Bartering.

[The Doctor 46]

How many of you would haggle in a charity shop. Even they are starting to get expensive. I saw a picture in a charity shop today, I was surprised when I saw they wanted £12.99 for it so offered £10. The lady smiled and answered 'Certainly Sir' then almost bit my hand off. Would you barter in a charity shop?

As it was I only had a tenner in my pocket so would have left it had she said 'No'.

[Rusty Nuts]

Umm, that'd be bargaining, offering half a dozen eggs or the youngest child would be bartering.

[grumps]

I wouldn’t normally but in this case I would have said I only had a tenner, is that enough?

[kwackboy]

This question was asked on TV,  the Martin Lewis show.
He did a poll on his twitter account and from memory it was pretty even.

Charity shops local to me are expensive and if I spotted something that I was interested in I'd try my luck... 

[TLPower]

....and swipe as soon as they turned their back.

[kwackboy]

Harsh ... 

[Joe Rocket]

I would not accept your offer. Why? Well for the simple reason that they are a charity shop and the price is what they want and if you don't want to pay the asking price then someone else probably will in the not too distant future. If you want the item then you can go away and get the cash required to pay the asking price. The charity is not for you, you have gone there to offer your support and buy something you want. It's not a car boot sale!

I will expand further if pressed.

[jabmotorsport]

Being part of the Yorkshire contingent, I will haggle for anything, anywhere, at any time. So yes, no problem 

[grumps]

Charity shops guess and estimate their prices so accepting a tenner is better for them than hanging out for a bit more and having the item hang around.

[Whiterose]

Good for you, as Henry Cole says... SPQR

[Mr Nick]

Pricing is very subjective, depending on which volunteer is on that job on any particular day. My other half fancied a Tiffany lamp and the furniture charity we drop stuff off at had one with a £90 tag on it (wasn't even that great a copy). We were chatting with the staff about lamps in general and they said there's another one through the back that had just come in and they were thinking of £15 for it. It was a much better quality version as well, so we obviously saved them the trouble of putting it out on display.

As far as haggling goes, I'd maybe ask for an all-in price if I was buying a lot of something (like 3 complete sets of CSI DVDs I found in one) or something relatively expensive, but probably not for a single item that's not a lot of money.

[Barbel Mick]

Why not offer a lower price, they can always so no. In the Doc's case the lady seemed quite happy, ("Certainly sir"), to take his money. Perhaps that picture had been there for months and Doc was the only person to show an interest?
Yes it's for charity but they have been given the stuff FOC so any amount of money they can get is a bonus.

[Rookie]

I know I'm from Devon, but after reading this. I am convinced there could be some Yorkshire in me.

[Joe Rocket]

Tight-fisted? Yorkshire man? A Scot even? Not everyone surely........ (Here it's someone with a hedgehog in his pocket!)

Before I continue I must say that I'm a volunteer for Emmaus and give not only my time but my working experience to repair, restore and provide a second life to all things woodwork.

I see charity is in three stages here.

1) Goods are offered free by the general public and businesses for reuse or pleasure of others.

2) Like me volunteers take time to prepare it all for sale to clients who come to our establishment looking for cheaply priced items but good for a new life to the benefit of others.

3) Clients come to view what's for sale and purchase at the price asked hopefully knowing where the proceeds go.

Replies here so far relate to the third stage of charity as I see it and it appears to be generally in the realms of getting a good bargain (there are always plenty!). Why the shop or charity is there is not relevant it seems.

I have no objection to anyone offering less than the asking price if you feel the charity can do without that extra little bit of cash. I assure you that any charity loses money if it's known to be open to accepting bargainning. Yes, we're greedy too! Above all you're not obliged to buy.

I know everyone has their opinion but like I said above we aren't talking car boot sales. We are talking money for folk who are a lot less fortunate than we are.

Respect to all but please pay generously! 

[Brockett]

My wife was until recently working as a volunteer at a hospice charity warehouse. Every day the first to arrive and strip out all the bargains are boot sale stall holders who whisk the stuff away and put a ten times price ticket on when selling.  I see no reason why a reasonable offer below the ticket price could be seen as anything underhand.  The transactions are "sales" and not "requests for charity".   The charity is in the giving of the item not the selling.

[Sea-Strom]

I've been bartering in charity shops  for years! Charity in its purest form is a noble gesture. But are all charities squeaky clean? Like - no back handers for employees or expenses for the 'board'. I suspect in the real world...... . So let's not get too holier than thou here. Give whenever we can, sure, but there are worse things than being a bit savvy with your hard earned too.
Sometimes charity begins at home

[Rusty Nuts]

I'll remember that next time I short-change the children's' hospice shop. After all, they're only dying kids, right? Plenty more where they came from. 


And it's haggling or bargaining, not f*#%ing bartering!!

[Joe Rocket]

Sea-Strom. Can't agree more with the 'noble gesture'.

I'm sure you're right, there are sick set ups, I'm not employed and I pay the same price for goods in the shop as as do clients.

'Your hard earned'....... lots don't have a penny (or euro). Tell them you can't afford that extra pound, nevermind the misused saying about 'charity begins at home'. (It's incomplete, if you didn't know)

Brockett, it's OK to just give your unwanted stuff away? I didn't say it was underhand to offer a lower price. I hope the maximum amount of money goes to where it's intended though!

To remind you, you're in a charity shop and the first thing you think of is.....can I get a quid or two off this?

Hmmmm, very charitable.

[Rookie]

Wow

[Hugo Magnus]

When FIL died I took most of his belongings to a charity shop. After the fourth truck full they were running out of space and so I took it down the road to another charity shop.
My impression was that quick turnover would bring in more money than keeping the prices high.