Charity Shops Using the Internet to Obtain Higher Prices

Charity Shops such as Oxfam have now started to use the Internet in order to sell items such as clothing, antiques and books. They are using sites such as eBay in order to address a larger audience and ensure higher prices. The bidding nature of eBay ensures that charities are getting the highest price possible when compared to the knock down prices set in charity shops where prices will only be haggled down. The Charity Retail Association announced that not only will this continue to increase year on year, as it already has with a 123% increase since 2008, but that it's already accounting for 3-5% of total donations.

Charities are seemingly becoming more and more sophisticated about their retail operations, selling through internet outlets, their own websites and expanding store their numbers thanks to cheap rent from the current high vacancy rates. It is reported that there are now 8,500 charity shops across Britain, a 28% from June 2009.

Despite these impressive figures Charities are also reporting that they are struggling to compete with commercial retailers on the internet, citing a lack of computer equipment and skilled staff. Despite this report it is likely that Charities will start to orientate themselves more with e-commerce as they continue to see the financial benefits whereby in years to come we may see a large shift to internet charity shopping and a decline in charity shops, despite the current increase in shop numbers.