fb finds

poncho

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Ive noticed an increase I found this for 10p £1 £5.....in the wild finds on fb groups. Then the flood of welldones and wows follow.....

Bollocks!

I reckon most of these finds are lies

social media glory hunters

Or am i just jealous.....
 

maxf

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Of course they are. Palitoy 12bk Leia, 38 years old, moc in a charity shop for 50p? Bull. ****.
 

sith-smith

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Some obviously are and in many cases and intentional joke...possibly to mock the 'finds' other people claim
 

poncho

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sith-smith said:
Some obviously are and in many cases and intentional joke...possibly to mock the 'finds' other people claim
True tbh i skim read most posts, i read a couple of comments then move on.
 

sith-smith

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I do the same.

I keep getting added to so many FB groups that I can't keep up with which one is which...especially as they seem to change their names all the time!
 

stormcab

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I've spoken to many people who work in charity shops, some have done it for many years, and they all say they NEVER see any MOCs or boxed vehicles. Of course it could happen, as if someone passes away, for instance, and the people dealing with their belongings have zero interest, or are too busy, they'll just do a mass dump at a charity shop.
 

Will

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I might be wrong but I always assumed that the larger "chains" of charity shops whisk most of the stuff donated to a hub where people who know what to look for can weed out the valuable stuff like electronic equipment, antiques and vintage Star Wars toys to sell on eBay or via other sources. All the tat that remains is then put back into a van to stock up the stores that are running out of vhs tapes and faded jigsaws

Anyone actually know if this happens or is it really the case that the items that get handed in at a store and put in the shelves based on the pricing guesswork of the people who work there?
 

Joe

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Will said:
I might be wrong but I always assumed that the larger "chains" of charity shops whisk most of the stuff donated to a hub where people who know what to look for can weed out the valuable stuff like electronic equipment, antiques and vintage Star Wars toys to sell on eBay or via other sources. All the tat that remains is then put back into a van to stock up the stores that are running out of vhs tapes and faded jigsaws

Anyone actually know if this happens or is it really the case that the items that get handed in at a store and put in the shelves based on the pricing guesswork of the people who work there?

As far as I know all charity shop branches around the country operate the same way regardless of the charity. People walk in and donate or leave bags of stuff in the doorways overnight and the shop staff sort it, price it and put the stuff out. Even the charity shops that offer a collection service usually just bring it all back to the shop they work at.

Clothing collections where they put bags through your letterbox is probably a bit different, might go to a depot to be sorted and distributed out but if it's donated to the shop it's up to the staff in that particular branch to deal with, whether they know what they are doing or not.
 

chrisfnx

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My wife works in a charity shop. Pretty much most stuff of value eg lego, consoles, lps gets sent to a main warehouse. After this it gets sold on ebay or other ways. Clothes will be sort for weight, if they cant be sold in store. I dont think she has ever seen any vintage star wars in store.
 

Will

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So I guess that even if there is a warehouse to sort valuable things it still relies on the people in the store to decide what to send there. "Toys" will almost certainly not be perceived to be valuable unless they really know their stuff so it's quite likely that any vintage stuff that was handed in would end up in that store
 

lejackal

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Having done voluntary work before the items donated get checked by the staff, books are scanned or searched on Amazon for anything valuable, say over £10, and clothes with labels are sent on to be either sold on ebay or for some charities they go to boutique type shops.
They also send off other items that they think might be more valuable but it is reliant on someone recognising an item or having a hunch.
 

lejackal

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chrisfnx said:
My wife works in a charity shop. Pretty much most stuff of value eg lego, consoles, lps gets sent to a main warehouse. After this it gets sold on ebay or other ways. Clothes will be sort for weight, if they cant be sold in store. I dont think she has ever seen any vintage star wars in store.
I should've read this first before writing my post.
 

chrisfnx

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No worries lejackal. My wife said some of the older workers see most toys as rubbish, or of no use. Some of the stuff she has said gets thrown away is a bit weird, considering some of the tat try to sell!
 

Robstyley

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Ive been a long time charity shopper since my late teens. I've found a lot of good stuff over the years, including vintage toys, but with ebay and the internet people have become much more savvy, including the charity shops and they either charge a lot more for good stuff or it gets snapped up really quick. I don't do it so much now but in 20+ years I have only ever seen vintage SW a few times. Best I ever got was a minty white loose Stormtrooper for £1 but that was about 10 years ago. I have had many chats with charity shop staff and generally stuff does just come in, they price it, then put it out. Sometimes they get it completely wrong - I pointed out to a lady in a charity shop in Crawley recently she had priced some blu-rays too cheap, £1.50 each and they were all sealed. I told her she could charge twice that, she didn't know what they were, she was very grateful and let me have 2 at £1.50 each. In my experience, unless people are visiting 30 charity shops every day 5 days a week they ain't finding any vintage, it's bullshit.
 

Mr-shifter

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We have been visiting charity shops loads recently. There's rarely anything of value in there because they are so clued up and the Internet makes it very easy. But then again, surely that's a good thing? If they get an antique dinner set in that they eBay and it pays a hospice carers wages for a year then I'm all for it.

What we have found them brilliant for is babies/kids clothes. Especially ones for nursery and messing about in.
 

starshipriot

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The best I found on fb was on a local sales page where I used to live. A lady was selling an AT-AT and I messaged asking if she had more. Ended up getting an R2D2 pop up lightsaber for 70.00.

My ex used to work in a charity shop a few years ago and stuff got sorted out under the shop in the cellar. I managed to get a set of 4 A-team figures for a couple of quid as she was sorting stuff out. Ive also bagged a few rare pc games from charity shops. I think everywhere now, everyone has internet on their phones meaning everyone knows whats worth what, so bargains come up less often.

The other day, a lady was selling a sega master system on fb for sales so I enquired as to how much she wanted and she wanted 40 quid as "they go for that on ebay". Annoyed me a bit. Like if you want ebay prices, pay your ebay fees like everyone has to. I would rather pay the same ammount without having to wander around a housing estate trying to find the right house, instead getting it posted to.me for the same price!
 

edd_jedi

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The last vintage item I saw in a charity shop was a boxed AT-ST in Oxfam about 10 years ago. The shop was closed and I could see it on a shelf. Went back the next morning and it was gone :(

I find it very hard to believe that any decent vintage still turns up in charity shops or boot sales.
 
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