Selling your charity shop purchases.

Anyone who reads the blog regularly will know I'm always in the Mustard Tree shop in Ancoats. After the success of previous Mondays, I decided to have another walk up the other day and was delighted to find that the 'Fill a Bag for £2.50' sale was still on with restocked rails. Though all was not well...

During my browsing* time, I saw a fair few items of clothing that I knew could be sold on for profit which sent my brain into absolute meltdown regarding the moral implications of such a transaction. Just to be clear, I'm not talking life changing amounts of money here - I think if you have an eye for certain collectables or antiques, there is a substantial profit to be made from buying with the purpose of selling but I'm purely talking about clothing.

I'm sure I'm not the first person to buy something from a charity shop with a view to take it lovingly into my wardrobe and wear it until it falls apart but on getting it home, discover it doesn't fit and rather than donate it back, has put it on eBay (or similar). I don't see a problem with that at all because that's more of an accident (although maybe I should try things on!) - I think what I'm trying to address is the buying specifically with the clear intention to sell on. I think that can raise criticisms. I also want to point out that if you're buying to sell, there are tax implications and you need to let HMRC know as technically, you're operating a business.

In my experience, second hand clothing doesn't sell for all that much on eBay and fees from the site and from PayPal cut into any profits you might make.
However, the medium-sized carriers which Mustard Tree offer for the 'Fill a Bag for £2.50' sale can fit a fair few items in - probably about six or seven pieces of clothing. By my fast-maths calculations, you're paying about 38p an item there. If everything in your bag is good quality, a current season style and from a decent brand, there is undoubtedly a profit to be made.

I opened this up on Instagram and of those people who responded, the majority were in support of selling on. Here are a few of the points:

1) Regardless of the reason for buying an item, the money still ends up in the till.
If the person who buys to sell on doesn't purchase, there's nothing to say anyone else will. After going through pass-on, the item may end up going for rag which would mean a vastly depleted price. It's better for the charity to sell at full price, regardless of who is paying it and what their intentions are for the item.
2) Shops are savvy.
Most shops have clear instructions to volunteers detailing how much different brands can make. The shopper is paying the charity the price they asked for the item which is the best a shop can hope for. In general, shops price according to value and are wise to the worth. With this in mind, you're probably very lucky to find anything to make a profit on.
3) Charity shoppers are a kind bunch.
Casual selling on comes from some real charity shop lovers who also buy for themselves and donate unwanted items too. For many sellers, the money they make goes back into buying more from charity shops - therefore, it's a cycle that helps everyone. Potentially finding something to sell on may also encourage you to shop more and spend more with a charity.

However, there were some points raised against:

1) If buying to sell happens too often, it proves the charity isn't getting the best price.
Shops need to price competetively but have different avenues for sales now including eBay. If a buyer can generate a profit on an item, the shop should be charging more or listing these items online themselves.
2) Charity shops sometimes hold back items for sellers which means shoppers don't get to see them.
I know a lot of charity shops offer staff and volunteers discount but the rule is normally that the item goes on the shop floor first to give customers a chance to see everything. This could be important to ensure customers have faith in the shop and they may lose customers if they know items are being saved specifically for buyers to sell on.
3) Buying to sell can offend volunteers.
One Shop Manager mentioned that a customer told a volunteer that he would be selling the items and the volunteer was really offended. I think that's really valid - most volunteers volunteer because they support the cause and wouldn't want to think the charity was losing out on money. They also give up their time free and work hard to increase funds gained through retail. Maybe it can seem wasted and unfair that someone should make a quick profit?
4) Considering the purpose of the shops, making a profit from goods is 'distasteful'.
Marc Crosby, writing here addresses the issue that 'Charity shops...are there to help the poor and disadvantaged, so looking to make a profit from items you bought there is distasteful.'

I'm still very much sitting on the fence with this issue. I didn't buy to sell in Mustard Tree even though I knew I could've made a few quid. Even when my £2.50 bag wasn't full and the staff member suggested I could get a few more items in it, I didn't go back and collect what I thought could make money even though I would've paid the same amount to the charity. Maybe that was a bit foolish of me?

The actual reason I didn't was because it was Mustard Tree. The Ancoats shop supports disadvantaged people in the area in which I live and I know the volunteers who work there also shop there. The whole operation seems a lot more personal than a lot of other shops I go into and I don't like to think I'm taking something from someone who might love it.

I'm really sentimental when it comes to clothing; I shop in charity shops partly because I like the thought of giving something a new life after it was unwanted. I also don't care about money. Finding something lovely at such a bargain price might make someone's day and I don't want to take that away from someone because I could make a few quid - I don't think that's a fair trade.

But then am I saying I'd buy to sell somewhere that was more of 'chain' charity? Yes, probably. Is that fair?

I'm still really keen to know what other charity shoppers make of this issue so please comment below if you feel strongly about this!

 Char x

*'browsing' makes me seem quite passive. I'm actually very protective over my bargains as one lady found out when making a beeline for some items I'd temporarily placed at the end of of a rail. 'SORRY I'VE JUST PUT THEM DOWN, I'M 100% BUYING THEM! THANKS' 'Oh goodness, sorry...'

Shopping on a serious budget.

