Great charity shop bargain

Having looked in every possible shop for a dress for her Reg. Office wedding, one that would not only fit her hour-glass figure but also accommodate breast-feeding her very young baby, dd finally found a gorgeous one in a charity shop - for £16.

It's lovely when you get something you really want at a good price, isn't it? Enjoy your new machine

Not a charity shop buy but I took delivery this morning of a computerised sewing machine bought from a private seller on eBay.
My first computerised one to replace my little 21st birthday present. Didn’t want to leap in and spend hundreds and find I didn’t like it.
But it’s wonderful and only £100. I’ve been practising all morning.

our local charity shop is the same , one of the ladies working there says they have had a lot of shoplifting.....how low can some folk get...

I buy my wool at charity shops. I knit it into baby clothes, scarfs, or hats and send off to a charity in Oldham.

Charity shops are a great place to pick up interesting wool. But they have to charge less so people buy it, when you think about it if it is only the odd ball or 2 probably people will only buy them for snoods, hats or suchlike, to make a top you'd probably need more, and probably that makes/colour is no longer available. Super if you can get enough for a bigger project.
I got a knitting bag with a lovely skein of Sean weight wool recently, I got to the till and it was half price, it had been there so long that they wanted the room. Not sure what to do with it mind but maybe some gloves and matching hat Also got some super chunky wool recently and am having fun with that
I sometimes buy books from Oxfam online, when having a browse recently for books about my interest I found several copies of a book I'd love to have but always too expensive. 2 of the copies were very expensive indeed, it's out of print, a short publication run, but the 3rd wasn't. Half the price of one and a third of the price of the other. Still a bit dearer, but not much dearer than had I been able to buy new. I bought it, it is immaculate, it has a protective cover on it, and it looks like it's been read once .
The dear ones several weeks later, still there, £120 and £70. And another copy for £150! The £120 copy sounds to be in worse shape than mine.
Oxfam now have the cost of the copy I have to help fulfil their mission, but the other 3 copies are sitting on shelves
Things are only worth what people are willing to pay for them. I've not felt bad about buying a lovely coat at half price on the label price at the end of the season, as someone else would have, and had it not sold would they have sent it for rags or would they have had to store until next autumn. I did resonate the one that it replaced but to a different shop, sometimes that's all that is needed
I've never found a mung vase or unknown to them gold or diamond jewellery, they do have it in my local one and they sell it for a high price.

Congratulations on your yarn haul, Primrose! I would be delighted with that. I can't see the difference between getting bargainous yarn and a valuable pot though. In both cases the person donating didn't value the item and the person buying did. I think that if the only things in charity shops were items that had no value elsewhere they would die out, or have a stigma attached.

I have started donating some of late DH's clothes to charity shops quite a few of them have never been worn, still have labels on and all are good makes. I just hope the shop workers don't keep them for themselves or if they do then they make a suitable donation. After hearing from 2 friends who worked in different shops it seems items are often picked over by helpers and taken home for relatives or friends sometimes without even a donation having been made. Unfortunately I didn't know where else I could take them and did not want the hassle of ebay etc

I am sitting in my kitchen looking at my bargain Laura Ashley curtains. New and I paid £25 for them. Think they would have cost anything up to £100! 😊

Dottydots

Yesterday, in a charity shop, I saw a summer dress that caught my eye. It was a size 10 whereas I am usually a size 12. The assistant said I could take it home and return it if it didn't fit me. Well, it looked lovely on me, just the right length as well to hide my awful ankles and only £6.
If I'm honest it was a bit tight around my tummy, but hey ho, I will just have to breathe in.

Salad, salad and more salad! 😁

Last summer we were visiting the town we moved to from London , as we now live quite a way distant we midway day of it .
Met up with friends and had lunch in the church garden provided by the ladies of the church with proceeds going to a local food bank , they were also selling second hand clothing and goods on behalf of Cancer Research, a charity dear to my heart .
Mr Nick got a beautiful designer jacket with the price tag still attached- charity price tag £10 :. I found a lovely embossed silver tablecloth price £4 , a set of 6 Denby mugs price £10, 2 Portuguese pattern jugs just right for flowers £3 each , 2 dresses and 2 pairs jeans all £2-50 each !! We gave them £70 as they were all in great condition and we both felt we had found some bargains and helped a charity .

