Yesterday louise asked on Facebook whether buying stuff from charity shops to re sell (on Depop etc) was ‘okay’. Today, big long post in response to the comments. Specifically the bit in bold:
DRAMA ALERT (read all the way down). Oh my gawd over FOUR HUNDRED comments on yesterday's 'is reselling from charity shops ok?' post! I have some thoughts I wanted to share!
1. Thanks for being such good eggs. I thought your comments were well thought out, chunky and even though some of you had opposing opinions, for the most part it was all respectfully said - that's rare on the interwebs so go us for being decent humans yanno!
2. It was really interesting to hear from people who actually work in or manage charity shops! The vast majority said they actually welcomed resellers because they spend so much in store, providing valuable cash for the charity. They also said that as long as they are paying the asked for price, they have no issue. If people haggle down the price in store, that is a no-no for them. I think that's fair!
3. Many of you pointed out how much work it actually is to be a reseller. Getting out, finding valuable things, cleaning/restoring, posing them for photos, editing, listing, packaging, posting etc. That's a lot! I can easily see that taking up full time job hours. I'm obsessed with the youtube channel, The Recycled Life, and they showcase all of this so well, definitely worth checking out, looks SO FUN! (I've talked about them so many times now they'll think I'm a cringe megafan lol).
4. A *lot* of you felt that once you have bought something from a charity shop, it's yours to do whatever you want with and had no issue with someone selling it. Sort of a 'you do you' attitude. I'm onboard with that.
5. A few people felt that if you make a profit, you are cheating the charity shop. This was countered with people saying that it is up the to charity shop to set it's prices and if they want to set them higher or sell online themselves, they can. Both good points right?
6. One woman got in a bit of an insta tizzy and said 'shame on you Louise Pentland' in her stories and felt I was attacking her and her community for making a living reselling because I'd shared and article that is against it. I have also shared youtube channels who promote and celebrate reselling but maybe she didn't see that. Let me be clear - I think it's important and interesting to have open discussions, it's ok to talk about both sides of a coin. Her followers have described me as an 'hole' and suggested I should support self employed people more.
I'm fine with reselling. I'm so fine with it I actually have a spot in a vintage shop to sell beautiful little things myself! (Fun fact for you there- more on this in future content when we can actually go into shops etc!) If you are a reseller, go you and your resourcefulness. If you want to have a pop at me online and call me an a-hole, well, I'm sorry for you I guess. Not really sure how to help there haha!
I'm never the gal who's going to attack a community or start an online drama. I will stand up for myself though if I feel someone is misinformed or rude.
Who knew out of all the things we've talked about over the years, this would be such a topic! Love it! I'll leave a link to the YT channel that if you like thrifting, you will LUURRVVEE!
What do you think of all this? DARE I EVEN BLEDDY ASK???
(Apologies for any typos, am typing in a hurry!) xxx
I don’t get it. Her bringing attention to the mean comments, I mean. Like, she said ‘I think it’s important to have open discussions’. So surely part of that comes with letting go of the bad stuff on her side, too?
Maybe for that woman to call her an
hole is a bit OTT, but, negative comments come with the territory, as a creator she should know that by now - so why bother bringing it up? I don’t know, maybe I’m not articulating my point very well - but considering she had so many positive comments she seemed to dedicate a fair amount of time dwelling on that bad comment?
I wonder if she asked the woman to skype her so they could have a chat about it