charity shops

cathy_3

went into one recently and saw a 3 pce suite that should have been on the tip for £400 when I comented to the lady behind the desk that it was a tad steep she said

people on benefit would be glad of it

not at £400 they wouldnt I replied

well, its buttons to them she smiled back

where do these charity shop peeps live??

planet zarg??

in another one they were wanting £10 for matalan tops that had seen much better days and cost £3 new

and £15 for a jumper that was so old and worn out that you couldnt even unpick the wool and knit something with it!

I go into a charity shop to get a bargain and if it helps said charity all well and good, but I think they are going to price themselves out of the market at this rate.

Glad

I agree cathy

Primark and Peacocks clothes cost more in charity shops than they did new
I think some of the people working their are so out of touch that they see something vaguely fashionable and think it must have cost a fortune new so price it accordingly,

16011996

i find this too, we have just had an oxfam book shop open here, paperbacks that are a couple of quid in seconds book stores are 4 or 5 quid. is mad.

klondyke

LOL - I recently started helping with the books in a local Oxfam shop (half a day a week is my bit for society). Believe me, we get directions on high from SALARIED peeps, that we MUST price these books at (to us) ridiculous rates. These remote people fail to recognise, for instance, that there are several other charity shops in the same street.

Volunteers can get severely ticked off if they don't conform ;D. Better not say which branch I'm talking about, but we try to put a more sensible price on - when no one is looking ;D

16011996

our oxfam do 5 for 99p on all books. whether they worth couple of quid each or 10p. mad.

soolin

I think some of the charity shops have lost touch with real prices. We have a street half full of charity shops with incredibly high prices. yet we have a Primark and a Matalan in the same street where I can buy brand new items for half the charity shop price.

We also have discounted book shops where I can get the latest paperbacks for approx £3-£4 a go or buy them second hand in a tatty condition for the same price in a charity shop.

I assume though that different areas have different sorts of charity shop? I often read in magazine articles about people buying designer dresses worth hundreds of pounds for a tenth of the price. My local shops tend to sell unbranded well worn items, although I did once see a rather nice pleated skirt with an M and S label but at £20 a bit steep second hand.

Soo

16011996

if you're charity shops are expensive, try your local car boots, or my favourite jumble sales. Church ones are best. also, my friends and i had a clothes swap party, no cost (well a bottle of wine), and we all exchanged stuff we didn't want anymore. was a good night. also for books keep an eye out for a sale at your local library, ours do one every year or so, never new books, but usually some of interest. ours charge 20p for a paperback, 50p for a hardback accross the board.

spidystrider

I hardly go into charity shops any more. When my oldest son was born, 14 years ago, I bought virtually everything he needed from charity shops. Back then you did get a real bargain, but no more. The only one in our area worth going to is Age Concern, they still put sensible prices on their goods.

IvanOpinion

Money saving tip related to charity shops. Have you seen the price of toys for dogs/cats. Call into your local charity shop they usually have loads of teddy bears etc at 50p or 75p. Our dogs seem to get new toys every week ... the dogs are trained, its just I can't seem to get DW trained into stopping spending my hard earned.

Ivan

16011996

just becareful with doing that though, my friends puppy chewed a teddy from a car boot and got the eye stuck in its throat. Result, large vet bill. and poorly pup. wasn't nice.

jellyhead

we have ten charity shops in our town and 8 of them are overcharging for clothes, and also charging £3 or more for books that can be bough at the second hand stall in the market for less. we have a matalan, peacocks and ethel austin in the town and these charity shops charge twice as much as the shops originally charged for the stuff! asda's pretty cheap too, i bought a gorgeous blue t-shirt from there recently for my 8 year old, it had some sort of skate logo and it cost £1.50. i couldn't buy a kids t-shirt in a charity shop for that price, it's madness. chart books are only £3.63 in asda too, so why would anyone pay £3 or more for a tatty yellowing book with stains on?

there are a couple of reasonably priced charity shops in back streets, so perhaps the high street charity shops wouldn't have to charge so much if they moved to a backstreet location? the backstreet shops have a lot of custom because people know they are cheap.