Charity Wristbands

Cerbera_2

Why do these thieving scumbags get away with selling these 'charity' wristbands? :mad: :mad: :mad:

I bought one for £1 at my local Topshop but these people add their 'cut' with excessive postage.

I'm sure most people have a Topshop handy why you would you buy from these @£$!'s


Rant over :silenced:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=91341&item=6194935573&rd=1

Hintza

So to follow this argument through:-


The same applies to HMV, Virgin etc for taking a cut on Live Aid albums.

Pubs for selling alcohol to folk who might drink and drive

Newsagents for selling death by way of cigarettes

You do not have to buy the goods anyone sells and some folk don't have a topshop handy. I'm still looking for one on Uist!!!

kamasooty

it costs him 35p to list it plus final ebay fees and paypal fees. I feel he will be losing money on this. So there might be a little good in the world comes out fo this.

danmanchester

Why would anyone want to buy and wear one of these poxy wristbands anyway? So they can be seen "ooh look at me, a generous right-on altruistic generally goody goody all round lovely soul...."?
Put a quid or whatever in a collection box.
I'm surprised that nobody has yet marketed a "charity" halo that can be worn with pride (or is that ego?)!

Cerbera_2

Reality check people, these bands are a way to support these charities with the latest 'accessory'. My six year old has a collection of these, I got him one, killing two birds with one stone. NSPCC get donation, son gets 'toy'.

"I feel he will be losing money on this." Get real, nobody sells to be lose out, this seller is making a fortune, providing anybody is foolish enough to buy this item.

If you can't see the problem with these robbing auctions then you do have issues!

Mister.G_3

danmanchester wrote:

Why would anyone want to buy and wear one of these poxy wristbands anyway? So they can be seen "ooh look at me, a generous right-on altruistic generally goody goody all round lovely soul...."?
Put a quid or whatever in a collection box.
I'm surprised that nobody has yet marketed a "charity" halo that can be worn with pride (or is that ego?)!

Generally i'd agree with you completely - until my partner was diagnosed with something one of the bands supports. Now - despite the fact i have excema so the rubber would probably set it off i'd buy one of those bands (and probably sit it on my pc monitor) as the charity gets very little funding in the way of government grants.

andreboyle

I have to say that I agree in part with a post above. If you want to support a charity then give money to the charity. The whole wrist-band thing is a waste of money.

It costs money to make these things, to store them and to ship/sell them. This money comes out of the charity coffers. I'm sure there isn't a manufacturing company sitting in the middle of all this doing it for free or minimal profit. If you really want to give, then give money directly that way as much as possible goes to active use by the charity.

The benefit that I see from the wristbands is that people who want to be 'trendy' with the bands are giving money to charity as a side-effect.

On the eBay thing, it's all to there own. Live and let Live. If someone wants to buy with excessive postage perhaps it's because they can't get the band locally and this allows them to have it. If that person buys the band you can bet it's for fashion and not charity reasons. If it were charity they'd just donate the money directly. Also, these bands must have been bought at some stage so money from each band has gone to charity, just not the whole amount that it finally sells for.

Please don't flame me for this, it's just my opinion.

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Edit

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I've just looked at the auction. They probably are selling this for a loss. The cost of a bag/envelope and the postage would probably be 50p. The item cost of 1.79 would just about cover the cost of the band originally, the travel to pick it up and the listing costs. If anything there's a few pense being made here.

There is not extortionate postage or heavy product costs in this case. I never knew that the NSPCC did bands, so my awareness has certainly been heightened.

Also, my nearest topshop is about 25 miles away. Not too near.

Trow

Charities always spend money to make money. I have had several pens sent to me in the post to try and get me to sign up to direct debits, they have people paid to do marketing, people paid to try and get others to sign up in the street etc.

If the charities make money from the bands then why not? I wonder how many people have bought the bands that would have given no money to the charity - quite a lot I would think. I don't know how the band craze started, but it has replaced the pin/ribbon one that was about not so long ago. I don't see anything wrong with it myself.

Ms-Money-Penny

The wristbands are a good idea for raising money for charity - you actually have children buying them as the latest fashion accessory and the charity gets the donation. It will last until the next fad comes along.

I got the anti-rascism bands from the Arsenal club a few months back. I could have ebayed them but felt it was too dishonest making money out of charity so gave them to family and friends.

oscardog

mcguck wrote:

Reality check people, these bands are a way to support these charities with the latest 'accessory'. My six year old has a collection of these, I got him one, killing two birds with one stone. NSPCC get donation, son gets 'toy'.

"I feel he will be losing money on this." Get real, nobody sells to be lose out, this seller is making a fortune, providing anybody is foolish enough to buy this item.

If you can't see the problem with these robbing auctions then you do have issues!

I hope you get the RSPB one as well now.

gravitytolls

I feel that bands are rubbish, I'd rather give my £1 to charity directly too.

However, adults and kids alike wear them to be fashionable, our school is full of them, some have so many they can't pull the sleeve of their sweatshirt down.

So, I'm inclined to think the charities are onto a real winner here. They can't lose, everyone wants to be seen to be supporting something, and they spend spend spend.

Just for the record, I don't have one, but I do donate, however the primary school children do, as they pointed out several times that everyone has them apart from us.

I got them from the hunger site, as we don't have a top shop etrc near us.