Charity Shops getting cocky with their prices.

ravingandsaving

A lot of charities depend on the revenue from stock being sold in their shops to survive. I know of quite a few local charities who couldn't survive were in not for their charity shops. Even if staff/volunteers do get first dibs they still have to pay full-price for the stuff (no staff discount!), so money is still going to the charity either way.

Rubisco

Pollycat wrote: »

I have a big bag of stuff ready to go to my local Hospice shop, including an unworn Next jacket, Next/M&S trousers and a pair of sandals worn once.

They do not pay me for it so they are getting it for free.

Do you mean you would eBay stuff and then donate the profit directly to a charity of your choice?
Or eBay and keep the money yourself?

Sticking things on Freecycle wouldn't help my local Hospice.
I'm not saying that staff don't get first dibs on donations (perhaps they do, perhaps they don't), but I do know that all the charity shops I go into on a regular basis doesn't just have 'underpriced tat' or 'dregs'.

Yeah donate the profit. Could even flog it off at a car boot sale and make more money than some of these bargain-bucket places do. Or indeed hold your own jumble sale.

Luckily I don't have to. There are charity shops out there that will unashamedly do their best to maximise the value of their donated stock any way they can. The fact is that adopting a premium strategy and risking the odd "overprice" brings in more money than underpricing everything does. A lot more money, despite what the naysayers in this thread might reckon with their silly anecdotes

Driver8

Pollycat wrote: »

I saw a lovely maxi dress in a charity shop that fitted me perfectly but the side seam very near the hem was split.

It wouldn't have been an issue to me as I would have shortened it to above the split anyway (I'm very short ).

I just happened to mention it to the assistant when I took it to the desk to pay and she said 'Oh, sorry, we can't sell it to you as it is damaged'.

Despite telling her I was willing to pay full ticket price and that she could remove the shop tag & not give me the receipt so I couldn't return it for a refund, she would not budge.

I even asked her what she was going to do with the dress and she said it would go for rags.

I told her that I would take the dress and put a donation into the collection tin but there was no way on earth she was letting me buy that dress.
So - no dress for me, no money for the charity.

Was it wearing an "hi viz" by any chance?

Pollycat

Rubisco wrote: »

Yeah donate the profit. Could even flog it off at a car boot sale and make more money than some of these bargain-bucket places do. Or indeed hold your own jumble sale.

Well, you must go to a different class of car boot or jumble sale because at the ones I've been to people expect you to almost give things away.
Certainly at a much lower price than even the cheapest sale rail I've ever seen in a charity shop.

Rubisco wrote: »

Luckily I don't have to. There are charity shops out there that will unashamedly do their best to maximise the value of their donated stock any way they can. The fact is that adopting a premium strategy and risking the odd "overprice" brings in more money than underpricing everything does. A lot more money, despite what the naysayers in this thread might reckon with their silly anecdotes

This thread was actually about over-pricing, not under-pricing in charity shops so maybe the 'silly anecdotes' are actually more relevant than yours......
And - if you've read the first post - it didn't appear to be the 'odd overprice' but more generic overpricing throughout the shop.

xcarlyx

I never buy anything for charity shops anymore - as I can never find anything whats my taste.

Although I did volunteer in a charity shop for 15 months - it is difficult to meet the shops targets (financially) on a weekly basis

Happygreen

Well, I had a funny experience last week - I chose a small unpriced kitchen item and the lady with the log book first said "20 p, please", when I had the coin to give her she said "oh, I've written down 50 p now, do you mind? THe girl in the morning made so many sales and I've not sold anything all afternoon". To be honest, I didn't mind for this particular item but the whole target attitude is really annoying me in CShops. Does it help the cause or is it stressing out the volunteers I wonder?

Leo2020

I volunteered in a charity shop and there was a price list to follow but normally only managers were allowed to price. But if a volunteer had enough common sense they would allow them to price.

I didn't price a Primark T-Shirt the same as a designer one, because clearly either the Primark one would end up being too expensive and no one would buy it or the designer one would be priced too low so the charity wouldn't make as much money.

Unfortunately I was told not to come back to the charity shop after I made a complaint about the new manager. She thought sitting on her backside all day counted as work, it was so bad that she would have her friend and her baby come into the back and she would just sitting chatting with her for the entire time, whilst all the volunteers got on with the work. As she was paid to be there I thought I was doing the charity a favour by mentioning her serious lack of a work ethic to the Area Manager. But apparently it wasn't "my place to complain about such things" so the Area Manager told the shop manager what I said (even though their policy says complaints should be handle in confidence) and she called me up to tell me not to come back to the shop - as sad as it sounds I ended up crying after the phoning call because of the way she spoke to me.

I've not been in a charity shop since. I'm sure they are not all like the charity I volunteered for but I left a bitter taste in the mouth and makes me wonder who the charity is there for?

There was a weakly target but we were not pushed on this, that was something the managers were pushed on. The target was there to make sure the shop was making enough to cover the staff's wages and the rent plus other costs.

If anything looked vintage or possibly designer then normally one of us would look it up on eBay. But the price would always be less than the eBay price because if we priced it the same as eBay it wouldn't have sold because people don't come to a charity shop to pay eBay prices.

Really2014

Leo2020 wrote: »

Unfortunately I was told not to come back to the charity shop after I made a complaint about the new manager.

I thought I was doing the charity a favour by mentioning her serious lack of a work ethic to the Area Manager.

Never a wise move. Grassing like that never works only comes to bite you in the bum.

Pollycat

Leo2020 wrote: »

I've not been in a charity shop since. I'm sure they are not all like the charity I volunteered for but I left a bitter taste in the mouth and makes me wonder who the charity is there for?

Leo2020
I wouldn't let your experience as a worker in your charity shop put you off going into other shops as a customer - assuming you want to go in and have a look round.

Most of the people who work in CS are very nice, I know most of the people who work in my local Hospice shop and they are always very pleasant and say 'Hello' as people come in and they are always grateful for my donations.

Leo2020

Really2014 wrote: »

Never a wise move. Grassing like that never works only comes to bite you in the bum.

Grassing? So you would never report anything no matter what someone did - that is the problem with the world. She was allowing a baby in the back where people were steaming clothes, there was bags/boxes piled everywhere which used to fall down on the volunteers. Plus you don't know what's in the bags until you open them. If the baby had been seriously hurt it would have been OK because at least I wasn't a grass! Sometimes both the mother and manager would leave the baby in the back and go onto the shop floor - neither seemed to notice or care who if anyone was looking after the child. To me the situation had disaster written all over it.

Pollycat wrote: »

Leo2020
I wouldn't let your experience as a worker in your charity shop put you off going into other shops as a customer - assuming you want to go in and have a look round.

Most of the people who work in CS are very nice, I know most of the people who work in my local Hospice shop and they are always very pleasant and say 'Hello' as people come in and they are always grateful for my donations.

I know it shouldn't put me off but it has, I also know of some other very recent stuff that went off in the same charity so it is a bit more complicated than just what happened to me.

I'm sure in time I'll go to a charity shop again, just not at the moment.