Charity shops, I apologise

[thedevilinablackdress]

I've loved charity shopping for over 30 years, but like many I've long mixed it with online second hand shopping.
The stories in this Guardian article are not new to those of us who've read threads on here, work in the shops or know people who do.
I never sell online myself and am a very mindful donatter, but my own eBay addiction and Vinted dabbling is contributing to this in a way.
Shops won't want to discourage donations, but it seems more push back on the mountains of crap is needed.

www.theguardian.com/fashion/2026/oct/13/people-sell-their-best-stuff-on-vinted-how-charity-shops-became-a-dumping-ground-for-unsellable-clothes

Ideally, pricing the stuff is done by a different staff member in accordance with central guidelines. If this happens. then why shouldn't staff buy stuff?

(To note, when I worked in a shop many years ago, it was policy to have it on the shop floor at least a week before staff could buy, but it was still there often enough that this worked well).

And there’s nothing wrong with that. There’s also absolutely nothing wrong with people selling their own possessions rather than giving them away. That’s a shame for charity shops, but it’s people’s right to do what they want with their own property.

The real issue is people donating absolute rubbish to charity shops, stuff that no one is ever realistically going to want to buy. That’s something that’s categorically wrong.

Fast fashion is the culprit - charity shops can barely sell this stuff for less than it retailed for. I also see a lot of Temu type crap - like something that looks like it might be a fun, patterned top from a distance turns out to be a flimsy piece of artificial fibre with a bad photoprint of the 'hand knitted artisan cardigan' that someone thought they were getting for a tenner on it.

They should probably also address how a lot of charity shops have unacceptable prices, at least in my area.

If I want to pay pretty much as if brand new prices I’ll just go and buy brand new.

On 4th Sept Woman's Hour did a segment on this (is on BBC Sounds) and they advised to give to charity as if you were giving to a friend.
I found it interesting about the price rises being down to the shop space and utility costs. They had an example of a whole shopping centre I think in Sweden where everything was pre-loved, furniture etc. The interviewee wanted laundromats and tailors next to each charity shop too as the volunteers end up having to do this. I wonder if the gov could part fund this (maybe pay utilities) as a new initiative into recycling? I would love a whole shopping centre to go to for sustainable furniture, clothes etc.

i have to make sure i have my reading glasses to shop in charity shops, to read the material,
mostly i am lucky if they sell new stuff with labels still but there is a dearth of stuff
i dont buy from vinted as i like to try on

Also, there are so many charity shops now, which doesn’t help. Growing up you had maybe Oxfam and one other, and now there’s lots.

i donate to the salvation army containers and in my nearest town there are heaps of bags just lying outside the containers

we buy far too many clothes it says in the article
and they get far less for rags than they used to which is sad

How do you know they’re resellers?

What % of charity shop money actually goes to help people who need it?

Tiny tiny amount I'd imagine. I'm not sure why there's any reason for them.

Around me they charge silly amounts- £10 for a basic used primark t shirt. They seem to have all got rid of the knicknacks I'd want to browse too.

You should see the state of a lot of the stuff donated, too. It's absolutely disgusting, men's clothes in particular. If it smells too bad you just can't sell it. It charity shops had the resources to wash and dry all the clothes they get, they could sell more of the donations. As it is . . . yuck.

What we need more than anything now is an end to fast fashion and the entitlement that supports it. People have lost all sense of reality. The environmental destruction that comes with fast fashion is enough. I hate the Shein and Temu culture of buy cheap shit, use once and dump. It's morally repugnant. We need to raise our children understanding the true cost of this kind of consumption.

I have always thought if I wouldn't give it to a friend in that condition I wouldn't give it to a charity shop like that.

I separate out 'nicer' clothes from the rag ones. I always ask them if they want the rags or will I take them to the recycle centre. It's 50/50 if they do. I think it depends on how much they have.

I saw a man putting loads into a clothing bin at our tip)recycling centre the other day. It was unbagged and he was carrying armfuls from car to bin. The shoes were unpaired and he wasn't even putting them all in the same bin. He may as well have just chucked them straight into the skips instead .

For me, vinted is creating more to give away because inevitably some doesn't fit it you don't like it so I need to pass it on. If I was buying new there's be much less.

It's crazy that as the climate crisis is ramping up, so is the amount of cheap plastic clothing we are producing and buying.

Isn’t the real problem that people are just buying far too much stuff?

And then they try and dump it on charity shops when they don’t want it anymore

It would be good if more of the retailers had their own second hand platforms. Seasalt did for a little while and I had planned to offload about 3 tops of theirs that I don't like but it seems they don't have that arrangement anymore. Maybe there should be laws to say that clothing retailers have to have "close the loop" websites?

I guess they'd say well ebay and Vinted exist, but I'd rather sell to a reputable buyer rather than someone who claims they've not received something (which happened to me recently though ebay did give me the money but I knew the buyer was a scammer from some messages to me and I was annoyed they refunded him!)

If I donate to charity shops or the clothing bins I always wash everything first!

That applies to so many things! You are so right though.

I like this idea. If they provided a free post label and kept the selling fee to cover their costs id be perfectly happy.

I only donate good quality items. MIL sometimes asks us to deliver stuff to charity shops for her- the state of it - eg scuffed shoes with the laces removed! We just take it to recycle bins

No doubt some people would use a free post label to send in stained clothes and clothes from a different brand, though.

I think a fundamental issue is that people don’t have enough respect for the stuff they own. They don’t repair stuff, the don’t care for it properly and, when they don’t want it, they don’t get rid of it responsibly. There is a time cost to the things that we own, which people don’t want to pay.

I understand the logic of buying a garment for a fiver and not wanting to sow a button back on it or scrub a stain out when you can easily chuck it into a donation bag or even the bin. You’ve only lost £5. But we need to have more respect for our stuff and do better.

I think charity shops need to normalise the idea with the public that donations should be approved by the shop.

I always ask my local shops if they want my donations. They say yay or nay. Now I have a good idea what they want so it's mostly always yay.

I think it’s that plus people overvaluing the stuff they own IYSWIM.

A pair of shoes might be scuffed and have no
laces but they’re incapable of seeing them as rubbish (or else in need of a major overhaul). Instead they think, I paid £60 for these!