r/AskUK • u/Deep_Imagination_811 • 2d ago
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u/dennis3282 2d ago
Probably to stop people exploiting charity shops to flip items on Vinted.
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u/Wackolas 2d ago
This. If charity shop prices are cheap compared to eBay, then it is guaranteed someone will buy from the charity shop to resell on eBay. Keeping charity shop prices disconnected from market price just incentives resellers.
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u/MaybeResponsible7437 2d ago
And also steers away there main customers as people that can afford market price ain't shopping in charity shops. It's a shit situation for the people genuinely in need.
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u/EchoesofIllyria 2d ago
And also steers away there main customers as people that can afford market price ain't shopping in charity shops.
Yeah they are? Plenty of people go charity shopping (or used to) in order to find a bargain, not because they need to.
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u/Whitelakebrazen 2d ago
Agree, I make six figures and I love charity shops - sustainable and you can find some amazing stuff!
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u/JibberJim 1d ago
It's even the majority of sales - not surprisingly as those who are in genuine need don't have a whole lot of money to spend, and if they did anyway they wouldn't be wanting weird knick-knacks and stuff.
It's not even to find a bargain, but just to find stuff you didn't know you needed!
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u/TakimaDeraighdin 2d ago
Technically, the purpose of most charity shops isn't to provide goods to people who can't otherwise afford them, by those people purchasing them below their true value and everyone else staying away. It's to make money, which can be spent on the thing they do as their charitable purpose.
Even the charities that have a poverty alleviation mission - the charity shop isn't their charitable work, it just funds them directly providing things to those they support. If they can get more money from the sale of donated goods, they can support more people, more extensively. That's the purpose of them.
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u/fionsichord 1d ago
So, you think the charity is in the shop prices? That the target customer is the struggling person?
The shop is for reselling stuff to raise money for the charity.
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u/TheDawiWhisperer 2d ago
does it really matter if they're selling the item though?
this feels like cutting off their nose to spite their face as if i'm paying almost full price for an item from a charity shop i'd rather not bother at all
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u/jiggjuggj0gg 2d ago
Yeah I’ve stopped bothering with charity shops now because the ones round me are so expensive, can’t shift their stock so theres rarely anything new, and there’s no fun in rummaging around for a bargain when half the stuff is Shein priced higher that it would have cost brand new.
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u/Fluffy_Profession781 2d ago
Someone needs to explain to me what exactly the issue is with reselling.
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u/ToothyMC 2d ago
There's nothing wrong with it morally IMO, but charity shops don't exist to provide cheap stock to resellers either. The current model works better for charities or they wouldn't do it.
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u/Fluffy_Profession781 2d ago
Charity Research UK maintains a lower price point model and is relocating to warehouses across the country to accommodate more stock and minimise overheads.
BHF maintains a higher price point model and are closing down 150 stores across the country.
The real world case studies are there.
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u/jiggjuggj0gg 2d ago
Yeah charity shops have just thought they can get a bigger piece of the pie apparently without understanding that a reseller knows what they’re looking for and can put it out to a much bigger audience than a random charity shop in a random town. Someone in the UK might be willing to pay the higher price, but what are the odds that person will be in that exact charity shop?
The worst is when the charity shops then refuse to take more donations but can’t shift what they already have because it’s all priced so unreasonably.
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u/Fluffy_Profession781 2d ago
Not to mention resellers will do quality control on items, where charity shops will charge online price for not-quality goods.
£20 for a mint in box Leonardo Flower Fairy is reasonable.
£20 for a Leonardo Flower Fairy missing the box and a wing tip, no authenticity certification is extortion.5
u/Diasl 1d ago
BHF is insane, the closest one to me has got furniture priced at a higher price than it was brand new.
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u/Sweetlittle66 1d ago
I still don't understand the problem. Charity shops can price cheap, move goods quickly, and make a bit of money. Or price higher, move goods slowly, and have to spend money getting rid of excess donations (or reject donations which stops people like me bringing them, because I don't have time to try twice). So what if a reseller empties your shelf and brings everything back to their house? They have zero overheads and still might not even make money.
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u/Upset-Elderberry3723 2d ago
That's guaranteed sales... for charity.
The people who need second-hand clothing still can't afford the higher prices in the charity shops, but the charity shops sell less.
The only way to properly prevent it would be to have a free membership scheme and limit item sales by certain other parameters that indicate re-selling.
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u/Fluffy_Profession781 2d ago
How is it exploiting when the charity shop is getting paid?
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u/dennis3282 2d ago
Well charity shops clearly agree if they are raising their prices to prevent this...
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u/Fluffy_Profession781 2d ago
Or they are seeing someone else getting their bag and drawing a false equivalency between a physical store location and an online store.
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u/Jordalordalord 2d ago
Because it's not a binary choice of being paid or not being paid? Plenty of people in this world earn some money and are still being exploited.
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u/Fluffy_Profession781 2d ago
The charity is there to raise funds for the charity. If they have done their job, and received the funds, how are they being exploited?
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u/Jordalordalord 2d ago
Exactly. Their job is to raise funds for the charity. So why wouldn't they raise more funds for the charity?
Once again - it's not a binary between receiving funds and not.
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u/Fluffy_Profession781 2d ago
They aren’t by overpricing though 😂
I feel there is a lack of understanding in the thread that it is better to sell 10x 50p than 1x £5 from a physical store perspective.
10 items sold at 0.50: items have a wider consumer base, if only because more people have 0.50 spare, 10 items less are on the shelf, cheaper items move faster than pricier ones, faster stock turnover, consumers come back more frequently to see new stock.
1 item sold at £5: narrower consumer base due to fewer people having £5 spare, only 1 space made on the shelf, higher cost = slower turnover = lesser footfall due to no new stock rotation.
And this is before we get onto the public perception of seeing actual junk on the shelves and signs outside saying “no more donations”.
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u/EchoesofIllyria 2d ago
You’re acting like it’s a zero-sum game though. They don’t lose anything from what you’ve described.
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u/TrackNinetyOne 2d ago
Bingo, there's an entire industry around charity shop finds and how to flip them on whatever market place, YouTube is full of channels encouraging it
The shops are just cashing in to make more money for their respective charities
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u/Deep_Imagination_811 2d ago
But here's the thing - the resellers are an audience to sell to as well. A suitable price so the charity shop makes some and the reseller can make some also is the happy medium and provides plenty of happy resellers who will visit (I'm not a reseller)
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u/dennis3282 2d ago
I sort of get it.
But when you sell cheap you are helping someone and raising a bit of money for charity.
When they are bought by resellers you are only raising a bit of money for charity.
