Oxfam charity shop criticised by customer for selling coat for £499
'Oxfam are getting greedy,' said one customer of the Burberry jacket
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Your support makes all the difference.Oxfam has been criticised as "greedy" after a customer found a coat with a price tag of £499 at a shop in Princetown in Devon.
Ginny Rich, 46, found the Burberry jacket in her local charity shop and thought she had stumbled upon a bargain, until she saw the price.
Ms Rich says although the label said the item was “brand new” there were no tags on it to show that it was new.
She explained: “I know Burberry coats can cost £1,000 new but when we saw it we were laughing. The coat didn’t even look new.
“Charity shops are for the kind of people who can’t afford to buy a new coat – and if you were a millionaire who can afford a designer label, you wouldn’t go into a charity shop – you’d want the most up-to-date fashion.”
Ms Rich said she didn’t think the pricing “added up” because she wasn’t in “London or Oxford”.
The jacket selected by Ms Rich wasn’t the only expensive example in the store either – there was another Burberry jacket priced at £329.
A retail assistant, who said they work in a different Oxfam shop, responded to the picture saying: “We very kindly get sent clothing from brands like this and price them at a third of their retail value, a bargain for those who would like brand new designer stuff and an amazing contribution to help people.”
Another person who also said they volunteered for Oxfam, said: “It is a cashmere jacket. Check online and see what its retail price is. It is such a bargain [sic].”
But others agreed with Ms Rich that the pricing wasn’t justified. One said: “Oxfam prices are getting ridiculous. I used to love it but go to the other shops now.”
Another said: “Oxfam are getting greedy. Maybe if they want those prices they need to sell on an auction site.
A spokesperson for Oxfam told The Independent: "We’re very grateful for every donation we receive and are lucky that this sometimes includes designer items.
"We maximise the money we raise from donations by selling them at a fair price. Our volunteers are trained in pricing so people can be assured not a penny of their donation goes to waste.
"We work hard to raise as much money as possible from the items given to us to support our work fighting poverty around the world, including helping people left homeless by the recent cyclone in the Philippines or those without food or clean water in the conflict in Yemen."
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