Last week, I had a day working in London which meant getting up at 5am and returning home at 9pm. I was shattered all week and by the time weekend came around, all I wanted to do was sleep! Having finally caught up on rest today and not wanting to waste my entire weekend being unconscious, I decided to have a little local adventure for a couple of hours.  Due to having to renew the tenancy on my flat and various other bills, I'm a little lacking in funds this month so I was in two minds whether to go at all but as a compromise between being able to eat and preserving my sanity, I gave myself a £5 spending limit and stayed close to home.

I'd initially only planned to go to Droylsden and visit a little community charity shops called COTE near Edge Lane tram stop which I used to spend a lot of time in before I moved house last year. On discovering it was the same price for a ticket to Droylsden as it is for a return to Ashton-under-Lyne, I thought I'd extend my journey a little further.

The most sensible idea would surely have been to find one or maybe two things I really loved but I'm a binge shopper by nature and I'd never have been satisfied with that! Fortunately, there were plenty of bargains to be had and I managed to pick up all this for exactly £5.

My first purchase was from Willow Wood Hospice shop in Droylsden which I absolutely LOVE. The shops support a local hospice in Tameside and are really well priced. The Droylsden shop had a makeover fairly recently and is now the proud owner of some lovely wooden floors which really open the shop out. I picked up a book called 'The Hundred Year Old Man' by Jonas Jonasson. I'd never heard of the title before but I'm still having great trouble finding a novel to engage my interest so hopefully this might remedy that! The paperbacks in the Willow Wood shop are 50p for two and the lovely lady behind the counter tried to give me this for 25p as I couldn't find another I wanted but despite having a constant bee in my bonnet about overpriced second hand books, I didn't accept. What's really lovely about Willow Wood is that you can have a chat with the staff - we were getting into the politics of the march on the Tory party conference today! The volunteers there are so friendly and so interesting, that I actually took a seat to listen to the end of the debate!

Following that, I went into the enormous Barnardo's that Droylsden has. It's half 99p shop, half donation centre and always a hive of activity. I was quite upset to discover they had drastically reduced the amount of clothing on the shop floor to give way to more furniture and household items (although I do understand this raises far more money per space used). I think I'd gone in Barnardo's and Willow Wood in the wrong order because there was a lady scanning the rails clutching tightly onto some amazing dresses and a pair of beautiful lace up ankle boots which looked like my size. She definitely saw the jealously in my eyes...
However, I did manage to pick up the lovely beige jacket in the left of the picture!
Spend so far - £1.49.

Then I went into another of Droylsden's shops. I don't like to say negative things about charity shops so I won't mention the name but I never normally go in this one because it perpetually smells like wet dog and everything is really expensive, which would not be conducive to my £5 cause. However, there was a sign in the window stating there was a half price rail inside. I'm not one to turn down a half price rail at the best of times. When shopping on a tiny budget, I'd say it was a necessity.
There was a pretty green dress on the rail or £3.29 (full price) or (£1.64 half price) but I had to think carefully and realised having not set foot on Ashton turf yet, spending 33% of my budget would not be wise. Ah, to be well off...

I also noted that my old employer has opened a shop in Droylsden...they're getting to be a bit like rats, never more than 6 foot from one. Sorry, that's dreadful - moving swiftly on...

To Ashton. Ahh, I do love East Manchester and it's grittiness. Ashton-under-Lyne truly is a place like no other. I had to be strategic here because there's a fair few shops in Ashton but I only had £3.51. My first stop was Age UK £1 shop, where I had originally planned to spend the majority of my remaining funds...if only I could find something to spend them on... After studying two dresses for quite some time, I decided one was just too leopardy (yes, even for me!) and the other had a smidgen of a bleach stain on the hem. In usual circumstances, I would have bought both but today was thrifting to the extreme!

So I went down the road to the RSPCA shop which used to be a £1 shop and then wasn't and seems to be a £1 shop again and picked up this black River Island jumper with open sleeves.

 

 
£2.51 remains.

So I'd planned to go to COTE on the way back but as the tram pulled into Edge Lane, I could see the lights were out and it was closed. After considering my options in town, I decided I would have to return home with £2.50 burning a hole in my pocket but as I pulled into Holt Town, I remembered MUSTARD TREE! Quick scan of Twitter showed me that they had been having the fill-a-bag for £2.50 sale towards the end of September but I didn't think it'd still be on, surely I couldn't be THAT lucky...

Mustard Tree you are good to me. This sale is unreal although you really have to get in quickly, which I definitely didn't do, coming a week and a half late to the party! However, I did manage to pick up these beauties.

Crazy pattern? Woolly yet machine washable? Sold.

Black and red Missguided cropped jumper

Topshop leopard top 

 Zara skirt

I also managed to squeeze a blue and white striped jumper and a purple skirt into my £2.50 bag of dreams and still had room left!

One penny remains, which has now been placed in my charity shop piggy bank.
Today really restored my faith in the charity shop bargain! I'm so excited to wear (and read) everything I bought today. Furthermore, shopping on such a tight budget really made me think about what I was buying. I definitely have a tendency to just buy in charity shops because I think things are so cheap, it doesn't matter if I can't squeeze myself into it, I'll just donate it back. But while I don't want to discourage donating to charity, that is a waste of money, no matter how little money that may be. I'd like to say today has taught me a lesson or two about spending wisely but no doubt I'll be back on the major hauls again next month!

Char x