Charity shop tips

raeble

Charity shops are great but they could be even better if they brought the prices down - most now are getting rather greedy, I saw a little blouse for £6.oo, I got a similar brand new one for £5.00 in BHS
>:( ???

That was my mother's main gripe about charity shops when I was growing up. We'd go in there sometimes for books and games but never clothes. "Why should we pay more for someone else's cast offs than a new brand thing?" The smaller second hand shops are ok, the bigger ones that are chains - aint half snooty about what they will and will not take. I remember one beginning with S turning away a woman with a nice pushchair, the local charity one down the road called wasn't quite so picky.

Jenners

Hi, I work in a "chain" charity shop begining with M... our customers always comment on how good are prices are compared to others. We have plenty of donations so our shop stock is always good quality, the rest is sold to the rag man who then sends on to third world etc. Regarding the pushchair, we have to be carefull regarding health and safety as there are always people looking to sue, so we do not sell pushchairs incase they fail and hurt someone.

Our policy on volunteers buying stuff is that it gets priced by a manager then put out for sale, the volunteers can then buy whatever they want and get 20% discount. If someone collects something inparticular and we know about it, we do put things to one side to give them first option.

It is great fun working in a charity shop, your helping charities and saving money, what could be better?

cack

Must agree with Austin Allegro re 'profiteering'.

If I buy a CD for £1, and manage to sell it for £5, then the important thing is that the charity shop has sold the item for the price they wanted. If I don't buy it, it might be sat there for months or even years......before someone else buys it for £1.

If I manage to make a modest profit, that's my reward for taking the risk and putting in the effort to list and send the item. Sometimes I list a CD (bought from a charity shop) which fails to sell, so I've paid listing fees (my risk) and have nothing to show for it. (Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes...well, the bear eats you).

......But the charity shop still got their pound. Which is a good thing, right ?

t_i_g_e_rr

Does anyone else go to the BDF newlife charity shop in Cannock. They sell new clothes at good prices (end of line, returned goods, trading standards, etc). OK, they cut the labels out, but if you know what your looking for you can pick up some nice stuff.

Boojum

I agree the big chains can be expensive - the one beginning 'O' in our small town was very expensive - they've packed up and gone now, but we've still got about a dozen others. By the time they left I'd guess only a quarter of the shop was second hand stuff.
Mrs Boojum picked up an Emmanuelle designer dress for £10 from one of the others!

terrierlady

in our shop the helpers wait till the end of their shift and pay the same price otherwise all the best items would go to the helpers.
Please if you buy to replace items, bring the old item into us and Please /Please ask your self would i buy a doll with I leg or torn books? the answer is usally NO. so please dont bring them into us.!!!!!!!!
On behalf of all the shops can I say a big thankyou to all you lovely people who do bring items into us, without you the world would be a poorer place.
Any unwanted xmas pressie will be gratefully recieved Im sure.

KK

I have always been in a dilemma when I have spotted something in a charity shop that I know I could get more for on e-bay. I recently sold 2 pairs of kids Kenzo trousers (perfect condition) for £10 each and probably only paid £2 each. I bought them for my daughter but she took one look and refused to wear them. I did feel a bit guilty, but I always give my stuff to that shop when I have a clear out and they get the money they want. I also get cross when charity shops charge a lot for items. I quite like to Oxfam bookshops though as you can often get a book you want to read for a good price and then you can give it back to them when you have read it - so they profit twice over.

worotan

I work in a charity shop, and I'm pretty appalled by what I've read. The money made in these shops goes to people who have no bargains, no shops, no christmas, no food, no water, often no shelter. This is whay specialists give their services free to price specialist items at a reasonable rate - so that as fair an amount of money as possible can be sent to those who need it - to survive on the barest minimum, and not to die in a desert, or mudslide, or of easily preventable diseases.

So yes, I think your 'entreprenurial spirit' is disgusting. And it is profiteering to trawl them for e-bay sales. Why not volunteer in them, and sell stuff on e-bay for them. BECAUSE WHO NEEDS THE EXTRA CASH - YOU, OR SOMEONE WHO IS DYING?

I have volunteered for four years, and recently started working in a charity shop. People think they own them if they shop in them. Oh, this costs too much - do you know you can get it for £2 less at such-and-such a place. Well, no, not always. We make mistakes pricing. But I would rather price something too high than too low. Because the money goes to save peoples lives. We are not 'greedy'. And turnover is all very well, but good quality clothes sell at a higher price, and are worth it. We refuse to give away Armani, DKNY, rare and desirable music and goods any more because they are worth more than they have been going for. That is worth more. Pricing fairly means getting a high price for something worth a high price, and a low price for something worth a low price.

We are not making a profit, we are raising money to help deperate people.

And as for getting first pick of goods, well, if you work there all day, you do see things first. But if you work there for any amount of time, you learn to respect the fact that taking good stuff first impoverishes you and the shop. So, you don't, a good deal of the time.

As a final thought, I often wish that the people who are so exercised by the prices in charity shops, and so eager to make a profit in them, would use that passion on some of the politicians they elect, to get them to stop selling arms in the Sudan, for example. To actually get OUR government to do what WE want. Rather than grubbing around so shabbily for dirty profits. We lead our leaders, not the other way round.

If you want to save some money - get our government to stop stepping in and picking up the bill, paying arms dealers, when the evil criminals they sell to default on the payments. That would save hundreds of millions a year for us - and stop children being given guns to shoot each other with! Bargain!

Lillibet_2

I'm not going to get involved in the "charity shopping for profit" debate, I know where I stand but I am not going to add fuel to this fire
I just wanted to say that , in need of a new dress for the works black tie Xmas party, I hit the local charity shops in Walton on Thames on Saturday prior to going to department stores. Lo & behold, I am now the proud owner of a perfect fitting black beaded number for the princely sum of £8. It's even got the dry cleaning ticket attached. If I only wear it once & give it back to the charity shop after Christmas, at that price I don't care (Last years was £50 from an "inexpensive"(!) high street chain whic I bought in a hurry & wasn't entirly comfortable in, I haven't worn it since & have now given it to charity).
Charity shops definately have a place in my life

Wiggly_Worm

I get all my baby clothes from charity shops - you can get some gorgeous things for dirt cheap, and as kids grow so quick they're mostly pretty much new. I work as a volunteer at a women's refugee group, so outgrown clothes from my daughter either go to women there or back to a charity shop. Kids shoes, too - these are so expensive new. I once got the cutest pair of shiny red Dr Marten's for four quid!
OK some charity shops are more expensive than others, but it's CHARITY, and it's still cheaper than new, so quit griping! Do you moan about prices in high street shops? If you can't afford it, don't shop there.
But as this is supposed to be tips, then I would say YES trawl the charity shops in the posh parts of town, they always have the best stuff! Stupidly missed out on a set of Le Creuset saucepans for about a fiver each coz I didn't have the cash once, but where my sister lives in Northumberland all the 'posh' ladies give their evening dresses from the annual hunt ball to the charity shops. Goodness, imagine wearing the same dress twice