Charity shop valuations.

lilac_lady

Who sets the prices in charity shops? Some have cheap clothing marked at higher prices than the original ones and good clothes at low prices. Do the staff just guess what an item is worth?

reniannen

For clothes, pretty much, yeah, it depends on the knowledge of the staff. I can imagine that this can cause problems sometimes, particularly when there's a generation gap between the staff and the donor I think. Our shop does ok, most of the stuff we get in is normal high street brands anyway and the staff are knowledgable enough. We were saved by a very honest customer recently though who pointed out a jacket on sale was a desginer vintage piece, oops.
We do have a computer, although I volunteer in a large charity's shop and I doubt most will. We can sometimes use it if we're not sure about something, but not generally for clothes, more for books and antiques. We also have Miller's guides for antiques and will keep an eye out for known makers.

bossywoman

I am a volunteer and if only people would wash the stuff they give we could sell loads more we dont have washing machines in the shops and a lot of really good quality stuff is sold on as rag as its in need of a good wash

Irish_Cailin

bossywoman wrote: »

I am a volunteer and if only people would wash the stuff they give we could sell loads more we dont have washing machines in the shops and a lot of really good quality stuff is sold on as rag as its in need of a good wash

I just can't imagine people donating dirty clothes to a charity shop.:mad: Where is the respect for the volunteers who have to sort these clothes not to mention those who might purchase them.

I always wash or have items not suitable for washing dry cleaned before I donate them and apologise for not having ironed them. I hate ironing.

Jaime-V

bossywoman wrote: »

I am a volunteer and if only people would wash the stuff they give we could sell loads more we dont have washing machines in the shops and a lot of really good quality stuff is sold on as rag as its in need of a good wash

Same in our shop, there are some good items we can't sell on because of dirty marks. though there is a lot we couldn't sell and passing these onto the rag man for more funds for the charity is better than it going to landfill by the general public. I don't mind sorting through the bags, you do get some nasty ones though lol