View Full Version : charity shop rip off
Had to visit the bank today, and as usual i looked in the charity shop
windows, occasionally i go in and buy.
I saw some sea shell ornaments and a few other twee, but nice things.
Then i came across a small ash tray/coin change dish .
It was pretty, pretty awful, no it was not a doulton or meisen. or even a wedgewood.
It was roughly the size of a vaseline lip balm container, it was cobalt or gunmetal in colour, and had a small salmon the size of a wee willie winkie sausage attatched to the side.
this is what caught my attention they wanted £10.00 for it.
When i visit these shops i do so as i know the proceeds are helping those ill or in need. but this was ridiculous, at the most this ornament was worth about a few pounds.
ps i also always leave a donation
does anyone agree with me, or am I just a mean scot:mad:
no ur not mean i go into a few charity shops myself and im disgusted at the price they are charging!
ever been into home aid! they are very expensive and everything in there is second hand, i was looking at a piggy bank once for my wee girl in there, i thought id seen it before and i had it was from 99p shop but homeaid were asking £6 for it![disgust]
No you are not mean. Charity shops used to act as a service not just for the people that benefit from their fund raising, but to supply good condition goods for less well off people to buy. The latter has been forgotten. They get the goods free so every penny is a profit. Yes they have to pay rates etc. but come on. Clothes can e bought as cheaply form supermarkets new as I often see in such shops. I was told a long time ago in Oxfam when I asked how they priced goods, that they worked on a percentage of M&S prices. I assume that was true.
Mr P Cannop
26-Jun-07, 16:46
what shops in thurso and wick do you go in to ??
No your not mean your being sensible if they charge crazy prices how are they going to attract buying customers witht that prices
I too think they are a rip off and not only is every penny profit, if they are a registered charity they are normally get their the rates free!
NickInTheNorth
26-Jun-07, 19:25
So what is the problem?
If you choose to buy something presumably you are happy with the price (if not why buy it?).
The charity makes decent money from something which was "rubbish" to it's original owner.
And is anyone really suggesting that charities should be made to pay rates?
Maybe some people need to take a look at what charities are trying to achieve...
blondscot
26-Jun-07, 19:38
Charity shops dont pay rates as they sell used items to raise money for their cause which is fine but they do sometimes charge over the odds! However what about the charity shops who sell brand new items in the shop! do they still have no rates to pay??
Homeaid is the worst!! Everything is donated to them to help benefit those less well off and they have the highest prices and even the furniture/electrical is charged for even if you have been recommended by the social! How do they get away with doing this???
Then i came across a small ash tray/coin change dish .
this is what caught my attention they wanted £10.00 for it.
So whats your problem? The Charity Shop is not forcing you to buy it [disgust]
George Brims
26-Jun-07, 19:59
The thing about charity shops is that they are usually staffed by volunteers. Prices are set by those volunteers, who may or may not have a clue about the true value of something or that people are only willing in general to pay a fraction of the new price for used goods. You can sometimes find similar items at wildly different prices even in the same shop, depending on who was in charge the day they stuck a price tag on them.
I've seen the same apply to commercial shops. JC Penney dept store chain in the US used to have a clearance shop near us where we sometimes picked up some great bargains, then they got a new manager. I once tried to explain to this twit that if a $250 piece of furniture has a drawer front missing and a scratch down one side, then people are never going to pay $225 for it!
So whats your problem? The Charity Shop is not forcing you to buy it [disgust]
Have to go along with that entirely,but an there is always a but in the best posts,why is it so over the odds,course they have to get the best they can,someone has to cover the way over up front costs ,an if you want detail I would have to refer to to one of todays newspapers. As the poster said --why pitch so ott.:(
This was just an informative post in general
and no i certainly did not pay £10.00 for tat
although one mans meat is another mans poison, i think it was a fair comment to make, people being expected to pay over the odds for junk.
it is somewhat unfair[evil]
I think most peoples opinions are the same that charity shops have got expensive & obviously there sales are now dropping.
you will notice that cancer care have large posters in the window stating "now lower prices" !
i know that the charity shops need to make money but they have certainly increased the price of things. i mean fair enough the new stuff they take in. the cancer shop in thurso have new bags and jewellery ect but the second hand stuff shouldnt be nearly the same of the original price, no one says they have to buy it but it puts you off going in!
