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Posted

Charity shops used to be a bit messy, have a bit of a funky smell, sell things very cheap and I used to love having a rummage around, looking for something completely random and unique that you never thought you wanted until you saw it.

These days so many charity shops have poshed themselves up. They are very tidy now and very clean and decorated. They sell things more for what they are actually worth because they research what they have been donated and put a bigger price tag on it.

An example of this is a charity shop in my hometown. I collect sports shirts as I'm sure many on here do and I was very excited when I saw a Club Tijuana shirt in said charity shop, that was until I saw the £15 price tag on it. I am not paying £15 for a second hand football shirt in a charity shop! Not that long ago that shirt would have been a couple of quid! 

I have seen people in local Facebook groups talking about the charity shops in town and saying the same sort of thing. I recall someone commenting that one charity shop had a lovely, designer jacket in it, until they saw the £75 price tag and suddenly it wasn't so lovely! 

They have been donated these things, given these things for free and if they just want to make some money for their charity then what is the problem with just selling things cheaply like they always used to? Surely selling things quickly and making a bit of money is more important than things like that Club Tijuana shirt sitting on the shelf for months not selling because they're asking too much? And that's not an exaggeration, that shirt has been in that shop for a couple of months now.


Posted

Research and experience tells them someone will pay that price at some point, if they get it wrong they will adjust prices as appropriate.

Why sell something for a fiver if someone will pay fifty.

Also just make them an offer, the price tag is only an invitation to treat.

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Posted (edited)

Having worked in a charity shop for a few months between jobs, I can tell you what happens in a lot of cases. A volunteer with no training looks up the product on eBay and actually believes the first asking price they find on that site. This is especially the case with LPs.

With more high-value items, the manager is usually involved and they make more of an effort when estimating the price. Then, if it doesn't shift after a while, the price is dropped, bit by bit, until it sells. 

But on the other side, there are some customers who'd haggle over something priced at 50p.

Edited by Futtocks
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Posted

With the rise of vinted etc. charity shops are in vogue at the moment. With more demand they can charge higher prices.

Fast fashion means that there is a constant supply of stuff. Younger people and the middle classes now frequent charity shops whereas they may not have done in the past. Here in Coventry there's charity shop superstores now. Let's hope the money is actually going to the charities!

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Posted
17 minutes ago, OriginalMrC said:

With the rise of vinted etc. charity shops are in vogue at the moment. With more demand they can charge higher prices.

Fast fashion means that there is a constant supply of stuff. Younger people and the middle classes now frequent charity shops whereas they may not have done in the past. Here in Coventry there's charity shop superstores now. Let's hope the money is actually going to the charities!

We have a charity superstore, at first they took over the redundant Debenhams store but have now moved into the old Wilko store.

Items tend to be seconds and end of line items from major retailers rather than donations from the public.

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Radio 5 Live: Saturday 14 April 2007

Dave Whelan "In Wigan rugby will always be king"

 

This country's wealth was created by men in overalls, it was destroyed by men in suits.

Posted

Probably depends a bit on the demographic of potential customers. I'd put money on things being more expensive in Hebden Bridge than Fev for example.

A wider question to me is what is the purpose of charity shops? Is it to maximise revenue to generate as much as possible for the charity, or should it be a low priced offering, enabling those who are struggling financially to be able to pick up second hand essentials at an affordable price?

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Posted (edited)

I was working in a charity shop in Golders Green, a sort of well off, sort of shabby neighbourhood in North London. There were plenty of people who were there to just look and see if there was anything they liked. But we also had loads of beds, sofas, mattresses that were sought after by people furnishing their first home.

There are always loads of celebrity books that everyone knows would never sell and would eventually go to landfill. The disgraced former Prime Minister Johnson's fictional autobiography will be heading to the skips next March, for instance.

But you'd get some amazing donations too. My manager called me her "lucky angel" because of the stuff that came in when I happened to be in the shop. I had ZERO influence on what was dragged through the door and really was just lucky, but some of the stuff was amazing.

Edited by Futtocks

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Posted
43 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

I was working in a charity shop in Golders Green, a sort of well off, sort of shabby neighbourhood in North London. There were plenty of people who were there to just look and see if there was anything they liked. But we also had loads of beds, sofas, mattresses that were sought after by people furnishing their first home.

There are always loads of celebrity books that everyone knows would never sell and would eventually go to landfill. The disgraced former Prime Minister Johnson's fictional autobiography will be heading to the skips next March, for instance.

But you'd get some amazing donations too. My manager called me her "lucky angel" because of the stuff that came in when I happened to be in the shop. I had ZERO influence on what was dragged through the door and really was just lucky, but some of the stuff was amazing.

What are some of the best things that were donated?

Posted
4 hours ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

What are some of the best things that were donated?

I remember a surround-sound set of big Mordaunt-Short loudspeakers with a B&O TV, some mint condition original G-Plan furniture and one woman turned up with an estate car full of amazing designer clothes. All sorts of random things, as well as the general tat.

If we got anything that was clearly high-value, it also went on the website as well as in the shop window.

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Posted
12 hours ago, gazza77 said:

A wider question to me is what is the purpose of charity shops? Is it to maximise revenue to generate as much as possible for the charity, or should it be a low priced offering, enabling those who are struggling financially to be able to pick up second hand essentials at an affordable price?

