Charity Shops getting cocky with their prices.

Peter333

Myself and my wife like to peruse the charity shops when we visit the small market town 10 miles from us, and she saw a few nice ornaments she fancied buying. One was an owl, about 3.5 inches high, and they wanted FIVE POUNDS for it. Another things we spotted was a set of little side plates, there were 5 so it wasn't even a set, we were just getting them for spares. They wanted £4.50 for them. 5 odd side plates. And my wife saw a nice vase about a foot high; featuring a myriad of glittery blues. Six pounds!

Then when we were in a charity shop the other week, an elderly couple took a pair of leather shoes to the till that were £5.50. Cheap they thought, and not in bad nick! When they got them to the till, the cashier (about 45,) rang it in and said £25.50!!! The old lady (about 80) said 'oh we can't afford that, I thought it was £5.50.' And the cashier said 'why would a pair of leather shoes be £5.50?' I actually piped up 'because they're in a charity shop!' The cashier looked annoyed and said 'they are nearly new.' I said 'but you got them for free!' She look furious, and shouted to her manager 'Liz, this woman doesn't want these shoes now I have rang them into the till!' The poor old dear went very red and looked so embarrassed.

Charity shop people always seemed nice; mostly sweet old ladies, but now there is a new wave of younger people who I am sure are there so they can have first dibs on the goods LOL.

But anyway, back to the topic; yes, me and my lady wife have noticed a stack of things that are way overpriced, including a nice picture of a stag we saw: about 16 X 20". It was a tenner!

It's getting to the point where it's going to be cheaper to buy stuff new! 10 years ago and before that, charity shop prices were much cheaper.

likelyfran

If this is not a wind-up, shame on furious-face till-woman. How nasty. :-(

Depends which shops you go to - some take the P for tat and some practically give stuff away.
I picked up a load of beads and items of jewellery the other day - about 10 items including a really nice vintage necklace and the girl totted it all up and charged me £1.14!

Peter333

No it's not a wind-up, she was a really grumpy old mare. The poor old dear looked a little shaken tbh.

Well done on your jewellery and beads haul Fran.

whodathunkit

Charity shops are there to raise as much money for their charity as possible, not to help you buy goods cheaply.

Yorkie_Pud

I couldn't believe my luck the other day. I went in a charity shop for a peruse and had a look at an owl ornament, there were only asking a fiver for it, turned out to be Beswick, sold it for fifty quid.
Also found some side plates, early Royal Worcester, only 90p each, I sold them for a fortune on a well known internet auction site.
And would you believe it, on the way out, in the window was an original Whitefriars blue vase, only six quid, picked that up too.

The original oil painting of a stag, well that's a different story

mije1983

Peter333 wrote: »

I said 'but you got them for free!'

When you go to a supermarket, do you say 'why are you charging me £x for this, it only cost you xp?'

While the staff tend to be volunteers so don't get paid, you can bet the landlords of the shops aren't letting the charity rent it for free, and the power companies aren't supplying the heating and lighting for free, and the water companies aren't supplying the water for free etc etc.

They still need to make a decent profit to cover the costs and raise money for the charity (which as said above, is the reason they are there in the first place).

Having said that it doesn't excuse the staff attitude, but maybe it's possible that the old lady mis-read the 2 as a £ sign and it actually said 25.50 rather than £5.50? After all, some people's hand writing (mine included) is horrific!

specialboy

whodathunkit wrote: »

Charity shops are there to raise as much money for their charity as possible, not to help you buy goods cheaply.

Do you seriously believe that? I do some delivery and collection work for a charity shop and the staff have daily targets that they have to meet or they get a dressing down from their area managers. The bulk of the money that comes in goes on managers wages, assistant managers wages, area managers wages and travel expenses, regional managers wages and company car costs and then there's the staff at the headquarters who need paying, the volunteers I see at some of the shops I visit are treated like skivvies and cost the charity nothing but I'd love to know how much is left after all expenses to give to charity.

Money-Saving-King

Is this male menopause?

Azari

Nobody seems to have picked up on the most significant point of the OP.

The old lady took a pair of shoes that were marked* at £5.50 and the assistant tried to charge her nearly five times the price.

The answer to 'why would a pair of leather shoes be £5.50?' should have been: because that's the price at which you have indicated you wish to
sell them.


* Since the OP said: "that were £5.50" I'm assuming that was the marked price.

Money-Saving-King

Azari wrote: »

Nobody seems to have picked up on the most significant point of the OP.

The old lady took a pair of shoes that were marked* at £5.50 and the assistant tried to charge her nearly five times the price.

The answer to 'why would a pair of leather shoes be £5.50?' should have been: because that's the price at which you have indicated you wish to
sell them.


* Since the OP said: "that were £5.50" I'm assuming that was the marked price.

Could she have thought a 2 was a £ sign?

pinky28

To be fair if I buy anything and it's super cheap I tend to stick a couple of quid/my change in the box anyway... I wouldn't be so willing if things were nigh on full price.

Obviously still depends like the other poster said they could be worth a lot of money - fair enough.
I think in these days of "fast fashion" they will suffer against the likes of primark and supermarkets selling clothing so dear