Charity shop book

Oxfam books are always expensive! Apparently they sell online as well and check prices too.

I have read lots of articles about charity shops pricing themselves out of the market. £3.50 for a well used paperback is extortion, as even on Amazon you can get a 'like new' hardback for that amount, with free p&p. I am severely pruning my book collection and my son takes them into the office and leaves them for his colleagues to take, if any are left they go to a charity shop as a last resort!

At a hospice charity shop near me in a posh area I noticed a nice jacket - price - £100!!!

£1.00 is the maximum any charity should charge for a book. The charity to which I donate has 25p for every £1.00 from my tax.

That is ridiculous. I must admit I get a lot of my books now from those phone box libraries—take some and leave some, a great arrangement.
A lot of churches have the same arrangement. I went to look around a country church a few weeks ago and found a big bookshelf of really good books. All books, regardless of size, are 50p.

Was that an Oxfam bookshop? I’ve always found their books rather more expensive than anyone else’s.

Talking of which, I have a lot of paperbacks to get rid of (the ones I’ll never read again or else have Kindle versions) and recently realised that National Trust sites often have a 2nd hand bookshop - our local one was happy to take my first batch a few weeks ago. Time for a 2nd batch…

Yes Witzend it was Oxfam.

I volunteer at my local library where you can donate books. These are sold on at a monthly sale for £1 on average and all proceeds are ploughed back into our community library.

I'd have left it too..I picked up four for around 4.50) in a hospital clinic waiting room last week, and 2 of those were hardbacks- most in good nick- only 1 very well used.And it goes to charity just the same.Lady at reception said theyre 50p or £1 for big better condition books.I think a few hospitals have these book tables now.

Where we live there are disused bus shelters and phone boxes acting as free libraries with loads of lovely books. £3.50 is too much, charity shops are pricing themselves out.

I dont go in oxfam bookshops any more.There are cheaper 2nd hand books even on amazon, usually a few pence plus cost of postage most of them.

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What a good idea
Some hotels and cruise lines have a similar system, where you leave a book and take a book.
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Barbadosbelle, I have done this in hotels on my holidays. I love to think of my books travelling around the world..

I'm an ex-charity shop manager and, as a customer, would have left that book if it had 2 different prices on it.

The manager isn't doing his/her job properly, it should have been checked and marked at the lower price of £1.00. You shouldn't have been asked to pay £3.50.

I used to exchange books in the tube station but they've taken away the stand. Called it a fire hazard but the still have the free Metro in there and that's a fire hazard as well.

Such a shame as I have to beg people to take the books I've read as I hate to waste them.

Absolutely shocking, chocolatelovinggran, I have always donated kids clothes because they hardly get any wear before they're grown out of.
And WelshPoppy, I took wouldn't pay £3.50 for a DONATED paperback 😱

Some charity shops are a rip of.

I expect they call it inflation.

Agree with Welsh Poppy. Pop into your local Tesco pick up a free book A d take your old ones there. I never pay more than £1 for a charity shop book. Second hand books also available from many companies for around £3 or less (eh Awesome books, books to door etc)

Our lovely local Services veterans run a marketplace bookstall with an enormous amount of books at 50p each, raising funds for various services and hospice charities.

Claremont

Depends on the book surely.

But honestly, £3.50! What is the price of one coffee, or one medium size drink in a pub?

Why is there so little respect for books these days?

£1.19 for a hot chocolate or £1.10 for a cold drink where we go.

Chocolatelovinggran

I, too, use the bookswap box in the park, plus charity shops and the donate - to - charity bookshelf in a nearby supermarket.
I do go to bookshops, too!
However, I think that some shops do price rather high , resulting in books being pulped, and clothes sold for rags.
A friend who volunteers at one such was astonished to find that donated children's clothes went straight into the rag bag because " we dont have the space"
Now, she intercepts them and brings them to foodbank, where they are gratefully received.

At my charity shop , only poor quality , unsaleable clothes go into the rag bag . Out of season stuff goes into storage . We have a lock up .
Unfortunately we get a lot of worn , tatty and dirty clothes which can’t be sold . Ditto battered books and board games . Many people dump stuff at charity shops , rather than use the tip. Some people dump bags and boxes and then disappear before we can ask what they’ve left !!! .

Wonder why Oxfam are charging so much…it must be a national policy?
Excellent charity bookshop near me has paperbacks for 50p, hardbacks for £1, and donations for children’s books.
Do bookclubs mean multiple copies are bought at the same time?

Tenko, I understand completely. Most charity shops are brilliant at re- homing what might otherwise go to waste. I donate to, and buy from, my local ones. I am referring to the exception.
Thank you for your volunteering: the grandchildren enjoy the toys/ puzzles/ books from such shops.

We have a table in our village hall, where we can bring books we have read and exchange them. They are all free, but a neighbouring village does the same and asks for a voluntary small donation, and apparently last year raised over £2000 for community events.

We used to run a charity book stall at a Christmas Fair, one of the beneficiaries was our primary school. I agree that it is much better to sell more books at lower prices, if they don't sell you have to get rid of them somehow at the end of the time. The alternative is to keep them for a year and try again, but if they don't sell one year they're not likely to sell the next. We always had loads of books left and actually gave them away at the end of the day.