Oxfam Selling clothes

P__G

Just wanted to tip off you guys as this both saves you money and also helps an extremely worthy cause (I know this is important for many users).

Oxfam have around 50,000 books on-line ! Clothes (Brand New and used). Please don't shy away from used items - I have bought many and never been disappointed. They are described as
- BNWT (Brand New With Tags)
- BNWOT (Brand New Without Tags)
- Very Good (You will not know they have been used in my experience)
- Good (I have bought about 5 "Good" items and they look new to me)

They also sell homewear, food (geobars are the best value at 39p), coffee, etc.

P&P is £3.75 regardless as to how many items you buy (usually arrives 2 days after you buy)

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/

Let me know what you think guys and what bargains you have bought for yourselves.

littleowl

Hmm - whenever I do into Oxfam I am horrified at the prices they charge. I contribute to charities but not to those who spend such an enormous proportion of their income on overheads so that the percentage actually going to the deserving are minimal in comparison.

mshappy

I work for a high street clothes retailer and often when visiting charity shops they are priced higher then what we sell them for originally.

Mrs_Thrify

I love the hand made cards but the postage would put me off buying.

rarrarrar

-Hmm - whenever I do into Oxfam I am horrified at the prices they charge. I contribute to charities but not to those who spend such an enormous proportion of their income on overheads so that the percentage actually going to the deserving are minimal in comparison.-

But in general they get the prices they ask - they are priced on a "what the market will stand" basis like most shops.

I dont know why you think Oxfam have higher % overheads than other similar charities ? The shops that dont produce a realistic return get closed !

I have mentioned their online shop elsewhere , well worth wading through a not so great layout, with a low postage charge and a 30 day returns policy a safer bet than Ebay !.
ps Items going on-line often get priced higher than they were originally in the shops especially the "quality" items.

GiveItBack

littleowl wrote: »

Hmm - whenever I do into Oxfam I am horrified at the prices they charge. I contribute to charities but not to those who spend such an enormous proportion of their income on overheads so that the percentage actually going to the deserving are minimal in comparison.

As a charity Oxfam certainly have no higher admin costs than 'average'. If you mean in terms of the overheads and so on in the shops, well, how would you know that?

Most charity shops are run on very tight financial guidelines, and if the proceeds aren't worth it for cost, then they get closed, so the money can be used better elsewhere.

Murtle

I just had a look, and saw a dress for £110, must be by a well known designer you'd think....well no,

An amazing vintage dress probably from the 50s by Jollita. I can find no information about this designer but the quality of this dress is truly outstanding

truely outstanding to the tune of £110 I thought it might be a typo....

littleowl

Isn't it also true that most charity shops are used by people who cannot afford high street prices? I think the original idea was that donated goods would both raise money for charity but also provide things at cheap prices for those less well off. So, in a sense, charity - or at east the idea of helping - had double benefits.

Sadly that appears no longer to be true and Oxfam has the highest prices of all charity shops - in my opinion and experience.

foreign_correspondent

If they can sell items at these prices - good for them!!! If i gave something away to the to a charity shop that was worth £50 I would rather the charity were savvy and sold it for £50 (after all I am giving them my stuff so they can make money from it) than underprice it and sell it for a fiver.

I give away all my old books to oxfam for this very reason - they know the market value of their stuff - I have quite a few old books and have decided to donate some of them - I would hate to think that there may be a valuable edition in there that might get sold for a quid, probably to someone who will bung it on ebay and make a profit!!

However, I wouldbe delighted if oxfam found one and sold it for a few bob, if I had the money to donate I would, and I give to them so they can make money!!

Would we prefer it if they were incompetent and sold good donated stuff for pennies, and made no money to support their causes?

rarrarrar

re Jollita £110 dress.

Not a bad price for a 50's designer dress in excellent condition - there was another 50's one for £125 which sold within hours of being listed !

High quality Retro & vintage clothes fetch good prices - look at Ebay etc.

re Purpose of charity shops - Oxfam and other similar charity shops are there to raise money for the Charity not to provide cheap under-priced items for shoppers .
Thrift shops are/were to provide low cost items for those who could not otherwise afford them.

Thrift and charity shops are very different in concept and purpose.

high-rise_andrew

I agree about Oxfam charging more for clothes than the detritis stores like Primark. Though the quality does tend to be better now in charity shops than it was say 20yrs ago, maybe the quality of folks junk/rubbish etc has improved over the years or with higher disposable incomes to waste, folk are buying too many clothes then getting rid of what the don't want lol. Helps folks like me who cannot afford first-hand John Lewis or Debenhams prices:)