Charity shops getting stupid with prices

[Retro6]

I had a look in some Charity shops today and there is literally rubbish in nearly all of them with high price tags. Today I saw a stoneware Ink bottle labeled as a ginger beer bottle from 1870 with the Bourne Denby mark on it for an eye watering 45 pounds. Its actually from 1890 and very common so common that bottle diggers leave them behind when they go digging in old Victorian rubbish tips. The Ink bottle is worth about 5 pounds at the very most and that is being generous. It was all secured behind a glass cabinet its laughable.

They had old tatty key chains in there for 4 pounds each among other over priced things.

I'm finding myself more and more less likely to go to charity anymore because they rip people off by charging way too much plus they don't have anything half decent anymore. Some charity shops I walk into and walk back out again within seconds when all they sell are women's clothing and crockery.

I used to enjoy going to charity shops and I would always find things but now days there is nothing worth looking at in them.

Who else enjoyed charity shops?

 

[Retro6]

Yep,ive noticed charity shops prices are getting a bit OTT lately with their prices,i think what isn't helping and they're catching onto it now is these bloody Youtubers going in,Filming,Buying things "Cheap" then shoving it on Ebay and making profit.
Some of them even blatantly say to their partner out loud how much is that going for on Ebay.....

I agree Those kinda Youtubers are a pain. Its all fine doing it but posting it on youtube isn't good. Its the same with all these treasure hunting videos.

 

[Retro6]

Great when you drop on bargains though. Last thing I got was a Jeff Banks' overcoat for £8 (new and with tags), and before that I snagged a long black (it might be lay person's black though) overcoat for £6

Its rare I find a bargin. The last bargins I had in charity shops were 3 years ago, 3 pounds for a bag of old coins that had some good ones in there and 10 pounds for a WW2 ARP bell.

 

[Retro6]

I guess their prices are pretty much market driven, if people stop buying stuff then they'll have to drop their prices.

But nobody is buying it. Some of these charity shops have had the same things on the shelf for months.

 

[Retro6]

There are better ways charity shops can make money rather than trying to get more money than what things are worth. Charity should never be about ripping off the public.

 

[Retro6]

I really don’t see the problem with charity shops selling things at eBay prices, their entire purpose is to raise as much money as possible for the associated charity not to give the scalpers a bargain!

They wont get ebay prices in there shops tho because ebay will have more people seeing the stuff for sale where as a charity shop will have a few locals popping in and out. A lot of things require a specialized market to make the money they want.

A lot of the stuff charity shops sell is literally junk with high price tags that has no value regardless either way.

 

[Retro6]

They will get close to eBay prices, they demonstrably do! Gone are the days of a box full of vintage cameras going for 50p each and good quality musical instruments fetching a tenner, rightly so. Most charity shops have plenty of junk mixed in with good stuff all of which will be priced in such a way that it sells these shops turn over vast amounts of items at low prices it is how they have always worked they have just become more price savy over the years. Lots have dedicated eBay stores where they sell the good stuff to maximise income.

Back stateside I was amazed when I saw old vintage floor wooden TV's for 5 bucks. Old computers, Pentium Pro's II III going for 10 bucks and a whole lot of other things that would be considered high value over here.

 

[Retro6]

I must be missing something here....surely the point of charity shops is for people to donate stuff to raise money for charities...

Seems like a lot of people seem to think charity shops exist to give them cheap stuff Entitlement these days, jeez.

When I give stuff to a charity shop, I bloody well hope they get the best price they can for it.

Well they are donations and its not as if the charities are paying for the stock and most of what they get is literal tat and very low value items. Maybe they should just ask people for money rather than charging high street prices and generally ripping people off. It just doesn't seem right. I understand charities need to make money but ripping people off is the wrong way to go about it and not exactly a charitable thing to do.

The whole point of charity shops are there so that poorer people can afford to buy things as well as "second hand" stuff being re-used. When I donate to charity shops I don't mind how much they want to charge I just hope my donations go to somebody who will get some enjoyment from them. I often take a box of stuff down to the charity shops because I need to clear lots of space out and I just haven't got the time to list it all on ebay.