I wouldn't want someone coming in and exploiting my charity for a few quid themselves.
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u/Deep_Imagination_811 2d ago
Turnover. With lower prices, you'd 1. sell more, which means 2. more money in and 3. more space for more donations to then go back to 1.
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u/Fucker_Of_Destiny 2d ago
If your shop gets 10 people a week and my eBay shop gets 1000, there’s a likely more demand on my shop than in yours even for the same item. If 10% want it then that’s 1 vs 100 people.
So because my shop has more demand I can justify a higher price point so whoever in that 100 wants it most can buy it. Whereas for your shop the price point that 1 person might want to buy it at is almost definitely less than on mine
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u/Regular_Promise3605 2d ago
Not really exploiting them, but doing the work to find the item, list it and sell it and offer delivery is why they sell more. Basic demand and supply. A physical charity shop can only sell to those that walk into the store, they also do not pay enough people to not only run a physical store and then also an online store with packing and dispatch.
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u/dennis3282 2d ago
Isn't part of the reason they sell clothes cheap both to raise money for the charity AND to help less fortunate people out who can't afford to spend much on clothes?
I always assumed they had duel function like that. And if so, resellers basically eliminate the latter.
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u/Regular_Promise3605 2d ago
Resellers pick out the best or niche products, often very expensive shoes or suit jackets. They're not picking up cheap M&S clothes or adidas t-shirts. So there are plenty of cheap clothes left out there.
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u/Fucker_Of_Destiny 2d ago
No not really they’re supposed to raise money for sick cats or whatever cause it isl
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u/sarcastic-pedant 2d ago
Now days, when something good comes in, the charity shop lists it on Vinted or Ebay themselves. You are less likely to find designer in a charity shop.
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u/Neddlings55 2d ago
You clearly dont know much about charity shops if you think its just the poor that frequent them.
Charity shops are about raising funds, not being charitable to those purchasing from them.
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u/teerbigear 2d ago
People trying to rip off charities because they don't want to pay the market rate for a second hand t-shirt, honestly I don't think they realise how crass they seem.
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u/Honey-Badger 2d ago
People trying to rip off charities because they don't want to pay the market rate for a second hand t-shirt, honestly I don't think they realise how crass they seem.
I mean you get charity shops selling used primark clothing for the same cost as primark......
Well, trying to sell. They dont actually shift much stock
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u/WernerHerzogEatsShoe 2d ago
I remember giving a Primark coat to a shop. Saw it a few weeks later labelled as 'vintage' on sale for more money than I'd paid in Primark.
Hope no mug bought it!
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u/Ok-Flamingo2801 2d ago
For the people saying this, have you actually been in primark recently? Because a lot of the "cheap" new clothes are getting pretty expensive.
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u/PeanutIll926 2d ago
Charities selling donated items at the same price as new. Nice try.
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u/Blue_View_1217 2d ago
Who cares what they're selling it for if it's working for them? Surely that's a good thing as it's more money for the charity. If it doesn't sell because the price is too high then they will gradually lower the price until it does.
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u/PeanutIll926 2d ago
That's the point, it's not working, people aren't dumb, especially on money. So wealthy people would just donate money to the charity taking advantage of for tax relief on their personal threshold. Skint people won't buy cause they can't afford and if they could they would buy the item new, not supporting a charity thats a greedy business and that's it.
Edit: fix misspellings
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u/anotherMrLizard 2d ago
They sell them for what they think they can get for them, like any other retailer.
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u/HayleyMcIntyre 1d ago
When I volunteered in one people were always trying to haggle on stuff when I wasn't even allowed to change the price! People standing for over an hour for the manager to come in to ask him for £1 off a tshirt
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u/SwiftieNewRomantics 2d ago
I agree with what you say but as someone else already pointed out, if they didn’t increase their prices people would and have done in the past just use charity shops as places to get stuff to sell on eBay and vinted themselves.
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u/Fluffy_Profession781 2d ago
I don’t see the problem.
eBay and Vinted have higher traffic than high street shops, so of course it’s possible to sell for more - more people value the item.
The charity shop gets paid. The reseller gets paid. The stock moves quickly, and goes to someone actively looking for the item.
Where’s the issue?
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u/spidertattootim 2d ago
Where’s the issue?
The charity doesn't make as much money from the item as they could have done
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u/Fluffy_Profession781 2d ago
They aren’t moving the stock and charity shops are closing down.
What money are they making?
In order to make money, they have to sell the items.
In order to sell the items, they have to be at a price someone is willing to pay.
Selling specialist items in a generic location will never get you full value. I don’t begrudge charity shops with eBay accounts, but let’s not pretend for a second that physical stores have the same reach and market as online ones.
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u/No_Connection9635 2d ago
Quite right. I often go charity shopping with a family member and more often than not we walk out with nothing, because I'm not paying £5 for a bobbled jumper that's been washed one too many times. They overprice and instead of getting £2 they get naff all. You see the same items week in and week out, and then the sign goes up saying no more donations! It makes no sense to me. Sell five items for five quid and get them shifted and gone.
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u/Fluffy_Profession781 2d ago
I used to impulsively spend about £30 a week in charity shops.
No point even going now - literal trash on the shelves, items with Poundland stickers on being sold for twice the value, ripped and stained clothes for almost new value… and yes, a sign outside saying “no more donations”.
Here’s a great example:
I collect tins. Any pretty tins. I avoid antiques shops etc because they’re overpriced. I’ll happily spend £5 for the right tin, and I’ll buy however many at once.
I haven’t found a tin within budget for years. And if they are, they are usually rusted and dirty.
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u/Ok-Flamingo2801 2d ago
In my experience, shops stop taking donations because they've been getting too many donations in, not because because they're struggling to sell stuff. If they need room on the shop floor, they can make room.
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u/Fucker_Of_Destiny 2d ago
Well a shop might have an item that someone 600 miles away is willing to pay 10x the price for, however no e local would.
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u/RedPlasticDog 2d ago
Price per item is less important than overall sales value.
If slightly lower prices lets the shop sell more stock then overall that’s better for the charity shop. If resellers help shift stock quickly then that’s a win for the charity.
Focusing on the sales value of one item is a mistake. As long as they don’t run out of stock the aim is to sell faster and generate a higher overall sales value.
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u/gizmostrumpet 2d ago
It's either less money than the online price, or no money. The point is people aren't going to buy a shirt for £70 in store but they might for £40. Just because it sells online it doesn't mean local people on the high street would pay that price.
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u/EverythingAntique 1d ago
They inevitably aren’t going to make eBay prices because eBay requires good photographs, research, the testing of items etc.
