I think. All the interesting stuff is filtered out and put into their online shop. It’s all polyester fast fashion in the shops from what I can see. I feel the hopes of getting a thrill from finding some really amazing pieces had all gone.

Huge issue. We can’t open on a Monday morning as there are no volunteers.

Local cancer research shop has just closed down. I think they overpriced. People lost interest in going for a browse as turnover low

I do wonder if it’s short sighted. People shop , donate, possibly volunteer and leave a legacy. It’s legacies where the big money is. I do wonder if by failing to engage with the community you’ll see those legacies dropping or if they are left independent of community engagement.

I do donate my time and stuff at another shop which has a dual mandate of helping the community and charity. They do free rails of kids coats, wellies and school uniform.

I have sometimes wondered if it is more environmentally friendly to sell rather than donate to charity shops:

Selling

Use 1: original purchaser buys a cotton top with a distinctive look or pattern.
Use 2: it is sold online to someone who wants that particular style.
Use 3: they donate it to a charity shop who might sell it or send it to textile recycling.

So at least two, possibly three uses.

Donating

Use 1: original purchaser buys a cotton top with a distinctive look or pattern.
Use 2: It is donated to a charity shop but no one in that particular town is interested in the top. After a month it is rotated out and a lack of volunteers etc means that it is sent straight to textile recycling.

Possibly just the original use, depending on how effective the charity shop are at managing their stock?

The threshold is £1000 per year. If you make more than that by selling your own things online (perhaps in combination with another side hustle) then you are liable to pay tax on it. It doesn’t matter whether you are have a buy-and-sell operation or are just selling your own old clothes, it’s the total £ that is the trigger www.gov.uk/guidance/tax-free-allowances-on-property-and-trading-income

Don't forget, if you donate stuff to a charity shop and are a taxpayer, you can v quickly sign up to be a gift-aider and the charity claims back from HMRC an extra 25p per £1 sold. Our price labels are specially printed off with your unique GA number on them and when one of your items sells - kerching! I believe there is some sort of arrangement for self-employed/higher rate taxpayers to claim tax back but you'd need to check up on that!