Charity Shop Prices - How Do They Decide What to Charge?

On Saturday Mum and I took ourselves off to Hanham to check out a Methodist Church Spring Fair and to have a nosey round the two charity shops there.  The Spring Fair was very good - loads of upmarket toiletries for me, a vintage Stratton powder compact, two books for Mum and a jar of homemade marmalade for each of us (wish I could show you some photos but Typepad still won't let me load them - must find out why ASAP.) 

After a coffee / hot chocolate break in the local Wetherspoons we went across the road to check out the charity shops.  If anyone is in the Hanham area, both of us can highly recommend The Cat Flap (raising funds for Bristol's League for Cats) as a wonderful place to have a rummage around with excellent prices, too.  I came away with two Emma Bridgewater tea towels - brand new with tags attached - for 50p each, a long-sleeved T-shirt and a pair of tracksuit bottoms for my nephew - 50p each from the 50p rail, and Mum got two balls of lovely wool - £1.00 each.

We then moved on to the local hospice charity shop (any one in the Bristol area will know exactly which hospice shops I'm talking about as they are everywhere - there are two of them in Kingswood High Street alone!!)  These shops are all very upmarket - wooden hangers, laminate flooring, colour-coordinated clothing etc etc - with high prices to match.  I did lash out £4.00 for a long-sleeved stripey T-shirt even though it was 'George' and probably didn't cost any more than that new.  But, hey ho, it was just what I'd been looking for, fits a treat, and is in very nice order.  Mum, on the other hand, picked out a beautiful skirt for my sister which turned out to be from a very expensive brand called 'Coast' - neither Mum, me nor my sister had ever heard of them.  (I got the heads-up on them being expensive from a comment Caroline made in this post - thanks for that, Caroline.)   Seems that these skirts retail around the £80 mark - and the skirt is pure linen with a pure silk lining, very nice quality.  Thing is, they were only charging 50p more for this beautiful skirt than the £4.00 I paid for my George T-shirt - so exactly how do charity shops decide on their prices?  It sure is a mystery to me!!

Comments

[Vix]

It is a mystery. I can understand chazzas charging the same price for tee shirts, dresses or jackets but the inconsistencies are ridiculous especially when manky old New Look tat is priced higher than Jaeger. Not to worry though, it all adds to the joys of charity shopping. xxx

[Amy]

That's a very good question, I have always felt it was done by individual shop based on how new the item is but sometimes I'm not sure they know the true value of things.
I've seen some beautiful china sets in mint condition for pennies!

[Green rabbit]

When I used to work for Oxfam, many moons ago, there was a sheet on the wall, with types of clothing - ie woman's skirts, man's trousers etc and then there was an upper price and a lower price, depending on quality/brand. These sheets were updated each season. There was also a list of quality brands that required either a special price or the top price on the list.

[Caroline]

I think that some charity shops don't have consistency with pricing because they have a variety of people pricing, some of whom know their brands better than others. As Vix says, however, it all adds to the joy of the hunt! There are, however, as I've said before, certain charity shops that I won't even go into these days, because of the whole wooden hanger/laminate floor/ideas above their station and prices above my comfort zone thing!

[gill]

I get quite annoyed at some of the prices charity shops charge especially for Primark and supermarket clothes, it would almost be as cheap to buy new. I refuse to shop in BHF any more as their prices are shocking. I think it does depend on the area too, I've visited other towns and pick up proper bargains. I know it's all in a good cause but I get the feeling we're being ripped off sometimes in the name of charity!

[Ponytail]

You could try volunteering in a couple of shops, to figure out their pricing policy. Remember, although some of these shops are part of a larger chain, each shop depends on individual donations. While they will work from a central pricing sheet, they may be a discount shop within the organisation and get their stock from other shops' unsold stock. Staff could be lazy about looking up prices. There could be something wrong with the item that you haven't yet seen. The item could have gone really quickly last time it was in stock so the staff are trying to see if they can get more for their charity this time.
I have to say, I don't understand the feeling of being ripped off. If you don't like the price, leave, and shop around. The shops are trying to raise as much money as possible for charity, that's the first purpose, not coming up with a great bargain for shoppers !
I do agree that some charity shops (not the one I work in !) charge a lot for their items, but I just don't shop there, end of story. If people didn't pay the prices, the shop would change its pricing policy. As it is, if the shop is still open, it's probably raising enough to make it worth while.
Please remember - they're not looking for customers, they're looking for funds.