We were in a little seaside town in our motorhome recently, and there was a community-run charity shop just across from us. I went in for a wander and picked up a few items, including a brand-new pair of school trousers in my grandson's size. I was amazed when the lady at the till said they were free - as were all items on the school clothes rail. I paid for the other items and left a donation on top as I felt a bit guilty about taking the trousers for nothing.

We have 2 volunteers ( outside our shop) who take stuff to value. They aren’t paid. Plus all of us ( 3 ) know our labels.
Re shoplifting. A few weeks ago we stopped a woman in a wheelchair and her daughter outside the shop. She had lots of goodies under her blanket.
Sometimes if the shop is busy and a known shoplifter comes in one of us will stay with her going round the shop.
Yesterday I had a small kitchen rubbish bin with food still in the bottom.
Our shop is in what some might call interesting 😉

Bluebelle ours is the same, we have been loosing more and more stock recently. It’s so so sad because we are mainly volunteers and don’t have security guards obviously so I suppose it’s easier to steal from us although we do our best.
I challenged one shoplifter the other week and got a mouthful of abusive, actually quite frightening. If I though they really couldn’t afford the clothes and needed them I would have some sympathy but I really don’t think this is the case.

Cabbie21

I sometimes feel disappointed that the charity is not making more money out of the better quality items which are underpriced.

Some of the bigger charities employ people to list better quality stuff on Ebay. One of my nieces does this in Leeds.
Sometimes things do well, other times not but, for customers, it takes the excitement out of bagging a bargain. If they don’t sell they then get passed round other branches and if not sold they get scrapped.

Well done Dottydots 👏

Yesterday, in a charity shop, I saw a summer dress that caught my eye. It was a size 10 whereas I am usually a size 12. The assistant said I could take it home and return it if it didn't fit me. Well, it looked lovely on me, just the right length as well to hide my awful ankles and only £6.
If I'm honest it was a bit tight around my tummy, but hey ho, I will just have to breathe in.

BlueBelle - stealing from a charity shop has to be a pretty low thing to do, doesn't it?
A friend who volunteers in one says that they used to have a collection tin on the counter for people to drop in their change. It was stolen, frequently .

I sometimes feel disappointed that the charity is not making more money out of the better quality items which are underpriced.

Charleygirl5

The only thing worth buying in my local charity shop is books. They are in superb condition, and very cheap.

Living in London if I went to an upmarket area like Chelsea or Kensington, I probably would find a good bargain.

I knew someone who used to travel to London twice a year to buy her clothes in upmarket charity shops.
She wore some amazing clothes 🙂

The only thing worth buying in my local charity shop is books. They are in superb condition, and very cheap.

Living in London if I went to an upmarket area like Chelsea or Kensington, I probably would find a good bargain.

NotSpaghetti

I always have mixed feelings about finding a genuine "bargain" in a charity shop.

I feel very cross when people pay 30p for a pot worth hundreds and then laugh about it on the antiques roadshow. I think I'd have to gift the charity a big chunk, personally.

I always feel sorry for the person who unwittingly donated a Ming Vase or Van Gough. It's the sort of thing I'd do.

Today in the charity shop I volunteer in we found 10 empty hangers in the same age range in the boys section ( probably £20+ )
This is so so disappointing and upsetting We had a similar thing happen yesterday

Primrose, good for you. You will have to post photos of your projects that you knit with this nice yarn..
I'm afraid I might be one of those donating nice yarn to a charity shop. Like many knitters, I love the feel of the yarn and will buy a skein or six when I see one I like, without having an actual project in mind. Then it languishes in the yarn bin for ages. My DH is threatening /nagging me to do a clear out, but I'm not ready!

Charity shops are dire in north Scotland, and not many of them but one has a great big warehouse here. Think they must sort out the good stuff and send it to Edinburgh

Went back to the shop this morning and bought a cheapo sun dress for the garden £2.50 and paid with a £20 note. Told them to keep the change as I got a bargain there last week and they were very pleased with that. 👍