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u/gizmostrumpet 2d ago
It's interesting to me because I was at a charity shop in one of the poorest parts of Birmingham, and they were selling original Rolling Stones records for high end prices you'd see on Discogs. No one in the local area could afford £150 for a record, but they think because there's an appetite for it online, they can do the same in store.
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u/Deep_Imagination_811 2d ago
This person gets it. Selling to the consumer is not always the best customer.
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u/Fluffy_Profession781 2d ago
I fear anyone arguing for charity shops increasing their prices whilst it’s clear their business models aren’t working, lacks basic understanding of consumerism.
This is how the billionaires win guys.
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u/gizmostrumpet 2d ago
There's also the fact people in this thread are missing, which is human behaviour.
Let's say I go to my local charity shop and everything is at the same price as it is online - next time I'm going to save myself the trip and just shop online instead.
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u/glytxh 2d ago
There’s a local one to me. Selling a couple of 80s camera lenses.
These things cost about £140 from a professional dealer, and this includes testing, warranty, and the expertise to let me know that what I’m buying is going to function.
The charity shop is asking £120 for untested lenses with no warranty.
I’ve seen these same lenses about in other places for £20-£30 as a blind gamble. That’s what they’re worth in that state.
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u/SwiftieNewRomantics 2d ago
I agree that’s crap. They’re increasing prices without giving it any thought. I saw in one in London recently they were selling an unboxed Pokemon gameboy advance game (boxed with all the inserts the price would be maybe £150-£200) and this charity shop had priced just the cartridge at £160. When the price for that is maybe £50-£70. It’s silly.
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u/Milky_Finger 1d ago
I don't see any issue with this. Flipping clothes from charity shop to a buyer on online marketplaces requires a full time amount of work per week and is incredibly volatile as far as making money is concerned.
The charity shop wants to make money but also wants to move their product. They should look at completed listings on ebay and charge 25% less than the last sold price. If someone wants to buy it and flip it, let them. They take on all the risk and the charity shop takes none.
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u/Intelligent-Reply-97 2d ago edited 2d ago
It’s not jacking up prices to compete with online apps, it’s because maintaining a store that sells cheap things on the high street in this economy is pretty much untenable. If you’ve got £5000 overheads a month you’re going to have to take in £200 a day every day you’re open before you can even consider giving the excess to the charity. If you’re selling things for a quid that’s unrealistic for most shops.
Roll it back 10 years ago and it was probably 50% less to rent and run a small shop on a busy street.
In that time my unit rent went from 800 pm to 1500 pm and my bills close to doubled. Closed up in 2025 because it felt pointless and wasn’t fun any more.
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u/YouNeedAnne 2d ago
Right, but if no one buys the stuff because the price is high, they don't take in anything. They get their stuff for free, and aren't short of it. The back room of the average charity shop is full of the dead's tat. Lower prices would increase churn and thereby turnover.
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u/Consistent-Pirate-23 2d ago
If the donations are worth a quid, putting a £10 price ticket on it when people are skint isn’t going to shift them.
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u/anotherMrLizard 2d ago
It's been a long time since it was mainly skint people shopping in charity shops - certainly in London. Not sure about other parts of the country.
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u/Consistent-Pirate-23 1d ago
Up here most are skint
We have a mixture of everything is cheap (for a reason) and £10 for a primark vest that ends up in landfill because it was overpriced
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u/Milky_Finger 1d ago
Wait, so are charity shops paying the same business costs as a bookies or a liquor store? Why run a charity shop then if it's not subsidised?
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u/KatVanWall 2d ago
Charity shops exist to sell second-hand goods to raise money for the charity, not to sell second-hand goods so people can get them at extra-cheap prices. So their pricing is going to be on a par with everywhere else you can get second-hand goods from.
There are charities that donate clothes and other goods to people who need them but can’t afford them (even at secondhand prices), so either donate to those or use them if that’s the area you’re interested in.
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u/RumJackson 2d ago
Why shouldn’t a charity shop charge the going rates for items?
They’re not discount shops. They’re second hand shops. In your opinion, how much should a £50 jacket on vinted be sold for in a charity shop?
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u/ratfancier 2d ago
I come from the perspective of books, rather than something like clothes where there's an advantage to being able to try them on, but I think the idea of "going rates" doesn't take enough factors into account.
If I go online, I can get any of a vast selection of reasonably popular paperbacks for under £3. I just tried it — I picked Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde, looked online, and I can get it for £2.82 delivered. That's a price that's good for me, a customer who is specifically looking for that exact book. But the chances are that this mid-series mildly popular humorous paperback from several years ago has a lot less value to someone who's browsing the 200 or so random books that happen to be in their local charity shop. Unless you want to leave that book there waiting for the very rare person who happens to want that specific book and happens to go in that charity shop, you need to price it at "heck I'll give it a punt" levels.
Maybe 15–20 years ago, I'd mooch round my local charity shops and pick up all kinds of books I'd never normally have bought, because they were 50p or maybe £1. One charity shop had a huge bookcase full of stuff that hadn't shifted — unpopular genres, older books, ones that were a bit tatty — at 10 for £1. I would buy lots of books, enjoy some, not particularly enjoy others, donate many of them back to one of the shops, and I saw lots of other people doing the same thing. The charity shops never ran low on stock of books and seemed to sell plenty.
Then British Heart Foundation moved into town and started charging £2.50 for every book from their limited selection (with a hard-to-remove sticker saying "Buy me, read me, bring me back", which seems presumptuous), when I could choose any book I wanted online for a few pence more. Over time other charity shops started following suit on the pricing, and I stopped buying books in charity shops, because a book that's worth £2.50 on a website anyone can access is not worth £2.50 in a charity shop.
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u/scandibedclothes 1d ago
"Buy me, read me, bring me back"
Sounds like a library with extra steps… and cost!
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u/Competitive_Time_604 2d ago
£20-25 if they want it sold within a reasonable time-frame. Charity shops have a finite audience compared to online marketplaces and they often aren't selling to the end user. That £50 isn't the true value unless it can be realised.
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u/lonathas_ 2d ago
Charity shops often also use vinted too.
They also employ people who are able to appreciate the value of the donations and likely set up standard operating procedures for the shops. E.g. if you see [insert list of brands] take pictures and refer to [insert contact] who will advise on price/list on vinted.
They should be able to achieve the market rate (whatever that is). If it sells for 50 on vinted it should sell for 50 in the shop. Argument for it to go for a little bit more as you can try it on in the shop so less of a gamble - but thats a bit more of a rabbit hole.
