Charity shop workers - please share your tips

RAS

Definitely worth going into the charity shops in the towns where there are more affluent home owners, even if a lot of incomes there are lower. 

And understanding the shops/brands' retail policies. Our local hospice shop has a pretty ruthless policy on turning over stuff. A lot of stuff goes straight out the back door.  It also specialises in clothing with some books and bric a brac. The other one does furniture and larger stuff.

Check whether a shop has someone who can PAT test electrics before donating. One community shop sells stuff "for spare parts", however.

Pricing can be random, someone I worked with discovered that the manager was researching ebay to find the best  price for goods, and wondering why it didn't sell to the local non-specialist buyers.

The community shop takes and sells stuff that has a slight flaws which would be binned in the "better" chazzers. They also have a price reduction policy which means stuff that's not sold quickly rapidly becomes a real bargain. But it turns over a huge lot of stuff to people from the nearby estates. I raid it for kitchen gear; stuff that its a bit less common. 

Rosa_Damascena

halfamo said:

I have never worked in one but have always visited them over the last 40 or so years.
I have noticed distinct traits.
One will have great kids toys , another will have kids clothes but not really much in the way of adult clothing, one had a man who would go through all the boxes of puzzles and discover if a piece was missing, or for gadgets, would put them right so you always knew you wouldn't be buying a dud at that shop. Some shops will do electric items where others wont. If you know you will be in an area a long time (where you live or work for example) then visiting all of them more than once can give you a mental map of the right shop for the right items.
Same goes for pricing.. At one shop I saw the manager going through a  home shopping catalogue to decide the price of the items she was selling (catalogues often have silly prices). another shop would not sell any clothing at higher prices than the local primark because they said people will come in and if it is more expensive for charity shop clothing, they will just buy new at primark...
obviously it can all change if the managers change.

One I popped into has ridiculously high prices, especially given its in a deprived area - so much so that I heard another customer commenting on the same, vs the prices they find in Colchester chazzers. Which made me think it may actually be worthwhile stopping in the town centre the next time I head in that direction.

Back to said chazzer: the volunteers are nice enough but clueless. Head Office must notice a tangible difference in the turnover of this branch vs the outlet on the main road into Southend.

Brie

@rancid-a
My OH is a keen collector of vinyl and always has a look at what the chazzers have.  Some it's pretty dire - like anything if it's in nasty shape no one is going to want it. I spotted a Leonard Cohen lp in one shop where they wanted £5 but when I looked at it the record was actually split nearly all the way to the centre.  No one in their right mind would buy it even for a penny.

And Oxfam has their online shop where all the vinyl in all the shops gets registered (at least I understand that's how they deal with it).  If he orders something (& a decent classical or moderately popular rock lp can be £20) it can be sent from anywhere in the UK.  

I don't work in a shop but have been doing major decluttering both here and in my home country.  Either way - I follow the line that if it's something I could give to my sibling or my cousin then it's likely to be wanted at a charity shop.  That means clean and usable.  Some stuff I've bagged up  - my MiL had a lot of card making stuff so those were all bagged and given to the charity shop to hopefully make it easier for them to deal with.  Likewise when I was clearing out her clothes - everything was clean and wearable (though not necessarily fashionable - but that's a taste thing and who knows what someone might want for a party outfit) and everything was bagged by type.  So a bag with jumpers, another with skirts etc again hopefully to make it easy for the shop.  And folded relatively neatly rather than jammed in a bag.

The other thing to remember is that you're normally going to the shop with a boot full of stuff for them.  Which assuming they are happy to take it means you are leaving with an empty boot.  A number of times I've asked if they have anything that needs to go to the dump and will fill up the boot and head over there.  Doesn't cost me anything and helps them get rid of broken tat that others have been generous with. 

