Charity Shops getting cocky with their prices.

SpammyTheSpammer

Just remembered a discussion in a Cancer Research UK shop a few months ago: I found a popular music CD that I fancied and was happy with the price. As I took it to the till, I checked it. It was a CD-R disc and I then realised that the label was just a scanned copy of the original - one sided and the colour not right.

I saw the manager looking at me so I said:

"Excuse me, but this is not an original CD, it is a copy"

and the manager said:

"Oh no, we do not sell copies".

Obviously I was now confused and said:

"But this is a copy, look it is a blue-faced CDR disk with hand-written front and the case insert is clearly scanned and ink-jet printed"

So the manager then says:

"It can't be - we check all these before putting them out for sale".

By now I admit that I was beginning to get somewhat annoyed and just repeated that this was clearly a copy and it had been put out for sale. the managers response was on these lines:-

"Ah, that's what happens if you use 80-year old ladies to do the checking".

By now I was seriously choking back a desire to shout. The manager clearly took no responsibility, blamed her own unpaid staff and seemed to think that there was no problem here.

Why did she just not say, "oops, I will dispose of that, sorry"?

Apologies, I feel better now that I have got that out of my system......

hollydays

It's perfectly clear that the pair of shoes mentioned in the op were £5.50, and has been mentioned several times the poorly trained assistant read this as £25.50.

Who ever heard of a secondhand item being priced at £25.50, it's just NOT a price you see. With a bit of common sense the op could have double checked the ticket themselves for the elderly lady.

hollydays

Op I also really don't get your comment about a nice picture of a stag 16. X 10 being £10. If it wAs nice and not tiny I don't see £10 as excessive. These type of items are very hard to put a value on.

rash161

Pollycat wrote: »

Same with ebay.

That too, I see so many people complaining about P&P charges on ebay as if it was some mystery cost that was only revealed to them after buying the item. If you don't like the price of an item then don't buy it and if you're buying online then the P&P price needs to be part of that consideration, just view it all as a total.

I think ebay now charge fees on postage too so the above shouldn't be an issue anymore anyway? In the past it was just to avoid fees, if a seller could avoid fees and get away with it, great, I encourage it.

pleasedelete

hollydays wrote: »

It's perfectly clear that the pair of shoes mentioned in the op were £5.50, and has been mentioned several times the poorly trained assistant read this as £25.50.

Who ever heard of a secondhand item being priced at £25.50, it's just NOT a price you see. With a bit of common sense the op could have double checked the ticket themselves for the elderly lady.

Shoes in my local were £25 and £30 last week- went in a day or less. LK Bennett.

hollydays

pleasedelete wrote: »

Shoes in my local were £25 and £30 last week- went in a day or less. LK Bennett.

I'm not saying shoes couldn't be £25. I'm saying £25.50 is not a correct price

Rek88

A little off topic I know. Charity shops pay either no business rates or vastly reduced business rates. Our local high street is rammed full of charity shops as they can afford to rent popular units as they pay little rates. It's killing our high street and local businesses.

I too have seen crazy prices especially with books which have probably been donated many times over.

ThumbRemote

Rek88 wrote: »

A little off topic I know. Charity shops pay either no business rates or vastly reduced business rates. Our local high street is rammed full of charity shops as they can afford to rent popular units as they pay little rates. It's killing our high street and local businesses.

They still have to pay rent for the shop units.

I don't understand how they can be killing your high street. Are there really no empty shop units for other businesses to move into?

usefulmale

hollydays wrote: »

I'm not saying shoes couldn't be £25. I'm saying £25.50 is not a correct price

Is there a definition of 'correct price'

In the shops around here, the price is often something like £17.17. This is to make the assistant ring the sale through the till as people will not often offer the exact amount.

It stops the assistant asking if the buyer wants a receipt. They often do not so the assistant can easily just pocket the money.

Azari

ThumbRemote wrote: »

They still have to pay rent for the shop units.

I don't understand how they can be killing your high street. Are there really no empty shop units for other businesses to move into?

The problem with charity shops is that because of the low rates, free merchandise, and virtually free staff, they can afford to pay very high rents.

This - by basic supply and demand - enables landlords to keep charging said high rents meaning that many other types of business are no longer viable.

High streets are filling up with hairdressers, estate agents, solicitors, accountants, expensive coffee places and knicky-nacky-noo shops.

In our high street - quite a big one - we have now nowhere to buy stationary, electrical goods (inc. plugs, cables, etc) or decorating supplies. We don't even have a mobile phone shop (no great loss but odd considering how many you get in other places). We do have eight charity shops, though.