MMD: Would you tell a charity shop that a Chloe bag was under-priced?

OddjobKIA

our local sally army shop sells its books 5 for £1.00 no matter what...

now I love books and have spent around £100 down there on books alone (yes thats a lot of books)..but every now and then i come across an expensive one ( shell guide's) I have informed them the current price and pay them that amount....

So yes i would inform them that stuff are underpriced..remember the charity side of it goes both ways..you getting stuff cheap and also the work they do..

Wems_2

Most Charity Shops now know the value of a lot of items especially antiques etc (they hold copies of Millers Guides to check what they are getting) so I'm afraid I would snap it up!!

A.Jones

GiveItBack wrote: »

In the long term, when I'm donating a pair of designer jeans I can't fit into any more, will I go there, knowing they'll sell for £1, or go elsewhere?

So in the long term the quality of donations will fall, the quality of items for sale will fall, and it will become a place not to find a bargain, but to spend £1. and maybe add a donation.

So you base your giving of used goods on which charity will be able to get the most money, rather than on the charity themselves? I do something similar. I refuse to give any goods to Oxfam, because they always overprice them, and they sit on the shelves for ages before being reduced. The actual worth of the item could be released much sooner to the charity if they tried to sell it at a more reasonable price.

GiveItBack

A.Jones wrote: »

So you base your giving of used goods on which charity will be able to get the most money, rather than on the charity themselves? I do something similar. I refuse to give any goods to Oxfam, because they always overprice them, and they sit on the shelves for ages before being reduced. The actual worth of the item could be released much sooner to the charity if they tried to sell it at a more reasonable price.

That makes sense, I want the charity to get the money sooner rather than later, but in this example, give something worth £100 new and hardly used to a charity that will price it at £1 or price it higher, which would make a difference?

It would cost ME more than £1 just to get the stuff there..

Tiglet

I find it really quite interesting to see the excuses that people are using to justify their greed. I'll give a few examples that seem to represent quite a few prevalent attitudes:

1) It's probably a fake

It's illegal to sell fake goods. I don't think I saw anybody suggesting that they should be reported to Trading Standards, or offering to point out how to tell real from fake. If they are capable of doing this, perhaps they should be offering their time to help the shop - it would certainly be appreciated. Otherwise, if they are happy to justify getting a bargain on the basis that the shop is probably committing a crime, then they should consider saving even more by stealing the bag.

2) The shop should know the value of the goods they are selling

Shops are run by volunteers, not all of whom are experts. There is a very high turnover of volunteers and many of them are very inexperienced. If an item is vastly overpriced, this doesn't earn money for the charity because it simply won't sell. If it's vastly underpriced, however, it loses them money in a flash because it will sell to the sort of person who is looking for exactly this kind of mistake. These people don't use charity shops because they want to help charities; they do it because they are greedy. Fair enough, but at least admit it.

3) Charity shops are supposed to be cheap

There are shops that will sell a t-shirt for £2. For this, somebody has to grow the cotton, someone has to spin it into a yarn, then it has to be made into a fabric, then made into a t-shirt and finally shipped half way around the world. To make a profit, the shop is probably paying no more than £1.30-£1.40 each. Given these figures, it's hardly surprising how many stories there are of slave labour at each stage in the production process. If you are comfortable with this, that's your decision but this is not how charity shops operate. By paying a sensible price to Oxfam you are helping solve the problems caused by the people who are only concerned about the price.

JesaRose

Can I just point out that charity shops are not generally run by volunteers. Some are, most aren't and volunteers, generally, are not trained to spot valuables. Paid staff are there because they have experience and skill in retail and charity work so they more than make up for the money spent on their wages.

Oxfam have state of the art offices which are quite frequently kitted out with new furniture. They do seem to waste money so would be the last place I take my own stuff. A friend who works there has told me stories of the waste of money - she asked me for a job as she hates it there now due to this.

dangermouse1981

I'd like to think that I'd let them know of their mistake as I'd personally have no interest in the item, but I'm not sure I'd be so charitable if it was something I wanted!

DM

Incisor

Mrs Incisor had a Radley bag and she cut the dog off because it got in the way.

So if she saw the Chloe bag for £5, and liked it and thought it would be £5 well spent she would pay £5 for it, or get me to. If she got fed up with it, she might take it back to a charity shop too. The £600 is not real value anyway.

surfcat

I think in this situation a nice solution would be (assuming you don't want the bag for yourself)

1) buy the bag for £5. The charity shop may not be able to sell it for more anyway.

2) do your best to sell it on ebay or whereever for as much as possible.

3) give most of the proceeds as a donation to the shop.

4) keep some of the left-over cash.

SC

pacemaker

:mad: NO! I would not! I'm so angry at some charity shops They are selling donated goods and some things are way overpriced! Last week I looked at some T shirts in several charity shops only to find I could buy cheaper New! Same applied to shoes I know the sales are on, sso why can't they have a sale? Do you know how much charity shops send to land fill? Not only bad for the Ecology but also Stupid and wasteful Stuff is only kept a minimum of 3 weeks max 6weeks then its dumped accept clothes they are sold to east European b/ness men for resale abroad, very cheaply I may add.
I was also told last week that several charity shops have PUT UP THEIR PRICES Because of the recession on the basis that people will not buy so many new things! I go to Charity shops to buy clothes because I normally cannot buy new and there must be several people worse off than me! I have also been told that because they are now selling new things as well, that they are putting other shops out of business. Can this be right? Charity seems not to start at home, but with big business!