I find many of the comments, indeed the thread itself, quite extraordinary. If you do not like the price move on, if you do not like charity shops move on, but why make a fuss about it?!!! I actually find the people in those shops very helpful. I often drop in for items I require for dressing up costumes for myself and family at local events. They are really helpful and will search around for something to suit and charge very little. On one occasion they could not find what I wanted and the lady from the shop arrived at my door in the evening with an item to try.
And do not forget they are recycling and helping the environment as well as the sick and the needy and your wallet!!
The thing about charity shops is that they are usually staffed by volunteers. Prices are set by those volunteers, who may or may not have a clue about the true value of something or that people are only willing in general to pay a fraction of the new price for used goods. You can sometimes find similar items at wildly different prices even in the same shop, depending on who was in charge the day they stuck a price tag on them.
I've seen the same apply to commercial shops. JC Penney dept store chain in the US used to have a clearance shop near us where we sometimes picked up some great bargains, then they got a new manager. I once tried to explain to this twit that if a $250 piece of furniture has a drawer front missing and a scratch down one side, then people are never going to pay $225 for it!
[lol] most charity shops have someone who is knowledgable in how to evaluate items. Years ago you could find bargins and now its always priced higher if its valuable or collectable. I am not against this but the shops should make people aware of this and maybe have a seperate shelf or display cabinet as Blythwood do in Inverness. If you know you are getting an antique or collectable at a bargin, you would proberly snap it up if it was something you collected. You can see when antique dealers or people with knowledge of value go into these shops - watch how they scrutinise the object, whereas the rest of us just pick it up, look at the price and put it back again.
The thing about charity shops is that they are usually staffed by volunteers. Prices are set by those volunteers, who may or may not have a clue about the true value of something or that people are only willing in general to pay a fraction of the new price for used goods.
I work in a charity shop and I can tell you, the prices are NOT set by the volunteers.
Penelope Pitstop
27-Jun-07, 16:11
Just a thought.....if you bought something out of a charity shop for a couple of pounds and it turned out to be worth hundreds/thousands, would you give them the difference back?????:confused
Same as any other shop, if you don't like the price then don't buy it.
The shops are run by volunteers.....they have given up their time to help the cause....more than most folks do.:D
Let it go...move on.
They are not all volunteers, Cancer Shop in thurso -u get paid to work in and im sure homeaid the staff get paid, where exactly does all the money they make from homeaid go as they are very expensive!
Am I acting under a misconception here, but are not Charity Shops out to make as much money as they can for their particular Charity? Not to give cheap bargains for people to sell at auction, as you see on many of these tv shows for profit.
I regularly donate items to the two nearest Charity Shops in my area, with the full understanding that the Charity sells it to make a profit.
changilass
27-Jun-07, 19:33
The only problem being that if they overprice things they are not gonna sell, why would I pay more for second hand goods than new ones, if its simply to give to the charity I would give them money.
Bobinovich
28-Jun-07, 00:11
I do remember HomeAid were selling a 2nd hand DVD player at £20 one time I was in - I mentioned that you could buy brand new ones in Somerfield for £19 with a guarantee. They reduced it on the spot to £15 but I still thought to myself that I knew which one I'd go for, were I looking for one :confused
I do feel some prices are higher than is really justifiable for 2nd hand goods, compared with the purchase price of a new equivalent.
They are not all volunteers, Cancer Shop in thurso -u get paid to work in and im sure homeaid the staff get paid, where exactly does all the money they make from homeaid go as they are very expensive!
I'm sure it's just the manager who gets paid. That's how it is with us anyway.
