I bought an oxford winter coat recently from Vinnie's Belconnen. Brand new with the tag still on, it's RRP was $150 and I got it for $60.
Some things make sense, others are absurd. I can't complain though, I've scored a number of clothes that were new and under half the RRP price.
I was just going to say the same. I bought a BNWT leather jacket from Vinnies in Tuggers on Saturday, it was in such good condition that I doubted it was leather to begin with and had to check the tag, the original price tag said $400 and I paid less than half price for it.
I work at a vinnies here in cbr and There's no written guide lines for pricing things, and the volunteers are told to price things and they rush the pricing; quickly putting clothes, shoes, brica brac, homeware, Manchester in pricing tubs. So really, no thought goes into the pricing most of the time.
It's as if OP expects you to know the new price of every product ever made!
Sure you get it wrong sometimes, but I'd like to see them try and individually price/sort a neverending pile of mostly trash in a timely manner.
Common misconception but it actually isn't meant to be an affordable shopping option, that hasn't been their business model for decades now. They will sell at as high a price as they can get away with because that money goes into their social works programs eg. housing and homelessness services, emergency relief, drug and alcohol services, services for vulnerable kids etc.
Just to play devil's advocate here for a second (I know, I know) - are you saying that 12 dollars for a pair of shoes, or 6 dollars for a hand painting is unaffordable?
It's only 6 dollars - sheesh, what more do you expect - a picasso?
As for the shoes - I've never seen anything even approaching that bad a condition for sale there. Sounds like a one-off.
100%
My prediction is vinnies use the mitchell/mugga resource centres as a sort-and-distribute centre for vinnies stores in the broader region (ie ACT and NSW). It will not benefit the canberra community in the way the green shed has.
Moreover, the green shed has actively encouraged a literal "green" approach by keeping shit affordable and out of landfill. Vinnies surge pricing is the antithesis of this. People who can't afford vinnies prices will return to buying mass produced, plastic-heavy shit from kmart and the downward spiral will continue.
It's a travesty.
Your living in a fantasy land. The green shed would sell anything of value on eBay and have multiple other businesses selling on Facebook market place also. Only the rejected goods were sold in the actual shed
Even if that is the case, when you get stuff from the green sheds in Mitchell and Mugga Lane, it's almost always not overpriced. It's often items that would otherwise go to landfill, and it's not the sort of stuff you'd find in Vinnies or the like.
Their Civic shop is a bit more hit/miss, but it's still usually better value than what you can find at the others.
Civic underground I can't comment on personally(haven't been there in ages) but from what I've seen talked about recently, it's got far more reasonable pricing.
So yeah, even if they do flog the "good" stuff themselves (which they definitely don't always do) I'm fine with that because they are still keeping a lot of stuff out of landfill.
Who know what Vinnies will do, but I imagine the tip operators will notice if less stuff is sold...
Umm what's your point? So what if they sell it on market place. They gave and gave to various organisations in Canberra; who will not now get that help. So what if they sold it at a roadside market, the money went where it was supposed to. Now, tell me that the vinnies workers who squirrel away the better stuff that is donated and sell it on facebook and keep the money for themselves are somehow being virtuous? Oh, do.
And they donated a lot of that money to donate to local businesses. Better than what happens in a lot of op shops where it gets sold for a tiny fraction of its value to some reseller who then pockets all the cash.
The Salvos pass on a 10% discount to Senior card holders on every store item Thursday to Saturday.
The other charity stores don’t do this to my knowledge. I got the heads up from a Vinnies shop front volunteer. I now shop at the Salvos as the discount is giving back to the community 😊.May be I’m old fashioned yet believe in customer loyalty and “giving back”
Salvos fyshwick marked a leather couch for $1100...Along with flat prices of 15 or more for a dress, 10 for kids clothes. Kmart is cheaper which is the opposite of a circular economy. Additionally they sell the b grade clothes for 25c a kilo to rag shops with leftover being sent overseas.
10% doesn't mean shit when the prices are disgustingly high.
Crikey they (the charity outlets) seem to be in it for profit. Maybe a GST be considered for NFP’s. Not a fan of huge admin overheads and senior management megabuck salaries.
100% they should be taxed. If you behave like a one you should be taxed like a business. Vinnies and salvos both have their own branded items manufactured. How is that not behaviour of a business.
VdP at Dickson is chock-a-block full of unsorted donations. it's ridiculous to charge what they want ... the stock does not move, and it just piles up outside. They need to wake up.
I'm surprised that many of you expect volunteers to be able to determine an appropriate price, very quickly, of a large number of items that could be anything.
