How to Plan a Charity Shop Run

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Wait! What? Why?

Every charity shop visit I do is strictly business (unless they have a nice CD range). Because of this, each venture out is conducted like a mission. There's a plan on how to enter, an escape route and plenty of code words between myself and my team member(s). It has to be this way because around my way, they're cutthroat environment.

When I enter a charity shop, it's to treasure hunt for flippable goods to put on eBay, Amazon and maybe elsewhere. Some are properly filled with them. If you're looking for clothes, most will have bits from high street shops like Topshop and River Island. You can often find bundleable DVDs and CD. Cameras often crop up. Toys. Small electrical. Trinkets. All sorts. You know what charity shops are like. With all of this chaos, coupled with lots of others hunting for goodies, you have to enter with a game plan.

Treasure hunting is the fun part of reselling. All of the online arbitrage with FBA Wizard Pro is for the cash flow, but I love to mix it up with boot sale and charity shop rummaging. This is where most of the talking point flips happen.

The Points

Here's how I prepare each charity shop run:

#1 – Locations. Am I staying local, or are we going for a journey to a different town for a change? If so, is the charity shop run part of the trip or is it the main attraction. If it's the reason we're going, I have to make sure there are at least five to explore. Any less and there's a chance I could go home empty handed.

#2 – Route. These runs are usually planned the day before, in which case we have to consider when they open, when they are likely to have new drop offs and so on. This dictates the route – which end of the high street we start on, where to park and so on.

#3 – Food. If I'm leaving the house to hunt for goodies all day, I need to know that I'm going to be refuelled at some point. There's obviously going to be somewhere with food nearby, but I'm fussy and fussy and hungry don't get along.

#4 – Cash. I don’t like to get caught short. You never know when a great opportunity may spring up. Of course, I can get more on the high street, but it’s good to have a bit of change too.

#5 – Briefing. If it's a tag team affair, we need to know what we're in there for. What items are of interest. What we're avoiding, because of bad past experiences. What code words mean we have a winner or a loser. All of that stuff.

Got It?

Have you got a routine for charity shop trips, or are yours just done whenever you happen to be on the high street? Do you think this is OTT? Have you witnessed this in action from other buyers?