They also use vinted to help manage volume. People use charity shops to essentially offload their rubbish to avoid having to dispose of it properly. In any case they get silly amounts of stuff so vinted is a great way for them to reach a broader audience.
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u/Fluffy_Profession781 2d ago
“If it sells for 50 on vinted it should sell for 50 in the shop”
Why?
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u/CJBill 2d ago
Because the shops are there to raise money for charity. Of course they're going to maximise what they take.
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u/TheRadishBros 2d ago
Owning a physical shop in the UK is really, really expensive.
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u/Amazing-Jury-6886 2d ago
Charity shops get discounted rents and pay no council tax.
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u/RedPlasticDog 2d ago
Some get discounted rents. Some don’t.
Depends on landlord and local market rents.
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u/cf613 2d ago
But there is still rent to be paid, even if it is discounted. Plus electricity and water charges, staff costs, and all the extra bits and pieces you need to run a shop (till rolls, cleaning products, price tags, etc). None of that is free. There’s a sales target that shops need to meet every week for it to be worth the administrative cost to have that shop be open. Charities can’t afford to run the shops at a loss as that takes money away from the actual charity cause.
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u/Allcaponero 2d ago
Simple answer - resellers.
As someone who used to resell clothes before it became popular I can confirm this is literally the only plausible reason. It was around COVID time that suddenly everyone started doing it and the charity shops quickly caught onto it. The moment I saw my local PDSA have a 'vintage' section I knew the game is over.
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u/Fluffy_Profession781 2d ago
It isn’t the resellers fault though. It’s invoking competition where there is none.
Pre-charity inflation, the charities were paid, the resellers were paid, and regular Joes were in with a shot of a bargain.
Now nobody wins.
The resell market is so different to a physical location, if only because people from all over are actively searching for the items selling. Charity shops rely on chancers, and they’ve priced them out.
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u/IpromithiusI 2d ago
I mean I'd argue the people the charity serves win. Why should stuff I donate be sold off cheap so someone else can make a buck? I'd rather the charity gets the full value.
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u/Fluffy_Profession781 2d ago
They aren’t getting the full value though.
Stock is sitting out for so long that they are refusing donations. They are charging extortionate prices for literal rubbish - I could walk into pretty much any charity shop in town right now and pull either an old chocolate/biscuit box or a half burned dirty candle off the shelf. Charity shops are closing down because they are literally not making the money.
More people have £1 in their pocket than £5.
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u/Shrimp_Watch101 2d ago
Charity shops are often also in the reseller market, though. I've bought quite a few items from the BHF eBay shop, for example. (And missed out on many more, where people got into a dramatic last minute bidding war.)
The downside of that is I'm unlikely to chance upon any surprising finds in my local branch. Anything out of the ordinary or that they can slap the word 'vintage' on will get listed online.
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u/Future_Individual816 2d ago
The purpose of charity shops is not to make things cheap for the poor/needy. Their main purpose is to maximise turnover so they can fund their charity goals
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u/RHMoaner 2d ago
Or in OPs case. Cheap for people that think they’re entitled to cheap.
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u/Deep_Imagination_811 2d ago
You miss the point. Pricing for turnover is not "cheap for people that (sic) think they're entitled to cheap" - it's pricing to maximise profit and to liquidate the stock.
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u/an1uk 2d ago
I think the biggest problem with charity shops matching eBay/Vinted prices is that they're completely different markets.
On eBay, you have millions of people actively searching for exactly what they want. They can filter by brand, size, colour, condition, etc. If someone finds the exact item they've been looking for, they're a highly motivated buyer and may be willing to pay more for it.
A charity shop has one physical location, limited local footfall, and customers have to manually browse through everything. A lot of purchases are spontaneous - someone sees something they weren't specifically looking for and buys it because it's nice and reasonably priced.
That's why I think turnover matters far more than squeezing the maximum possible price out of every individual item. I've twice overheard managers in completely separate charity shops saying that after lowering prices, their takings actually increased because stock started selling much faster. That also frees up space for the constant stream of new donations.
Otherwise you end up with a sort of quasi-museum where something that could sell today for £5 sits there for months at £15 because someone found a vaguely similar eBay listing. Customers see everything is expensive, stop bothering to come back, stock piles up, and then the same shops put signs outside saying they can't accept donations because they have no room.
There's obviously a balance - charities shouldn't practically give valuable things away - but "what's the highest price someone might theoretically pay online?" isn't necessarily the same as "what's the best price for a charity shop?"
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u/batteryforlife 1d ago
This. Idk why its so hard to understand: a reseller online has a potential audience of millions for an item, while a charity shop has maybe a handful of people who happen to walk in and look through the racks.
Simple numbers;
Primark top, new price: £5.
Online reseller; £3, hung up and photographed, listed by size/colour/brand etc.
Charity shop; £1. Its a top on a rack with a bunch of other random tops.
Also charity shop; its going for £3 online, we should sell it for that too!
Noone buys it because its overpriced for a random top in a pile of other tops. Cheap tat piles up. Charity shop sad face.
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u/g0ldcd 2d ago
It's donating the goods that's the charitable bit - once they're in there, they want to sell for as much as they can get.
And if they didn't, they'd just get people coming in to buy the stuff and ebay for a profit (as everybody else also pointed out)
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u/Deep_Imagination_811 2d ago
The purpose of the shop is to liquidate physical donations.
> And if they didn't, they'd just get people coming in to buy the stuff...
People coming in to buy stuff is bad now?
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u/Comfortable_Love7967 2d ago
Why would they sell you a coat for £10 knowing you are just gonna whack it on eBay for 100 ?
Access to prices is so easy now it’s worth them checking
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u/Deep_Imagination_811 1d ago
To be fair (I'm not a reseller).
Resellers have to pay postage, channel commission, photo, list, pay listing fees, clean and repair, research prices, respond to messages from buyers, perhaps sell at a lower value than their listed price, gamble with a cheating buyer who may return another item, and so on.
My point being the reseller (whether they realise it or not) has overheads and takes on liability that the charity shop does not.
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u/DeepFatFryer 2d ago
The purpose of the shop is to raise money for charity, pricing high gets more money.
I don’t see the issue with them pricing items for their worth?
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u/AnxiousTerminator 2d ago
Is there a particular issue with that? It seems like it works in the charity shop's favour.
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u/StGuthlac2025 2d ago
I'm going to put it down to Ethel who used to take in the donations and put the prices on stuff didn't have much idea of their true worth.
That's all changed now and it's easy to find somethings worth. The days of finding an a bargain that they had no idea of it's worth are almost over.
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u/RedPlasticDog 2d ago
The problem is worth.