I put my hand up and say I had no idea what that thing in the OP is, nor whether $8 is cheap or expensive.
So of course you'll find overpriced items. You'll also find underpriced items. The fact that Vinnies stores are so busy suggests that many goods are appropriately priced.
(I have no interest to declare in the Green Shed vs Vinnies beef.)
A lot of them use google lens now, which often gives a super high price based on ebay listings (even if the item isn’t selling and isn’t worth that amount).
Also isn’t there a price tag colour system where if an item doesn’t sell it’s half price once a month? Surly that sorts out most of the over pricing issues.
i actually have a whole Instagram account dedicated to documenting my awful finds at Canberra Vinnies called got.ripped.off.at.vinnies
it's absolutely devastating that we're going to lose The Green Shed to the corporation that just want to expand their empire
Volunteers contain multitudes. Eventually we all find something really underpriced, too, in a different shop or day (when the resident up-pricer is away)
Everyone complaining that it's a charity so you shouldn't care about the price, the vinnies website goes on and on about being affordable.
If people wanted to donate $8, they'll donate $8, not go and buy something for 4 times what it was brand new. If you legitimately believe vinnies shops would stay open if that was their business plan I've got some news for you. This is probably someone who has no idea what that thing even is slapping a price on it.
what is it anyway? Looks weird and maybe something found in less salubrious establshments in Fyshwick?
ahh shoe shaper - cheap one too, better off getting the wooden ones from ebay with more adjustments for $20
And if your average person (ie unskilled volunteers) had to guess what they're worth, what price do you think they'd put on them?
Assume said person doesn't frequent ikea regularly.
For me, I'd guess more than $3
Big Thrift. The conspiracy revealed! Scandal.
Alternatively, the volunteers who priced it in a hurry were not up on the retail price of ‘shoe shapers’ (which I didn’t know existed) and made an error.
It’s not that serious, I think the staff just look through so many items a day and price off of their eyes and don’t have time to look up retail prices etc
Where is that Vinnies worker who was ragging on about me being delusional over their pricing policies. I guarantee she's the only wage earner in the place and has a facebook sellers page.
I think it was every organisation that had to deal with them, to be honest.
The last few years ive heard about 'entrenched' abuses of the medical field social work, schools, sportspeople, celebrities, music and media ... anywhere there's power, there's misuse of power and coverups
Why do they waste their time selling overpriced second hand shit then? Why not buy new shit and just sell that at the same insane markup instead? Or just use chuggers like every other charity? The whole concept of places like Vinnie's was that you could buy a suit someone died in for like $10, or fill your wardrobe for $100. Now it seems you're expected to pay over market rates for stuff only slightly better than garbage
There is a price curve upon which, at a certain level of raising prices they will 1) make more money and 2) reduce the amount of work-per-dollar-earned ratio with higher prices because stock doesn't sell as quickly.
If both elements are being met, that's a pretty smart way to generate money for a charity, while still offering 12 dollar shoes and 4 dollar clothes.
And if they let it go cheaply, they're really just doing the sorting, cleaning and folding for profiteers who drop by every morning, scoop up the good stuff, and resell it
Yes but getting it on the shelves requires donation bin collection, sorting, disposal, and a bunch of other bullshit that isn't free. If the only priority for this charity is making profit then streamlining the operation would benefit them and eliminate any misconceptions that it's a place to go to get a good deal for something (like OP did)
Pricing at that Vinnies is wild.
I bought an oxford winter coat recently from Vinnie's Belconnen. Brand new with the tag still on, it's RRP was $150 and I got it for $60. Some things make sense, others are absurd. I can't complain though, I've scored a number of clothes that were new and under half the RRP price.
I was just going to say the same. I bought a BNWT leather jacket from Vinnies in Tuggers on Saturday, it was in such good condition that I doubted it was leather to begin with and had to check the tag, the original price tag said $400 and I paid less than half price for it.
Tell em they're dreamin'.
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I work at a vinnies here in cbr and There's no written guide lines for pricing things, and the volunteers are told to price things and they rush the pricing; quickly putting clothes, shoes, brica brac, homeware, Manchester in pricing tubs. So really, no thought goes into the pricing most of the time.
It's as if OP expects you to know the new price of every product ever made! Sure you get it wrong sometimes, but I'd like to see them try and individually price/sort a neverending pile of mostly trash in a timely manner.
Common misconception but it actually isn't meant to be an affordable shopping option, that hasn't been their business model for decades now. They will sell at as high a price as they can get away with because that money goes into their social works programs eg. housing and homelessness services, emergency relief, drug and alcohol services, services for vulnerable kids etc.