 

[Retro6]

Nobody has a entitlement to buy things from charity shops cheep but a lot of these charities seem to be entitled to peoples money that have volunteers in town centers with ipads that harass people for donations while their personal details get sold/paid to scummy companies who call people and harass them for even more money while multiple people in these charities are pulling 40-60k+ a year.

I cant remember for sure but I saw a article saying that some charities are run so bad/money being skimmed that pennies on the pound actually go to the cause.

It has nothing to do with entitlement... if charity shops are going to be charging stupid prices nobody will bother going in them anymore. People will shop else where for bargains and the charity shops then close down.

 

[Retro6]

On the whole, I agree with this thread, charity shops have become ridiculous in their general pricing, that said, I recently spotted a BBC Model B computer in a shop In Newport, Shropshire, it was up for £30 untested so I tried to buy it,they said their card machine was playing up so I needed to get cash, off I go to the atm, on my return the machine had fixed itself and someone else had just bought it…..

They go for 10 times that price on the bay and user groups even though I wanted to have it for myself…. :/

Not the first time I’ve missed out on such a keenly priced Beeb, one day I’ll bag another and relive my youth!

A few more of those will be for up for auction on ebay I have a few in the attic, when I get around to them I will be selling them. 30 is a real bargain for a beeb. Its amazing just 20 years ago people threw these out you'd see them at car boot sales going for a few quid here and there less than a fiver now they go for a sub 100 depending on condition.

 

[Retro6]

The prices vary hugely, a lot depends on condition, if the PSU has been re-capped and what’s included.

Whilst eBay is renowned for some LOL prices, it still gives an indication as to what some are asking….




I’d be more inclined to go with user groups, there’s a very good guy on FB who restores all kinds of vintage stuff - retroclinic - but, understandably as it’s his business, he’s not the cheapest, but has a good reputation.

The ones I sold a while back I re-capped and I fitted the SD card loaded with over 500 games with Turbo MMC.

The ones in the attic have also been recapped, one of them went faulty due to a 6522 chip going bad and I hadn't found a replacement so I will just sell that as is with a note of the fault.

 

[Retro6]

on the subject of charity what is with Tesco self service tills?
Go in for milk £1.55
Paying by card.
Self service till asks if I want to donate 45p to charity
are they serious?
I bet tesco uses the donations as a tax write off somehow too....



what next adverts on self service tills, surely no one wants an extra prompt on the screen they have to answer

I wouldn't be surprised if they started putting advertisements on the self checkout machines. I have noticed they no longer do a reduced section where you could buy cheap sandwiches and stuff for penny's that would be chucked away after closing up. They do reduced stuff but its like 10p off or 20p off. Nobody will bother saving 10p when you can get a meal deal for 3 pounds.

 

[Retro6]

I’d certainly be interested in the faulty one as a project if & when you get around to selling, it’ll remind me of fixing my old one back in the 80’s

Yeah I'll definitely let you know. I have a whole pile of other stuff to clear before I get to the stuff in the attic.

Edit: due to the rules of the forum I can not do any type of sale on here outside the members market place. They will all be going on to ebay eventually.

 

[Retro6]

I used to go charity shop hunting for antiques, old coins, tokens, badges etc but not to sell on it was mostly low value stuff anyway. I'm a collector of various things and I enjoyed finding bits and pieces from the Victorian and WW2 eras. Everything I bought from charity shops went into my collection and will be treasured until the end of my time. I do metal detecting and bottle digging, mud larking and other forms of treasure hunting. Its a hobby for me. Hunting charity shops was one form of treasure hunting for me.

 

[Retro6]

remember (and @Scania too) that you cannot sell / trade anything outside of the members market.

No sales were going to be made on here outside of the members market place. It was going to be done via ebay. I'll edit my post.

 

[Retro6]

This is something that frustrates me personally, because the donations they collect will no doubt give Tesco some good PR for very little cost for them. I'd be much happier if Tesco said - "why not donate to charity, and we'll match it?"

Tesco wont even donate there food to food banks anymore let alone give to charity.

 

[Retro6]

I’d seen he hasn’t the required posts for MM access and was presuming it would be via eBay.

I don't need them. I only sell on ebay anyway.