Charity Shops Selling On eBay? 

I think they do exactly that! I like to collect small transistor radios from the past - I've got about 12 of them, and also even small mini hi-fi units, cassette decks, tuners etc, and they are SELDOM or even NEVER for sale in charity shops, making out that lecky stuff needs to be PAT tested - which is a load of bollx if it runs on a battery. I don't sell my radios, I collect them and use them! When I look on eBay, there much of it is, under charity logos and obviously selling for much higher price than they will sell them in their shops on the streets. Before I pop my cloggs, I'm going to have a big bonfire in my garden, rather than giving my stuff to these carpet bagging parasites, whos CEOs are on mega bucks!

Always worth volunteering ,best way to build your shop up.

Hi Ian great vid, I’ve been buying from charity shops for many years prices have definitely gone up a lot, The charity shops have to pay rent on the premises and I guess those have gone up a lot as well so getting the best prices for stuff is benefiting the shop. I’m a reseller and during Covid I was buying my clothes from the charity shops website. I think as long as we are all making some profit then we should all carry on with the different ways that we resell. I absolutely hate waste, so to see everything being reused is brilliant.

I sometimes think people forget why charity shops are there. Some people seem to think they're there for them or less fortunate people to buy cheap stuff from, they're not, they are there to get as much money for the charity they support as they can. Therefore if they can get more on ebay that's what they'll do, that is their purpose. Prices in charity shops are rising because prices across the board are rising, the charity's they are supporting are struggling, so they are after every penny they can. There's still profit to be had, but I have to work harder to find it.

6:50 - this is the best way to do it, i made my best connection by saying these have been sat here for a while, could i buy all of them. Now we are both on the same page, they ask there price, if it doesnt go after a few weeks, they let me have them in bulk, its a win win

Charity shops were not set up to support resellers. Good luck to them getting as much cash as possible. I now source from auctions and household clearance.

I volunteer at a thrift store that supports animal rescue. What goes out on the floor and how it is priced depends on who is working that day. Of course if we can sell an item for a higher price elsewhere we are going to do that. Blame all the ebay thrift haul videos. But there are still plenty of things that get out on the floor. I'm always amazed that I haven't been approached by resellers about pulling items / lots for them. We have been approached by a couple book buyers who wanted all the books in the back for free "to take them off our hands" or for $10 bucks. Nope. All for win-win but we are not putting the effort into the thrift store to support someone else. But we are open to deals where both sides get something.

Stores are a lot more savvy than, say, 10 years ago. Particularly the larger charities. Some smaller local charities are less so. I have watched shops triage the stuff as it comes in and some send stuff to central hubs. A friendly manager tells me that some stuff is sold on eBay and some sent to Edinburgh for assessment for auction. Many shops locally have reduced the book selling space and DVDs have virtually disappeared, replaced by clothes. Where there are extensive book shelves, they seem to be priced appropriately, rather than for a quick sale.

I live in the southeast. There are 19 charity shops within a 10 mile radius of me. They are all charging far too much, to the extent that most of them are now not taking any more donations because they havnt got the room. The many resellers that I see (including myself) are spending less in there because theres hardly any profit, and the other less fortunate buyers cant afford the inflated prices either, which is possibly why the charity shops are turning to eBay themselves

Hi Ian it was interesting watching your video. I work in a charity shop but I also shop in them, so I can see both sides of the argument. First thing I want to say is we exist first and foremost to make money for the charity, if we don't make enough we would just have to close down. Costs are going up all the time so naturally charities are looking for ways to increase revenue. I think covid has pushed the move to eBay for many charities, my shop was closed during those times and it was a very difficult period for everyone. The larger charities like British Heart foundation already had an online presence and did very well. So I think using eBay more is a natural progression. That said, most don't have the time or staff to look up everything, there's always something that is overlooked so I don't think people have to panic just yet. We just send high end clothing and collectibles plus some jewellery and only then after it's been on the shop floor for three weeks. Take care R.

A reality not factored in by charity shops is that resellers turn over a signifcant amount of stock - a fair proportion of which needs attention/mending/washing/de-staining etc. With prices rising, charity shops will necessarily have to accept more returns in future - after all, whilst you might not bother returning a faulty item that cost £2, it's a different matter altogether if said item cost £6 or £7. Also, with charity shops filtering out good stuff footfall will almost certainly decrease: who wants to sift through mountains of stock only to find low quality superrmarket stuff?

Yes, seen lots of books and comics etc marked up in local charity stores and they sit there for ever, and if you are trying to sell them to 1000s of 'comic fans' they may (and perhaps not even then) go for a decent amount but if you are hoping for a random fan to pop in and buy that off the shelf, probably more likely end up in the bin or sent off to a central office. Basing pricing off ebay is totally nuts, the price for a DVD or Blu ray can be £1 from one dealer and £30 from another, based on very little actual study of supply and demand. Got some store selling 20 DVDs for a quid, others selling DVDs for £2 each Of course, the charity stores are there for a purpose and not for the collectors market, which is why I still like a good old fashioned market or boot sale (pity we don't seem to have much of a tradition for thrift store or garage sales etc)

I'm in Guildford, Surrey. The charity shops around here are so on the ball that you'll struggle to find anything in any section to make a good amount on. Used to be brilliant years ago, when I got things like brand new Gant trousers for 4 quid and sold them for 80. Now they have lists of all the brands and charge pretty much what you'd pay on ebay anyway. Fair play to them, you have to say, but it's a shame that that nice little earner has gone. Books here are about 2 quid too.

