Charity Shop Over-Pricing
Other
I went into a charity shop yesterday and it had on the door 'not taking donations at the moment' due to to high stock levels. Anyway I saw some unbranded trainers that looked quite nice in my size with only light wear and was expecting a price of perhaps £6-10 and they probably cost new £25 or less. The price of the trainers were £25. I totally get they have the right to charge what they like but I have big feet so its a rare size. I've still paid less than £10 on Amazon for similar trainers new on offer only recently. Just seems a lot to me. It's like because Nike charge £150 for trainers they think £25 is cheap.
However in other parts of the charity shop pricing was more reasonable in fact it was completely random what they charged for stuff. A used slow cooker was £40 and I think I've seen it new for a lot less. Charity shop pricing can be seriously weird but I always think over-pricing can be extremely damaging to overall trade. If I go into a shop and see over-pricing I make a mental note about it and if time is short will not look in that charity shop or look more quickly in there expecting prices to be unrealistic.
It was a charity too that I like to support and I can never face trying to haggle in a charity shop, it just feels wrong.
The other day I went into a charity shop and a book that they had been trying to charge 5 pounds for was moved to the 50p box so I bought it. I would have been prepared to pay 2 pounds in the past but 5 pounds was more than it cost online. So anyway I got it for 50p as obviously it had been sitting on the shelf a long time. However that shop seems to have had a change in management and suddenly a lot of prices are more reasonable.
I don’t think they research any of the items when working out a price. I donated some very expensive dresses and seen one in the window with a £5 price tag. If they had have looked it up, they would have charged a lot more, £80-£100 and anyone knowing the brand would have snatched it up at the higher price
I dont think they research prices when they sell things. £40 for a used slow cooker? I saw a 3.5L brand new slow cooker at ASDA for £14 just the other day.
Emerge11 It was a branded slow cooker, Tower I think but nowadays that brand is slapped on generic Chinese products anyway. I bought a Tower vacuum cleaner of ebay and it worked out at about £18 I think although I think Very were selling it for £90 new. Mine was a customer return.
Most shops go off what people are charging on eBay and when I worked them I kept saying this is what people want they need to start looking at the shop prices like someone donated 15 pairs of ugg boots the first thing the manger did was say £40 a pair I said she's having a laugh first some was fake she couldn't tell the difference I could so I said she wants a quick sale and everything that's donated is a profit I said put them at £15 each and I'm not lying within a hour a ladie came in looked and said my sister in law is that size and phoned her I sold the lot yes I understand it's a business and they have things to pay but at the end of the day everything is a profit
I remember when charity shop clothing was £1 and £2, same as charity furniture shops, you can buy new for some of the prices they charge for used
I remember going to London once and near the centre there was a charity shop , i could not believe how much they were asking for clothes etc, three times what they would charge in my local charity shop
So i suppose location is another factor to do with prices
LL81 To be honest there wasn't anything special in there, the usual you get from house clearances and donations, but yes, you might get some affluent people donating there, although there are so many online outlets you can put them on now and make money back they might be giving the charity shop a swerve , especially if the items are designer
Personally I don’t go in charity shops but a friend loves going in searching through their bric a brac and she told me they’re getting more expensive. I suppose the managers wages have increased and general utility bills too.
A lot of the time new items from retailers or people selling new items on eBay are cheaper than those in charity shops. Our local charity shop in a parade of little shops also has a notice up saying taking no more donations, whilst they overprice items. At the end of the day people are giving them items for free, it’s all about turnover, pile it high sell it cheap to get the through put. My mum has volunteered in a variety of different charity shops and she has worked in retail shops all her lives but she said paid management have no idea how to display goods or what to charge to get things to sell, but they won’t listen to her - they know best even though the manager is being criticised by head office for not selling enough. My Dad use to empty the book banks until that charity decided to take them away despite them being full every week. They use to throw a lot of books away because head office dictated minimum price per book and it condition wasn’t perfect it was just chuck in general waste, rather than have a basket with books for 50p etc and also if it doesn’t sell at the higher price it is also chucked!
Ultimately it’s the beneficiaries of these charities that lose out with these types of policies
Gromit22 That is exactly my point too. If you are too full to take in more donations then your pricing is wrong. You lower pricing to increase sales so can cope with donations. It is really annoying when you have donations to drop off and they refuse. You think you are doing them a favour and want to support the charity and they just say no and yet often you can see inferior goods to what you are donating on the shelf. I don't think any charity shop should be refusing donations really unless of course they are absolutely terrible and unsellable. I personally prefer the pile it high, sell it cheap type charity shops than those that try to look like some high end clothes shop and limit how much stock is on the shop floor.
I'm one of those people that stare into the stock/sorting room to see what might come into the shop and often you see some stuff there of interest. I love the idea of recycling goods and re-using them its seems like the most moral thing to do and it supports good causes. I feel very positive about charity shops but just think they are often not that well run.
BonzoBanana I’ve always been a keen recycler (Dad’s influence growing up) we didn’t have much money when I was growing up so we would often go to car boot sales for my toys etc and share clothes with cousins when things became too small etc
Charity shops back then were to help those that could not afford new but nowadays that thought seems to be loss on the majority- you can help your own charity and help the people buying too.
I the recycling now in general terms, and I both buy and sell on eBay as going to end up with even more clothes mountains otherwise there is some much waste.
I have found that charity shops are not as affordable as they used to be. We have a great one ear us which is very reasonable and you can usually find a good bargain, especially kids stuff. There are other charity shops in our town that are overpriced. I've seen items that I could get brand new for the same price or even cheaper.
One of my local charity charges a lot for goods. The staff that are paid to work in tge shop are rude as well. I've stopped using that shop. Tge final nail was when i brought a wardrobe and got it delivered and the delivery driver (whos paid to do this), try everything he could to not deliver the wardrobe to my place because he didnt like carrying things up or down flights of stairs. He was known for this locally because he got a reputation for it. When going to collect items, if there were stairs, the van would be "full". I spent about 20 minutes arguing with him til he realised he wasnt getting anywhere and grumpily told me he would bring it up. I'd even warned the shop it was up a flight of stairs. I use other local charity shops instead.
I think charity shops are getting so expensive, it's ridiculous. Some items they price so highly that you could probably get the same item new for £2-£3 more.
We do have one charity shop in our town that is huge, upstairs there clothes are all £1, coats/jackets £5 and children's clothes are 50p, but downstairs the furniture is very expensive. It's one of those charity shops that just put every clothing item out on the shop floor...regardless of condition, so you do sometimes find a little gem in there!
I stopped going to charity shops to check if they had any interesting games.
Clothes? I can just buy them from Vinted for £4ish and have been very pleased with it.
They can be ridiculous sometimes - a fiver for a used primark top will never get sold lol
I regularly see things that have been used and are not in great condition priced higher than they would be new. Recently saw a book my husband wanted - a mass market paperback, nothing special - they were asking £4.50! I find that crazy for a second-hand paperback and as it was we nipped into ASDA on our way back and same book was in their 2 for £7 offer.
Some of my locals really do overprice some items. I know the money is going to pay the rent for the store and the rest goes to the charity but it says something when you can actually get stuff in cheaper in Primark
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