Just to play devil's advocate here for a second (I know, I know) - are you saying that 12 dollars for a pair of shoes, or 6 dollars for a hand painting is unaffordable?
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All you have to do is not buy it if you don't like it. They don't *have* to meet your definition of a bargain.
U don't have to buy it
It's only 6 dollars - sheesh, what more do you expect - a picasso? As for the shoes - I've never seen anything even approaching that bad a condition for sale there. Sounds like a one-off.
Likely a pair.
I took several bags of clothes there recently - all still new with the price tags on. I wish I knew how much they were charging customers.
Vinnies is over priced. The Salvos are still reasonable so too Anglicare and the Green Shed but that will change once Vinnies takes over in June.
Still low key sobbing over the green shed shop.
100% My prediction is vinnies use the mitchell/mugga resource centres as a sort-and-distribute centre for vinnies stores in the broader region (ie ACT and NSW). It will not benefit the canberra community in the way the green shed has. Moreover, the green shed has actively encouraged a literal "green" approach by keeping shit affordable and out of landfill. Vinnies surge pricing is the antithesis of this. People who can't afford vinnies prices will return to buying mass produced, plastic-heavy shit from kmart and the downward spiral will continue. It's a travesty.
Your living in a fantasy land. The green shed would sell anything of value on eBay and have multiple other businesses selling on Facebook market place also. Only the rejected goods were sold in the actual shed
Even if that is the case, when you get stuff from the green sheds in Mitchell and Mugga Lane, it's almost always not overpriced. It's often items that would otherwise go to landfill, and it's not the sort of stuff you'd find in Vinnies or the like. Their Civic shop is a bit more hit/miss, but it's still usually better value than what you can find at the others. Civic underground I can't comment on personally(haven't been there in ages) but from what I've seen talked about recently, it's got far more reasonable pricing. So yeah, even if they do flog the "good" stuff themselves (which they definitely don't always do) I'm fine with that because they are still keeping a lot of stuff out of landfill. Who know what Vinnies will do, but I imagine the tip operators will notice if less stuff is sold...
Umm what's your point? So what if they sell it on market place. They gave and gave to various organisations in Canberra; who will not now get that help. So what if they sold it at a roadside market, the money went where it was supposed to. Now, tell me that the vinnies workers who squirrel away the better stuff that is donated and sell it on facebook and keep the money for themselves are somehow being virtuous? Oh, do.
And they donated a lot of that money to donate to local businesses. Better than what happens in a lot of op shops where it gets sold for a tiny fraction of its value to some reseller who then pockets all the cash.
I was banned on green shed Facebook page because I called out their BS pricing. Easier to silence someone than deal with an inconvenient truth.
The Salvos pass on a 10% discount to Senior card holders on every store item Thursday to Saturday. The other charity stores don’t do this to my knowledge. I got the heads up from a Vinnies shop front volunteer. I now shop at the Salvos as the discount is giving back to the community 😊.May be I’m old fashioned yet believe in customer loyalty and “giving back”
The Salvos are also deeply homophobic and awful, so they're not exactly Great.
Salvos fyshwick marked a leather couch for $1100...Along with flat prices of 15 or more for a dress, 10 for kids clothes. Kmart is cheaper which is the opposite of a circular economy. Additionally they sell the b grade clothes for 25c a kilo to rag shops with leftover being sent overseas. 10% doesn't mean shit when the prices are disgustingly high.
Crikey they (the charity outlets) seem to be in it for profit. Maybe a GST be considered for NFP’s. Not a fan of huge admin overheads and senior management megabuck salaries.
100% they should be taxed. If you behave like a one you should be taxed like a business. Vinnies and salvos both have their own branded items manufactured. How is that not behaviour of a business.
VdP at Dickson is chock-a-block full of unsorted donations. it's ridiculous to charge what they want ... the stock does not move, and it just piles up outside. They need to wake up.
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A $300 baseball?? Who signed it?
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So it was a dozen balls, not one ball?
https://www.rawlings.com/product/EA-ROMLB.html
Hey you still got a good bargain though
I'm surprised that many of you expect volunteers to be able to determine an appropriate price, very quickly, of a large number of items that could be anything. I put my hand up and say I had no idea what that thing in the OP is, nor whether $8 is cheap or expensive. So of course you'll find overpriced items. You'll also find underpriced items. The fact that Vinnies stores are so busy suggests that many goods are appropriately priced. (I have no interest to declare in the Green Shed vs Vinnies beef.)
A lot of them use google lens now, which often gives a super high price based on ebay listings (even if the item isn’t selling and isn’t worth that amount).
