An ethical question

Lucky!

I hope some of the money was donated to the charity. I don't feel it is unethical because surely that is what charity shops are all about and if they didn't make a reasonable amount our town centres would not be so full of the places. Fortunately for the buyer he/she had a good eye.

Taking money found in the pockets or in a handbag, etc that would be unethical unless the buyer was in a truly desperate situation.

I'd probably go halves on the profit with the charity. I don't think it can happen that often though, most charities are quite knowledgeable now aren't they. I'd feel more guilty if it was (for example) a young mum at a car boot sale trying to make a few pennies.

i see no harm in it a lot of people buy from charity shops and do said item up and sell it on at a profit...

More fool the charity. I thought most of them had ' experts' who look out for items of value. I would donate the profit to one of my favourite charities.

I don't like it at all. I know people who make their living from buying and selling on ebay and it jars on me. To do it to a charity shop is even worse. Money "earned " in this way is not "earned". It borders on greed . I would hate to feel I had donated something that someone other than the charity had made a profit from.

Difficult one. Many people use charity shops to offload their rubbish (many of the clothes are unfit to put on display and go to the 'rag man') other people simply need to clear out good quality things they don't need or want. Kitty is right in that most charity shop have 'experts' who should keep their eye open for quality items.

not everything donated to charity shops even reach the public as the workers/ volunteers have first pickings!!!

At 10% discount.

Think the money should go back to the charity. I hope I would do that. I think I would. (I would feel very pleased with myself for being so astute!)

Aka No!!! Surely not?!

Although I suppose they do give up their time, and work hard. So perhaps that's ok.

Well as many items as priced at about £2.50 it's hardly robbery to have 25p off and to be honest when I worked at a charity shop I took in far more of my own stuff for them to sell than I ever brought home,

People that have little boutiques selling retro clothing items do this all the time. Its their business. Savvy charities like oxfam pretty good at valuing donations so that's why I give to them not others.

i wont donate to oxfam as the majority of their money goes into admin not to where its needed most...

http://www.snouts-in-the-trough.com/

an urban myth

No true Dollie get your facts correct before you denigrate worthy charities.

if it wasnt true i wouldnt have posted the link!!!

Ditto!

dollie is correct. I have two friends who manage charity shops. All friends and family get ' first pickings.
As for Oxfam, I was told by a Priest over 20 years ago how bad Oxfam were.
If you could see the large van that arrives every month at the rear of our local Oxfam shop to take away dozens of sacks. These are sold on to companies in Africa.
This is the same situation ( Africa) with our local tip. This isn't hearsay, there was a programm on TV about it.
I only give 'stuff' to The Samaritans.

Aka. Yes volunteers can have a discount when they buy BUT it's not compulsory. I buy a lot from the shop where I work buy rarely take a discount. I pay what anyone else pays.

You would also be amazed and the amount of stuff stolen from charity shops and the forged money we get.

Dollie is not correct Petra and if you know that this is going on in these two charity shops then you ought to report it to their Head Office. That is stealing and it is certainly NOT how things were managed in the shop I volunteered at.

A van did arrive at our shop weekly to take away the 'tat' that was donated by people who couldn't be bother to take it to the local tip. And I would take with a piece of salt anything told to you by a priest (small p in my book) especially the ones in 'holy' orders 20 odd years ago .

Brenda is correct, in fact it is more common for staff to offer a bit more than the item is priced at.

You might also remember this is a public forum and there is something called libel.

As I said on another thread, SCOPE, and no doubt some other charities, bar-code the goods and take donor contact details .... they send you an email/tax declaration on how much they've raised.

If anyone is concerned, they should use charities who have this system.