SuperBacon Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 Not a charity shop gem as they're sadly still closed (I stay awake at night thinking of all the football shirts that hopefully await me) but did just pick this up off a "Please help yourself" wall down the road. Went back for a PS2 copy of Fifa 2004 as well because why not? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Houchen Posted March 21, 2021 Author Share Posted March 21, 2021 Local Facebook groups and marketplace are where the action is at. Many people have loads to donate but nowhere to donate to, so you can get some gems from there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonny Vegas Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 (edited) I've always loved charity shops and have picked up some bargains over the years but I feel up here in Glasgow they've been ruined in a similar manner to car boot sales where people seem more aware of the value of their stuff/think theres value in their stuff and want the highest price things have ever been sold on eBay for. A good few of the charity shops up here seem to take their prices from eBay, the one most local to me in particular is really bad for it and had a newer ninja turtles playset missing all the pieces that could come attached for sale for £40 for about 6 months. There's also a shop called Kinder Handl who until recently were calling themselves a charity but must've gotten into trouble for doing so and have now began explicitly stating that they're not a charity. All of their staff are voluntary, their stock is all donations of childrens clothes, toys, etc. however their prices are crazy and times I've been in the staff are openly discussing the owners business model of checking eBay to see what similar items are listed at. One of the staff was also telling what I assumed was a new volunteer that when old Ninja Turtles toys come in check if the figures have a tail as they're "worth thousands" when I'm pretty sure they were a prototype design never actually released and had recently been mentioned on Netflix series "the toys that made us". £8 for a battered loose Jakks Bubba Ray Dudley is the sort of thing you can expect in there. Gems wise... £7 for this in mint condition is up there for me. Also an old WWF Ultimate Warrior wristwatch still in the original blister pack for £2. Edited March 21, 2021 by Jonny Vegas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hannah Posted March 22, 2021 Share Posted March 22, 2021 In response to Jonny Vegas comments...Kinder Handl Community Enterprise CIC has never been a charity shop nor said it was as it’s NOT! It’s whole model (all information with the regulator) is based around social inclusion. They have helped 100’s of families over the 8 years, providing free services to countless health visitors for families in need, social work with furniture and clothing, free nappies, toys, school uniform..working with disabled adults from colleges to attain back to work qualifications.. I find it astonishing that people write such nonsense because it’s what they think rather than asking the people who work there. All but 2 members of staff are volunteers. The bulk of the staff are living with mental health issues too. Had you ever considered what it costs to run a 3rd sector organisation? Rent, utilities, salaries, factors, storage, insurances, accounts, payroll,...there are about 15-20 bills paid monthly. It’s a horrendous outlay...but why do they put themselves through it? Because of the social impact. The people they help on a daily basis. When people donate they are hoping for you to get the most money possible to allow for the social venture to continue - not hope they put it in for a £1 as someone else can flog it for a fortune elsewhere. Throughout the pandemic all the staff have kept their jobs, been able to carry on and stay safe at home. If it wasn’t for the kindness of the donations and help from the government this would not have been possible. It is up to you where you buy from but I know the customers that come in want to spend to help keep the ongoing projects alive. If everything was £1 no one on the high street would survive 6 months. The selling price is akin to what it’s worth. If you want cheap stuff then there are car-boots opening in a few months. Please do not say anything that is untrue. It is pointless and unnecessary. The truth is not hard to find. You just have to ask! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hannah Posted March 22, 2021 Share Posted March 22, 2021 In response to Jonny Vegas comments...Kinder Handl Community Enterprise CIC has never been a charity shop nor said it was as it’s NOT! It’s whole model (all information with the regulator) is based around social inclusion. They have helped 100’s of families over the 8 years, providing free services to countless health visitors for families in need, social work with furniture and clothing, free nappies, toys, school uniform..working with disabled adults from colleges to attain back to work qualifications.. I find it astonishing that people write such nonsense because it’s what they think rather than asking the people who work there. All but 2 members of staff are volunteers. The bulk of the staff are living with mental health issues too. Had you ever considered what it costs to run a 3rd sector organisation? Rent, utilities, salaries, factors, storage, insurances, accounts, payroll,...there are about 15-20 bills paid monthly. It’s a horrendous outlay...but why do they put themselves through it? Because of the social impact. The people they help on a daily basis. When people donate they are hoping for you to get the most money possible to allow for the social venture to continue - not hope they put it in for a £1 as someone else can flog it for a fortune elsewhere. Throughout the pandemic all the staff have kept their jobs, been able to carry on and stay safe at home. If it wasn’t for the kindness of the donations and help from the government this would not have been possible. It is up to you where you buy from but I know the customers that come in want to spend to help keep the ongoing projects alive. If everything was £1 no one on the high street would survive 6 months. The selling price is akin to what it’s worth. If you want cheap stuff then there are car-boots opening in a few months. Please do not say anything that is untrue. It is pointless and unnecessary. The truth is not hard to find. You just have to ask! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Jazzy G Posted March 22, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted March 22, 2021 That seems to be the weirdduality of charity shops now: they either don't have a clue of the actual "value" of anything and you can get some top drawer bargains, or they stick "an" eBay price on there and unintentionally overcharging for stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merzbow Posted March 22, 2021 Share Posted March 22, 2021 Oxfam were an early adopter of the extortionate eBay prices, especially in their book shops. I worked in one a looong time ago and one of the first things they taught you was to look online if something looked like it could have some value. