Sorry....but I just have to gloat

jasmineswhiskers

ormus wrote:

there was an interesting story about all this some 10 yrs ago.
a lady bought a glass bowl for £5 from a weybridge charity shop (oxfam?).
when she got it home and checked it was marked with a makers name.
so she did some research, then phoned the charity shop to ask if it had been priced up correctly.

But did she TELL them it was Lalique...
I think the people who work in these shops are more savvy these days. My local shop had a painting donated which they got valued. Sold at auction for around £16,5000. Now that would have been a find!

frivolous_fay

The only thing I miss about not living out in the sticks anymore... no jumble sales!

One little old lady in our village had a fantastic talent for spotting glass necklaces that turned out to be diamond. Once there was a set of crockery - someone bought some and tried to persuade the seller to take more money - they refused, and that person got some valuable pieces for peanuts!

My family's interesting find was a ring - engraved and dated - an obituary ring. It's gold, but estimates on its value vary from '£4,000-5,000' (local jeweller) to 'not much' (local auctioneers)

nightswimmer

shaz77 wrote:

I agree if you make a big profit from a charity shop its only fair to make a donation back to the shop again.

Why is it fair? In what way has the charity lost out? If that item hadn't of been sold it would eventually have been thrown out and the charity shop would have got nothing for it.

What if I buy an item from a charity shop and get far more enjoyment or use out of it than the price I paid for it reflects, should I also make an extra donation, because afterall isn't that only fair?

What if I buy something from a Car Boot Sale and make a profit on it, should I try and find the seller to give them a share of my profits? If not, why not? For all I know that seller could be on their last legs and selling off their property to stay afloat, so are they not equally deserving of this 'fairness'?

If people are *really* that worried about charities losing out, then get down to your local chairty shop and offer your services as an eBay seller. If they aren't able to make use of your skills, then buy a handful of items, sell them and give them back the money you make. The reason these items aren't being auctioned off is because the charities simply don't have the manpower/skills/knowledge to do so. It's much easier just to stick everything in a shop and make some profit, even if it's only a small amount. So if you are not willing to give up your time/skills to help, it's hardly fair to criticize those who buy items from these shops to sell on, because at least they are giving these charities a much needed income.

shaz77_2

Charity shops are different to car boot sales, while I understand your points the money from these shops goes to a worthy cause and in addition to this there are many people who work in these shops for free and its a little mean to profit from their ignorance.

Just my opinion.

black-saturn

I buy lots of things in charity shops and not only to sell on ebay. In fact I hardly ever buy anything new. If charity shops don't check their stuff properly and sell them for pennies it's their look out. I also do lots of charity work. Roughly about 10 hours a week of various charity jobs. So I think I'm justified to sell stuff on for a profit now and again.

Jo_D_4

I buy loads from charity shops for myself (chazzers as me and my friends call them) and most of my waldrobe is from my local Heart Foundation shop. However I also buy books to sell on Amazon from time to time.

I really don't see the problem with this. Most of the books which make profit on Amazon are dry, academic and very specialised and the chances of finding a owner while sitting in a charity shop is going to be low. If books do not sell in a charity shop they do get thrown away and the charity gets nothing for them. I remember having a very interesting conversation once with a manager of an Oxfam shop who confessed that books were removed from the shelves and binned after only three weeks. Those of us who sell on Amazon would be recycling dozens of books on a regular basis if we expected a turn-around like that.

I know if I was donating books to a chazzer I would be happy for anyone to buy them rather than know they were eventually dumped.

Avoriaz

shaz77 wrote:

..I agree if you make a big profit from a charity shop its only fair to make a donation back to the shop again.

I agree with Nightswimmer.

There is nothing fair or unfair about this. It is just life.

If anyone makes a big profit from an item purchased from a charity shop it would be nice if they were generous and donated some of the profits back to the shop or to another charity, but there is nothing unfair about keeping all the cash. No one had been robbed or conned.

Mado

Following the advice on here, I have sold 2 books on amazon bought for less than £1 each.
I don't need the money and will happily "invest" it in the charity shop. It is such a waste that they are trying to sell technical books to the wider public where their audience are very unlikely to be reached.

goggins1977

Now i will probably be shot for what i am about to say but its my thoughts so here goes,the majority of charitys are businesses and are run very well ,they make massive amounts of money for worthy causes.they sell the items at what they think is a fair price and thay are happy with that if someone buys something and makes a profit then good on them i say,i know for a fact that the RNLI have enough money in the bank to run off the interest for a VERY VERY long time.....i am all for giving to worthy causes,but surley charity begins at home ??????

bella4uk

The cardi I bought was from H&M hardly designer, I would like to think it was down to my writing and photo skills that pushed the price up....I was only hoping for my money back as I didn't feel right returning it to the shop even though the lady said I could. And no I won't be making a donation, as far as I'm concerned I donated when I bought it!
I'm pretty sure charity shops have benefitted a lot since the birth of ebay and would welcome us with open arms.