Sorry....but I just have to gloat

kriss_boy

People have said its taking advantage of the charity shops ignorance.... but the truth is theres little luck in finding amazing bargains.. it takes a great deal of knowledge and time to find good things.

So why should the time and effort invested in your bargain hunting be repayed to some charity shop?

natalie1974

ampersand wrote:

#
As per title, please.

For example , 07777 55 55 55 or 07878 12 34 56 or 07707 11 22 33 . Along those kind of lines , catchy numbers basically . The better the number the more the price is . You even have gold , silver and bronze numbers now ! :rotfl:

wigglebeena

jennyjelly wrote:

On the 'fairness to charities' subject, my cousin helps as a volunteer at a childrens hospice. They are given loads of stuff to sell in their shop and, being fairly experienced on ebay, he picks through it all before it goes to the shop and sells the good stuff on ebay. This has made thousands for the charity that otherwise would have gone to buyers in the shop.

Are there any charities not doing this now? If not, why not? Surely it would be a more efficient use of one or two volunteers' time rather than putting all hands on deck for sorting, staffing the shop, management etc.?

arv2k

theatretony wrote:

I once bought a PAYG sim card on eBay for £7.50 and it had £9.50 of credit on it. Then a year later I sold the sim card on eBay and because it had a "gold number", I sold it for £100 !!!! That was the best deal ever for me...

i got a free one from o2 and sold it for £120 a few years ago. was
077** 000 007

smartcat04

Quite often the ladies in my local hospice shop have the Millers antique guide and the latest copy of Argos out on the counter when they are pricing things up.
However they do tend to over charge on some things. For example, in their window they currently have the workbooks from an OU course for sale for £50. They look quite dated (1980's) and having done OU courses myself I know they are updated every so often. Can't help but wonder if they will sell them at that price.

jasmineswhiskers

[QUOTE=wigglebeenaSurely_it_would_be_a_more_efficient_use_of_one_or_two_volunteers'_time_rather_than_putting_all_hands_on_deck_for_sorting,_staffing_the_shop,_management_etc.?[/QUOTE]

Not being rude or ageist but most of the workers (about 90%) in my local charity shops are in the 60-80yrs age bracket so putting items online probably isn't an option.

frenchconnection200

My SIL is a paid manager in a charity shop and I can assure you when anything that looks remotely valuable comes in it goes on Ebay (and it's head office who instigated this). Having said that it tends to be glassware or ornaments, clothes are rarely noticed as being of value.
In response to people saying that the charity shop doesn't hunt down the donor if they make money why should they? Isn't the whole point you donate to the shop and fantastic if they make money for that charity. The other point is people hunting for bargains to sell on Ebay are driving takings up, so its a win win situation.

Contains_Mild_Peril

smartcat04 wrote:

Quite often the ladies in my local hospice shop have the Millers antique guide and the latest copy of Argos out on the counter when they are pricing things up.
However they do tend to over charge on some things. For example, in their window they currently have the workbooks from an OU course for sale for £50. They look quite dated (1980's) and having done OU courses myself I know they are updated every so often. Can't help but wonder if they will sell them at that price.

I doubt it, but if they're not short of space I suppose they could start off overpricing things then reduce them as necessary, in the hope that the customer seeing the original higher price as well as the reduced price will think it's a better bargain.
Miller's prices are a useful guide, but definitely NOT what a charity shop ought to charge for similar items. Miller's tends to be based largely on London shop prices, which are more than antique dealers could get for the items in most areas, and people go to charity shops for a bargain, so expect things for a bit less than a dealer would charge for them (I think this applies to "collectables" just as much as to ordinary books, records, clothes etc). Prices of some items listed in Miller's can also nosedive after that edition of the book is published, and people think "oh yeah, I've got one of those up in the loft", and suddenly lots more examples of the item appear on the market and drive prices down.
In general, I'd say about 2/3 of the Miller's price would be about right for a charity shop, though obviously it varies.

Avoriaz

jasmineswhiskers wrote:

Not being rude or ageist but most of the workers (about 90%) in my local charity shops are in the 60-80yrs age bracket so putting items online probably isn't an option.

Have you never heard of "Silver Surfers"?

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle

I must admit, i think it is ok if you state it was bought in a charity shop and not lie to cover this up saying you bought it in h&m fo £x like im sure alot of people do. Only prob there is you probably wont get as much interest in the item.

Or just dont mention anything at all about where it has come from...but i think that could be classed as being purposely decietful.

Oh well i dont really have a prob with people buying from charity shops but i have never myself yet....maybe one da...but just like tkmaxx and stores like it i can never be bothered with the hassle of rummaging!