BHF refuse my donation of an antique Edwardian Windsor chair

Well maybe when they start building larger houses with bigger rooms. Some rooms in new builds are so small that opening the door to them takes half the room up.

When I moved in to a new house I brought with me a restored mahogany chest of drawers and a bureau, complete with beautiful brass handles and fitted compartments inside. They had belonged to my parents.

They looked completely wrong in my new house, the sheer size of them dominated the rooms they were in.

Eventually, I decided to sell them. No one in my family wanted them. In the end I gave the bureau to a Cancer Charity Shop. The chest of drawers went to a store called Refurnish - supposedly selling stuff cheaply to people on low incomes. I realised later that most of the furniture was sold to dealers who took the antique pieces to upmarket stores elsewhere to sell at much higher prices.

One day appreciation of antiques will come back - or will it?

We downsized a few years ago and sold almost everything on Marketplace. Didn’t make a fortune but were happy with what we got and that everything found a new home. We could have sold our beds several times over. We also put items on free cycle too. Charity shops received our smaller stuff including books and clothing. I think it’s a case of knowing who wants what.

I don't think charity shops have changed. I volunteered in one 30 years ago and substantial amounts of stuff was binned. Clothes had a shop life of so long, then were reduced, if they still failed to sell they were bagged and sold as rags. The shop I worked in usually refused furniture because it had no space.

It's funny that people will often pay to have a relative's house emptied after a death, and think there is little of value there, but think their own cast offs are priceless.

Why don't you sell the chair and donate what you get for it.

So what happens to all the perfectly useable goods that charity shops are too snooty to sell? Are they tipped to go to land fill or what.

Perhaps we need a second layer of charity shops, the Poundlands and B&M's of the charity world, to sell the cast-offs of the designer Charity boutiques.

Thank goodness my 17 year old GD is a skilled needlewoman and can buy, adapt and repair chairty shop buys.

There is a thread on MN saying that people should clean items before putting them on Freecycle and similar, and there are some similarities with this one, I think. Some on the MN thread are saying that if they are giving stuff away it is often as part of a clearout. They just want rid of it and would prefer to let someone have it if they can use it than for it to go to landfill, but expect any work to be done by the taker, not the giver. Others seem to think they are doing people a favour by taking things from them and expect the donor to scrub things up before offering them.

I can see both sides - someone else's grot is different from one's own, but at the same time if someone is mid-clearout they might be tempted just to send something to landfill than have to clean it up and then risk rejection from a shop, or a no-show from a Freecycle collector.

I think there is a clash of attitudes where charity shops/Freecycle are involved, and neither is wrong. Charity shops of the Jumble Sale/Aladdin's Cave type used to have all kinds of random items. People could try to match a tea set that had a broken saucer, and if it was a popular style there was a chance that Oxfam (or somewhere) might have the saucer they wanted for pennies. Now they only sell full sets of expensive brands and charge £££ for them. Similarly, there might be a dress with a button missing, but buyers could easily sew on a button and get a good quality item they might not have been able to afford new for a small charge and the cost of a button. Now even expensive items that are not 100% perfect are binned. When women were at home all day they may have had time to sew on buttons catch hems and iron clothes before donating them, but these days many are too busy to do that even with their own clothes.

It used to be a simple deal - charity shops had items that had no intrinsic value (unless you were lucky) but could be worth a lot to someone who happened to be looking for a particular thing, or who could put in the time scrubbing or repairing them. The donators got rid of things they didn't want, and felt good about supporting causes they believed in.

Now expectations have changed. People have less time, things like clothes can often be bought cheaply when new, not as many people can mend. Also, fast fashion means that there is a quicker turnover of items as people dispose of more things than they used to.

Meanwhile, many charity shops see themselves as boutiques and only want perfect items in pristine condition, and won't accept anything less. Regulations based on health and safety mean that there are restrictions on what they are legally allowed to take. Obviously shops have limited floorspace, and can't house everything that people give, but at the same time, they rely on good will from donors, which they will destroy by rudeness and making people feel rejected. Also, people often drop things off on the way to somewhere, and if they are rejected will have to take them along. A combination of those things is likely to put people off donating.

Maybe if the model changed, and people offered things for sale to charity shops instead of giving them away it would feel less offensive if they were rejected?

I have used charity shops ever since I left school when Oxfam started as I could never afford new clothes. I still use them but mainly for odds and ends as I now make my own clothes.

Lately I have found charity shops very expensive, and often find it's cheaper to buy new.
One day I came across a very rude manager. I questioned the price of a framed print of nothing special, being £25. Her response shocked me, I was told in no uncertain terms that 'it's that price because if its cheaper you could go away and sell it for £80'. I only wanted the frame!

Maybe I am too sensitive but felt she was accusing me (a stranger to her) of stealing. I will not be going there again.

Why not sell it yourself and donate the money

Charity shops usually have limited storage space. They are not dumping grounds for any stuff you can't get rid of. And yes they are sometimes picky because they can't take everything they are offered.
The majority of the people working in them are volunteers, that ensures that any profit made goes to the charity. The manager is usually someone with experience in retail with an ability to handle volunteers, monitor stock, keep accounts and liaise with customers. That needs decent pay.
Every item accepted has to be easily saleable, if it isn't and it sits in the shop for a long time it blocks out other goods. If it doesn't sell then it costs the charity money to dispose of it.

