Is it acceptable to haggle in a charity shop?

Murphybear

I wouldn't haggle in a charity shop as charities are suffering from the economic downturn over the last few years.

I am wearing as I type a really nice pair of cargo pants I bought in a charity shop from their £1 rail and have in my wardrobe a silk and linen jacket that had never been worn. Cost £5.50. I would happily have paid more

stevemcol

I wouldn't do it and it probably is rude.....just wondered though, if a potential customer thought an item was too expensive, would the volunteer assitant prefer the customer to say "thanks anyway" and leave or make an offer potentially resulting in a mutually acceptable sale?

slig

I think generally it's not acceptable, but there are a few circumstances when it is.


Eg I once found a top I liked, but it had a rip that would have been quite hard to repair. It was priced as if it was undamaged, so I pointed out the rip and asked if they could reduce the price - she said she could reduce it by 10%, but to me that was not worth it so I didn't buy it.


I also think it would be ok if something was priced wrongly (eg they had misunderstood what the item was or it was priced at more than it would cost new) - if no one else would be likely to ever pay the asking price, then it wouldn't hurt to make a fair offer. Better for the shop to make some money than have the item sitting around for months, or worse, end up being thrown away because it hasn't sold.

takman

I am surprised by the people saying it is not acceptable and comparing it to haggling in other shops such as Primark and M&S etc.

The difference is that charity shops sell second hand used goods. This means that they are priced depending on someone's opinion of what they are worth taking into account the amount of wear and tear. Second hand goods are only worth as much as someone is willing to pay so I think haggling is perfectly acceptable because you are not always going to agree with someone's opinion.

Indie_Kid

slig wrote: »

I think generally it's not acceptable, but there are a few circumstances when it is.


Eg I once found a top I liked, but it had a rip that would have been quite hard to repair. It was priced as if it was undamaged, so I pointed out the rip and asked if they could reduce the price - she said she could reduce it by 10%, but to me that was not worth it so I didn't buy it.

When I used to volunteer, we had this a few times and management were happy to lower the price.

We once had someone ask to put something back for him and he'd pay for it the next day, which we get a lot. The item cost £6.50 and he only gave £6 and said that's all he's going to pay and I had to just accept this and wasn't willing to get into an argument with him.:mad:

Do people actually realise that a lot of the money raised through the charity shops goes to the charity? So you're depriving charities of much needed funds.

The difference is that charity shops sell second hand used goods.

Not always.

gingerdad

I am a volunteer in charge of fund raising for a small charity and we now have 2 shops. We have paid managers in the shops but everyone else in the charity are volunteers around 60% of our sales is profit and goes directly to running the charity.

We have a pricing policy but if an item has been hanging round we will barter if it's fresh out of the back no chance. Our turnover of stock is very high and most regulars see if they don't buy it quick it's gone.

Our prices I believe are right (paperback books 50p each/3 for a pound, CDs 1 and DVDs 2 cloths are roughly 1/4 original price unless still with tags etc then 1/2. We've tried really hard to identify all brands so that we don't price anything from primark etc anywhere near the original price

So as for haggling I've no issue in people asking but only 1/20 or so will get a discount and that's on stuff that's hung around.

atomic_puppy

My immediate answer to this was no, absolutely not. However, the British Heart Foundation has a second hand furniture store near me. If I saw a dining set I liked for £100 and I genuinely only had £90 on me, I might ask them if they would take £90 for it. If they said no, I would say "fair enough" and walk away. I wouldn't stand there arguing about it.

JimmyTheWig

atomic_puppy wrote: »

the British Heart Foundation has a second hand furniture store near me. If I saw a dining set I liked for £100 and I genuinely only had £90 on me, I might ask them if they would take £90 for it.

Absolutely.
They may have had it at that price for a while and be planning on reducing it to £80 tomorrow. Better to offer what you are prepared to pay than not give them the chance.

Petal7bzxq

I work in a charity shop and we work hard to raise money - the recent recession has seen a drop in financial donations & corporate sponsorship so shop sales are vital for us. We think we price things very fairly to start with but we do adjust prices if something has been hanging around a while.

For people who buy a lot from us, I'm quite prepared to knock a bit off the price, or throw in something else for the same price. It maintains good customer relations. But we get people wanting a discount when spending less than a fiver.

We get people donating goods and then expecting a discount. That's not donating, that's bartering - and we don't know until they are checked if the donated goods have any value (charity shops have to wade through a a fair amount of tat to find the saleable items)!

We get people who want to buy something but haven't got enough cash on them and they expect us to waive the odd few pence. Would a supermarket do that? I don't think so! Or they ask us to reserve the goods and then they don't bother coming back.

I get lectured about charities overpricing things and am told that it's not fair for charities to research prices by searching online! If we are selling something that we know has some value, why shouldn't we charge a price that reflects its worth? We need to raise funds to carry on our work. Frankly, if we get something interesting in we'll put it on eBay and we'll get more for it there than in a shop. Why should we sell something dirt cheap so the buyer can then sell it on for their own profit.

I'm sure I have other gripes but I won't bore you any more! Basically, I don't think it is acceptable to haggle in a charity shop because you are taking income from organisations which are trying to help others. The goods being sold may have been donated freely but the cost of helping others rises every year. A reduction in income means less people are helped.

The MSE poll showed clearly that over half of respondents think haggling is unacceptable either in general or in charity shops. Maybe MSE should temper its advice when advising people to haggle....

That's all folks!

houseimprover

Petal7bzxq wrote: »

I work in a charity shop and we work hard to raise money - the recent recession has seen a drop in financial donations & corporate sponsorship so shop sales are vital for us. We think we price things very fairly to start with but we do adjust prices if something has been hanging around a while.

For people who buy a lot from us, I'm quite prepared to knock a bit off the price, or throw in something else for the same price. It maintains good customer relations. But we get people wanting a discount when spending less than a fiver.

We get people donating goods and then expecting a discount. That's not donating, that's bartering - and we don't know until they are checked if the donated goods have any value (charity shops have to wade through a a fair amount of tat to find the saleable items)!

We get people who want to buy something but haven't got enough cash on them and they expect us to waive the odd few pence. Would a supermarket do that? I don't think so! Or they ask us to reserve the goods and then they don't bother coming back.

I get lectured about charities overpricing things and am told that it's not fair for charities to research prices by searching online! If we are selling something that we know has some value, why shouldn't we charge a price that reflects its worth? We need to raise funds to carry on our work. Frankly, if we get something interesting in we'll put it on eBay and we'll get more for it there than in a shop. Why should we sell something dirt cheap so the buyer can then sell it on for their own profit.

I'm sure I have other gripes but I won't bore you any more! Basically, I don't think it is acceptable to haggle in a charity shop because you are taking income from organisations which are trying to help others. The goods being sold may have been donated freely but the cost of helping others rises every year. A reduction in income means less people are helped.

The MSE poll showed clearly that over half of respondents think haggling is unacceptable either in general or in charity shops. Maybe MSE should temper its advice when advising people to haggle....

That's all folks!

So you're allowed to sell at market value but don't want haggling even though you wouldn't have paid the market cost for the item so your margin is 100% whatever you sell it for?

The charity shops can say yes or no, there is no harm in the customer asking