Selling donated goods at a car boot sale to raise money for the charity is absolutely fine. But if anyone working for the charity shop, whether they volunteer or are in a paid role, filches items donated, then sells them on for personal profit, then that is immoral, in my opinion.
But I don't have a problem with a customer buying a garment off the £1 rail and flogging it elsewhere for a tenner, for example.
Yeah, that's fine. Although it does annoy me that the people from the local retro stores keep coming in, buying all our best stuff and then selling it for three times as much round the corner. Perfectly legal, of course, but it bugs the shit out of me (it encourages the hipster takeover of the area, for a start). Especially when they try to haggle. One guy actually said "but I won't be able to make a profit out of that" when we refused to drop the price. Tough shit, that's not why we're here.
That said, our prices vary massively depending where the shops are. The one I've just left is pretty expensive, and people will pay it, because it's on an expensive street (the rent's nearly 30k, for a start, and the quality of donations is ludicrous- brand-new designer dresses with the labels still on, Louboutin shoes...). I've just moved to a new one, not very far away at all, but we can afford to be a bit cheaper. Some of our shops in villages etc are super-cheap.
Remember, aside from providing cheap goods, the other aim is to raise as much money as possible.
Yeah, that's the difference. As I say, managers have been fired for that before- point being, if you can make that much money out of a donation you should be making it for the charity.
Although I know some of our more provincial stores use car boot sales to raise money for the charity as well.
When i give my stuff to charity shops its mainly just that i want rid of it. It doesnt really cross my mind that i want the maximum cash raised for which i ever shop i give it to. if people know there are nuggets in charity shops then that will encourage more in and thus will lead to more funds being raised. i dont see anything wrong at all with charity shop gold mining.
I like charity shops, I donate quite a lot to them and when dropping off I will have a look around.
I once donated a canteen of cutlery to one shop and next time I went in it was priced up at £60.
I bought a whole dinner service from one shop in a small country town, it was all priced up individually and only came to about £15 which I thought was too cheap so I paid £25 for it which was still cheap.
I think Christmas time can be a good time to shop for stuff, as often people will have a clear out and give stuff to the charity shops, even brand new unused stuff that they got as unwanted gifts.
I often see things in the shops after school breaks up that have been given to teachers by their pupils, like 'Best teacher' cups etc.
Charity shops are a great way on recycling unwanted goods and raising money for charity.
One lady manager of a shop I leave stuff at has made her shop attractive, the clothes are all colour coordinated and it all looks really nice on the eye.
When i give my stuff to charity shops its mainly just that i want rid of it. It doesnt really cross my mind that i want the maximum cash raised for which i ever shop i give it to. if people know there are nuggets in charity shops then that will encourage more in and thus will lead to more funds being raised. i dont see anything wrong at all with charity shop gold mining.
Of course not- unless you're the manager or staff of one, in which case it's pretty shit.
Yeah, that's fine. Although it does annoy me that the people from the local retro stores keep coming in, buying all our best stuff and then selling it for three times as much round the corner. Perfectly legal, of course, but it bugs the shit out of me (it encourages the hipster takeover of the area, for a start). Especially when they try to haggle. One guy actually said "but I won't be able to make a profit out of that" when we refused to drop the price. Tough shit, that's not why we're here.
That said, our prices vary massively depending where the shops are. The one I've just left is pretty expensive, and people will pay it, because it's on an expensive street (the rent's nearly 30k, for a start, and the quality of donations is ludicrous- brand-new designer dresses with the labels still on, Louboutin shoes...). I've just moved to a new one, not very far away at all, but we can afford to be a bit cheaper. Some of our shops in villages etc are super-cheap.
Remember, aside from providing cheap goods, the other aim is to raise as much money as possible.
I live in a northern town, well, village really, and the local charity shops are as cheap as chips, most don't sell anything above a couple of quid, and most items are 99p. But travel to a more expensive area, and the prices rise accordingly.
I know what you mean about the vintage/retro stores - the Custard Factory in Birmingham is brilliant, but I'm pretty sure most of their stock is from charity shops originally and sold on at a vastly inflated price. I still love my 50's picnic hamper that I bought for £30 there, although there was an identical one in Mind in Leeds for a tenner last week. I would have far preferred to have bought it from a charity shop. I bought the one in Leeds anyway, I'm giving it to my sister, who has been very jealous of mine.
I live in a northern town, well, village really, and the local charity shops are as cheap as chips, most don't sell anything above a couple of quid, and most items are 99p.
I still love my 50's picnic hamper that I bought for £30 there, although there was an identical one in Mind in Leeds for a tenner last week. I would have far preferred to have bought it from a charity shop. I bought the one in Leeds anyway, I'm giving it to my sister, who has been very jealous of mine.
The ones I go in to are in a VERY small country town, all is so cheap.
Do they do different price structures then for different areas (thats to Stoatie)
Two of my star buys have been hampers, one is a really old one like yours maybe and it is lovely, the other one was a new modern one which I gave to one of my kids.
