Why are Oxfam so expensive ?

tcr_3

Thought I'd visit them today, to see if they had any half decent shirts which would do for work. And they did ! But they were more expensive, second hand, than brand new ones from Primark. £5.99 for someone else's shirt ? Na, I'll pass on that.

So I had a wander about. 4 unbranded mugs ... £6 (you can buy mugs anywhere cheaper than that). A 2nd hand bluray dvd ... £12 (£9.99 brand new on https://www.play.com). An biography ... £7 (and in that case it was more expensive than the original purchase price). A framed picture ... £25 ... just a print too of the New York skyline. La Internationale (or w/e it was called) had them for £15 brand new.

The list could've gone on and on and on. Funnily enough the shop was empty, apart from the ever so worthy/tiresome volunteers. Yet the "other" charity shop in the manky end of town was standing room only, probably because they're cheap as chips.

I thought with charity shops there had to be a trade off for purchasers ... that the second hand stuff they want you to buy ought to be inexpensive ?

How come Oxfam have forgotton that basic ?

BLT_2

tcr wrote: »

Thought I'd visit them today, to see if they had any half decent shirts which would do for work. And they did ! But they were more expensive, second hand, than brand new ones from Primark. £5.99 for someone else's shirt ? Na, I'll pass on that.

So I had a wander about. 4 unbranded mugs ... £6 (you can buy mugs anywhere cheaper than that). A 2nd hand bluray dvd ... £12 (£9.99 brand new on www.play.com). An biography ... £7 (and in that case it was more expensive than the original purchase price). A framed picture ... £25 ... just a print too of the New York skyline. La Internationale (or w/e it was called) had them for £15 brand new.

The list could've gone on and on and on. Funnily enough the shop was empty, apart from the ever so worthy/tiresome volunteers. Yet the "other" charity shop in the manky end of town was standing room only, probably because they're cheap as chips.

I thought with charity shops there had to be a trade off for purchasers ... that the second hand stuff they want you to buy ought to be inexpensive ?

How come Oxfam have forgotton that basic ?

Try out their book section, its cheaper to go Waterstones :-) Its many years since I went into an Oxfam, firstly because as you say their prices are ridiculous for second hand stuff. Perhaps they need the money to fund their incessant TV ads stating that they need money - personally the only effect that crying African child has on me is to make me reach for the remote.

Given the chance between helping out an African with 22 children in some far off country and helping out an old person in the UK I would plump for the latter.

Hermia

BLT wrote: »

Try out their book section, its cheaper to go Waterstones :-)

I know! In my town the books in Oxfam seem to be the same whenever I go in whereas the other charity shops have a really high turnover of books. Whatever you do, do not offer any friendly advice about their prices! I work with books so know what they cost and I have seen some appalling pricing in Oxfam. E.g. Wordsworth editions (that had clearly been read a few times) that were originally sold for £1 each selling for £2.99. One of those mixed packs of cheaply-printed & bound paperbacks that are sold through bargain bookstores for less than a tenner priced at £25! I have occasionally pointed out what the original prices of the items were as I realise that people who don't work with books may not know. Let's just say they do not react well to being given advice!

shaz-ann

BLT wrote: »

Try out their book section, its cheaper to go Waterstones :-) Its many years since I went into an Oxfam, firstly because as you say their prices are ridiculous for second hand stuff. Perhaps they need the money to fund their incessant TV ads stating that they need money - personally the only effect that crying African child has on me is to make me reach for the remote.

Given the chance between helping out an African with 22 children in some far off country and helping out an old person in the UK I would plump for the latter.

Our local Help the Aged has a limited book section but they are far better priced, usually around £1 each for paperbacks in ok/decent condition, maybe £1.50ish for a hardback. I think this is ok and I've managed to get some really good books this way.

I do think Oxfam are taking the proverbial in the amounts they charge. Even on the website their items are not cheap.

NualaBuala

I thought that was just Oxfam over here! I used to work in one years and years ago and prices were reasonable then. After reading on here about people's charity shop bargains I went into an Oxfam recently and was shocked at how expensive things are. It's actually made me want to donate my unwanted clothes, books etc to other charity shops instead.

Becciboobah

Oxfam are in the extortion market I'm sure. I use my local PDSA and Help the Aged shops regularly and paid a whopping 50p for a Little Tikes ride-in car that's £55 in Argos. Bargain, plus I take my LO's outgrown clothes and toys and any books I've finished and don't want cluttering up the place to the pair of them because I know people that need them are going to buy them. Send them to Oxfam and only the relatively well off would be able to buy them!