Real life MMD: My £1 charity shop vase is worth £750 — should I split the profit?

bargains4us

I would give a nice donation to the charity as that way everyone is happy. Let's face it, most people would just sell the vase.You however have a consience and the vase was purchased for use and not to deceive anyone. Making a donation is a nice gesture and all parties would feel the benefit of your good luck.

milvusvestal

Donating some of the auction proceeds would be a nice thing to do. Volunteers who devote so much of their time working in small charity shops don't have the specialist knowledge to know what's valuable, and what isn't, and calling in an expert every time something comes along that looks good is a sure way of running up costs.

As well as giving part of the windfall to the charity, whoever is the named donor should preferably be a taxpayer and thus able to sign a gift aid declaration. That way, the value of whatever is donated is enhanced by a further 25% - so a gift of, say, £200 is worth £250 to the charity. The charity concerned will be even more grateful for the generosity.

JesaRose

These discussions always throw up some sweeping generalisations about charity shops.

SOME charities train staff and volunteers in identifying valuables
SOME pay their staff, some are volunteer run only
SOME really overcharge, but not all of them
All charities need to make the most of what they are given so if I feel an item is too expensive for me then I put it down again. If I think they overcharge I tend not to visit them often. We all love a bargain


I manage a chain of shops myself, not a large chain but medium sized, am not paid particularly well. Doing a similar job elsewhere would give me at least three times the salary but I love my job and the fact that me getting out of bed can make a terminally ill childs life that little bit longer, happier or more comforable or help their family get through it means more than the money I could get elsewhere.

If our customers bought something from us that we had mispriced then we would kick ourselves but we wouldn't expect anything from them. We would hope that they would think about us next time they wanted to donate and that they most certainly would come back and shop again thats for sure!

Sometimes people are very aware that they are giving something very valuable to a charity, its not always the case that they have no idea of value. Last year we sold a set of items on eBay from one donor for hundreds of pounds. The donor enjoyed watching the auctions and was so pleased that we had made so much from them that she gave me another set to sell which then raised another £400.

I don't think your daughter should feel obliged to donate the money. If she wants to, that would be a wonderful thing and she would feel great about it.

:beer:

P.S. Just seen above post - if your "experts" are charging you, stop using them. Any decent auction house will value items for charity completely free of charge. Most will sell commission free too

maiasopohie

I actually work for a charity - St Wilfrids Hospice, Chichester.

Yes, some of our ladies in the Charity Shop are Antique Experts but most are not. If we get any unusual items that we think are valuable, we normally check with the local Auctioneers. However, they do sometimes slip thru the net.

We sell for the price we would be happy to get in order to help the Hospice, but if if we sold a valuable item unknowingly.... well, good luck to the person we sold to. If they then wish to donate some of that, we would be REALLY glad to have it but as the saying goes "Buyer Beware" but conversely, "Seller Be Aware"!!! I sincerel hope they may give us soe of the oney, but really it is up to them.

if you or a reli had terminal cancer, wouldn't you do everything you could to give your local hospice some money to look after them in their final days.....?

I leave this comment up to you all.....One day it could be you......

juliaw

The charity shop's antique dealer thought the vase was worth £1.50. Someone else has thought £750.00. This is all theoretical.

The last price that the vase was sold for was £1.50. Until somebody actually pays a higher price for it, it is worth £1.50.

The person who bought the vase has not done anything wrong. She has done nothing to disturb her conscience.

There are a lot of myths about buying valuable items from car boot sales, jumble sales, charity shops etc. Perhaps people confuse fictional stories with facts. I have been buying second hand stuff all my life and never seen anyone make a find like this. So well done, the person who bought the vase.

Your insight, your cleverness, your feel for the zeitergist has now been ruined by the holier-than-thou brigade, who would probably encourage you to openly cheat a big supermarket.

Next time don't tell anybody.

AngelinaBallerina

I say well done for spotting the mark. As someone mentioned previously the charity shops have people who are trained in recognizing potention earners. This one had been overlooked not the daughters fault. She purchased it because she obviously liked it. I agreed with another who said have a clear out of her wardrobe and give a good donation that way. Everyone was happy with the way things were passed along until big bucks came into play. Money brings out the worse in people. Its like the saying 'where theres a Will theres family'. I think her conscience should let her do what she feels. It was not her fault that the shop sold it so cheap. Afterall we all hope for a bargain in these shops!

rwgray

JSS wrote: »

She should tell the charity shop, who should then try and contact the person who donated it originally... However, realistically, it's unlikely the charity shop would know who had donated it...

If it has been Gift-aid donated, then the shop will have contact details for the donor. Each item is tagged accordingly.

In any case, I'd suggest a donation of at least a tithe from the proceeds.

Rich.x

Should_I?

Morally your daughter should donate some of the profit to the charity. How much depends on her financial situation. As most charities I'm sure they'll be grateful of any donation. Personally I would give a substancial share, especially if it was a worth while charity

[Deleted User]

I wouldn't. If they are stupid enought to sell it for a quid then tough luck...:cool:


If you donated an old vase to a charity shop thinking it was worthless and they sold it on for a ton of money in an auction, would they give you a cut??:cool:

JesaRose

travellingbum wrote: »

I wouldn't. If they are stupid enought to sell it for a quid then tough luck...:cool:


If you donated an old vase to a charity shop thinking it was worthless and they sold it on for a ton of money in an auction, would they give you a cut??:cool:

Actually yes in a way they would. If you gift aided your item the charity would write to you to say how much your donation raised and that gives you the opportunity to claim it back because they are acting as an agent in selling the goods for you when gift aid comes in to play