Charity shop treasure

bornwina
Join the Club.
Not quite true. I've picked up some really interesting stuff but the thing is I would't have looked at it at fullprice.
For instance in really good condition at 3 for $10.
David Bowie.. " Lets Dance"
Culture Club.. " Colour by Numbers"
Eurythmics... " Revenge"
Great listening, Good value. They're out there somewhere.

Never search for something specific. I have picked up a number of near mint lps for a pittance.

Charity shops are like a box of chocolates, you never know what your gonna get

Chaps

I find this thread rather sad.

Charity shops are set up to raise money for charity, cancer reseach etc. I have a friend who is currently dying from this filthy disease and yet your main preoccupation is buying a top dollar record for pennies.

Not a pleasant reflection on human nature is it.

Regards

Mick

Mick
Neither is the fact that research and development into possible innovations in its treatment requires charity shops support to fund it.

Bob

Chaps

I find it somewhat sad that reasonably affluent people walk into a charity shop, keeping their fingers crossed, that they will pay pennies for something worth pounds.

Regards

Mick

Gerard

Obviously not. I thought that charity shops raised money for charity and deserving causes.

I now realise it is a picking ground.

Thanks for making me street wise.

Regards

Mick

Mike,We should ask you to go on the advisory board for charity shops so that they always get the right price for any hidden treasures. It might also interest you that shop lifting or stealing is rife in these shops as quite a lot of people believe that donated goods should be given away.
If we do what you suggest we would always offer more than the goods are worth to ensure ultimate propiety in the transaction.
Mrs Lomo having been raised in the Far East would never counternance this worthy approach.

I did once find a mint LP of "The Night The Light Went Out in Long Beach" by ELO - a live recording that I believe was never released in the UK and it was "the one LP" that a friend had been looking for all his life! I paid £3.00 for it and sold it to him at cost

Computers are supposed to work on 1's and 0's - in other words "Yes" or "No" - why does mine frequently say "Maybe"?......

Lomo

There was a whinge on another forum a couple of months ago when Oxfam latched on to the fact that some LP's were sought after and the price sticker of 99p was replaced by £4.99. This is now done country wide.

I would have no qualms in buying something at a low price off you but I drawn the line at ripping off shops who exist to do some good.

Bob Mccluckie made the point that these causes dont not get sufficient support from the Government which indicates just how important these shops are and why their revenue is so important.

Buying a LP worth £10.00 from a charity shop for 50p and being pleased about about shows a sad side of humanity.

Regards

Mick

Some shops have now begun to price their albums as per Record Collector Guide. BHF is one. Unfortunately they only seem to have found the price page and not the condition one. After finding a couple of albums in poor condition priced @ £7-12 I mentioned to the guy serving they were very overpriced "his reply we had them profesionally valued and they are still selling" "not to me I said" and left.
BTW most of those albums are still in the shop.

Mick shut up!

Howard

Howard

Howard

You said

"BTW most of those albums are still in the shop."

But when they do sell (and they will) the profit to the charity will be maximised and that is far more important than boosting your record collection on the cheap.

You need to examine your conscience.

Regards

Mick

Mick, they WON'T sell. I was in town yesterday and did a trawl of the charity shops. The small piles of records in each were full of Andy Williams, Barbara Striesand and Mantovani LPs, mostly in terrible condition.

I make regular payments to a charity and contribute what and when I think fit. FWIW both my parents died of cancer and my brother in law is being treated for the disease now.

Maybe it was my use of the word 'pittance' that riled you.

When I buy a second hand LP from a charity shop for, say £2, that is what it is worth. They are not rare first pressings of Beatles albums or anything worth real money, they are probably worth about £2. Something is only worth what people are prepared to pay for it.

They are NOT selling though so no profit there.
There is nothing wrong with my consience.

Its still about value to the customer, charities paid nothing for them so it's nearly all profit to them.

You forget there are no listening facilties in the shops so all purchases are "on spec". Unlike the clothes etc. So a reasonable price should take this into account.

Howard

p.s. Following on from Howard's point. When I've bought records that look ok but sound like the kids' breakfast cereal I have never returned the lp and demanded my money back, just accepted that I'd made a donation to the charity.

If its crap can always donate it back to the shop.

I'm feeling guilty now because yesterday I went into the cancer research shop in Wokingham and bought an immaculate Mono black/yellow Parlophone "With The Beatles " for £10.

Regards

Mike

Spending money I don't have on things I don't need.

Well said seagull.
Lucky Mike, charity now has £10 more. You can always make a donaton next time to ease your guilt.
Shame it wasn't a decent album though.

Howard

Seagull

You said

"Andy Williams, Barbara Striesand and Mantovani LPs, mostly in terrible condition.

Yes I agree and you wouldn't buy them even if they were offered for 10p.

