Charity Shops

[watervole]

[Poll #1557343]I was annoyed by a local charity shop today.  I spotted a bird book in one yesterday that looked potentially valuable to me. It was priced at £2.  I told the girl on the counter to seriously consider pricing it at a minimum of £10 and when I got home I looked it up on the Internet to find that the cheapest copy for sale was £75.

Went back to the shop today to be told by the guy in charge that he'd sold it to one of the staff.  He wouldn't tell me the price, but he stated that as a matter of principle he never priced a book higher than £5.  (I'm hoping he sold it to the girl I spoke to, because I think she'll give most of the money to the shop if she sells it elsewhere.)  He also added that he sold children's books at 10p and was most disgusted that Oxfam charge 30p for them.

I've spoken to this guy before. His shop barely makes enough money to cover the rent.  It isn't hard to see why....

He also believes that charity shops should never compete with other shops.  In fact, it is positively sinful for charity shops to compete with book shops.  The fact that there are no book shops in Broadstone seems to have slipped past him.

Went into another charity shop in Broadstone and was pleased to see that the skirt I'd donated the day before was on sale at £4.99.  (The other place would have sold it for less, which is why they didn't get it.  They underprice everything, but the shop looks so tatty that not many people go in there in the first place)  Both shops support similar charities - Age Concern and Help the Aged, but the contrast between the two is amazing.

One is dingy and full of junk.  The other is clean and bright and has clothes that are properly sorted and priced (and steamed).  I shop in both, but I spend more money in the nicer one.

Comments

[j-lj.livejournal.com]

One of the charty shops Oxfam I think has a specialised second hand book store in Cambridge. Where 1st editions and antiquarian books are priced at the market value.

[gaspodex.livejournal.com]

all our books arepricedby experienced people. We do put rares on ebay and abebooks. generally books are priced at what the shop managers feel is a fair price.

most of the books are listed centrally online (via oxfam.org.uk/shop) and we have now instigated optional p&p - it up to you what (if anything) you pay for postage. We have around 500000 books on the DB now and theres some excellent rares and bargins - i got a complete set of Iain M Banks paperbacks for 20 for everything.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

I learnt book-pricing from Oxfam (went on one of their internal courses), which is one reason why I was so annoyed, because I know what books can fetch when they're properly sorted and priced.

(The cheapest online copy I saw of Tunnicliffe's Birds was from Oxfam at £75 - their book sorter had clearly spotted it as special)

[nmg.livejournal.com]

It was a copy of Tunnicliffe that they had priced at GBP2? That's a bit of a cock-up.

That said, had they priced it at GBP75, how likely would they have been to have sold it? This is one reason why I think that cooperation between charity shops and specialist booksellers is vital; the charity won't get the full GBP75 from the bookseller, but 50% of GBP75 for a book that sells is better than 0% of GBP75 for a book that doesn't.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

It was Tunnicliffe, and the book was in good condition, as well.

Personally, I'd have priced it at £50 to put in the shop (or possibly asked a dealer if he'd give that much), but then tried for £75 on the web (after checking to see if condition, etc. justified more/less).

You should always try the shop first. If people get used to the concept of you having specialist interest books, then they'll start coming in to look for them. (and serendipity should never be discounted - sometimes the right person for the book just happens to come by. I've seen it happen.)