Is it acceptable to haggle in a charity shop?

XRWurabuS

Yes it is, they can always say no ! Many charity shops are getting greedy and prices are soaring. You can make a sensible offer or walk away, your choice.

suzyQ_2

I agree that many charities are greedy and money is wasted, that is why I never support a national charity. I do, however, support local charities and am a volunteer myself at a charity shop that raises funds for supporting cancer sufferers and their families.

I do not agree with haggling in charity shops. You don't go into M&S, Tesco or other High St shops and haggle at the check out, so why is it ok in a charity shop? People argue that the stock didn't cost us anything, but the aim of the shop is to raise money to support our clients through a terrible experience, so EVERY penny counts. We have some high end merchandise that some may consider expensive because they want everything for 50p, we also have a £1 rail which often has some real bargains on it, bric a brac, books and CDs for £1, DVDs £2. If you think something is expensive, then walk away without buying it, don't moan to the poor volunteers about it. We had one guy who wanted to buy a collectable vinyl record for £1 instead of £3 that a record dealer had priced it up as. When we refused, he scraped it and a couple of others across the pavement outside the shop, so they then had to be thrown away. That's the sort of people charity shops have to put up with :mad:

And as for the shoplifters, they are the scum of the earth, imo, we lose £££ every day. They are stealing directly from very sick, sometimes terminally ill, people. Let's just hope that they or their loved ones never have cancer and need support from charities like us.

prowla

skulamus wrote: »

Many charity shops are running the shops as full businesses.They buy stock from auctions and get reduced or free rent/rates. They compete with businesses that have to pay these costs. The staff at the top of the chain get very high wages. I have noticed brand new items from shops like primark, where they are marked up higher than the original prices. I have haggled and would do so again. However if it was an individual shop aimed at a local cause, I wouldn't.

I was in a shop yesterday where the owner mentioned that his competition is a charity shop which doesn't have to pay the same level of rates as he does.

Me - I wouldn't haggle, but I wouldn't buy an item at an inflated price either.

lynnzal

Is it not the case that charity shop owners operate at a 20% margin and pass the rest of the profit after costs on to the charity? It's charity but not as you would expect.

Also, if I am only prepared to pay £90 for an item marked up at £100, it would likely make the difference between a sale and not. These places rly on turnover as much as the next place and a profit is a profit.

Lynnzal

Shebangsthedrums1

Some charity shops over inflate their prices and make it unaffordable for some people so is it really a bad thing if someone asks for a small discount?

onesixfive

Some charity shops have started to increase their charges to the level where at sales times the high street charges less for new goods than charity shops charge for 2nd hand.
At the end of the day they get these items for nothing.
Some are getting greedy.
So yes - offers on what appear to be over-priced goods, may make them realise that they may be over-charging, plus they get the benefit of a sale rather than the skip.

onesixfive

prowla wrote: »

I was in a shop yesterday where the owner mentioned that his competition is a charity shop which doesn't have to pay the same level of rates as he does.

Me - I wouldn't haggle, but I wouldn't buy an item at an inflated price either.

Business rates - they get up to mandatory 80% rate relief, plus local councils give a further 20% discretionary rate relief. Take what they say with a pinch of salt - or tell him to get onto the council!

prowla

sng165 wrote: »

Business rates - they get up to mandatory 80% rate relief, plus local councils give a further 20% discretionary rate relief. Take what they say with a pinch of salt - or tell him to get onto the council!

His point was that it costs them 1/5th of the rates he has to pay, and they sell a competing product (used LPs and CDs in this case). If the rate cut is mandatory, then that's what it is.

JimmyTheWig

sammylt80 wrote: »

It makes me cross that some charity shops jump on the band wagon and charge over the odds for all their clobber (not just the high end stuff) - so people end up going to Primark instead.

You can't blame them for wanting to get the maximum money they can for their charity.
If they price too high and too many people go elsewhere then they will make more money by lowering their prices. Presumably they don't because they make more by having higher prices even if it means a few less sales.

Borage

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

You can't blame them for wanting to get the maximum money they can for their charity.
If they price too high and too many people go elsewhere then they will make more money by lowering their prices. Presumably they don't because they make more by having higher prices even if it means a few less sales.

I was in Derby the other day and the Heart Foundation wanted between £225-275 for there second hand (with some of them looking third and fourth hand)Three piece suits . If thats not greed i don't know what is