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Is it right to Moan about Charity shop prices.
Comments
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Have to agree that some of them seem ridiculously overpriced - and BHF definately springs to mind, which is a shame as the one near me often has nice things in at but at £5 for a top I'm only going to buy one at the most, whereas at £2-3 I would probably buy a few. They also tend to do all paperback books at at least £2 - 2.50 (and most of these have the Works stickers on the back so you know they were only £1.99 originally).
There are about half a dozen on the same street and the difference in prices between them is astonishing. The shop directly across the road from BHF does paperbacks for 50p, for example.
The other thing that annoys me about the BHF one is that nearly every time I go in there now someone will come right up to you while you're trying to browse and ask if you want to buy a raffle ticket, a novelty pin, or just shake a tin at you - and if you refuse then prepare to be shot daggers at!0 -
Since when does lack of knowledge of a subject stop dear old goater pontificating on it? Anyway, his analysis is both simplistic and naive. A price does not qualify as ridiculous because one poster does not think it worth it. It does qualify as ridiculous if it is close to or higher than the new price or otherwise priced so high that no one buys it and it takes up valuable space that could be being used to sell something else until eventually they realise it won't sell at the high price and either reduce it or remove it.
For example.
A ladies jumper priced at £5 in my local shop. In my area this is overpriced. Most people don't have that sort of money to spend on a single item of clothing regardless of brand and they look to the charity shops as a way of clothing themselves and their families cheaply. In this area the jumper is overpriced and probably wont sell.
Lets put the same £5 jumper in a more affluent area where people have more disposable income, all of a sudden it becomes a realistic price for the item.
As I said before you need to price in accordance with the local communities and many charity shops just dont do that. Many have volunteers from out of the immediate area, volunteers who are better off than the locals shall we say. They will pick up an item to price and think "I'd pay a fiver for this!" but it's not about what they would pay - it's about what the locals would pay.0 -
On a side note its good to see you back Moggy. I assumed you had been PPR'd because of your abusive comments in the past. I am glad to see that any suspension you served was only temporary.
Leave out the childish attempts at smear tactics, goater. They don't do temporary pprs here, if you do something bad enough to get banned it's permanent. This is mentioned somewhere on the site. Just because I don't live on here as you appear to doesn't mean I can't post when I wish.0 -
I decided to see what I was missing out on today so I went to the Oxfam book store in Manchester city center today and bought a second hand book in excellent condition for £2. I realise that you believe that is an overpriced amount but I actually see that as a very good deal (considering it was £6:99 in Waterstones).
And that probably is a good deal, but when they price it at £2.50 and then leave the £1.99 price sticker from The Works on the back then not such a good deal
(which frequently happens in my local BHF). Or when they're trying to sell Primark t-shirts for a fiver when you know they were probably less than that new. I'm all for helping out charities but not to the extent of buying something secondhand for more then it cost new! 0 -
LOL! Standard goater tactic. When caught out having made a daft statement, instead of defending his point or admitting he was wrong, he flies into rotweiller mode and starts to attack the man rather than the argument.
It's also hard to see how you can say that pointing out you have done something that you actually admitted to in one of your posts can be regarded as an insult. But I suppose you need some excuse to go on the attack and deflect attention from your poorly thought out post.
Sorry mate you're not even talking about the thread anymore and are just trying to get personal. I have reported your thread to the admins as an unwarranted post which is trying to get the thread off topic. If you want to get into a personal slanging match then by all means send me a PM and i will happily abuse you with the contempt you deserve
Back on topic although I disagree with the original assertion I don't believe I am a lone voice as shown by a few people who seem to agree with me.This is a system account and does not represent a real person. To contact the Forum Team email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com0 -
Leave out the childish attempts at smear tactics, goater. They don't do temporary pprs here, if you do something bad enough to get banned it's permanent. This is mentioned somewhere on the site. Just because I don't live on here as you appear to doesn't mean I can't post when I wish.
Well thats not true as you know. PPR is often only a temporary suspension. As can be seen by Flyboy who was PPR'd for a couple of weeks then came back bigger and better than ever!This is a system account and does not represent a real person. To contact the Forum Team email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com0 -
Hmmm. You have sort of missed the point. It is an unfortunate fact that charity shops are more like real businesses than they used to be. Previously they could sell stuff really cheaply as any donation was a good donation. That is no longer true and economic reality has taken hold as evidenced by Goater78. Expecting charity shops to continue to operate on some sort of altruistic model is quite frankly naive. If the goods are "over priced" then they wont sell and the price will eventually come down, or the shops will go out of business. People complaining that paperbacks are cheaper elsewhere have the choice to shop elsewhere. When I browse charity shops I tell the staff if I think their stuff is expensive so they have the option to change. However if the idea of shopping in a charity shop is to help the charity then why are you bothered about what you are paying?
Hmmm.
No, I don't think I've missed the point at all.
My local hospice charity shop sells items (clothes, books, bric-a-brac) at reasonable prices, has good stock rotation (probably partly as a result of their pricing policy) and is always busy with lots of people buying.
No sign of them going out of business, I assure you.
In fact they recently moved to larger premisies.
If I find paperbacks (or other goods) expensive, I do shop elsewhere - see my reply #59.
I don't tell shops that I think their stuff is expensive, I don't think it's my responsibility to do that. Poor sales should tell them they are not getting it right.
Who said the idea of shopping in a charity shop is to help the charity?
Donating goods to the charity of your choice is helping the charity.
Why would someone buy something from a charity shop just to help a charity?
You would be better just sticking some money into the collecting tin.0 -
I decided to see what I was missing out on today so I went to the Oxfam book store in Manchester city center today and bought a second hand book in excellent condition for £2. I realise that you believe that is an overpriced amount but I actually see that as a very good deal (considering it was £6:99 in Waterstones).
Buying a book in Oxfam doesn't really qualify you as an expert on charity shop prices though.
When you've browsed through 10 or so shops and seen the widely varying prices on similar items (and in some cases, the identical item) you will probably agree that some shops (not all) sometimes (not always) overprice items.
And it's those shops who are likely to suffer financially.
And if they can't compete with other charity shops - either because of poor area knowledge (see reply #63 from pulliptears) or poor awareness of what an item cost new - then that's really down to their ineptitude.0 -
Buying a book in Oxfam doesn't really qualify you as an expert on charity shop prices though.
When you've browsed through 10 or so shops and seen the widely varying prices on similar items (and in some cases, the identical item) you will probably agree that some shops (not all) sometimes (not always) overprice items.
And it's those shops who are likely to suffer financially.
It doesn't take me long to see myself as an expert
Tomorrow I need a tweed jacket for a fancy dress party. I will visit another charity store and see what they have to offer! I would say for a decent Tweed jacket I should be spending between £30-40. Lets see how much it sets me back!
Its like an adventure!This is a system account and does not represent a real person. To contact the Forum Team email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com0 -
It doesn't take me long to see myself as an expert
Tomorrow I need a tweed jacket for a fancy dress party. I will visit another charity store and see what they have to offer! I would say for a decent Tweed jacket I should be spending between £30-40. Lets see how much it sets me back!
Its like an adventure!
How much? :eek:
From a charity shop? :rotfl:
Good luck - do let us know how you get on and how much the jacket costs.
Who knows? You may even become a charity shop convert. 0
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