St Barnados Chairty Shops - bargains (children/baby clothes)

RustyFlange

Recently moved 230 miles north and as yet haven't been in any of the charity shops, I know there is a barnados in the town and with an ever growing baby girl I have been buying second hand items off ebay. Will try to get down to town and have a look, see if I can find anything.

Thanks for the info

Chris25

I don't think that it always down to moneygrabbing that the prices are high - some of the staff have no idea what to charge!

I usually point out to them if I see a designer piece marked up really cheap; I for one, would be cross if I had donated something worth quite a bit and it was put out for next-to-nothing especially as they are raising money for charity. Having said that, I agree some of the prices are ludicrously expensive - although to be fair, they are probably mostly working on the full price value rather than the sale price.

One shop last year had a Radley handbag and purse priced at just £1.50 for the pair :eek:

mrsv05

One shop last year had a Radley handbag and purse priced at just £1.50 for the pair :eek:




radley bag?????? is that meant to mean something?

and if people DONATE designer item to the shop (as opposed to selling them on ebay) then they want the item to go to a good home and are not worried about it going for "next to nothing" as you put it. THAT is the greed. it should not matter if something was £5 or £500, the idea is that items are recycled, money goes to charity and it goes to the people in life who cannot afford it regardless of value. most people shop in there because they have to, so to increase price just because it is designer is disgusting and shame on you for telling staff so they can then up the price so some poor mum or pensioner cant afford it.

CAE

Barnados charity shops also have brand new adult clothes donated by the manufacturer or supplier, and are clearly marked as such as they have a blue label. I usually check them out once a week just to see whether they have anything. There are sometimes other brand new goods as well.

Don't forget when donating to fill out one of their forms and get a card which enables the charity to reclaim tax on the resale price of the donated items. You just show them the card when donating your items. I think this is a fairly new thing, and the staff in our local shop were very excited about it as it meant they raised more money.

TDA10

Completely agree about the pricing - I often go to small town shops rather than Derby City because the city prices are way above the town ones - presumably due to the shop rents in the areas?

I used to work for Cancer Research in Derby and some of the tops originally from say, Primark or Matalan were priced higher than they would have been originally!

On a separate note - has anyone else noticed 'mum to izzy's thanks count?!!! Blimey woman - you must have given some real good tips in other posts too! :beer:

JesaRose

CAE wrote: »

Don't forget when donating to fill out one of their forms and get a card which enables the charity to reclaim tax on the resale price of the donated items. You just show them the card when donating your items. I think this is a fairly new thing, and the staff in our local shop were very excited about it as it meant they raised more money.

Gift Aid is very new - Sue Ryder pioneered it and raised £1m extra last year from the tax reclaim.

Most charities do not currently do this but I just started a month ago for our charity and its wonderful. You should see posters in the shop if the charity does it, otherwise its always worth asking. You should always be able to Gift Aid money donations with any charity though.

25% back from HM Revenue and customs is wonderful for charities.

JesaRose

mrsv05 wrote: »

shame on you for telling staff so they can then up the price so some poor mum or pensioner cant afford it.

If the charity can raise more money because Chris25 told them they had under priced something then thats a great thing. Its about the charity first and foremost. Well done Chris25 for helping - giving advice is as valuable as donating your time as a volunteer :T

RustyFlange

I nipped in to the local one today, they had nothing new that was clothes whether for adults or children. The shop was jam packed of everything, I struggled to get my pushchair in. The staff were very lovely though and fell in love with my 9 month old daughter.

I did manage to pick up a baby toy which was brand new and in the box paid £5.45 for it and the retail price from mothercare is £19.99 Something for me to put away for my daughters first birthday.

girlunafraid

I went into a charity shop in North Berwick, just to look at the books and CDs, saw a leather flying jacket on a hanger selling for £75. Couldn't believe it! But there was another leather jacket also selling for £75.

The thing is, the shop was GIVEN that jacket to sell on. It wouldn't be worth that much in a normal shop and will probably still be there 2 years from now at that price.

Stock turnaround would be much faster if prices were dropped, especially books as once you have read them, they go straight back to the shop.

Oxfam bookshop is particularly bad for this - £5 for a book is just too much to ask, wouldn't you say?

Chris25

mrsv05 wrote: »

One shop last year had a Radley handbag and purse priced at just £1.50 for the pair :eek:




radley bag?????? is that meant to mean something?

and if people DONATE designer item to the shop (as opposed to selling them on ebay) then they want the item to go to a good home and are not worried about it going for "next to nothing" as you put it. THAT is the greed. it should not matter if something was £5 or £500, the idea is that items are recycled, money goes to charity and it goes to the people in life who cannot afford it regardless of value. most people shop in there because they have to, so to increase price just because it is designer is disgusting and shame on you for telling staff so they can then up the price so some poor mum or pensioner cant afford it.

No, i don't believe it is greed to consider that something might be sold for a higher price as I think most people would want to make sure that the charity gets an appropriate amount for an article they've donated - especially if they know that it's worth a decent amount. The charity is, after all trying to raise funds for good causes. And as I said, particularly in smaller, non-chain shops, some staff don't seem to have an idea of realistic pricing.

In the case of the Radley bag and purse, they could have quite easily got £10 for the pair and that would have been cheap - and £8.50 more for the charity concerned.