Charity Shop’s lost Revenue - How to put it

[Porky]

Hi

Turn on the TV and at some point whether it’s Dickerson’s Real Deal or Antique Road Show you will see some plonker boasting how they purchased a Claris Cliff bit of pottery for £1 from a charity shop and happy days it’s now worth £500. You know the scenario.

Frankly it anoys the hell out of me, maybe it’s just my moral compass but I can’t stand people profittering like that at the cost of a charity. I just think it stinks!

Meanwhile a friend of mine works at Sue Ryder charity shop. They get donations in from the public and sell them at token prices. The people donating think that a fair price will help the charity. Most mornings they get the same old antique scouts coming in to pick up goods for a song ready to sell on at a profit again for their own benefit, not the charity. Certain scouts will say to the staff if you get any (Insert here gold/pottery/jewellery/collectibles) call me straight away I’m always interested.

I feel like this situation needs sorting out but can’t think of a viable way of doing it. I’m wondering about building a not for profit charity auction website where they can list the items to get the right prices for the goods. Maybe I should try and agree to bankroll every say jewellery item for £1 and the balance once it’s sold?

 

[mattk]

Isn't it the choice of the charity not to price their stock according to its value?

There is nothing to stop them from sidelining items which may be of value (gold, pottery, jewellery etc.) and either getting someone who knows what they are doing to assess them before they go into a shop or simply listing items on eBay where they will find a fair price.

In reality, I'd imagine half the attraction of charity shops is the possibility of getting a bargain.

 

[Darren_Ssc]

Much of what is described here is carried out by the charity's own staff (many of whom are paid, btw). If some third party is taking the arbitrage opportunity then it is up to the charity to stop that.

I have a mate with mental health issues who did voluntary work for one of the well known charities with a chain of stores and I could write a book on the disgusting way he was taken advantage of, daily theft of goods and cash by managers, nepotism at mid-management and executive level, etc. etc

So, no, I'm not bothered if someone happens to make a bit of money by finding the odd Faberge egg or too amongst the smelly clothing and broken plastic toys.

 

[alan1302]

Frankly it anoys the hell out of me, maybe it’s just my moral compass but I can’t stand people profittering like that at the cost of a charity. I just think it stinks!

I can see where you are coming from - but then should the charity hand back an expensive item to the person that donated it (they person donating may not have known)?

 

[DontAsk]

There is nothing to stop them from sidelining items which may be of value (gold, pottery, jewellery etc.) and either getting someone who knows what they are doing to assess them before they go into a shop or simply listing items on eBay where they will find a fair price.

That's exactly what they do, at least the ones that have a clue. Oxfam bookshops are one example that spring to mind. Quite a few local charity shops have items with labels telling you to bid in eBay.

 

[ethical PR]

Hi

Turn on the TV and at some point whether it’s ****erson’s Real Deal or Antique Road Show you will see some plonker boasting how they purchased a Claris Cliff bit of pottery for £1 from a charity shop and happy days it’s now worth £500. You know the scenario.

Frankly it anoys the hell out of me, maybe it’s just my moral compass but I can’t stand people profittering like that at the cost of a charity. I just think it stinks!

Meanwhile a friend of mine works at Sue Ryder charity shop. They get donations in from the public and sell them at token prices. The people donating think that a fair price will help the charity. Most mornings they get the same old antique scouts coming in to pick up goods for a song ready to sell on at a profit again for their own benefit, not the charity. Certain scouts will say to the staff if you get any (Insert here gold/pottery/jewellery/collectibles) call me straight away I’m always interested.

I feel like this situation needs sorting out but can’t think of a viable way of doing it. I’m wondering about building a not for profit charity auction website where they can list the items to get the right prices for the goods. Maybe I should try and agree to bankroll every say jewellery item for £1 and the balance once it’s sold?

This is down to the charity. Other charity shops have someone who sorts through items and keeps potentially valuable items aside to do research and price accordingly before they put them up for sale online/in the shops.

Most charities already have their own website to sell these sort of goods. @Porky

 

[Porky]

Thanks all for the input, much to think about.

I have also heard that about staff taking stuff out that comes in for a couple of quid and selling it on eBay

Guess some don’t consider the end goal of what the shop is there for, it’s now all about “what’s in it for me?”

Thanks again

 

[paulears]

I assumed charity shops always scrutinised new donations to filter the wheat from the chaff. Every dealer should be looking for bargains where they can turn a profit. Getting the best deal you can. The charity like it or not are also a business, looking to generate profit. If they are clueless and sell a Ming vase for a primark price, why is that the dealers fault? I don't see what they're doing wrong.

 

[Porky]

I assumed charity shops always scrutinised new donations to filter the wheat from the chaff. Every dealer should be looking for bargains where they can turn a profit. Getting the best deal you can. The charity like it or not are also a business, looking to generate profit. If they are clueless and sell a Ming vase for a primark price, why is that the dealers fault? I don't see what they're doing wrong.

Hi Paul,

Yeah, my original thinking was along the lines of the fact that people were donating their stuff in good faith expecting that the goods would be sold on to benefit the charity and my moral compass was bleeping because those goods were being materially undersold and dealers were making a killing on reselling the goods instead.

I was exploring if there was a way to re-engineer this if you like so that ALL the profit actually went to the charity as originally intended.

Based on the feedback, it feels like a lost cause. Add into the mix the voluntary staff half hitching the goods themselves to sell on eBay and the idea is dead in the water.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

If you look at the antiques roadshow on TV you will see professional auctioneers buying items and selling at auction often loosing most of their money

A fist edition book may be worth a great deal of money or nothing

That repaired piece of china may be worth a lot or nothing

The story nobody is sure of anythings value, so to expect a group of volunteers in a charity shop to be able to select the good from the average is impossible

On Ebay you can see a old knife from the 1950's for sale at £25 yet a brand new one from the same factory may be £10, sellers have no idea of the price so just put silly prices hoping to make a killing, yet look at the vast numbers of items that are never sold, buyers are not all mugs

 

[paulears]

A friend had the salvage hunter from TV to look at some of his stuff. He actually offered MORE than my friend had suggested because they were sought after items and he could sell them for a lot, so he paid more than asked. That's very nice in this day and age, but I guess it's like the car boot dealers who come around early to see what gems are there that they can upset. It's just business and the charity shops should do the same.

 

[ethical PR]

I assumed charity shops always scrutinised new donations to filter the wheat from the chaff. Every dealer should be looking for bargains where they can turn a profit. Getting the best deal you can. The charity like it or not are also a business, looking to generate profit. If they are clueless and sell a Ming vase for a primark price, why is that the dealers fault? I don't see what they're doing wrong.

I've worked for a number of national charities who have shops throughout the UK. All of them have someone who check the donations to identify designer clothes, valuable items etc and then they do research on them before pricing either for the shops or the web.

They also have systems in place to stop staff from doing what you say. It sounds like you know some unsavoury types if they are happy to rip off the cause they are working for @Porky

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Unfortunately the bosses of most large Charities rip of the charity themselves with large pay packets, using the old statement "We have to pay the commercial rate to get the income, whilst three quarters of the Charity are volunteers working for free

 

[ethical PR]

Unfortunately the bosses of most large Charities rip of the charity themselves with large pay packets, using the old statement "We have to pay the commercial rate to get the income, whilst three quarters of the Charity are volunteers working for free

Yawn - that old chesnut

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Yawn - that old chesnut[/QUOTE

Yup old because it never changes