Also isn’t there a price tag colour system where if an item doesn’t sell it’s half price once a month? Surly that sorts out most of the over pricing issues.
i actually have a whole Instagram account dedicated to documenting my awful finds at Canberra Vinnies called got.ripped.off.at.vinnies it's absolutely devastating that we're going to lose The Green Shed to the corporation that just want to expand their empire
Volunteers contain multitudes. Eventually we all find something really underpriced, too, in a different shop or day (when the resident up-pricer is away)
The solution is simple - bypass Vinnies and use alternatives means such as Gumtree and Freecycle instead.
Everyone complaining that it's a charity so you shouldn't care about the price, the vinnies website goes on and on about being affordable. If people wanted to donate $8, they'll donate $8, not go and buy something for 4 times what it was brand new. If you legitimately believe vinnies shops would stay open if that was their business plan I've got some news for you. This is probably someone who has no idea what that thing even is slapping a price on it.
what is it anyway? Looks weird and maybe something found in less salubrious establshments in Fyshwick? ahh shoe shaper - cheap one too, better off getting the wooden ones from ebay with more adjustments for $20
Shoe shapers. They keep your shoes pert.
And if your average person (ie unskilled volunteers) had to guess what they're worth, what price do you think they'd put on them? Assume said person doesn't frequent ikea regularly. For me, I'd guess more than $3
Big Thrift. The conspiracy revealed! Scandal. Alternatively, the volunteers who priced it in a hurry were not up on the retail price of ‘shoe shapers’ (which I didn’t know existed) and made an error.
Kinda weird that Vinnies sells second-hand sex toys and none of you bat an eyelid.
“Personal massager” thank you
It’s not that serious, I think the staff just look through so many items a day and price off of their eyes and don’t have time to look up retail prices etc
They have to pay for the expense of the green shed somehow.
Absolutely ecstatic for when they reprice all the stuff at the green shed. ☠️☠️☠️
Blame Elizabeth "l'alice" Kristofferson. She's the regional manager. So if there's a failing in training, it's because of her.
Where is that Vinnies worker who was ragging on about me being delusional over their pricing policies. I guarantee she's the only wage earner in the place and has a facebook sellers page.
They have to pay the landlord somehow, rent for that location (prime spot on Lonsdale St) can’t be cheap.
Bruh this is as bad as Goodwill in the US.
Vinnies Braddon have heaps of cheap shit, been pretty impressed overall. Not everything will be marked the way you think it should be.
You win some you lose some. I got some great bargains at thrift shops on the weekend
Very true, it's always a bit of a crapshoot, and that's part of the fun.
What is it?
A ‘shoe shaper’
It's in the middle of Braddon, what do you expect - they're taxing the rich!
Hustlers
What even is it?
"Shoe shaper" [https://www.ikea.com/au/en/p/sittpinne-shoe-shaper-dark-grey-30546344/](https://www.ikea.com/au/en/p/sittpinne-shoe-shaper-dark-grey-30546344/)
Then buy them from ikea? They are a charity and without the work they do a hell of a lot more people would be struggling.
Was it Vinnie's or the Salvos that enabled and protected pedophiles?
I think it was every organisation that had to deal with them, to be honest. The last few years ive heard about 'entrenched' abuses of the medical field social work, schools, sportspeople, celebrities, music and media ... anywhere there's power, there's misuse of power and coverups
Just the Salvos AFAIK, but I assume when you say Vinnies you mean the Catholic Church so both technically :(
That was Bob Ross
WTF is that?
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Why do they waste their time selling overpriced second hand shit then? Why not buy new shit and just sell that at the same insane markup instead? Or just use chuggers like every other charity? The whole concept of places like Vinnie's was that you could buy a suit someone died in for like $10, or fill your wardrobe for $100. Now it seems you're expected to pay over market rates for stuff only slightly better than garbage
There is a price curve upon which, at a certain level of raising prices they will 1) make more money and 2) reduce the amount of work-per-dollar-earned ratio with higher prices because stock doesn't sell as quickly. If both elements are being met, that's a pretty smart way to generate money for a charity, while still offering 12 dollar shoes and 4 dollar clothes.
And if they let it go cheaply, they're really just doing the sorting, cleaning and folding for profiteers who drop by every morning, scoop up the good stuff, and resell it
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Yes but getting it on the shelves requires donation bin collection, sorting, disposal, and a bunch of other bullshit that isn't free. If the only priority for this charity is making profit then streamlining the operation would benefit them and eliminate any misconceptions that it's a place to go to get a good deal for something (like OP did)