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Kaz Hayashi Posted March 22, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted March 22, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, Merzbow said: Oxfam were an early adopter of the extortionate eBay prices, especially in their book shops. I worked in one a looong time ago and one of the first things they taught you was to look online if something looked like it could have some value. There’s 2 overpriced Oxfam stores in Jesmond, Newcastle, which is an upmarket area with some wealth. They’re 50yrds away from each other. One is an over priced book store that sells vinyls, all of which start at £10 and I’ve seen a couple at £100. The other is a close store which clearly gets company/brand donations. At one point they had 30-40 pairs of Replay jeans, which they were charging £60 each for. I remember a show on TV a while ago, where Alex Polizzi (I think) went to charity shops, to help them understand the value of their products, after Doris & Flo were selling PS3 consoles for a quid and owned up to cherry picking through donation bags for themselves. After 1/2 an hour of Alex saying, “You’re charging a pound, but that Power drill is selling for £40”. Doris: “eeeee never, eeee Flo, 40 pounds”. It all basically equated to the manager being told “Get some young volunteers who understand how to search for sold items on eBay and stop letting your volunteers bagsy the good shit”. Edited March 23, 2021 by Kaz Hayashi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperBacon Posted March 22, 2021 Share Posted March 22, 2021 46 minutes ago, Merzbow said: Oxfam were an early adopter of the extortionate eBay prices, especially in their book shops. I worked in one a looong time ago and one of the first things they taught you was to look online if something looked like it could have some value. Was curious so had a look on their online shop. "A score for a fake Barcelona shirt, yeah we think that's reasonable" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cousin Jim Bob Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 11 hours ago, Kaz Hayashi said: I remember a show on TV a while ago, where Alex Polizzi (I think) went to charity shops, to help them understand the value of their products, after Doris & Flo were selling PS3 consoles for a quid and owned up to cherry picking through donation bags for themselves. After 1/2 an hour of Alex saying, “You’re charging a pound, but that Power drill is selling for £40”. Doris: “eeeee never, eeee Flo, 40 pounds”. It all basically equated to the manager being told “Get some young volunteers who understand how to search for sold items on eBay and stop letting your volunteers bagsy the good shit”. Two issues with that from working in charity shops. First 90% of the customers are old people. 90% of the donations come from old people. 90% of the sales these places do is selling old womens clothes to other old women. Doris and Flo know the value of these clothes and are invaluable in pricing them properly and keeping these places in business. Once in a blue moon you might get a games console or decent bit of electronics but like I said its clothes that keep these places going and they care far more about getting the price right on a ladies Marks and Sparks winter coat than stuff that barely ever gets donated. Secondly who cares if the staff are picking out nice stuff. 99% of people working in charity shops are unpaid volunteers. The managers will be on minimum wage. They will be getting decent deals on things but they are still buying the stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonny Vegas Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 Staff buying things from charity shops they work in is morally dubious for me unless they're paying the market value for them. If people are setting the price below what they know its worth then buying it themself its pretty poor when a charity is involved. Not a charity but about 18 years ago or so I worked in Gamestation and a week or so in a guy came in with a NEO GEO AES console in its box along with probably 40 plus games all in their boxes to sell for cash. At the time anything that didn't scan the general company policy was to offer half what you could charge for it however that was mostly for unboxed cartridges, anything you knew was rare but didnt scan for example a couple of times we had the Nintendo Virtual Boy brought in for trade/sale, then you were to call head office who gave you a price. The fella selling explaoned to the manager that he was losing his eyesight so was selling his collection to help fund a months holiday/travelling with his Mrs before his sight got worse and eventually went. The manager scanned each item knowing full well nothing would scan then said the store couldn't take it because of that but to "help him out" he would buy it depending on what he was looking for. From memory the manager offered him about £400 total in cash for buying it all and "doing him a favour". Now the fella selling was happy with £400 but the manager nearly combusted after the fella left as he told me it was worth thousands and 2 or 3 of the games in particular were exceptionally rare. The manager got sacked a couple of months later after being caught out for numerous dodgy dealings but Ive always remembered it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Houchen Posted March 23, 2021 Author Share Posted March 23, 2021 2 minutes ago, Jonny Vegas said: Staff buying things from charity shops they work in is morally dubious for me unless they're paying the market value for them. Unless they’re volunteers then it’s pay in lieu! When my girlfriend volunteered, there was a shady member of staff who was probably nicking stuff like jewellery. They’d see something they like, price it stupidly low and when the manager saw and upped the price, the item would go missing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperBacon Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 (edited) Nah, staff 'cherry picking' things is absolutely fine. I guarantee they're* not taking them for free, and who on here can honestly say that they haven't benefited from things in their workplace? Why shouldn't they? When I worked at Waitrose, we got first dibs on reduced things and turkeys at Christmas (someone's got to make these middle class posts now Lokis gone) and the same when I worked at a major recruitment company and our clients would send in things (you should've seen the stampede when Ann Summers sent a box). I go in a lot of charity shops (and help in one too when I can) as I collect shirts. They save them for me, and I pretty much take all of them (even the ones I dont want as they've been kind enough to keep them) but I also help them out as none of them know the value of any of the items I buy. I have to usually offer up, only by a couple of quid, I'm not Playstations-for-cleaners rich. Once I helped them price up some signed boots (Theo Walcott, was never going to buy them obviously) and they were happy and I'm happy with my cheap Spain shirts. Charity shops are the best. I've genuinely missed them since they've been shut. *most. Sure some Joan's are dodgy. Edited March 23, 2021 by SuperBacon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Danger Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 If the forum’s new Loki being someone who can only afford out of date Turkey’s from Waitrose and offers an extra quid or two to charity shops isn’t a sign of Brexit Britain then I don’t know what is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidB6937 Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 My mum got shitloads of books and stuff like that when she worked in the local charity shop. Always paid a fair price for them but yeah just got first pick out of the stuff. Only stuff she ever got free was the shit they didn't think was worth putting out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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