The ones I go in to are in a VERY small country town, all is so cheap. Do they do different price structures then for different areas (thats to Stoatie)
Two of my star buys have been hampers, one is a really old one like yours maybe and it is lovely, the other one was a new modern one which I gave to one of my kids.
Yeah, they do- it's to do with rents, and also what the locals can afford. Obviously you want to make as much money as possible, and sometimes the way to do that is to sell stuff cheaper so you sell more of it; it varies. I usually try to make sure we've got a range of differently-priced stuff so there's something for everyone. If we can get the big bucks we will, but you need stuff for everyone else as well. Bear in mind we have weekly targets to meet, same as any other shop. At the moment we've got two paid members of staff, and we open seven days a week, so it's gonna suck as soon as one of us decides to take a holiday. If the shop's not profitable there's no chance in hell they'll give us anyone else for a couple of days a week, so that's an incentive too.
Officially we don't discount anything, but the secret is that if you're really nice about it you *may* get something off. Act like an entitled dick and it's DEFINITELY no discount for you.
Often people will dump electrical goods on us despite us not being able to test them to make sure they're safe, therefore we can't sell them.
Someone's not being very resourceful there, then. Some of our local charity shops don't accept electrical goods, but others do. They have found volunteers who check them for safety and repair them if necessary/possible. My late uncle was an electrician, and he used to do this for his local hospice shop after he retired.
We don't sell VHS tapes either- they take up a colossal amount of space, you can't charge more than a few pence and nobody buys them.
In an Oxfam shop that I once volunteered at for over a year, we decided to put books and tapes in baskets outside the shop because we never had much room either to fit them on, and put them on for a pound.
Someone's not being very resourceful there, then. Some of our local charity shops don't accept electrical goods, but others do. They have found volunteers who check them for safety and repair them if necessary/possible. My late uncle was an electrician, and he used to do this for his local hospice shop after he retired.
That's why we can't sell them, because we have looked for someone to test them before, preferably someone who wouldn't charge for doing so, but been unsuccessful. We don't really have the money to hire someone to do this and we don't really have the space either. Anything large and electrical is usually binned simply because we can't store it anywhere. If it looks expensive and in working order then the manager's manager may take it to sell someplace else. If it's small like hair straighteners or a camera than staff members may purchase it.
We don't sell VHS tapes either- they take up a colossal amount of space, you can't charge more than a few pence and nobody buys them.
That's why we cant sell them as well, I could fill a shelf of them and charge 10p and I guarantee that they will still be there this time next month with only a couple sold.
I can fill the same shelf with 99p/49p books and have to replenish the shelf a couple of times a day, its all about getting the most money from the selling space available although as I work for the Salvation Army we cant even sell 18 plus dvds let alone porn videos
That's why we can't sell them, because we have looked for someone to test them before, preferably someone who wouldn't charge for doing so, but been unsuccessful. We don't really have the money to hire someone to do this and we don't really have the space either. Anything large and electrical is usually binned simply because we can't store it anywhere. If it looks expensive and in working order then the manager's manager may take it to sell someplace else. If it's small like hair straighteners or a camera than staff members may purchase it.
Same here we have no PAT testers, I donate any I get to the local Hospice shop, they have a PAT tester
I popped into my local Hospice shop yesterday as I thought they could use some Dad's I no longer needed. However the lady behind the counter told me they didn't take videos. I wonder if this is a general rule in charity shops or whether she mistook them for VHS cassettes or something.
I popped into my local Hospice shop yesterday as I thought they could use some Dad's I no longer needed. However the lady behind the counter told me they didn't take videos. I wonder if this is a general rule in charity shops or whether she mistook them for VHS cassettes or something.
Lol
Got quite a lot of vinyl from my local charity shops. Get some good stuff in sometimes.
I popped into my local Hospice shop yesterday as I thought they could use some Dad's I no longer needed. However the lady behind the counter told me they didn't take videos. I wonder if this is a general rule in charity shops or whether she mistook them for VHS cassettes or something.
my Charity even has to pay for a TV License to run a screen with a looped information video on
I'm not trying to turn this into another debate about the tv licence but that doesn't sound right to me. You might need some sort of public performance licence but whilst I'm not a lawyer I'm 99.9% certain the set-up you describe doesn't need a tv licence.
Comments
Agreed.
Yeah, that's fine. Although it does annoy me that the people from the local retro stores keep coming in, buying all our best stuff and then selling it for three times as much round the corner. Perfectly legal, of course, but it bugs the shit out of me (it encourages the hipster takeover of the area, for a start). Especially when they try to haggle. One guy actually said "but I won't be able to make a profit out of that" when we refused to drop the price. Tough shit, that's not why we're here.