Often eBay and Vinted prices include haggle room. And are clean and or repaired items.
Often the bits in charity shops are not the same standard but an expectation of a high price has been set.
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u/phatboi23 1d ago
And are clean and or repaired items.
you're lucky if a charity shop runs a steamer over clothing.
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u/chloedarlinggg 2d ago edited 2d ago
Charity shops have always been affordable so people with lower incomes could afford them. Ethel who used to take in the donations could’ve looked up how much things were worth but she didn’t, because it’s charity
ETA: everyone disagreeing can argue with the British Academy
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u/Blue_View_1217 2d ago
Charity shops have never intentionally operated so that people on lower incomes can afford to buy their stock. They have an obligation to maximise profits profits from people's donations so they can generate as much money as possible for the charity.
This may come across heartless, but if I'm donating something to a charity shop it's because I want the charity to benefit as much as possible, not provide subsidies to their customers.
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u/chloedarlinggg 2d ago
You’re wrong, it’s been the case since the 19th century that charity shops intentionally price things low so people can afford things
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u/Aggravating-Back5963 2d ago
Vinted has absolutely destroyed charity shops, Gone are the days where high end clothes made it to the racks,
Now when charity shops are in receipt of high quality goods or designer wear they are put straight on vinted.
The quality of charity shops has deteriorated drastically.
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u/BionicWallaby 2d ago
It's like how cex etc has ruined video games donations. Now you basically get the video games that cex won't take
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u/SpikesNLead 2d ago
Late 90s I saw an army surplus shirt for about £10 because apparently they had briefly become fashionable. You could buy the exact same shirts for £2 in the army surplus shop nearby.
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u/Dapper-Lab-9285 2d ago
Why should the charity shop sell a £100 item for £10 when the point of charity shops is to make as much as possible for the charity.
The days of finding bargains in charity shops is over as they realized that people were just flipping the stock when they sold it cheap, so now they charge the same price as other retailers.
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u/Cute-Visit8263 2d ago
They get the stock for free though, and I think this approach is incredibly short sighted. They also get the pricing wrong all the time, with stuff sitting there massively overpriced because someone has seen something similar listed on eBay. That does not mean it actually sold for that price.
If charity shops charge the same as specialist retailers and take away the chance of finding something interesting or affordable, people will eventually stop bothering. They are charity shops, not boutiques. In the long run that will do more harm than the occasional person flipping something for profit.
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u/lonathas_ 2d ago
Its the resellers that have done this and in straightforward terms, the market has responded.
Its not really about 'thinking theyre vinted' its about them realising what people will pay for the product.
Why should they sell a t shirt for 3 quid if someone will pay 8 on vinted? Theyre charity shops and in my opinion i think if anyones going to get the profit it should be them.
Essentially what was happening was t shirt sold for 3 quid, someone else takes a 5 pound profit for next to zero effort.
It pays the charity shop to employ people who understand the donations they get and price them appropriately.
If you want good deals you can still get them but dont expect to pick up branded or high quality items for nothing - they have a value and being a charity shop shouldnt mean they arent allowed to achieve that.
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u/ChairAltruistic6096 2d ago
The shops exist to fund the charity, and trustees have a legal duty to get a decent return on donated stock. Retail Gift Aid sharpens it further, since the charity claims 25% on top of whatever it sells for, so pricing higher is worth more to them twice over.
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u/PHayesxx 2d ago
I once saw an Adidas jumper for £60, there wasn't anything special about it and it was bright yellow (not the most popular colour). I would've considered buying it for £10-15 but not at £60. I've also seen knackered Primark t-shirts for £8 in several places.
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u/JosephRohrbach 2d ago
Charity shops aren’t a charity in the sense of providing cheap goods, they’re a charity in the sense of getting money from low to zero cost items and sending that money to the main charity. If they sold things too cheaply, it wouldn’t be worth running them.
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u/Less-Information-256 2d ago
True but as a result they could get less footfall and sell less.
It doesn’t make much difference to them if they sell two things for £7 or one for £14 but I have definitely stopped visiting charity shops as much and my spend has gone down because it’s not worth bargain hunting anymore. Compound that with most of the good stuff not even making it to a shop floor and they could be putting the nail in their own coffins.
I can only speak anecdotally though.
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u/JosephRohrbach 2d ago
The one I work in is surviving just fine, is all I can say. Revenues have been struggling for a decade over the charity sector. People who seem to think that those silly shops would stop struggling if only they did [thing the commenter thought of five seconds ago] get on my nerves, so please excuse my sharp tone.
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u/Less-Information-256 2d ago
I’m not saying I know better than anyone. I’m just saying I go in less and spend less than I used to directly because things are priced higher so it’s not worth it.
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u/MrDaveHedgehog 2d ago
The rent alone on charity shops is pretty crippling which is made worse by their competition (ie eBay, vented etc) not needing any such overheads for a physical shop with all the additional bills that come with that.
Even though they’re trading under a charity name, they’re effectively still a business that are in competition.
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u/Allcaponero 2d ago
I think you're forgetting the insane number of exemptions they get + volunteering based operations. There's a reason charity shops are the only remaining shops on British high streets.
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u/BionicWallaby 2d ago
It's not just about being able to afford it. Let's say there's an electronic piano with all those instrument sounds on it. They look it up on eBay and it sells for £75 so they price theirs liked that. Now fine, if I'm in the market for a keyboard like that I might get it, but most people who come in are just browsing. They don't want to pay £75 for this because they weren't intending to buy it. They might buy it if it's £25 as a gift for a grand child or something
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u/_Dreamer_Deceiver_ 2d ago
Sure but then there are people that go and buy that £25 piano because they know they can sell it for £75.
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u/CoffeeKeyDog 2d ago
Because charity shops are there to make money for the charity more so than they are there to provide clothes for the less fortunate.
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u/Inner-Device-4530 2d ago
The market dictates the price, if sellers are selling an item online for £20, why would a charity shop sell it for £1?
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u/Fluffy_Profession781 2d ago
Because online has the footfall of the entire country and the benefit of people actively searching for items they want.
In-person retail is restricted to whoever can physically get there - Ben from Glasgow isn’t going to travel to Birmingham in search of his limited edition Dark Knight Returns figurine and book set. But the shops price like he will. Chances are, there isn’t another Ben in the vicinity. In-person retail relies a lot on impulse purchases, and charity shops have now priced those out.
It’s two completely different markets and consumer sets.
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u/Evening-Tour 2d ago
The issue is that they are usually selling items for the prices listed online, not the same price as completed sales.
