Would you return a item to a charity shop?

I consider it as making a donation but getting a gift in return and would never think of returning goods to a charity shop. We have two charity shops for our local hospice that rely on donations for its existence. A lot of people search charity shops to make a killing without a thought for the sterling work the charity supports.
 
ecoleman said:
Like the bosses six figure salaries? Very little of the profit from these charities actually makes it to the people who need it.
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Is this based on personal experience of working for a charity, or looking at individual Charity's annual financial returns on the Charity Commission website? (Don't forget Charities are audited in exactly the same way as any other company.)

There are 180,000+ charities in England and Wales, how many of those do you think have CEO's on 6 figure salaries?
 
In spring, 2015, I found an old Canon Powershot A40 in a local charity shop. The previous owner had left A4 batteries in - I thought there might have been some damage. The camera needed a CF card, which I was not previously familiar with. I bought it for £8 and wouldn't have dreamt of returning it. I invested in rechargeable batteries because with ordinary A4 batteries you could take about 10 pics! I've had great fun with this camera! And I wouldn't have returned it if it didn't work.
 
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DoctorJ said:
Is this based on personal experience of working for a charity, or looking at individual Charity's annual financial returns on the Charity Commission website? (Don't forget Charities are audited in exactly the same way as any other company.)

There are 180,000+ charities in England and Wales, how many of those do you think have CEO's on 6 figure salaries?
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The big ones that have shops on the high street. They are run as a business and pay high salaries like a business (except for the people that run the shops, they get jack).

Treat them like a business, if they sold something faulty, return it.
 
ecoleman said:
The big ones that have shops on the high street. They are run as a business and pay high salaries like a business (except for the people that run the shops, they get jack).

Treat them like a business, if they sold something faulty, return it.
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Not in my town they don't, the majority are run by volunteers.
 
I'm not sure what kind of moral high ground people think they are taking by saying they wouldn't return an item.

Having a shop on the street is a way of raising funds for said charity, they wouldn't be getting a donation from me if they didn't have the item for sale in the first place. Saying they don't have the time/staffing to check items are working correctly is fine, but then returning things that don't work would be expected, surely.

As said above they operate under the same consumer rights laws as other shops. It's nothing against the volunteers who run the shop, I understand that they are simply there to help, and it's not some kind of personal attack on them or their sacrifice of time/earnings if I want to return an item.
 
My wife works as a volunteer in a charity shop, the Manager and assistant Manger get a wage. The wife said that when they get a camera in, they then get it all checked over by someone who knows about cameras and test it, if it works fine then it goes out for sale, if it does not work then it goes to the Rag man :)
 
100% yes, if its not up to standard i certainly would.
Alot of charity shops arent as 'charity' as people want to believe nowadays! Wages are common round my way.
 
I bought a couple of untested 30 year old Canon compacts from the ebay shop of a charity recently. There was obviously a chance they wouldn't work, but since I already knew and liked the work of the charity I decided in advance that I'd just regard this as a donation and not send them back if they failed.* I might have had a different attitude if they'd been sold to raise money for Eton College or something!

*In case the suspense is killing you - both worked.
 
nick16 said:
100% yes, if its not up to standard i certainly would.
Alot of charity shops arent as 'charity' as people want to believe nowadays! Wages are common round my way.
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And they can have dishonest practices, for example have a collector of watches who they will put all the watches to one side for and give them first dibs on the lot without knowing the prices well themselves.
That might not sound bad but its against the spirit of charity and asking for donations, it should be fair and transparent.
The collector might get many watches way below their real value and rob the opportunity to someone in need to have the watch for a good price, as intended by the giver.
 
Craigus said:
I'm not sure what kind of moral high ground people think they are taking by saying they wouldn't return an item.

Having a shop on the street is a way of raising funds for said charity, they wouldn't be getting a donation from me if they didn't have the item for sale in the first place. Saying they don't have the time/staffing to check items are working correctly is fine, but then returning things that don't work would be expected, surely.