Worked for a local charity in London that ran two shops. Without the profit from those shops then some of the things that charity did would not have happened. But that balancing act was an issue - for some people using the charity, the shop was an extension of it, for other shoppers it was just a cheap shop. It was a circle that was never squared, really.

Hastings & St Leonards has a lot of bric a brac and jumble shops posing as boho antiques places so our charity shops lean very much to old clothes and assorted bargains - there are two which specifically sell furniture and they are "well under market rate but not cheap".

To go back to the thread purpose: if they don't make enough of a profit then they will be closed. That's not always on sales. If the landlord hikes rent or if staff are needed rather than volunteers, that can make a difference. And profit will be going back to the charity but there will be bills to pay on the way.

Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett)

Posted
15 hours ago, gazza77 said:

Probably depends a bit on the demographic of potential customers. I'd put money on things being more expensive in Hebden Bridge than Fev for example.

A wider question to me is what is the purpose of charity shops? Is it to maximise revenue to generate as much as possible for the charity, or should it be a low priced offering, enabling those who are struggling financially to be able to pick up second hand essentials at an affordable price?

Charity shops are there to raise money for the charity they are supporting. If they were not then they would just be a second hand shop.

 

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Radio 5 Live: Saturday 14 April 2007

Dave Whelan "In Wigan rugby will always be king"

 

This country's wealth was created by men in overalls, it was destroyed by men in suits.

Posted
1 hour ago, Padge said:

Charity shops are there to raise money for the charity they are supporting. If they were not then they would just be a second hand shop.

 

Exactly, which is essentially why I don't approve of them pricing things so high, surely it's better to move things on at a lower price and make some money for the charity than have them sat in the shop for months in the hope of making a bit more money.

As I said, if that Club Tijuana shirt had been, say, £5 I would have bought it a month back but because it is priced up at £15, it is still sat there and the charity are missing out.

Posted
46 minutes ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Exactly, which is essentially why I don't approve of them pricing things so high, surely it's better to move things on at a lower price and make some money for the charity than have them sat in the shop for months in the hope of making a bit more money.

As I said, if that Club Tijuana shirt had been, say, £5 I would have bought it a month back but because it is priced up at £15, it is still sat there and the charity are missing out.

If everything is sold too cheap then it becomes harder to cover the shop's operating costs.

Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett)

Posted
3 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

If everything is sold too cheap then it becomes harder to cover the shop's operating costs.

True. I should point out that this discussion was also had on a local community Facebook group and someone did point out that rents in this town are really high which will be one reason for the prices. 

Posted
5 hours ago, gingerjon said:

If everything is sold too cheap then it becomes harder to cover the shop's operating costs.

was working in Dewsbury town centre last Saturday, the British Heart Foundation shop had been broken in to and the whole glass panel in the door smashed and boarded up (apparently not for the 1st time)  - imagine that was gonna cost them a couple of hundred quid to replace at least before they even sold anything - what sort of a society do we live in these days where people carry out acts like that?

see you later undertaker - in a while necrophile 

Posted
11 minutes ago, graveyard johnny said:

was working in Dewsbury town centre last Saturday, the British Heart Foundation shop had been broken in to and the whole glass panel in the door smashed and boarded up (apparently not for the 1st time)  - imagine that was gonna cost them a couple of hundred quid to replace at least before they even sold anything - what sort of a society do we live in these days where people carry out acts like that?

I think this when I read stories about people shoplifting from charity shops. What kind of a beast are you if you steal from a charity? 

Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

I think this when I read stories about people shoplifting from charity shops. What kind of a beast are you if you steal from a charity? 

As I pointed out earlier, charity chops can't afford security staff or technology, so they are easy meat. Most of the shop floor staff on any given day will have been "volunteered" on peril of losing their jobseeker's allowance. They don't really want to be there and they certainly won't risk themselves stopping the most obvious pilferer.

I worked at this shop for one Summer and during that time it was broken into at night twice - once almost certainly by one of the guys who'd been "working" there until very recently and had checked out how flimsy the back door was.

And the shoplifters aren't just the track-suited scrotes you'd expect. I think it gives a little thrill to a certain type of pensioner to sneak something out without paying.

Edited by Futtocks

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Posted (edited)

It depends on the Charitable Purpose as required by the Charity Commission.

Two charities I've had contact with.

For example, the Charitable Purpose of Furnichurch in Mablethorpe is The prevention or relief of poverty through the supply of second hand furniture ( free to those in desperate need ) and food from the community Food Larder ( based at and run by Furnichurch) to people in the LN 12 area facing financial hardship. We supply good second hand furniture to local people on low incomes in return for a donation and offer a free collection service for unwanted furniture.

Thus they are not trying to raise money for a cause, just as long as they cover costs.

The St Barnabas Hospice Trust in Linconshire has this: To provide specialist palliative care through provision of inpatient, day therapy services, hospice at home, Welfare and Family Support Services to the people of Lincolnshire. To support local provision of general palliative care through provision of the Palliative Care Co-Ordination Centre, education and advice.

Consequently, St Barnabas tries to raise as much money as possible from shops. It has a central clearing warehouse in Lincoln whee it tries to identify possible high value items before they feature on Antques Roadshow as items bought for 5 p and found to be worth thousands by the TV experts.

  If you can, always use Gift Aid to increase the value of your donation.

Tax relief when you donate to a charity: Gift Aid - GOV.UK

Edited by JohnM
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