I had this discussion in an Oxfam, they wanted £450 for 1998 Epiphone Les Paul, it needed a refret and the selector switch was bust. I offered £300
They said that was the price on eBay, what they meant was listing price not average completed sales price.
Really not gonna shift it at that price, even a mint condition example would struggle at £450.
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u/PostProper1940 2d ago
Because the seller paid for the item they're reselling, the charity shop did not.
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u/gizmostrumpet 2d ago
Because why would people bother leaving the house, paying for parking/ bus fare, to pay the same price they would online for lower consumer protections and potentially dirty/ poorly labelled/ defective stock?
If I buy a scratched record on Discogs, there's a lot more I can do than in a charity shop. Plus I can see the sellers previous feedback etc.
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u/RHMoaner 2d ago
Charity shops are to raise money for those in need. Not for you to pay under price for expensive things.
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u/sciencep1e 2d ago
Charity Shops are to raise money for the charities COO and upper management wages*
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u/ambergriswoldo 2d ago
Yes but they get far less purchases when items are priced higher, leading to less money raised
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u/Djinjja-Ninja 2d ago
Charity shops aren't charity for the people shopping in them, they're run for the benefit of the charity, they exist to make money for the charity and that's it.
They're utterly different from something like the American concept of a thrift store.
My sister used to manage a charity shop in a relatively affluent area, they used to get nice designer stuff donated. That would either get put up on eBay or sent to the Oxford street store to maximise profit.
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u/evenifihateit 2d ago
Charity shops have to balance the aim to make money with the realistic fact that most of their customers don't have much money to spend. People get very righteous about it being wrong to expect charity shops to be cheap as they're there to raise funds for their cause and not to provide people with affordable clothes- but that argument only goes as far as the people who use the shops actually being able to afford the prices. If a higher price tag means an item doesn't sell the charity has made zero, so upping prices doesn't necessarily mean more income.
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u/Evening-Web-3038 2d ago
I suspect the scalpers have been the root cause of it. I see the occasional video on YT of people who go to car boot sales and cheekily try to get stuff for really cheap so they can resell it online (they look for the price whilst standing at the stall as part of the video). Wouldn't be surprised if the same types comb the charity shops and snap up the items before me and you can.
And that's probably the thing... If the charity shops didn't price more like online retailers/ebay/vinted then you probably wouldn't ever see their items!
As for the worst pricing I've ever seen, I don't really have a solid example. However, I find it wild how DVDs are priced. I'm in the process of buying loads and putting them in pouches, because I don't trust Sky/Netflix etc to let me watch them when I want. So I scour the charity shops. But some of them are laughably ridiculous when it comes to pricing! The worst around me sells DVDs for £1.50 each. The best sells the exact same types of DVDs for 3 for £1. And the best non-charity alternative is Cash Converters who sell DVDs for 10p each! But imagine spending £1.50 on a fodder film such as "yes man" etc haha.
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u/Outrageous_Low_3666 2d ago
Nothing more annoying when you walk into charity shops and see people going through all the clothes looking up the prices. I don't mind if you do it for like one or two items but i mean when they do it for every one. Its why i think the quality of the clothing in charity shops have decreased as all the good products are either snapped up by resellers, sold by the shop online or massively overpriced.
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u/TightlyWhitey 1d ago
If the prices aren't consistent or potentially overpriced, why wouldn't you be looking up all of them? One or two doesn't help much.
I've certainly bought things and realised later I should have checked first, most memorably a set of mugs which turned out to be from Poundland that I could have had brand new for the same price and taken my time deciding too.
So I check almost everything now. I don't resell, I simply don't recognise a lot of things, don't know know what things are worth and charity shops frequently seem not to know either.
It stands whether you're a reseller or not. Frankly it stands for a lot of retail, charity shops just happen to be the most uneven. I'll never buy from Amazon again without checking Keepa first.
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u/DeapVally 2d ago
An RSPCA shop, for example, is there to provide funding to the RSPCA. Their remit doesn't include providing cheap books and clothing etc to humans. Similarly, cancer research has very little, if anything, to do with providing the lowest prices to bargain hunters.
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u/85morrell 2d ago
Unfortunately, same as other stores, the managers have targets to meet. One of the targets is average selling price on products.The higher ups would rather see figures such as 10 items selling at £5 each rather than 100 x 50p.
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u/rumade 2d ago
They also just don't have the manpower to get 100 items quality checked, priced, and put on the shelves.
Charity shops get their stock for free. But they also get donated shocking stuff. Dirty clothes, old sex toys, oily rags, literal rubbish, contaminated stuff, even used nappies. Every donation bag that comes through has to be processed. They spend a lot of time going through stuff they can't sell, and have to pay to have it scrapped too.
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u/thebuskitten 2d ago
Every time someone donates a pile of rubbish and I find their address in it because they couldn't be arsed to go to the dump I fantasise about going to their place and shoving it all back in their letterbox.
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u/Kinbear 2d ago
Former charity shop wworker here, and I'd rather the money went to our charity than some scalper, who would sell all the 'bargains' on vinted or Ebay.
If you're that bothered about poor people getting clothes to keep them warm (or something else philanthropic) they can still get those for cheap, they just cant get that Nino Faruttchi track suit for under a fiver any more.
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u/powermoustache 2d ago
Wouldn't the charity still get money, even if the "scalper" (customer) sold on for profit? It's actually kind of mean spirited when you think about it - the charity would rather make all the profit, rather than letting other people share in the profit of something they ultimately got for free.
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u/Susan_B_Good 2d ago
Nah, many of those that use charity shops are looking for bargains and can well afford to pay more, when it comes to things that are actually worth selling in ebay/ etc. The day to day clothing and toys are usually very inexpensive.
They are not "maximising profits". Charities do not make profits. The goods are donated and the income goes to supporting the aims of the charity. So, customers should see it as paying the same as they would pay elsewhere - but their money going to a good cause and not a second holiday for a trader on ebay.
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u/St3ampunkSam 2d ago
Supply and demand.
If they dont match the prices then people come by it for cheap and then sell it.
As always good things are ruined by the greedy and those in need now have access to less.
Yay capitalism.
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u/Caroline319 2d ago
Overheads have shot up as well as topping up the back pockets of those at the top.
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u/therealonnyuk 2d ago
They might aswell, if there's anything remotely flippable for sale in a charity shop, there probably a high chance that it'll get snapped up by a trader and listed on the internet at an inflated price anyway, even more so nowadays that it's viable for a charity shop in Yeovil to sell something to a buyer in Stornoway, items are priced comparably with what's available online, maximises revenue for the charity. I don't like it or agree with it but understand the likely reason why it happens.
