Goods to Charity - house clearing

AnotherJoe

pip895 wrote: »

Does anyone have experience of how charities deal with furniture and goods donated.

If we want to give to charity, is it better to auction off/ebay the better quality furniture and china etc and then give cash, or, much easier for us, can we just get a charity to pick up and be assured that will they will realise most of the value. Are some charities better at getting value out of for example furniture.

My parents had good quality furniture but not highly valuable antiques - stuff that might fetch a few hundred at auction and things like a Wedgwood tea service that seems to go for a few hundred on ebay.

Doesn't have to be one or the other. Sell it yourself if it's items you think you can make good money on and donate the proceeds , up to the limits of the time and hassle you set yourself and let them do the heavy lifting, literally. I just donated what was a very large and heavy excellent condition dining room table and chairs to BHF,they collected. Similar was going for peanuts on eBay not worth the hassle. Furniture via eBay isn't generally very good for selling.

pip895

Pollycat wrote: »

If I were not personally looking to make any money out of it, I'd donate to a charity that my parent(s) supported rather than one that might make the most money out of it.

We will only be donating to charities we think Dad/Mum would approve of. I think they would approve of me considering how much the charities will benefit as well

unforeseen

Most charities will not touch furniture unless it has the relevant fire safety tags attached.

Pollycat

pip895 wrote: »

We will only be donating to charities we think Dad/Mum would approve of. I think they would approve of me considering how much the charities will benefit as well

OK.
But that's not what you originally said.

DCFC79

pip895 wrote: »

That's what I was hoping. I know my Dad supported the Salvation Army and Phyllis Tuckwell but do you think a national charity like Sue Ryder or the red cross would make more from the donation?

Why not ask them that question ?

DCFC79

pip895 wrote: »

OK that's interesting - I had a brief look at there website and I wasn't sure that they took furniture - good news if they do.:)

For furniture which I guess you could class sofas and table and chairs as, there are 2 shops who take Large goods, Luton and Glasgow.


http://www.satradingco.org/shops/what-can-you-donate


No idea where you are but I know Sue Ryder take donations of furniture and if there's 1 near you they could collect it.


From what I know SR and BHF don't sell the big stuff for peanuts, obviously if its in a decent condition and not completely damaged then priced up accordingly.

pip895

Pollycat wrote: »

OK.
But that's not what you originally said.

Sorry for any confusion, the difference is between charities he actively supported with regular donations and ones he approved of but couldn't support in that way. An example would be Phyllis Tuckwell who he supported but Sue Ryder who do similar work more nationally he approved of.

paddy's_mum

My vote is for Phyllis Tuckwell. I am from that area originally and know hardly a family that hasn't been helped by them.

They have a furniture shop at Farnham and I have bought loads of decent stuff there over the years while in the area visiting family.

theoretica

I have often found charities good at knowing not only what they can productively take, but also suggesting which local charities appreciate things they do not.

Silvertabby

Not a house clearance, but when replaced our suite we offered the old one to a local charity who helped to furnish properties allocated to people who were in dire straights/ex homeless.

The suite was about 8 years old, had fire labels in place, and was spotless - no kids, no dogs, no smokers.

The charity rejected it because 'it wasn't modern enough for our clients'.

We ended up paying over £20 for the big bin men to take it away.