Most charity shop workers have a good idea of what will and won't sell. If it's poor quality / broken, it has to go in our bins which we have to pay for. Floor space and space in a back room is usually very limited. We have lots of wonderful donations but also have some difficult conversations when we have to refuse for any reason. Our shops raise money for a children's charity but sadly because we have good parking, we are sometimes seen as a dumping ground, especially when people have house contents to clear. My worst donation was a sports bag with a catheter in it, not to mention the broken and rusty mechano set - "It's vintage!"
I'm sorry your donation was refused but maybe they had to consider the room it would take up and would they be able to sell a single chair.

I offered the chair free on the local Nextdoor site and several people showed an interest. I contacted them in order but none of them showed up when they had arranged to collect. Apparently this is a common problem. One person put sruff on the free site when he was clearing out his mothers house after she had died. He sounded very upset to have people let him down so badly over and over again.
Next I contacted a local antiques dealer who offered me £30 for it which I accepted. This dealer told me that he has a lot of people contacting him after being offended by BHF. I hope this is just one really bad BHF store which I just happen to be local to. Maybe there are better elsewhere. But it is upsetting to take such rudeness from a woman who apparently earns £45,000 pa. I hate to think what the CEO gets.

I hope it doesnt sound weird if I say I actually feel better for knowing Im not the only one.

£30 will go to cancer research.

I wanted to donate a lot of my late DH's things, amongst others, to the local hospice shop. I was quite upset when I was told they would have to come and check them over to see if they were wanted. I stressed that a lot of it was brand new but they still insisted. I understood the reason why but the way it was said that upset me. As it turned out they took everything.

When I was moving house last year I had a good declutter and there wouldn’t talk a few pairs of curtains and a unit I had also for the same reasons so I put on facebook and some young lass was very grateful she knew me from coming into my shop and she was just moving into her first home so I ended up taking her lots of other stuff to and she was more than grateful. I’d still give to bhs but I’ve just given some stuff to hospital last week they sell the stuff to buy toys books etc for the children ward but they don’t take furniture

I am surprised that any charity would have a policy about only accepting dining tables if they have chairs.
Not all charity shop purchases are made by those on a low income or to go into “social housing” (oh! - how I hate that description) Some people have more room than others and prefer oddments to “do up”.
If a charity furniture shop doesn’t have room for what’s being offered then they should just say that. Best to take measurements first then phone around. Also I think they would shift the stuff quicker if they had a policy of reducing items after so many weeks on the shop floor. Someone will buy most things at the right price.
Then there would be more space for new, it keeps it interesting for the customers and these businesses wouldn’t exist without the public donations who give a free product to them and the shoppers still have to pay for delivery.
How can it fail?

So sorry to hear of your problem with BHS.Charities are very picky these days I've had similar problems. I''ve tried local charities with some success, local charity car boots or just a free add in local shops or newspaper - buyer collects. It is very hard to give anything away these days and there are an awful lot of very ignorant and rude people around.

Facebook marketplace is good .I had a dark oak China cabinet which I offered free - for collection. There were four people who wanted it.A lady came within a couple of hours topickit up.She was looking forward to up cycling it -she had done lots of this sort of thing. There is obviously a demand for old furniture.I was delighted to be rid of it as it was taking up too much room.

Worked in BHF for 27+ years till Lockdowns then did not go back. They (Management )had become very strange in what we could accept. Did not want too many books but customers used to ask for certain books. So when I moved a while ago I found Ofam wanted all the hundreds of books I was having to reluctantly let go! So some Charities are better than others. When I left BHF my 27+ years were not even acknowledged!

meddijess

I stopped taking books etc. to the RSPCA. I just got a rude - No, we don't want that!. I take everything now to Shelter who always seem grateful for anything. Not sure if they take furniture, but a local hospice charity shop might be interested?

There are a few Oxfam shops who specialise in books, but there doesn't seem to be one in our area.

When we moved I donated some furniture to BHF and they were very sniffy about our pine kitchen table which they said was too big. Apparently in the area where we were living this is because the furnitute often goes to people who are being put into social housing and they really just need basic things like table and chair sets, so your antique wouldn't be what they were looking for.

There's all sorts of sites like Freecycle and Gumtree, Facebook sites local to your area for selling and giving away furniture. Cut out the charity shop and offer to local community. In my road I'd post it with a picture on our street WhatsApp group or even pop it in the front garden with a 'free chair' label. Recycling locally works really well. Where are you based?

Post it on Facebook. Say they have to come for it.... and wait.

I think it is dreadful how beautiful furniture is now called ‘brown’ and binned or ruined by up cycling paint jobs. People will again come to see how good these pieces are and rue the day they junked precious antiques. Their rarity from thoughtless destruction with make the remaining artefacts even more valuable.

The same goes for Georgian and other good porcelain. I can buy eighteenth century Worcester cheaper than I could decades ago.

I stopped taking books etc. to the RSPCA. I just got a rude - No, we don't want that!. I take everything now to Shelter who always seem grateful for anything. Not sure if they take furniture, but a local hospice charity shop might be interested?

This might be an unpopular comment, and of course the OP can leave her money to whoever she likes, but I never donate money to charity, just good quality items that I no longer have a use for. I’m highly suspicious of how much these monetary donations go to fund research etc, and how much goes to the CEO - who earn a huge salary anyway, with no doubt a flash car and a nice pension pot.