As said above they operate under the same consumer rights laws as other shops. It's nothing against the volunteers who run the shop, I understand that they are simply there to help, and it's not some kind of personal attack on them or their sacrifice of time/earnings if I want to return an item.
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What makes you decide that I am taking some sort of "moral high ground" that is a bit judgemental. I am quite capable of making a decision of my own without it being based on anything other than personal choice. Nor am I stupid enough to not understand basic trading laws and therefore need someone to hold my hand. The OP asked a question which people answered in the way they chose to.
 
GTG said:
And they can have dishonest practices, for example have a collector of watches who they will put all the watches to one side for and give them first dibs on the lot without knowing the prices well themselves.
That might not sound bad but its against the spirit of charity and asking for donations, it should be fair and transparent.
The collector might get many watches way below their real value and rob the opportunity to someone in need to have the watch for a good price, as intended by the giver.
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I think it's a bit harsh to claim dishonesty. Like lots of things it comes down to trust. The charity might actually recipe more money from the collector if he gives a fair price rather than them guessing and selling a Rolex for a tenner (a bit of an extreme example but hopefully you will get my point).

My OH volunteered in a charity shop and they had an agreement with the local auction house who came and viewed items they thought were potentially more valuable. These were auctioned and the auctioneers waived the commission on those items
 
Definition of Charity
an organization set up to provide help and raise money for those in need.
"the charity provides practical help for people in need"
synonyms: non-profit-making organization · non-profit organization ·
fund · trust · foundation · cause · movement

  • the body of organizations viewed collectively as the object of fundraising or of donations:
    "the proceeds of the sale will go to charity"

  • this to me is what separates charity shops from other retail outlets and why morally I would not ask for a return. I have been a recipient of the good charitable work of our local Hospice.that supported me and gave expert care to my dying younger brother.
  • if this is my high moral ground then so be it.
 
mickledore said:
I think there is an exemption for electrical goods selling for less than £15. Think this was brought in a few years back specifically becasue of the problem that charity shops have in getting items tested and still being able to sell them at a profit without testing fees taking all the proceeds.
(I might be wrong though - I hav been known to be wrong: occasionally!)
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You might be right but thats what I was told by a charity when I tried to buy an electric shaver about two years ago, I didn't even need a working one as it was for theatrical use and we were going to drop it in a fishtank in a play (with sparks and fx of course) The charity shop actually ended up giving me a shaver as they were not allowed to sell them untested and I'm assuming they had no way of testing them themselves.
The shaver worked fine and couriously still worked after being dropped in a fishtank full of water, although I would have plugged it in the mains after myself!.
 
gramps said:
Common misconception that every charity is set up for the financial benefit of the CEO, whilst it may have credibility in a few cases the majority of (particularly) small charities do a very good job at raising much needed cash for those who need the help.
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Take a look at the list of ceos wages available legally online, a look at the percentages of raised funds that reach the public also makes interesting reading.
I've been involved personally with a number of charities, while what they do is mostly legal, it's not always as much benifit to those needing the help. Charities often spend a HUGE amount on admin and paid staff, whats left sometimes reaches those it was donated for.
The only charities I will donate to are the PDSA and the RNLI.
 
No one needs to defend their position on why they think charities are a good thing, of course they are and they do a huge amount of good. The OP asked a question and people responding simply by saying "No" comes across like there is no discussion to be had about the matter.

Let's not be so defensive and accept not everyone shares the same views on everything. Though maybe that would be expecting too much from the internet...
 
Craigus said:
No one needs to defend their position on why they think charities are a good thing, of course they are and they do a huge amount of good. The OP asked a question and people responding simply by saying "No" comes across like there is no discussion to be had about the matter.

