Money Moral Dilemma: I resold a dress I bought in a charity shop - should I my profits with them?

keithyno.1

You bought the dresses from a charity shop, by paying the asking prices they wanted. The dresses then became your property and it's up to you what you do with them.

We all know that charity shops exist in the real world, not some distant Utopia. People have been buying and selling since time immemorial, you've only done what our ancestors have been doing for thousands of years before us. Enjoy your profit! 

dogmumofspringers

Why didn't you just put the dress up for sale for what you bought it for? Then you're not out of pocket! It's the phrase "a whopping £30 profit" that makes me slightly uneasy about this dilemma....

akira181

The real problem people are the ones that scour charity shops specifically to resale for profit in my opinion. Charity shops are often the only option for low income families to get nice stuff and the leeches that make it a business from buying everything of value are just keeping the disadvantaged downtrodden.

While it's not what you've done specifically, I would arguably say a portion donated wouldn't be a bad thing. It's clearly on your conscience if you're asking here so a charitable donation from the profits is worth that piece of mind imo.

mazza73monk

Absolutely NOT. Speaking from personal experience, many Charites are money grabbing, whilst treating staff and volunteers like slaves, more than you could ever think.

Which is one reason why I never give to charity.

LKAY

No real dilemma here! Just give the charity a fiver of your profit and keep shopping there in future for continued support... if that feels right and good for you.

Pollycat

This MMD has appeared before.

Lots of people buy stuff from charity shops with the intent to specifically sell on Vinted or eBay for profit.

I don't do that but I have sold items I've bought from charity shops after wearing a few times or after deciding I don't like it. I keep the profit as I've already donated to the charity by buying the item anyway.

Charity shops nowadays seem to be savvy enough to price high value items accordingly, either in their shops or their online businesses.

It's up to each person to decide what to do with any profits.

Daycart1

You should give all of the profit to the charity shop and bearing in mind you bought two other items at a bargain price you should add another £20 to your donation.  Charity shops and their customers are struggling at this time and need all the help they can get. It seems obvious that the items you purchased were substantially underpriced by an assistant at the shop meaning you have greatly benefitted.  Just do the right thing, consider the situation of others who are not as well off as yourself and in doing so you'll feel much better overall.

hannerrbabes

£30 for a dress in a charity shop is extortionate. I worked as a retail manager for a charity and that was the higher end of what we'd charge - for a designer brand or a dress that was brand new with tags. They've made an awful lot of money from you for stock that they paid nothing for. No need to donate anything back to them. 

chroniccharlie

MSE_Laura_F said:

This week's MoneySaver who wants advice asks...

I bought three dresses from a charity shop for £30 each - they're all from a trendy high-street brand, each retailing at £80 to £100. I later decided the colour of one of them wasn't right on me, so I listed it on a clothes marketplace app. I was delighted to get £60 for it - a whopping £30 profit. Now I'm wondering whether I should give some of the money I made back to the shop I got the dress from? Or is it enough to make sure I shop there again in future to help them out?

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If you sold it and made a loss, because it turned out the dress was overpriced by charity shop, would you be expecting the charity shop to cover part of the loss? Of course not. I think you're fine. 

SunnyBunny

One Christmas I volunteered for our local Hospice pop up charity shop - I asked the manager what they thought about people who buy to re-sell - they replied that they did not care what people did with the items once they paid for them - what they did not like was when people want to negotiate the price of the item!   I absolutely agree with her - I have seen this in another charity shop when the buyer was looking at the reseller site on his phone and then tried to negotiate a lower price for a brand name item that I know would have a resell value of at least 4x what he paid - luckily he got a resounding "No".    Charity shops do benefit from purchases from re-sellers ie they are getting custom they would not necessarily get.  The mistake charities make is pricing the items to match the sale price on, say, eBay which means that a re-seller and/or a person who wants the item for themselves won't buy at that price.    
To get back to the moral dilemma - I would keep the money and end up spending more at the same charity shop.