Why do charity shops do this?

[LuLuLemonadeDrinker]

A couple of local charity shops near me both constantly have signs up outside on an A-Board, saying that they are not taking donations. However, both of these have very little stock inside, and are both very overpriced. For example, a worn, very bobbly Primark jumper for £7, and a Boohoo polyester dress for £12.

One in particular is just depressing to go into; I went in the other day for the first time in two months and some of the overpriced clothes that were there then were still hanging there, still for sale. The rails were also pretty empty. The board was outside as usual requesting no donations. There were 5 members of staff in the shop.

I really don't get it; surely it would be far better, and raise far more money, if they had more stock out, and priced it at lower prices for a quicker turnover. I really can't see the shop I went in yesterday raising much money at all, as there's never anything in there really to buy.

I'm sure some posters will reply saying it's a 'charity shop bashing thread', and yes, it is! I want to support charities and want to buy pre owned items but shops like this aren't exactly going to raise any money!

I love thrifting but you're so right.

Some charity shops seem to get everything wrong, particularly staffing and pricing, and people just avoid them.

If I find a good one, I use it a lot.

If you’re talking about fabric/clothing, this used to be the case but unfortunately it’s no longer so. There’s just far too much of it. Often either the charity ends up paying to dispose of it, or it ultimately gets dumped (in places like Ghana).

Yes! I’m just freaking clumsy unfortunately and have (created) about as many pen holders and tiny plant pots as I can manage. Hopefully this one has made someone happy in that way, it was really cute.

The price of rags has gone through the floor - which is why you don't see those cash for clothes portakabins any more.

We worked it out that it was about 80p to £1 per full black bag.

This thread is why if my clothes don’t sell on Vinted, they go into a charity door bag! And I couldn’t care less if it gets stolen or the bag collecting aren’t a real charity.
Because I only buy supermarket and next/m&s clothes so even still tags they are not wanted.
Books now go to charity table in Tesco.
I use to buy books read and re donate,

everyone think they are an expert on charity shops. 🤣

I agree. We live in a pretty affluent area with loads of charity shops and they still try to sell bobbled M&S tops for £8 etc. I don’t think anyone is buying them, why would they?

Surely it’s better to sell 100 items per day at £2 - £4 each than only a few items at £7-£10.

It really doesn't matter if they do. I'm sure a lot of people buy 10 items of clothing and sell it on Vinted, but the hospice will still get the original £20, which is better than nothing at all. If the shop gets a donation of something truly valuable, like an ornament or a painting, they will get it valued and it will be auctioned.

If you know better then please enlighten us.

I do!
I have a few favourite, reasonably-priced charity shops that I frequent (because they are reasonably priced!). As a 'thank you', they get my donations.
What goes around comes around.

We have some pretty good charity shops here, stock changes often and there’s always good named clothing brands. There are a few that are not so great and over charge for non branded items. I rarely see signs refusing donations. We went to another nearby town last weekend and most of the charity shops had good quality items. I always find BHF to have the highest prices, the better ones seem to be hospice charity shops and animal charities.

Why don't you ask why they aren't taking donations, if there are so many staff and you are in there anyway? I would be interested to know.

This was an issue here a while ago and I remember one day when I dragged bags of (good quality) donations around charity shops for the best part of an hour before I found anyone willing to take them, but not so much lately.

And I don't like leaving things in those huge charity bins in car parks. They are good for stuff that I know is only good for actual recycling, but I hate putting serviceable clothes in there in case they get shredded.

Yes its a common pricing error. Its like car sales. A wise car dealer knows that if they have 8 spaces on their forecourt, they will make more money selling 8 cars every month for four months at £100 profit per car, than having 8 cars sat taking up space for 4 months trying to make £200 profit per car.

Given that their cost of donations is minimal they simply should focus on shifting as much as they can quickly. Low pricing will do that.

Probably because it’s a common occurrence and a prime example of the ridiculous pricing.

I agree and I work in a charity shop ! Ours is an independent with only a few paid staff looking after 3 shops . We underpriced mainly because we get so many lovely donations so it's sell cheaply and a quick turn over of stock. Anything bobbly, grubby or damaged or worn would be recycled as rag . Standard dresses £4 . Posh ones up to £ 10 . The big Charity shops ie Scope. BHF etc are ridiculously expensive and often dismal with that 'smell ' . I just wouldn't buy from them as it annoys me so much .

This! It can be quite hard to dispose of fabric/rag now because there's too much. Clothing brands aren't often allowed to bin surplus unsellable stock any more and it can cost a lot to recycle. We all waste far too much.

Supermarket ,next and M&S clothes aren’t that cheap! Why did you buy them , then give away, tagged?

Same, worn out children's supermarket clothes, Primark, Shein, H&M for the same price as new stuff in the sales. But then occasionally Baby Boden for the same price as George or Nutmeg?!

why dont you ask them?

Agree. Shop near me was selling a stained childrens dress for £4.50. That should be £1 max and even then I’m not sure anyone would buy it with stains on the front and cuffs.

not really it’s just one of the tropes that gets trotted out on all charity shop threads.
just waiting for:
chief execs are overpaid
volunteers take the good stuff and it never makes it to the shopfloor
everything they sell was given to them for free so why the high prices
the volunteers are all clueless old biddies
they interrogated me regarding what I was donating…

12 years ago I was given MIL's clothing by FIL to donate locally as he didn't want them to be in a shop near him, understandable. I had real trouble finding a charity shop to take the clothes. I wouldn't mind but some of them still had original tags on them so unworn.

I do hear though a lot of people donate pure trash. I wonder if that's something to do with it? Must cost quite a lot to dispose of it.

charity shop manager here, imo the only times I've had to put signage out saying no donations, was when we had reached capacity. Happened a lot during COVID, we were a large store but getting dangerously full upstairs and things began becoming trip hazards or potential falls. It is frustrating, some stores offer donations but only on certain days, this can help lighten the load and avoid hazards. Only other time I paused donations was when I was heavily pregnant, and very low on volunteers so was struggling to keep up. Maybe ask them?

There's 5 charity shops within a 5 minute walk, very near where I live. 3 are pretty decent and I often find things there. 1 does more books and niknaks than clothes. And the final one is infuriating. It displays everything sorted by colour. For example, all the pink jumpers, t-shirts, trousers, skirts, in all sizes, are displayed on one rack together. I don't go into a charity shop trying to find ANYTHING AT ALL that's pink. I want a jumper in a size 14/16. Bring me to the rack of jumpers.
I find it so bizarre that I don't go in that one any more.

So what if they do?

The charity get the price they wanted.