Let's not be so defensive and accept not everyone shares the same views on everything. Though maybe that would be expecting too much from the internet...
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You are absolutely correct but this is the Internet. Personally I wouldn't return the item and IMO it comes down to your own individual feelings on the matter. Perhaps the OP is wavering and looking for support to affirm their own course of action ?
 
Let's not forget that but for charity shops many of our High Streets would be :tumbleweed:
 
ecoleman said:
And if the charities paid the full rates and rents instead of six figure salaries for the bosses, then maybe the councils could invest the money into regenerating the high streets.
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It's council rent and rates increases that are driving tenants out of the high streets, charity shops are better than 'For Rent' signs or printed imaginary shop fronts!
I hope that you never need the support of the charities that you so condemn.
 
gramps said:
It's council rent and rates increases that are driving tenants out of the high streets, charity shops are better than 'For Rent' signs or printed imaginary shop fronts!
I hope that you never need the support of the charities that you so condemn.
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I don't condem them (well, not all of them), but they get cheap rent, if any, zero rates, pay the staff nothing except for the manager/manageress and yet they are quite happy to pay the CEO and other upper management salaries higher than the PM of the country earns.
 
ecoleman said:
I don't condem them (well, not all of them), but they get cheap rent, if any, zero rates, pay the staff nothing except for the manager/manageress and yet they are quite happy to pay the CEO and other upper management salaries higher than the PM of the country earns.
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There are just shy of 167,000 registered charities in the UK, (UK Charity Register) of which 122,403 have an annual income not exceeding £100,000 ... a further 22,248 have an annual income of between £100,000 and £500,000.
The PM earns £143,462 p.a. so the vast majority of charities don't even gross what the PM earns yet they continue to do a valuable work supporting a variety of causes from animal welfare to the RNLI, care for the homeless to cancer hospice care etc, etc, etc.
 
gramps said:
There are just shy of 167,000 registered charities in the UK, (UK Charity Register) of which 122,403 have an annual income not exceeding £100,000 ... a further 22,248 have an annual income of between £100,000 and £500,000.
The PM earns £143,462 p.a. so the vast majority of charities don't even gross what the PM earns yet they continue to do a valuable work supporting a variety of causes from animal welfare to the RNLI, care for the homeless to cancer hospice care etc, etc, etc.
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But we're not really discussing the thousands of small charities are we? The charities on the high street are the big ones. British Heart foundation for example. CEO earns something like £170,000 (I recall from reading about this somewhere else)
 
ecoleman said:
But we're not really discussing the thousands of small charities are we?
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Aren't we?
I thought we were discussing charity shops and they are used by all sorts of charities from tiny locals with a single shop to larger ones with a shop in many towns and cities ... O/P didn't state which shop he used.
 
ecoleman said:
but they get cheap rent, if any, zero rates,
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Cheap rent? Where?
Councils don't own the shops, commercial landlords do. The last charity shop rent I negotiated (in NW Surrey) was £50k per annum for 48sq metres of selling space and a small stockroom. Charities pay 20% of normal business rates, some councils choose not to charge anything but as charity shops proliferate more and more do charge the 20%. 4 years ago half our shops paid nothing, now only a quarter do.
Then you have complications like the council offering grants to finance shop front enhancements to improve the look of the high street and landlord subsequently putting the rents up as the property has become more attractive and therefore more desirable.
 
ecoleman said:
And if the charities paid the full rates and rents instead of six figure salaries for the bosses, then maybe the councils could invest the money into regenerating the high streets.
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You are completely wrong. Where I am, there are places that if there were no charity shops there would be nothing in the "high street". Long live Amazon and the like.
 
We are stuck on the rates discounted by councils whereas the government will put works, infrastructure and grants in place for Amazon to open another warehouse.
 
I often return things to charity shops, although it's usually to a different one than I bought the books from in the first place...
 
I went to another charity shop today and picked up a praktica bx20 in a bag with 3 lenses and a flashgun for £6.99.
 
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