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charity / thrift shops
 

Im a regular charity shop customer. I search for bargains and resell.
Went into my regular one this morning who had 70% off their sale rail. Got high street brand stuff and believe it or not i got a pair of mens ralph lauren jeans for 59p....which i know i cant sell.
Anyway, spent about 60 quid and came out with loads. Most stuff was between 50p and a £ 1
The woman who served me took my payment and went into back and came out with another woman. They kindly pointed out that due to the array of sizes, it is obvious i have bought for resale. I was taken by surprise at this and couldnt think quick enough.
Anyway woman said she didnt think i was being nice to use a charity for resale but i argued that i have paid the price that anyone else would if they came in, so cant understand the problem.
I need to see the manager when she is back next week if i visit store again so that she can make a decision as to whether to let me buy from there again.
I kind of feel like ive done something wrong and have cheated them and ive come away feeling low and hate feeling like that.
Part of me just wants to go back and donate it all back and not get a refund.
Have i done wrong coz in my view ive bought stuff that anyone else coukd have bought. The only difference is that others may buy for their own wear whereas i bought to sell.

Re: charity / thrift shops
 

Most charity shops feel that way about people than come in and buy branded stuff to re-sell. it is obvious to them what you are doing.

You have obviously done nothing wrong.

I would not visit that shop again. Remember though they can refuse to sell if they wish to.

Don't let them make you feel bad, your mind frame is to try to make money to better yourself, there is nothing wrong with that.

Re: charity / thrift shops
 

Agreed, there are plenty of charity shops to buy from, and they do always make us feel a bit guilty about buying to resell, they are manned nearly always by older voluntary workers who are almost women and out of touch with the necessities of modern day commerce! Before Christmas I bought a black leather strapless dress with attached net underskirt and 3 pairs of high heeled party shoes, they knew that I was not going to wear any of them and so was more than likely going to resell, one or too huff huffs from the shop assistant later I paid quick and left the shop! I could have sold those things several times over as well. You have to be a bit hard faced to shop in charity shops these days, the staff should of course be delighted we want to spend that much money with them, but the reality is just take our business into other charity shops!

Re: charity / thrift shops
 

Thanks both of you for making me feel better. Ive come away feeling like a thief if that makes sense, even though i paid.
Yes, they were old women RosieT. What did it was the amount and the size differences too.
It was cancer research uk.
I support that charity anyway along with macmillans due to my dad fighting cancer now.

BHF know what i do as they asked me once. They said it wasnt a problem to them as they value my custom and cobtribution to their.charity.
Just a shame others dont feel the same way.

I will miss going into that shop to be honest but i might.still go in and speak to manager and ask where i went wrong. Or maybe like you say just_smile, il stay.away :-)

Re: charity / thrift shops
 

Yes it's a difficult one for you as well particularly with the link to your dad, so sorry to hear about his illness halo honey! Good idea to broaden our area and visit other charity shops because like you say they are a really source of stock for us, I bough a couple of bags of toddler clothes from an advert on gumtree, turned out the seller was only in the next town, then soon after listing them, after only selling a few things, my account went down! So that was a pain, but that's they way things go sometimes, I haven't got back up and running yet been waiting to see things developed over xmas with the tightening up of ID docs on paypal, just getting organised to get launched on eb and paypal again so i will be visiting the local charity shops again as well

Re: charity / thrift shops
 

Thanks RosieT.
Good luck on your launch...... :-)

Re: charity / thrift shops
 

Best of luck Rosie - those are wicked nice prices. I might be tempted to buy :d