today we're going to be talking about

buying secondhand items because i think

it's quite an interesting topic and it's

something that is becoming more and more

common every day so the most common way

What are charity shops

to buy secondhand items in the past

was in charity shops which are called

thrift stores in the united states

charity shops are shops where

second-hand closed books pieces of

furniture and other items are sold in

order to raise money for a specific

cause

some of the charities raise money for

the elderly or for research such as age

uk british heart foundation

and cancer research uk

whereas others collect funds for animal

shelters for example

normally people donate the things that

they no longer want to or use so that

the charity shop can resell the products

according to the charity retail

Statistics

association there are more than 11 000

charity shops in the uk

and over 180 000 people

volunteer to keep these shops running

these shops are quite high if we compare

them to those of other countries and if

you've ever been to the uk you would

have seen a lot of them on the high

stream so you won't be surprised when i

tell you that 3.6

of retail units in the uk are charity

shops

Affordable

one of the main reasons why people buy

second-hand items is because it's much

more affordable if we compare it to

buying brand new products

the average price of a clothed thing

item in a british charity shop

is three pounds 90 for women and four

pounds for men in euros that's 450 for

women

and 460 for men

i'm not sure about the prices of clothes

where you live but in europe the

cheapest plain

and simple t-shirt in a standard clothes

shop is normally around six euros so it

works out a lot cheaper to buy

secondhand items

Protect the planet

another reason why people choose to buy

second-hand products is because they

want to protect the planet

according to the charity retail

association british charity shops saved

339 000 tons from being disposed of

which means thrown away

in 2018 and 2019.

so if people hadn't donated these items

all of it would have been

incinerated or sent to a landfill

plus not only would we lose all those

products if people didn't buy second

hand we would also have

made others buy brand new products

so in the end we would use double the

amount of resources and we would also be

polluting our planet even more by adding

to landfills

Online secondhand shops

nowadays there are also online

secondhand shops like

ebay depop vinted gumtree or even

facebook marketplace

the main difference between charity

shops and these websites or apps

is that individual sellers can advertise

their products and the money that is

earned from the sales goes to the seller

not to a charity

this way of buying and selling has

become quite popular because you can get

rid of the things that you no longer

need or use and you can also get some

money from it

Variety

one of the aspects that i most like

about apps like vintage or depop is that

there is a lot of variety as people from

all over europe can sell their products

on on the same platform

i've bought quite

a few dresses and blouses

from people from other countries and the

postage costs aren't too bad

as it normally costs around four euros

or five euros to send it

How to sell

if you're selling something and somebody

buys your product on one of these

platforms uh the only thing that you

have to do is to print the label stick

it onto the parcel and take it to a

local pickup point

so this can be hairdressers a

shop

or even a chemist

then when the parcel arrives at its

destination the buyer receives an email

telling them that it's available to be

collected so it's very straightforward

process and it has the advantage of

offering a wider variety of products and

styles if we compare it to charity shops

or even standard clothes shops because a

lot of the times when i go to a

clothes shop i'm looking for something

and i can never find it but when i look

on vintage for example or gumtree

or depop

you can filter by color by size and by

condition

Conclusion

so today we have talked about the

benefits of buying second-hand items

instead of buying brand new ones

i know that some people despite it being

so popular and beneficial for everyone

and the planet still think that buying

second-hand products is for poor people

or they just think it's disgusting and

dirty but i truly believe that you can

save a lot of money while still getting

the same quality of product

and also protect the environment at the

same time

so what do you think do you think that

buying second-hand products is a good

idea or do you think that if you can

afford it and if you can buy it brand

new you should buy things brand new

or so have you ever bought anything

secondhand so please let me know