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

JustGemini

So many people do this as a side hustle & some as their main businesses.... dont feel bad & continue supporting the charity.

Poolio1

I buy from charity shops to sell at a profit, I used to feel it was morally bad but now much less so for a number of reasons. Some people think resellers are bad and the enemy whilst some resellers themselves think they're the heroes and great and keeping charity shops afloat but I think that the true position is somewhere in the middle.

When I buy an item and sell for a profit I donate some of it back to the charity so I'd argue that the charity makes more from that particular sale than from selling to a regular customer. Plus it helps the shop turn over their stock more quickly which is good for business. I also hate seeing haggling in a charity shop and cringe when I see someone else doing it, that is definitely wrong in my opinion.

Charity shops and their staff also aren't necessarily innocent and do often indulge in shady practices. Lots of clothing gets put in a charity shop as it is defective and has a small stain or a hole, etc. I inspect anything I buy but even so do miss stuff but there are also some items where a defect is so obvious and the shop staff haven't declared it and tried to hide it, they simply must've known. Resellers often let these things slide whereas a normal customer would take back an item and it'd be worthless. Some shops also knowingly sell counterfeit items, sometimes they declare it and put 'fake' but even so it is illegal to do this.

A lot of items also simply would never sell at all if not for resellers. The shops typically price items at the 'for sale' price on ebay and don't look at 'sold' items and this results in them really overpricing things. Some are greedy too and add on even more and it's clear they don't have a hope of selling. As a clothes reseller I buy obscure, lesser known makes that people search specifically for online. A charity shop is a completely different market place and buyers of the obscure labels simply wouldn't scour charity shops for them, certainly not with any regularity so pricing items at ebay (or higher) prices simply doesn't work. The way I see it is I've taken a risk and paid the shop what they want - I haven't sold some items so am holding stock (some I've paid a lot for), I'm fine with that but there are some items that would never have sold that I have bought so the charity has benefitted as it would've eventually had to dispose of them or sell for peanuts.

With all that in mind I still sometimes question if reselling is wrong but nowhere near as often as I did at first. In answer to the original dilemma I wouldn't have any qualms but if it makes you feel better donate a portion of your profit back directly to the charity.

soosoosmum

It's nice to see someone with a conscience. I used to work in a charity shop and the manager would price an item to sell as we received lots of donations and would need to move them on. Designer items would be priced slightly higher. The shop made sufficient profit to pay for 2 staff members as others, like myself, were unpaid volunteers, all relevant utility bills, rent etc and still make a profit. What went through your mind when selling the dress online? Was it to make a profit or to save yourself taking it back to redonate or even taking it to a different charity shop? As others have said, you have donated £90 to the charity (without gift aid). If you feel that you should donate the difference or a part thereof then that is your choice, you haven't robbed them. If they had wanted more for the dresses then they would have put that on the price ticket but they knew that £30 was a reasonable price to sell each dress. Had you bought the dress in a sale in Fenwicks and sold it for more than you paid, would you offer them the difference?

JayD

While I see no moral obligation to hand the profit over, it clearly bothers you, so perhaps you should give the money to them.

kimwp

tayknthyme said:

Once upon a time... I personally in your situation would have given all profit I made on such an item to the charity. BUT.... now I would not contribute to the charities  new mercedes for the boss. You may think I'm cynical, I am; and older AND wiser :-)

CEOs of charities earn far less than their equivalents in the private sector. (Equivalents as in similar turnover, similar employees). 

Anniebeg

I agree totally with Norsefox's erudite comment. Charity shops are quite savvy when it comes to prices, usually. Many of them have their own Ebay sites. You paid the price asked by the charity shop; you didn't haggle [who does that in a charity shop?] and you didn't steal it. You 'donated' to the charity by buying it in the first place. That is sufficient. But I raise another moral dilemma concerning charity shopping; is it acceptable to take something back to a charity shop, especially if it only cost £3.99 for instance?

Jemma01

they made their profit and you made yours, that's just how life works. Don't see anything morally or ethically in question here.

rollingmoon

You paid the shop what they were asking for the item, which is where their interest in it ends.