City charity shop uses Trade Me

JOHN HAWKINS/The Southland Times

ANOTHER MAN'S TREASURE: Hospice Southland shop manager Malcolm Johnson and support service co-ordinator Olivia Joblin with some donated items they sell on internet trading site Trade Me.

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A southern charity shop is using the internet to get better deals for the people it helps.

Some Hospice Southland shop donors will be surprised to realise just how valuable their bits and pieces prove to be, and trading on the internet site Trade Me is boosting funding needed for Hospice Southland.

The charity shop in Gala St has done well for the past three years but doubly well since former insurance adviser Malcolm Johnson took over the reins a year ago.

It had been, he said, a very steep learning curve but one that had paid off.

"We found we needed a wider catchment to sell some pieces and we have found it in Trade Me," he said.

It started off with a pair of figurines, which had sat under their $40 price tag for ages in the shop. So on a whim Mr Johnson photographed and put them on Trade Me, where they sold for several hundred dollars to a buyer who appreciated their value.

Using the name Spice 31 (hoSpice) they put interesting, old or unusual pieces on the site three nights a week, at any one time having 15 pieces reaching a prospective thousands-strong customer base.

They find themselves meeting the needs of collectors of everything from bone china to salt and pepper shakers.

Right now a small piece of Blue Mountain Pottery in the shape of a kangaroo is attracting bids over the $100 mark, with days of bidding ahead.

It is an unusual piece, and collectable, but would probably sell for less than $10 in the shop.

Interestingly enough, items were sometimes on-sold on Trade Me weeks later, Mr Johnson noted.

Southlanders give good support to the Hospice shop, donating surplus goods and preparing material for sale.

An electrician gives his time to check appliances and a city jeweller appraises items when they come in, donating batteries to slow-moving watches and clocks.

The shop has a volunteer staff of 50 working on different days to ensure there that there are enough people available to pick up donated goods, work at the shop and press and pack items collected.

Sometimes a houselot is donated to the shop.

"Then we empty out and wash all the containers and if it is Tupperware they are a good sale item, full sets being a Trade Me job and odd pieces going quickly in the shop."

Newspapers are collected daily, shredded finely and then packed into the glass, crystal, pottery or fine china cavity of an item being collected by a courier service for delivery to the successful bidder on a Trade Me auction, who might be anywhere from Bluff to Brisbane.

"We do have a good reputation on Trade Me and we treasure it. Packaging is an important part of the deal," Mr Johnson said.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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