Charity shops - expensive?

Reverbe

N9eav wrote: »

May be some of the charity shops have seen the light and customers are falling away? Hence the sales.....

I think TBH the book sale at ours is cos they have kinda a glut at the moment. I had a big pile to take in but I am gonna try to sell them on Green Metropolis instead.

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

Recently I went into one of the local charity shops and noticed a t shirt for £1.75,a Primark one you could buy for £1.50 brand new.
I also found that when looking for some stuff for a local theatre production that I could buy new,some pieces cheaper than in the charity shops.
Our friendliest and best,well priced shop is for the Cats Protection League.They have a lovely shop that gets some good stuff and they don't charge ridiculous greedy prices.Mind you they are all volunteers,no paid managers here.I've started giving them all my spare stuff on principal.

annie-c

I think that all charity shops have paid managers, don't they? I know our nearest Cats Protection does. There is quite a lot of skill and knowledge needed to manage budgets and train and supervise staff etc and I think it is reasonable that charities pay people to do this.

I do think it is a shame though when Primark gear gets priced up above its retail value, as it is unlikely to sell. The problem is though that we have become used to buying clothes from shops that exploit workers in developing countries and so the price lables on clothes have become ridiculously low in shops like Primark. £1.75 for a t-shirt actually isn't such a high price in itself, IMO, its juts that 'stuff' is so easy to come by these days that we expect to get it for less and less.

I try to think of charity shop purchases as a donation as well as a purchase. I think 'Do I want it', 'Will I use it?' 'Can I afford it?' and try not to overthink whether I might get it cheaper elsewhere because at least I know the charity will benefit and it usually isn't a vast amount of money anyway.

supersavingsharon

I try to think of charity shop purchases as a donation as well as a purchase. I think 'Do I want it', 'Will I use it?' 'Can I afford it?' and try not to overthink whether I might get it cheaper elsewhere because at least I know the charity will benefit and it usually isn't a vast amount of money anyway. [/quote]


I COULDN'T AGREE WITH YOU MORE.

Sarahsaver

Glamour magazine this month has a full page ad for clothes from ...Oxfam! Pushing itself as a v trendy place to shop for 'vintage' items.

kunekune

Can I say thank you to those of you who responded to my rather upset post? Kind of offended was, by the way, an echo of the original post. I do realise that it is hard for those who haven't really thought about it to get it right, and it's rarely malice, just an accident, but it is clear that there are a lot of us parents here. I may know you from other places, but didn't know we had MSE in common.

Owen's mum

Pollycat

I think a lot of the national charity shops (Oxfam etc) have a standard pricing policy.

The local charity shops (Hospice etc) seem to be cheaper.
I bought a fab pair of unworn, Next 100% linen crop trousers yesterday for £1.25.
Roll on holidays!:j

craftynutters

I went in one the other day and they had a sainsbury jumper like one that I got for £2.50 on sale and they had £4 on it

Ches

I think that we need to remember that most charity shops rely on volunteers to sort, price and sell the donations given in. Managers are too busy with the admin side to be very involved in the sorting/pricing. Although there are guidelines of, for instance, designer names etc, most of it is 'finger in the wind'. In the shop I help out in there are upwards of about 40 volunteers over the course of a week so you can see why prices vary considerably. For instance, where I may recognise the name of a particular 'good' brand name another old lady may not and consequently prices the item lower than I would. Or of course vice verci. In the event of an item not selling after say 1 month, the price is reduced. Its better to price high initially as it can always be reduced at a later date but impossible to increase. After all the idea is to make as much money for the charity as possible.