General_Grant

Brie said:

. . . 
OH is a keen collector of vinyl and always has a look at what the chazzers have.  Some it's pretty dire - like anything if it's in nasty shape no one is going to want it. I spotted a Leonard Cohen lp in one shop where they wanted £5 but when I looked at it the record was actually split nearly all the way to the centre.  No one in their right mind would buy it even for a penny.

. . .
 

If it were on sale for a penny (LP for 1p) perhaps put in hot water to soften and mould into flower pots (hole in the middle of the record for drainage)?  (Obviously not at £5, even for a Leonard Cohen record.)

Pennylane

i volunteered in a charity shop for 14 years.  I was sorting stuff one day and found a ceramic cruet set in it’s original paper and box, although it was quite ugly my friend and I decided to put it in the window just before we closed.   We were in charge as the Manager was on holiday.  

next morning a man was waiting in the doorstep for us to open and said he would like to buy it. We had put £10 on it but he handed me £20 and said to keep it as it was worth much more than that. He said he had seen it in the window the night before and couldn’t believe his luck!  Turns out it was Troika pottery and very collectable.  I thought he was very honest! 

What really annoyed me was there was a creepy man who used to come in once a week who said he would tidy our upstairs book room (stuff that had not been in the shop yet) and he would leave with a good armful of books having just pushed the books around a bit.  I found out he was a book dealer in a nearby town.  We had various Managers while I was there and some allowed him to carry on but others didn’t.  He obviously bought all the first editions and rare books for a couple of quid. 

Rosa_Damascena

Pennylane said:

i volunteered in a charity shop for 14 years.  I was sorting stuff one day and found a ceramic cruet set in it’s original paper and box, although it was quite ugly my friend and I decided to put it in the window just before we closed.   We were in charge as the Manager was on holiday.  

next morning a man was waiting in the doorstep for us to open and said he would like to buy it. We had put £10 on it but he handed me £20 and said to keep it as it was worth much more than that. He said he had seen it in the window the night before and couldn’t believe his luck!  Turns out it was Troika pottery and very collectable.  I thought he was very honest! 

What really annoyed me was there was a creepy man who used to come in once a week who said he would tidy our upstairs book room (stuff that had not been in the shop yet) and he would leave with a good armful of books having just pushed the books around a bit.  I found out he was a book dealer in a nearby town.  We had various Managers while I was there and some allowed him to carry on but others didn’t.  He obviously bought all the first editions and rare books for a couple of quid. 

The dictionary definition of daylight robbery!

rancid-a

Hi all, thanks for letting me know about the shops taking music vinyls

@Brie I love the idea of posting them all to Oxfam! I didn't know this could be done. I'm going to check all the albums for any scratches & warps etc and then box them off, I don't want them & it's not costing me anything, I've got some spare boxes & a little bubble wrap to protect them.

Thank you!

jouef

rancid-a said:

Hi all, thanks for letting me know about the shops taking music vinyls

@Brie I love the idea of posting them all to Oxfam! ...

You can either take them into an Oxfam Shop or post them free to their online operation. Details are on their website, including how to Gift Aid. In both cases, they can list anything worthwhile on their online shop. Anything that sells online and is being held by a local shop will be posted directly from that shop. They have many collectable, usable and desirable items listed online. Often knowledgably described, good quality and reasonably priced.

shykins

i dont work at one (well i did many years ago) but if you can find a 'warehouse' charity they are much better value than some of the high street shops

we have a fairleigh one in Maldon and get 6 books for £1, ladies tops £1, jeans 50p, bric a brac 4 for £2 etc.   they turn over a massive amount of stock and have now expanded into the next warehouse and added furniture and a posh frocks section

so if any of you are near Maldon I would recommend you going,  or look for a warehouse one in your area

princessmoneysaver

Call in regularly & get chatting to the volunteers if you are looking for something specific - they are more likely to keep an eye on stock for you if they know you come in often. I have worked in many charity shops for over 15 years & each one has been different - some are kept very clean with only the better items going out (other items are usually sent to a different shop in the same chain) whereas others will have 10p/20p/50p boxes of stock.