Time to declutter?

Do something great with your unused or unwanted items by donating to Vinnies. Every item donated has the power to change lives and the planet!

By donating your quality clothing, books, furniture and homewares to your local Vinnies you can make a positive impact in two ways:

  1. You'll be helping people doing it tough in your local community.

  2. You'll be saving the environment by keeping quality clothes and homewares out of landfill.

Thank you!

How to donate

Making a donation is easy…and it feels good too!

  1. Keep or give: go through your items at home and create a 'keep' and a 'give' pile. Of course, we are unable to accept donations that are in un-sellable condition. This includes goods that are ripped, stained, soiled or broken. You can learn more about the donations we can and can not accept below.

  2. Box it up: pack up your quality donations ready to drop in-store.

  3. Bring it in: drop off your items during opening hours. You can call ahead to check we’re open. We can also arrange collection for larger items.

  4. Get thrifty: while you’re in-store why not find some new treasures. Your purchase will support Wellingtonian’s in need.

Please donate during shop opening hours. Leaving donations outside may result in items being damaged or stolen. Damaged items often end up in the landfill, at our cost.

What can I donate?

If you wouldn’t buy it, don’t donate it.

Vinnies are truly grateful for the community’s generous donations. Most people provide us with fantastic items for our stores, but too often we’re left with people’s rubbish, or items that are stained, dirty and/or broken. That means Vinnies must cover the cost of disposing of those items, which in turn takes money away from supporting Wellingtonians in need. The following information is intended to provide you with some helpful ‘do’s’ and ‘don’t’ for donating. Thank you for your support.

  • Vinnies welcomes the donation of good quality men's, women's, children’s and baby clothes.

    Do

    • Donate items in good condition, without rips or stains.

    • Donate quality shoes, bags and accessories.

    • Put your clean, unwanted items in a bag and bring them in to your local Vinnies store during opening hours.

    Don’t

    • Don't include items that have holes or are stained.

    • Don't include items that are soiled or dirty. Perhaps you could give them a wash first?

    • Don’t leave donations out the front of shops when the shop is closed. View our store locations and opening hours.

  • Vinnies welcomes the donation of quality furniture. If you wish we can organise a collection. All you need to do is call the store or complete our online booking form.

    Do

    • Donate good quality furniture that can be sold or given to families in need.

    Don’t

    • Don’t donate any wooden furniture with active borer or anything with significant borer damage.

    • Don’t donate damaged or broken furniture - if you wouldn’t buy it, don’t donate it.

    • Don’t donate slat beds, water beds or stained mattresses.

    • Don’t donate filing cabinets without keys (these don’t sell).

    • Don’t leave donations out the front of shops when the shop is closed as these items are often stolen or damaged. You can view our shop location and opening hours here.

    We may accept the following items if they are in good working condition and we don’t already have too many in-store. Please contact the store before donating the following:

    • TV cabinets.

    • Bed bases without a mattress.

    • Mattress without a base.

    • Large wall units.

    • Desks over 1.8m in length.

  • Vinnies welcomes the donation of quality homewares and bric-a-brac.

    Homewares can include cutlery, crockery, tableware, plasticware, vases, manchester and other general items.

    Bric-a-brac includes collectibles and unusual items: photo frames, records, CD’s and DVD’s – think what you’d love to find at a market or garage sale and that's the type of bric-a-brac we'd love to receive.

    Do

    • Donate good quality homewares and bric-a-brac.

    • Donate clean and good quality manchester and bedding.

    • Put your clean, unwanted items in a bag or box and bring them in to your local Vinnies shop during opening hours.

    Don’t

    • Don’t leave donations out the front of shops when the shop is closed. View our shop locations and opening hours here.

    Please be aware that due to health, safety and hygiene issues Vinnies Wellington is not able to accept the following items:

    • electrical appliances wit a split power cord.

    • Electric blankets.

    • Fan heaters.

    • LPG heaters and gas bar-be-ques.