In cancer shop today was a bottle of perfume for £12, you can buy it in semi-chem for £7.99
i know its stupidity! i know we dont have to buy it but its not the point! it puts you off going in for a bargain!
i just put round some toys and books to the cancer shop, will be interesting to see how much the charge for them!
i know its stupidity! i know we dont have to buy it but its not the point! it puts you off going in for a bargain!
i just put round some toys and books to the cancer shop, will be interesting to see how much the charge for them!
i have also put loads of items in. I recycle things brought in there as well, i buy ornaments etc and when i am fed up with them, i give them back to another charity shop. I cant afford brand new items and thats why i go into these shops for bargins, i agree with you Ash it does put you off. A few years back i gave 5 full big Pickfords boxloads of bric a brac, china etc to a local charity shopin Wick, some of the stuff was what my late mother in law had collected for over 60years, i couldnt keep it all but i thought let the C shop have it and it can make money and give others a bargin to boot.Only the other day i put more in. We go in for bargins cos the pennies are short, not to make a profit out of it, we could sell all our stuff at a boot sale but this way wecan make contributions to charities too:D
They are not all volunteers, Cancer Shop in thurso -u get paid to work in and im sure homeaid the staff get paid, where exactly does all the money they make from homeaid go as they are very expensive!
It is only the managers who are paid, the volunteers are not
sadly this is the case everywhere. years ago i used to kit my kids out with everything from charity shops. it was good for my empty pockets and good recycling for the environment. these days i can't afford charity shop prices as it's far cheaper to buy new from primark and such places. they've priced themselves right out of the market in our area. it annoys me too that the shops are now kitted out like other top high street shops, with laminate floors and such like. the only good shop in our area is the salvation army shop who charge reasonable prices, have never had their shop refurbished - it's just kept clean and tidy and if you buy a bundle of stuff they always throw a few items in for free to say thankyou. i can't see the high street ones doing that!
[evil]
The prices do seem to vary a lot as sometimes I've got fantastic bargains from the same shops where other items are wildly overpriced. I do wish Homeaid would reduce their prices because the shop is now such a mess, especially upstairs. Things are piled up so you can't possibly see what's there and I'm sure it's mainly because the prices are so high. They would raise more money I'm sure (which after all is the whole point) if they had a mega sale, cleared out all the rubbish and started again with sensible prices. It's a shame because the premises are excellent and it seems a wasted opportunity.
Have noticed there are far fewer toys in these shops now. Is this yet another H&S issue?
i guess so. the ones round here aren't allowed to sell pushchairs any more either. a lot of them here don't even sell children's clothes as they say there's no call for them - that's because of their ridiculous prices :roll:
i work in a charity shop, and some of the prices have to rise because of the stealing that is going on. i have seen two people go out of the shop with different footwear than they came in with. many items are stolen each week. just another side to the story:(
changilass
03-Jul-07, 18:56
Whilst I don't condone theft rrom any shop, it should still not make a difference to prices in a charity shop, its not as if they are buying stuff and its breaking into the profits, things are given free. This, IMHO is a ridiculous excuse[disgust]
i work in a charity shop, and some of the prices have to rise because of the stealing that is going on. i have seen two people go out of the shop with different footwear than they came in with. many items are stolen each week. just another side to the story:(
If you saw it, then why didnt you do something about it? The stealing wont stop if they know they are going to get away with it :confused
Whilst I don't condone theft rrom any shop, it should still not make a difference to prices in a charity shop, its not as if they are buying stuff and its breaking into the profits, things are given free. This, IMHO is a ridiculous excuse[disgust]we pay rent on the shop phone bill water rates and heating. catching a thief is not so easy and to prove it is just as hard.they wont get any good from it but it does effect the price in the shop that folkes pay....
changilass
03-Jul-07, 21:13
Still doesn't justify prices that are higher than you pay for a new item.
The charity shops still get their items for free, you would sell more and make more money if prices were viable.
I thought having charity status gave shops an advantage of having to pay less than most ordinary shops for rates etc
we pay rent on the shop phone bill water rates and heating. catching a thief is not so easy and to prove it is just as hard.they wont get any good from it but it does effect the price in the shop that folkes pay....
Sorry for being thick botheed but if something is stolen from your shop and it was given for free, surely it would be like you were never given it at all. How does that effect the price other goods?
NickInTheNorth
03-Jul-07, 21:32
I think to understand you need to have an accountants mind ;)
changilass
03-Jul-07, 21:38
My years studying at university were obviously a waste of time then Nick:confused
I donate stuff to the local charity shops in my area for one reason.....to let them raise as much as they can for that particular charity. I dont shop in the shops, I dont care how much they charge as long as they raise money, is that not what charity shops are all about? Not to provide cheap goods, if you want them, go to a second hand shop and compare the prices
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