The dwindling high streets I spoke of a few days ago seem to have benefitted charity shops as more and more seem to be appearing, especially in small towns and villages, some have moved into high streets and even occupy former Woolworths stores. An increasing professionalism seems like it may not be as good for them as they would like.
I must confess to never having been a big frequenter of charity shops. If it's a good cause I will wander in and have a look around every now and then. It's nice to buy a unique gift for someone special and believe you're doing some good at the same time.
In the early days of Ebay there were people boasting of how they had been buying up items in charity shops and reselling for massive profits, I'm all in favour of free enterprise but often felt that this was a step too far.
It seemed to become self regulating as the charities began to check more of what they have and some even started to employ people to check items and list the more valuable ones directly on Ebay, so appeared stories of charity shops selling items for thousands on Ebay when they would have previously just sold for pennies.
Having visited a few charity shops lately it seems they are now on the other side, with no bargains at all, one I recently went in didn't have anything priced under £3 when some of the items wouldn't sell for 10p on Ebay or a car boot sale. I actually suggested to my wife that it would make a good bargain hunt type programme to try and find something you could buy that could be sold for a profit, such was the steepness of prices.
Don't get me wrong I want the charity shops to take as much as possible, but it seems they are over pricing to the extent that they will lose customers. People like to help charities but they also like a bargain too, so be commercial but be aware of commercial limitations. Some help from high street gurus might help with their pricing, future plans and prosperity. Perhaps they could consult Sir Stuart Rose, retired supremo of M&S or even Mr. Fred Goodwin, see if he can't get his knighthood back by helping charities work to capitalise on their new found capitalism.
I must confess to never having been a big frequenter of charity shops. If it's a good cause I will wander in and have a look around every now and then. It's nice to buy a unique gift for someone special and believe you're doing some good at the same time.
In the early days of Ebay there were people boasting of how they had been buying up items in charity shops and reselling for massive profits, I'm all in favour of free enterprise but often felt that this was a step too far.
It seemed to become self regulating as the charities began to check more of what they have and some even started to employ people to check items and list the more valuable ones directly on Ebay, so appeared stories of charity shops selling items for thousands on Ebay when they would have previously just sold for pennies.
Having visited a few charity shops lately it seems they are now on the other side, with no bargains at all, one I recently went in didn't have anything priced under £3 when some of the items wouldn't sell for 10p on Ebay or a car boot sale. I actually suggested to my wife that it would make a good bargain hunt type programme to try and find something you could buy that could be sold for a profit, such was the steepness of prices.
Don't get me wrong I want the charity shops to take as much as possible, but it seems they are over pricing to the extent that they will lose customers. People like to help charities but they also like a bargain too, so be commercial but be aware of commercial limitations. Some help from high street gurus might help with their pricing, future plans and prosperity. Perhaps they could consult Sir Stuart Rose, retired supremo of M&S or even Mr. Fred Goodwin, see if he can't get his knighthood back by helping charities work to capitalise on their new found capitalism.
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