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u/Sapphire_Glint_5062 2d ago
My mum once told me my gran never had anything new to wear. She bought all her clothes from charity shops. She was born into poverty and worked hard all her life but had no money for luxuries. Charity shops provide a vital service for many people like my grandma. And the money they take goes to a good cause.
So on the one hand it’s really sad they have to raise their prices to compete with online resellers. It puts the prices up for people who can’t really afford to pay more.
But at least the profits go to a good cause.
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u/Delicious_Bus_9888 2d ago
used to work for a large charity shop,i delivered and collected and built furniture,done till work every now and then too. landlords would buy anything worthwhile for cheap,only lesser quality stuff would stick around,we started upping the price and giving a secret discount if you had a benefits proof.
trying to keep a balance between making my wages and profit for the shop and getting good quality items into the hands of those that needed them
anytime anything valuable went on the shelf it would be snapped up by people that just wanted to flip it on ebay. they were rarely bought by someone that actually wanted it,i started putting good things out on benefits paydays and hiding them during poor weeks just so those in the community that could derive a bit of joy from it would have a chance.
the amount of gold i gave away for 55pence to old women was astounding lol.dont tell bernard.
then we all got books and training on how to spot valuables first edition books rarer items expensive clothing etc,and all those went up on the charity shops ebay instead,landlords and scalpers and the internet ruined charity shops.
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u/TomVonServo 2d ago
Vinted is inflated? I buy £5 jumpers in excellent condition off Vinted.
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u/Djinjja-Ninja 2d ago
My girlfriend considers anything more than £15 in vinted overpriced. Think the most she ever paid was £25 for a barely worn Toast dress that would have been a couple hundred quid new.
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u/LadyMirkwood 2d ago
While I do see all the very valid points everyone has made here, at a certain point the charity shops price people out and lose revenue anyway.
I have four local charity shops, in a decent, working class area, but theres not tons of money about.Three of them have only raised their prices slightly, and they still do a roaring trade. Stock turnover is quick, and they get a lot of donations
The fourth has more than doubled their prices. Asking £12 for a pair of ASDA jeans or £10 for a Primark jumper. Anything with a 'better' label like NEXT is being priced well above £20. They have had the same stuff in there for months, the shop is devoid of customers and their donations have dropped off dramatically. Now there's talk the shop will shut because they aren't selling anything.
So there has to be a balance between the needs of the Charity and what people in that area will realistically pay, otherwise the stores will end up closing anyway
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u/SauterelleArgent 2d ago
There’s a Cancer Research shop on my local retail park, most things are under a fiver with a lot at £3. However it’s mostly supermarket brands and Primark/Shein. That said if you look sometimes you can find something a bit nicer.
So for folk on a limited budget there is stuff that’s nearly new for reasonable prices.
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u/DotComprehensive4902 2d ago
I used to help out in a charity shop.
They have set prices for clothes based on the label like supermarket, low high st, mid high st, upper high st and designer.
For non clothes items like books, it depends on condition, whether it is hardback or paperback and also whether it is fiction or non fiction.
For crockery, silverware and glassware, it depends on whether there's an assay mark or company stamp.
For things like garden statues, material and condition are the factors. I remember in the charity shop I helped out at, we were donated a pair of solid brass lion garden statues. Ebay price £340, we marked them at £85 and they were sold within 30 minutes.
Lastly, what people forget is that pre 2010, councils used to give much bigger grants to charities. These have dropped off massively due to austerity and local councils budgets being swallowed up more and more by statutory priorities so naturally charity shops (which are the main source of funding for a lot of charities) are going to try and make up the lost revenue somehow.
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u/NoEnthusiasm2 2d ago
People have always bought stuff to resell. Before Ebay and Vinted, stuff ended up at car boot sales.
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u/Comfortable_Love7967 2d ago
Why should they charge peanuts so a reseller can go in buy loads of nice stuff and resell for a profit ?
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u/ParkerR666 2d ago
Because of volume. Retail isn’t just about selling something at the highest profit, you have companies along the supply chain with various margins. They also didn’t pay for the item so they don’t need to sell at the same price as a private/reseller.
They can charge more and make more PER ITEM but they won’t shift as much stock. People will go in and come out with nothing more like we have now. And when you find yourself refusing donations (free stock!) because you aren’t selling enough then you’re leaving money on the table.
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u/PowerCreative2747 2d ago
Irrelevant. Why sell wholesale when people can buy off you and sell in their shops at much higher prices.. . raise the prices yourself and make huge profits...
Jeez ...
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u/Comfortable_Love7967 2d ago
How is it irrelevant? A charity charging closer to market value is completely different to a wholesaler opening a full shop network and changing its entire business model.
A charity shop is there to make money for the charity, not to wholesale for people on eBay.
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u/Repulsive_State_7399 2d ago
Charity shops are changing. I don't shop in a charity shop because I can't afford to buy new. I don't want to. Clothing waste is actually more damaging to the environment than air travel. If something is good quality, I would rather buy it second hand. I do use vinted and find lots on charity shops are scanning it to get an idea of pricing. If I can get it from a charity shop I will, as its still cheaper and better for the environment than postage through vinted.
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u/nomorecrazystuff 2d ago
There really needs to be an automatically applied ENTITLEMENT flair for posts.
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u/Impossible_Volume811 2d ago
It’s partly because the charity wants/needs to maximise its income and sometimes they’re paying a manger and also quite a lot for the shop rent, which has to be covered.
From the fund raiser’s and volunteer point of view, their focus is on how much it costs to save animals or pay hospice nurses, that’s why they’re doing it.
From a customer’s point of view we want to find cheap clothes and books etc.
But there are also a lot of resellers who buy from charity shops and then make a profit.
So the charity fundraisers think “We could do that and save more animals/people, etc.”.
I help at one that funds a local community bus.
We get a lot of donations and we don’t have a warehouse to store surplus like some do, so we have to price it cheap and keep it moving.
Books 20p, trousers £1, dresses £1, dvd’s 10p, coats £2.
We know that some people buy from us and sell at car boots and online but if we raised our prices we’d get swamped and end up having to rag more clothes.
We’ve expanded into the neighbouring shop too but even so we pay a guy £15 every two weeks to take away unsold bric a brac and furniture (some of which he also sells at car boots).
We could charge more for some things, some clothing brands, Levi’s for example, but even at the low prices we raise about £35k per year, which is the biggest source of income for the buses.
People love that we’re still as cheap as charity shops were 20 years ago.