That said, our prices vary massively depending where the shops are. The one I've just left is pretty expensive, and people will pay it, because it's on an expensive street (the rent's nearly 30k, for a start, and the quality of donations is ludicrous- brand-new designer dresses with the labels still on, Louboutin shoes...). I've just moved to a new one, not very far away at all, but we can afford to be a bit cheaper. Some of our shops in villages etc are super-cheap.
Remember, aside from providing cheap goods, the other aim is to raise as much money as possible.
When i give my stuff to charity shops its mainly just that i want rid of it. It doesnt really cross my mind that i want the maximum cash raised for which i ever shop i give it to. if people know there are nuggets in charity shops then that will encourage more in and thus will lead to more funds being raised. i dont see anything wrong at all with charity shop gold mining.
I once donated a canteen of cutlery to one shop and next time I went in it was priced up at £60.
I bought a whole dinner service from one shop in a small country town, it was all priced up individually and only came to about £15 which I thought was too cheap so I paid £25 for it which was still cheap.
I think Christmas time can be a good time to shop for stuff, as often people will have a clear out and give stuff to the charity shops, even brand new unused stuff that they got as unwanted gifts.
I often see things in the shops after school breaks up that have been given to teachers by their pupils, like 'Best teacher' cups etc.
Charity shops are a great way on recycling unwanted goods and raising money for charity.
One lady manager of a shop I leave stuff at has made her shop attractive, the clothes are all colour coordinated and it all looks really nice on the eye.
Of course not- unless you're the manager or staff of one, in which case it's pretty shit.
I know what you mean about the vintage/retro stores - the Custard Factory in Birmingham is brilliant, but I'm pretty sure most of their stock is from charity shops originally and sold on at a vastly inflated price. I still love my 50's picnic hamper that I bought for £30 there, although there was an identical one in Mind in Leeds for a tenner last week. I would have far preferred to have bought it from a charity shop. I bought the one in Leeds anyway, I'm giving it to my sister, who has been very jealous of mine.
The ones I go in to are in a VERY small country town, all is so cheap.
Do they do different price structures then for different areas (thats to Stoatie)
Two of my star buys have been hampers, one is a really old one like yours maybe and it is lovely, the other one was a new modern one which I gave to one of my kids.
Yeah, they do- it's to do with rents, and also what the locals can afford. Obviously you want to make as much money as possible, and sometimes the way to do that is to sell stuff cheaper so you sell more of it; it varies. I usually try to make sure we've got a range of differently-priced stuff so there's something for everyone. If we can get the big bucks we will, but you need stuff for everyone else as well. Bear in mind we have weekly targets to meet, same as any other shop. At the moment we've got two paid members of staff, and we open seven days a week, so it's gonna suck as soon as one of us decides to take a holiday. If the shop's not profitable there's no chance in hell they'll give us anyone else for a couple of days a week, so that's an incentive too.
Officially we don't discount anything, but the secret is that if you're really nice about it you *may* get something off. Act like an entitled dick and it's DEFINITELY no discount for you.
Someone's not being very resourceful there, then. Some of our local charity shops don't accept electrical goods, but others do. They have found volunteers who check them for safety and repair them if necessary/possible. My late uncle was an electrician, and he used to do this for his local hospice shop after he retired.
Why weren't you allowed to sell them - were they porn? ;-):p
We don't sell VHS tapes either- they take up a colossal amount of space, you can't charge more than a few pence and nobody buys them.
What are they please?
It's a shame. I'd have loved a rummage......
In an Oxfam shop that I once volunteered at for over a year, we decided to put books and tapes in baskets outside the shop because we never had much room either to fit them on, and put them on for a pound.
for keeping your weed in and making joints whilst containing any spillage.
also good for hiding other stuff in if they`re among a few on a shelf.
That's why we can't sell them, because we have looked for someone to test them before, preferably someone who wouldn't charge for doing so, but been unsuccessful. We don't really have the money to hire someone to do this and we don't really have the space either. Anything large and electrical is usually binned simply because we can't store it anywhere. If it looks expensive and in working order then the manager's manager may take it to sell someplace else. If it's small like hair straighteners or a camera than staff members may purchase it.
That's why we cant sell them as well, I could fill a shelf of them and charge 10p and I guarantee that they will still be there this time next month with only a couple sold.
I can fill the same shelf with 99p/49p books and have to replenish the shelf a couple of times a day, its all about getting the most money from the selling space available although as I work for the Salvation Army we cant even sell 18 plus dvds let alone porn videos
Same here we have no PAT testers, I donate any I get to the local Hospice shop, they have a PAT tester
these offer free pat tester courses for charities:
http://www.firststopsafety.co.uk/Help/Default.aspx?Page=Charity%20Shop%20Zone
Lol
Got quite a lot of vinyl from my local charity shops. Get some good stuff in sometimes.
I meant to say "DVDs".
I'm not trying to turn this into another debate about the tv licence but that doesn't sound right to me. You might need some sort of public performance licence but whilst I'm not a lawyer I'm 99.9% certain the set-up you describe doesn't need a tv licence.
What is the world coming to when you can't even give away your own father for free