What I find distasteful, is someone going in and expecting to buy a rarity for 99p and then even worse, coming on here and gloating about it.

I suspect a large percentage are up on Ebay the very same day.

Regards

Mick

quote:

---

Originally posted by blythe:
I did once find a mint LP of "The Night The Light Went Out in Long Beach" by ELO - a live recording that I believe was never released in the UK and it was "the one LP" that a friend had been looking for all his life! I paid £3.00 for it and sold it to him at cost

Computers are supposed to work on 1's and 0's - in other words "Yes" or "No" - why does mine frequently say "Maybe"?......

---

Yes it was released in the UK (bloody awful recording) and made it onto CD which surprisingly sounded better. A gem - if that's what floats your boat.

As for Mick's rather off beam observations, my wish for an ignore function is negated by the fact he's obviously very upset about his friend. If it was me I wouldn't puke about it in public but I sympathise none the less.

Cheers

Harry

Harry

My friend has been ill for 9 months and to be frank the end will be a merciful release.

My posting had nothing to do with that at all.

I just find it sad that people can feel good about buying stuff well below market value when the charity is a more deserving case.

I think we have different sets of values, so lets leave it there.

People, people..

go in and give money..

got a mint '64 copy of Pelleas and Melisande, boxed set on Decca for £7.99. Gave a tenna, told them to keep the change. Also picked up Ives' Concord Sonata, mint for £2. Local public school selling off its record collection, apparently. Rich pickings, good causes. Seems ok to me.

Kevin

Found a boxed set of Schubert Lieder on 15 LP's by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Gerald Moore, in mint condition. And another boxed set of complete Brahms symphonies & concertos with the Vienna Philharmonic under Wilhelm Furtwängler, the soloists being Edwin Fischer and Yehudi Menuhin. Well, an italian EMI pressing but who will complain ?

By the way Edwin Fischer's interpretation of the second Brahms Concerto is, technically speaking, the worst I ever heard, nevertheless it is simply one of the most moving performances of any Brahms piece ever recorded.

And all that hype about going to charity shops or not is no more than hypocritical bullshit.

Cheese

Can I just say that I would never had gone into a charity shop if wasn't for the fact that they sell 2nd hand vinyl.

Oxfam in Safron Walden sell LPs at around £3 each, and turn over quite a few so there is always new stuff to look through. However, Oxfam in Cambridge put their price up to £5 when they learned that a specialist 2nd hand record shop closed down. They don't turn over nearly as many LPs because most are the "same old rubbish". Oxfam should be praised for selling cheap vinyl. Who cares if occasionally a "collectable" item is under priced. The fact that people might just find that treasure keeps them going back.

Mike, chill out. I think you took a bit too high a higher moral ground on this one, hence the response you got from most people who, I think, you pretty much offended.

Regards all,
matt

There are masses of LPs for sale in charity shops over here too.

If you really want to get on your high horses consider the secondhand record shop owners who endlessly cruise the charity shops. The £1-3 charity shop sprice suddenly becomes anything up to ten times the price!

It's just the same with books. I know that mixed secondhand shops and secondhand bookshop dealers cruise the charity shops. Because I recognise them on my travels round the charity shops.

I only buy CDs in good condition from charity shops myself. Tempting pop LPs have always proved to be unplayable without professional cleaning.

I often see single and boxed sets of classical LPs sitting unwanted in charity shops for years on end. Either classical record collectors don't visit or there is simply no demand.

Charity shops are a valuable resource. If they priced their goods at secondhand retail they would need experts at pricing and nothing would ever move off the shelves and racks.

They need the turnover or the customer base just shrinks and shrinks. I know a number of charity shops that rarely have customers and rarely have anything new.

My advise to those who find a valuable item or something exciting is to simply pay more than the asking price. Or just do as everyone else does. Pay the asking price and leave with genuine and grateful thanks and a smile for the voluntary staff.

They are too used to the miserable antique dealers bargaining the charity shop prices even lower. Before driving straight to the auction houses with their finds. I recognise quite a few of the antique dealers too on my travels.

Nime

"Buying a LP worth £10.00 from a charity shop for 50p and being pleased about about shows a sad side of humanity"

I don't agree at all. I've bought hundreds of CDs and LPs from charity shops over the years 90% of the time knowing they aren't worth 10p. So why not be happy when you get a bargain.

My charity shop collection overall certainly isn't worth what I've paid for it and I'd also never sell any of it on. Plus I always empty my pockets of change into the collection box.

So take a Rennie and calm down. The charities are doing alright by the vast majority of us.

Jonathan

Mick,

No offense and all that, but you really do come across as a self righteous buffoon. "Rip off charity shops and gloat about it on here" - where do you get your ideas from? You know nothing of my policy when it comes charity shop purchases or any other matter so please save me the lecture.

Jeremy