They can sell what they want, where they want to sell it and at the price they want to sell it at.

All of them in my area sell on Ebay. I’ve almost stopped going as the goods in store are certainly not priced for resellers.

Not only do they sell the best stuff on eBay it's even worse than that near me two of the shops have eBay resellers working for them so they are going to get the best stuff before anybody

Really enjoy your videos Iain - you mention how quickly you can get books through your sources and also pack and despatch them - However I find the most time consuming part is photographing and listing. And with books checking for condition, taking photos highlighting any imperfections etc and then writing than on the listing description. Do you have any specific techniques for photographing and listing your books. Thx from Ian with one i lol

I turned to books in charity shop because it's really hard to find stuff, the odd toy,dvd or board game now and then. I think a lot of charity shops overlook books. I mean Lee child's if they search on eBay they sell for £3-5 so probably shifting them for 50p/£1 is probably worth there while. Some charity shops in our town sale something like that for £4 each!

Charity shops have become increasingly organised and yes, higher priced items get funnelled upwards for online sales. There was a shift change after lockdown and my personal experience is that they have become very fussy about both what and when they'll accept items. TBH, this has become a deterrent for me. Example: took several bags of stuff to my local Sue Ryder's but they said I'd come on the wrong day and needed to return in three days time. This I did, only to get the same response and when I pointed this out they were unapologetic. Result? Municipal dump I'm afraid. This attitude and skimming process will see their slow demise I fear.

Virtually all my local shops sell books three for pound, childrens books are either twenty five pence each or ten pen each. The one I used to use the most uses Google Lens on most other stuff, but then they always kept stuff for me and I paid what they wanted. Glad to say I moved away from eBay.

I've been part time selling on Ebay for about a year, I don't have one area I deal in and do have a wide range of products, what I've noticed with the charity shops around my area if they will price the items at around Ebay prices mostly, although you always come across an item here or there they missed. What I don't think the people who run the charity shops seem to understand is that Ebay literally has 10's of millions of people at any one time looking for something, while there charity shop in the local village possible has 25 people in, in a whole week. I think this over the last year has become the norm to them, but at some point I think they'll realize Ebay / Shop not the same platform

Where I live there is 11 charity shops within a 2 mile radius. What I've noticed is..... *Charity shops with younger manager's (especially female) are more tech savvy and far more on the ball with sold prices on ebay. Example if an item is usually sold for £10 on eBay they list them in the shop for £7 (and can have it listed on eBay at the same time) Some of the shop's sell higher value items in locked glass cabinet's. These tend to be listed on eBay and once bought (in the shop) I guess its delisted. I think many items don't get to see the light of day in the front of the shops these day's. Items I've seen for year's in charity shops are no longer seen (where i am) in the last 3-4 year's. I don't know if this is because most had a good clear out with lockdown and no one has much left to donate, or good items just sell well on eBay that there is no need to put them out the front of the shop. Alternatively there is a number of people that scour these shops everyday for picking up things to resell. Some even have a thing going on with the manager/staff where they get first dibs of new donations... They pick out what they want for reselling, and whats left isfor the shop. These items tend to be DVD/CDs/video games (so media). Which is why certain movie's, artist's and games can NEVER be found in the shops where i am. Shops with less tech savvy manager's/staff are the places to pick up stuff that can be resold, but with younger paid managers coming in to run these charity shops its getting harder to find stuff to resell from a charity shop. That being said if you know anything about female fashion, you could make a killing reselling this. I'd say at least half each charity shops floor space is filled with female fashion ....clothes, handbag's, hat's, jewellery and shoes are a plenty. The other 40-50% is squeezed in with male fashion, children fashion, children toys, books, ornaments, pictures and media.

They don't sell all, just the really expensive or obscure they know won't sell in our town

YMCA is one charity shop that doesn't sell online

I worked for a charity shop last year. I was shocked to find that anything worth over £15 had to go to a distribution centre. They have an ebay department. I know another shop sends them to a third party to sell on behalf of the shop. I understand they want to get max profit. But on the flip side its all 100% profit as its donations. I think they should give locals the opportunity to buy it first.

I am incredibly uncomfortable morally with resellers thinking it is their right to buy ''stock'' from charity shops. These items have been donated to help the less well off, not a business turn a profit. It is wrong to moan about prices in charity shops when you intend to turn a profit and charge that needy person more. To me, resellers have ZERO right to moan. Seeing the explosion of resellers on youtube all shouting because there isn't profit in something is disgusting. I've even heard one in particular laughing that he was selling ''shit'' and describing customers as ''idiots''. Buying from charity shops with the intention of charging more is morally wrong.

We have 4 charity shops in my town. I go round them once a week so I am getting well known. Due to the sort of stuff I'm buying they must "suss" me out sooner or later. If asked, I shall tell them I sell on Ebay and throw myself on their mercy. If i get banned, so be it. Last book purchase from a charity purchase was a £2.50 book which I sold for £82.00.