How much??!!

FreeStuffGum

There are plenty of 2nd hand wedding necessities on gumtree

rosie51

We bought a leather sofa for £64 from a charity shop 4 years ago. A year later it was donated to another charity shop and sold for £150.
We asked one charity shop who wanted to charge £15 to take it away but we declined. We have had bargains over the years a sideboard costing £15 now priced at £250 and being bought on E--B. Yesterday we bought a picture for £9.50. it is valued at £195 or more, we have a neighbour in the trade who looked at it. We are not selling it as we love the picture and its looks great on our wall.
Have to say most of our furniture is 2ed hand apart from our bed..
All our white goods are bought new but we get stuff in the sales, so we wait until a good offer comes around, or we have saved up to pay cash for the item.

Tiddlywinks

If the charities are too cheap then people will buy and then re-sell onwards to make their own profit.

I donated a Denby dinner service to my local shop - all perfect and could have fetched around £250 on ebay (I didn't want the hassle)... I suggested they sell online (as their HQ does do internet sales of donated goods). The next time I was in there I saw that they were just selling the items for £1 each and someone was buying them to sell on at a boot sale... Great!

The flip side is that I wasn't impressed to see my donated goods sold for next to nothing so that a third party could make a profit.

Pollycat

Tiddlywinks wrote: »

If the charities are too cheap then people will buy and then re-sell onwards to make their own profit.

I donated a Denby dinner service to my local shop - all perfect and could have fetched around £250 on ebay (I didn't want the hassle)... I suggested they sell online (as their HQ does do internet sales of donated goods). The next time I was in there I saw that they were just selling the items for £1 each and someone was buying them to sell on at a boot sale... Great!

The flip side is that I wasn't impressed to see my donated goods sold for next to nothing so that a third party could make a profit.

I'd have been pretty ticked off about that too, especially as you'd pointed out that more money could have been made by selling on-line.

TBH, if I'd seen it for sale at £1 per item, I don't think I could have resisted pointing out to the manager that it was my donation and could easily have made far more and I might reconsider the charity to donate my goods to next time (even if I didn't intend to do that).

I find that most charity shops recognise Denby stuff and price accordingly.

Pollycat

I appreciate that this thread is more about pricing furniture than other charity shop stuff but this is just an example of crazy pricing:

BHF shop - 3 tunic style dresses.
1. Atmosphere (Primark - probably £10 - £12 new), obvious signs of wear £5.49
2. White Stuff (would have probably cost around £50 - £60 new) BUT had the stitching coming undone under one armpit and the jersey fabric was 'bobbly' £8.99
3. Jasper Conran (designers at Debenhams - would have probably cost around £50 - £60 new) still with the paper 'examined' circle on the inside label so either washed once or not washed £5.49

Guess which one I bought? :rotfl:

Poppy9

Jagraf wrote: »

Charities don't sell goods in their shops to people in need, they sell as a business to raise money for people in need. They just need to tweak prices sometimes to ensure maximum profits, like any other business. They are getting better at this IMO. It's great to see people able to donate stuff instead of throwing it away (recycling), for a customer to get a bargain, and for the charity to raise funds. Winners all round.

I don't doubt though that there are people who think it costs nothing to run a business.

But charity shops were selling to people in need but now they try Gumtree, Ebay, car boot sales or their local council waste dept as many of them now sell for very low prices furniture, white goods that people have thrown away. I know my local waste centre has trained people to repair and PAT test white goods so they can sell on. You can buy a TV for £10, fully working.

You will always have the bargain hunters who hope to spot something of value in a Charity shop to profit from selling on, but there are people living in Poverty who hope to buy cheap goods to use.

I know charity shops cost money to run. I'm not stupid enough to think that a shop in prime location in City Centre, professionally fitted out is totally run by an organisation staffed solely with volunteers. In fact it's a concern of how much in the £1 goes on "running costs". For this reason when I donate to charity shops I donate to local ones outside the City Centre that still sell most goods cheap and that have not spend a fortune fitting out the shop.

FatVonD

A new charity shop was opening in a town centre near me, they were advertising for staff. The manager's position paid £18,000 and the deputy's I think £12,000 so £30,000 per year on staff costs. This was however in the centre of a very busy town.

I don't know if things have changed (and I don't believe this would apply in a town centre location anyway) but I've always believed that charity shops paid no rent and that landlords allowed them into empty spaces to relieve themselves from having to pay the business rates on an empty shop (hence why there are so many more on under occupied high streets.) I imagine that, as a charity, they pay reduced rates themselves too.

Does anyone know if this is actually still the case?

Cat_Girl_3

I've worked in the past for Shelter and Help the Aged charity shops then for one of the first BHF furniture shops.

In each shop although all the stick is donated, each charity have provided strict guidelines on initial pricing and this is where you find the same charity shops but in different locations with different quality still using the same guideline.

Also on top of that, standard business costs exist, even to the point that despite being a charity and effectively recycling, there is no discount for any refuge collected.

What I've found in over ten years of being a charity shop manager, is if you feel the price is too high then barter! A lot of managers feel frustrated by the guidelines and I found the successful charity shops are those with managers who encourage bartering. Those who don't often don't hit the strict sales targets and move on.

In regards to the BHF furniture shops, it was initially difficult getting the better quality stock but with house clearances and better training of van collectors it is getting better. Unfortunately in the past and some still do use self employed van drivers who would collect anything which means that the manager would try to sell it as it is an expense to dispose.

Lily-Rose_3

I like BHF and the air ambulance. They are good for cheap furniture.

Some charity shops are dear though.

It is pot luck.

TBeckett100

I'm not sure I'd want a second hand sofa. Just imagine all the wind expulsion, bodily fluids and cat sick that has bed in for many years.