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!

A new Sue Ryder charity shop has opened in our local centre. Absolute crap for inflated prices! They also didn't have a lot of stock in, but it seemed to me they'd trebled the prices of what they did have in, to make the money up. I saw a simple but lovely dress, £16 and it wasn't even a brand name! I can get cheaper at bloody Morrisons or Asda!
Yet I got an expensive brand t-shirt at the Cancer Research shop for £3!
I take all my charity stuff to our local PDSA, they never ever turn donations away and sell things at decent prices.
All the other ones are going to do is price themselves out of business due to greed and that helps no-one.

I've been shopping in charity shops for over 35 years, and yes prices have gone up quite noticeably recently. But that's hardly surprising given the level of inflation we've had. They can't keep their prices rock bottom when the charity is trying to raise money to operate in the current economy.
eBay has existed for a long time as an alternative for people to dispose of their stuff, but I'd say that the popularity of Vinted has caused a noticeable decline in the quality of stock in many places.
And OP, yes your local shop may be badly run at the moment, but that doesn't reflect on all charity shops.

I gave up going to charity shops a few years ago.
Far to over priced.
Last time I went in one I saw a woman's vest top marked at £4 went to tesco and got 3 for a 5er.
And a pair of leggings marked at £4.50 again 2 pairs for a 5er in tescos.
A man's fluffy fleece jumper marked at £12 it wasn't worth it, same jumper im primark £7.
Id rather buy new.

@zingally One of my local ones sorts items by colour. As you say- completely useless! It looks appealing in the shop and I’m sure it’s fine for people who aren’t looking for a specific item and have plenty of time to browse (or who feel strongly about which colour they want to wear 😂) but it’s a terrible system if customers are wanting to look for a specific type of item (which I’m sure applies to many customers).

It horrifies me that people send dirty clothes to charity shops. I don't iron them, but I make sure they're washed and fit for wear! Or household items washed. I'd love to volunteer at my local PDSA, but the thought of rooting through mucky clothes makes me a bit sick! Do you get PPE?!

You would be very surprised!

I volunteer for a charity shop. Sorting through bags can take ages and yes quite often a bag will not be fit for purpose. Shoes/bags/accessories go into one bin and clothes into another - which then have to be bagged up to be collected for rags. Crockery/books etc have to be sorted and then not all make it onto the shop floor - we then have to sort it for pre-cycle.

Last week on one of the mornings there was just me and a Manager. We had to say no to donations as our bunker was full and nowhere to put any more coming in.

Volunteers standing around in the shops - maybe not everyone can work the till due to a disability and they need the support from another volunteer - like in the shop I volunteer in.

Plastic gloves were always available where I worked, nobody wore them. We also brought in an apron from home to protect our own clothes. For me, the absolute worst was bags of stuff covered in cat hair, I am very allergic to cats and this cloud of allergens and hair would be released when I opened the bag. Yuk.

The shop I oversee has PPE.

staff and volunteers also have frequent training.

our CEO and trustees regularly visit and thank the team.

I make sure the tea caddy is topped up, everyone gets a gift at Easter, Volunteers Week and Christmas.

personal letters and cards on birthdays and other milestones.

social events and activities which reinforce the link to the cause they’re raising money for.

it’s the least I and the charity I work for can do.

Volunteering in a charity shop can be pretty thankless. Especially when you can’t get through the door on a wet winter morning because of all the sodden bags of donations which then have to be carried straight to the bin which we pay to be emptied. Or, as a volunteer, you read a thread like this.

the volunteers I work with tell me that they feel very rewarded by their role. They feel they offer something to the charity as well as to the community - particularly the socially isolated who visit the shop just to see another human being.

volunteers (and charity shop staff) might get it wrong sometimes. But they mainly get it right. And I’m extremely grateful to each of them who makes a positive impact which indirectly benefits the more vulnerable among us.

I also see clothes that when new would have been very inexpensive (Primark, supermarket basics) with a pretty high price tag. Those items remain hanging up week after week.
Our go-to is charity shops when looking for clothing, prefer reusing good quality pieces that are in good condition. There are definitely some charity shops that we veer towards out of preference, as we know they charge sensible prices and consequently have a decent turnover.

But they take the risk of it A) not selling B) getting scammed C) item not turning up and they are then out of pocket and no item, or having the hassle to chase up the lost item.
Many charity shops do use an online platform to sell.
I have volunteered in a charity shop, I regularly disagreed with the prices, as they were high, my manager regularly moaned that ‘nothing sold’. I suggested she did a bargain basket for £1.00. The basket was the only thing that needed re-stocking everyday, however my manager’s manager, didn’t like it as she felt it ‘lowered the tone’, so we had to withdraw it. I left a few months after, as honestly the toxic culture, bitchy back biting and sometimes down right rudeness to people donating, did my head it. It was an eye opening experience. Yes we did get some really gross ‘donations’ and we got some very peculiar and slightly creepy folk coming in early morning, before the main shoppers came through the door, but we also had many lovely customers, and some great stuff donated (but was massively overpriced and wouldn’t shift). I think many more charity shops will close though, and jumble sales will come back into vogue!

You just don't know the secret to charity shop buying. I've bought things like a jacket for £3, which I then resold for over well over £100, Italian leather boots for £4 from a 'How to spend it' brand, etc.

It shouldn’t but it does. Charity shop staff now check what items are being sold for on eBay and Vinted.

My secret is simply going to an awful lot of them. I've had some amazing bargains too - a Hobbs skirt on a £1 sale rail, my size, great condition - other similar brands for under a fiver. But you do have to wade through an awful lot of 'bobbly Primark jumpers' to find these gems 😆

Also being prepared to give some TLC helps. I found a vintage coat in a discontinued brand that sells for up to £200 on Vestaire etc. for £2. It had some missing buttons but otherwise nothing whatsoever wrong with it. I had no trouble at all finding suitable replacement buttons for pence at my local haberdashers and took me 20 mins or so to sew them on.

There's a brand new pair of men's Puma trainers, priced at £15, in my size in my local one. Sad thing is I don't even have £15 to spare...😆

There's a possibility they're not authentic if they're new at that price so might not be the bargain you think - fake shoes tend to fall apart even more quickly than cheap shoes in my (bitter) experience.

There's a stronger possibility that they are genuine.

Without seeing them it's hard to say whether one possibility is stronger than another.

Surely there is a middle ground. £2 for a designer blazer is just missing out on money for the charity. They don’t need to demand high prices but neither do they need to give it all away. The shops cost money to run

I collect books but I don't bother going into charity shops any more. They seem to throw all the good ones away or else put ridiculous prices on anything 'old' even if it is rubbish. They also delight in displays of modern fiction paperbacks that are all neatly arranged in rows of books exactly the same height - content doesn't seem to come into it. Then they complain that 'books don't sell'!

That goes for anything.

They were the real thing.

The one near me sells all books, new, old, paperback, or hardback for £1.50

Well, quite. All I'm saying is that if @LoyalMember is thinking of spending £15 they can ill-afford on a pair of apparently brand new branded trainers, it would be a good idea to check them for signs of being fake - poor quality stitching and finish, non-premium looking materials in the parts that don't show, that sort of thing.

@LoyalMember ,said she didn't have £15, @InterestingDuck .

Well the one I referred to in my OP has very little on the shelves/rails so can’t be raising much at all for the charity.

TBH I don’t mind paying higher prices for decent, genuine high end items but I won’t pay £7 for a shitty old Primark/Asda/Peacocks jumper in bad condition. For those kind of things they should be charging minimal amounts, maybe a pound or two