  • Vinnies welcomes the donation of quality books: fiction, non-fiction, and children’s books are happily accepted.

    Do

    • Donate good quality books.

    • Put your books in a bag or box and bring them in to your local Vinnies store during opening hours.

    Don’t

    • Don’t leave donations out the front of shops when the shop is closed. These books often get stolen or damaged.

    • Don’t donate magazines which are more than two-years old, unless they are vintage (pre-1985). We find old magazines don’t sell and we then need to find a way to dispose of them. We suggest checking with a local school to see if they’re wanted for art projects instead.

    • Don’t donate Encyclopedia sets before speaking with us as often we are unable to sell them.

  • Vinnies can accept some electrical items and clean white ware provided they are in good working order. Before selling these items each must be electrically tested for safety. We will happily accept donations to cover this cost.

    Do

    • Contact your local Vinnies store before donating electrical items or whiteware.

    • Donate quality items which are clean and work well.

    • Consider making a small donation to cover the electrical testing.

    Don’t

    • Don’t donate items which are missing components, are broken or not working correctly, or anything with a split power cord.

    • Don’t donate dirty or smelly whiteware or electronics.

    • Don’t donate electrical items that don’t have the proper charger included.

    • Don’t donate analogue TVs.

    • Donate wall ovens or stoves as these can not be tested before sale.

    • Donate computers, scanners or printers as these items do not sell in our stores.

  • We are unable to accept donations that are in un-sellable condition. This includes goods that are ripped, stained, soiled or broken.

    There are also some items that we can not accept due to health, safety and/or hygiene issues. These items include:

    • Damaged electrical appliances, including anything with a split cord.

    • Electric blankets.

    • Fan heaters.

    • LPG heaters, gas bottles or gas bar-be-ques.

    • Wall ovens or stoves.

    • Car seats or baby capsules.

    • Cots or bassinets that do not meet the NZ Safety Standards or which are damaged or incomplete.

    • Water beds.

    • Chemicals.

    We do not accept the following items because of the difficulty in selling these:

    • Computers, printers and scanners

    • Analogue televisions.

    • Filing cabinets without keys.

  • Please contact us before donating the following items. These items may be taken if we have space, they are in good working order and if we don’t already have too many in store:

    • TV cabinets

    • Bed bases without a mattress

    • Mattress without a base.

    • Large wall units.

    • Desks over 1.8m in length.

    • Encyclopedia sets

    • Capet

    • Second-hand paint.

    • Cots or baby bassinets.

    • Children’s car seats and baby capsules. (Note: we can not accept these if they are expired or have been in an accident.)

Frequently Asked Questions: Op shops

Why donate?

The proceeds from Vinnies op shops go directly towards funding our social services which are provided free to people experiencing poverty and hardship. Not only that, but through our shops we’re able to provide practical assistance to people in need by providing clothing, homewares and furniture at no or low cost.

How are your shops run?

Vinnies op shops are mainly run by a hard-working and dedicated group of friendly volunteers, supported by a shop manager. We are extremely grateful to the support of Vinnies op shop volunteers - we simply couldn’t do it without them! Click here for information about joining our volunteer team.

How are items priced?

Items are priced by our volunteers in conjunction with our shop manager and store pricing policy which is based on the condition and quality of each item. We always try to ensure items are priced affordably, however we also have a responsibility to price goods at a rate that allows us to help many people as possible through our social services. Finding a balance between those two requirements can sometimes be hard but we try our very best to get it right.

When we receive a rare or unique item, we thoroughly research its potential value. We never want to over-price items, but we are mindful of fair value and careful not to under-price unique and valuable items.

What about people who can't afford to shop in your op shops?

Our goal is to offer quality, pre-loved clothing and household items at affordable prices. We do however recognise that many people are simply unable to afford basic clothing and household items. In these circumstances we are able to work with people suffering severe financial disadvantage – giving them access to the items they need - free of charge.