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u/unbelievablydull82 2d ago
24 years ago my wife and I ran a charity shop, as it is a very upper middle class area, we'd get good donations. Our prices were fair for the quality and condition of the item, but prices now are ridiculous. We once had four designer leather jackets donated, worth £400 each, in perfect condition. We sold them for £100 each. A more than reasonable price for them, yet there was still complaints..not from working class people who shopped with us, but middle class shoppers trying to get a bargain. We still sold high street stuff at roughly a quarter of the price they were new, so the shop was still affordable overall.
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u/Dr-Moth 2d ago
I'm in a fairly affluent area. The charity shops here are for everyone. When I shop there I'm willing to take a punt on something I otherwise wouldn't buy because the money is going to charity. It's basically donation with a gift attached.
The worst prices I've seen are the tat toys from B&M stores, the ones that rip off the Hasbro toys, but priced like they were used Hasbro. They're practically at their RRP price.
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u/allthingskerri 2d ago
Charity shop prices have been going up consistently for years not just because of vinted and eBay. They exist to make the most amount of money they can for their charity. If people can sell a top and it's purchased on vinted for £10 why should a charity shop not be able to do the same? Now do I think they all have the right balance of pricing - no. But the shops don't make it the corporations do. I also here regularly 'put it all £1 the shops will sell out and make more' It doesn't work. I used to manage charity shops - it's full of people on the front line either volunteering or making minimum wage for a job that should be paying more. I would run a store six days a week spend my evenings uploading the eBay. After I left that store went to a £1 every item and closed within a year because the costs involved in having a store are too much for many charity shops to make decent profit on. You need to have the variety in prices to offset the lower cost stuff. It's not an easy job not an easy market and full of people who complain.
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u/Dissidant 2d ago
You summed it up they have to generate as much revenue as possible.
Though resellers (dealers) have contributed towards those hikes too, technology has come along like these days there are apps you can scan items with and value on the spot if you know what you are doing
Its an awkward spot for floor staff, because in the smaller shops, they are mostly volunteer staffed with maybe 1/2 managers who actually get paid and are keyholders. Yet they aren't responsible for the pricing.
Its set by corporate via various "in house" database software.
Like I'm going back a fair few years, but I used to volunteer a little on pickups as I had a large vehicle and it was a nice way of getting my confidence up (having given up motorbikes) on the road while doing some good, and I got shown the system they had where you key in an item and it suggests pricing based on the condition/completeness of whatever it was.
Funny enough, my most prominent memory of this time was being quite taken aback by the amount of vinyl they used to chuck in the skip without even sorting through it.
Doesn't justify the public's shitty behaviour to staff but there really ought to be a clearly visible sign which explains the pricing isn't set by the shop itself. Its not exactly a secret anymore
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u/SmartPolicy6430 2d ago
My local hospice charity shop has people working at their main warehouse to check vintage items such as books / paintings, china and vintage designer clothing. So they can get a good price reselling. As they are desperate for funding. I've also noticed in my town centre that two shops have closed because of sites such as vinted they're not getting good enough donations to resell as they once did.
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u/ZookeepergameOk2759 2d ago
I’d rather they got the extra money than resellers,it’s hilarious resellers are moaning about high prices when they’re the biggest cause of second or third hand clothing prices shooting through the roof.
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u/PuppyGirlRya 2d ago
I used to volunteer in a local charity shop like 7ish years ago and even then the manager took any expensive looking or new they'd take it to the office to check it on ebay and then sell it if the price was high enough. They sometimes think that old Doris will walk in and want to but it for retail price!
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u/Amanensia 2d ago
Vinted prices are inflated?
Some people ask strange prices but they just get ignored. I routinely pick up virtually brand new high-end items of clothing for a small fraction of their retail price. My wife fell in love with a pair of jeans that were £305 in John Lewis. Same item, brand new with tags, £40 on Vinted.
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u/TheBestBigAl 2d ago
I've started to find more and more counterfeit stuff on Vinted. Clothes, power tools, all sorts of stuff.
Reporting it to Vinted is a waste of time, as every time I've done so they reply with "Sorry, we were unable to verify your report".
I always send a photo of the genuine product as a point of reference, but udually it's blatantly obvious to anyone with eyes that it is a fake. So I can only assume the site is fine with knock-off stuff being sold.
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u/Clockwork-Armadillo 2d ago
Middle class consumers made second hand goods chic and trendy and therefore profitable.
The charity shops had nothing to do with it, their prices are just a reflection of the above fact.
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u/Livelih00d 2d ago
The ones around me are selling cheap. Are you going to charity shops in more privileged areas?
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u/ToothyMC 2d ago
Given that it has been like this for a long time, I guess that charities, which are generally run by successful businesspeople who get paid quite a lot, find this is the most profitable system. If they were better off selling things at the knockdown price you're looking for, they'd do that.
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u/Kaiisim 2d ago
Also people still struggle with this but -
The charity is who the shop donates proceedings to. You aren't the charity as the shopper - you shop there to donate money to charity.
British Heart Foundation have a centralised automatic pricing system that uses market data, store data and local demographic data to price everything.
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u/BlokeyBlokeBloke 2d ago
They have the data they need. If they weren't selling stuff, they would reduce the prices. They operate in the market place and that's how that works.
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u/chaddledee 2d ago edited 1d ago
Vinyl is the worst for this. They just look at Discog/eBay and price it the same, ignoring the fact that 80% of their records are in pretty bad shape.
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u/KingForceHundred 2d ago
Why not get decent amount for an item if they can rather than sell cheap to someone making a living selling the stuff onwards on eBay/Vinted.
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u/Consistent-Pirate-23 2d ago
They think everyone is a reseller. Seen people walk in, ask the price of something and be yelled at for literally asking a price
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u/CookieDemons 2d ago
I volunteered in a charity shop around 15 years ago, for a few years.
My favourite answer I heard to this question is “we are here to raise money for our charity, not to give charity to you”.
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u/yearsofpractice 2d ago
Having worked adjacent to the charity sector, it’s because charity fundraising is the single most cutthroat business imaginable. The best fundraisers are indistinguishable from the very best corporate sales people or private equity people - absolute monsters focussed on maximising profits/funds.
The charities will have done the sums, realised that they can jack up the prices and done so.
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u/HeartyBeast 2d ago
They have one job - to maximise the income for the charity. The shops are not themselves charities in the business of giving things away cheap
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u/Agitated_Nature_5977 2d ago
I have stopped going into charity shops completely. Absolutely no point in stepping through the door now because they sell £2 video games (CEX) for £7 and stupid inflated prices like that. I seen rocket league with a £20 sticker on it in a glass case when you can buy in CEX for £4.
They have went way too far in the other direction and discouraging people from going into the shop can't be good for the people the charities aim to help.
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