Can I sell my used clothes in Poland?

Hi,
Since I am coming back to my country,I am organizing my stuff.I don't want to bring back some clothes that I brought here,so I am thinking to throw away...but my friend told me that used clothes shop will buy my clothes.Do all the shops buy or is there any sign that I can see they are buying?

Thanks for any info :)

A lot of Poles have success on allegro.pl, but it may not be worth setting up an account etc. just to sell used clothes. You may also look up 'komis' in your area - they should accept good quality clothes too (locally).

I might be interested In Used underwear or panties.im a maturę aged british english teacher living In Warsaw,currently In Armenia And be Back next week.please post Hour contact And ill be In touch Thanks In advance

@Old Harold PM me

What is komis?Do any used clothes shop buy or depending on shops?

Komis is a shop buying and selling second-hand goods. This name isn't though rather used for such shops with clothes. There can be for example "komis samochodowy" which sells second-hand cars. Or a "komis" trading electronic appliances, e.g. mobile phones, audio equipement and so on.

I don't know if the second-hand shops in Poland buy clothes. They usually import them from the western-European countries. You can often see on them a sign "odzież zachodnia" - "clothes from the west". Such shops are called in Polish "lumpeks" or "ciuchland".

Thank you.I am also thinking giveaway.I see brue huge boxes on the street which looks like a bin that is written something but all I could understand was "trebki(bags?) These boxes are for giveaway?

There are recycling bins for clothes, but they aren't the best place to put good ones in.

Are you in Warsaw, Shizuka? If yes, why not take them to the Sue Ryder shop on ul. Bagatela? Just off plac. Unii Lubelskie.

If you leave them there, they will sell them and the money from the sale helps to pay for a special home they operate in Piaseczno for old people and disabled people.

In the past many of them used to belong to a charity (if I am not mistaken, the Polish Red Cross), now it's usually so that the clothes from there get to second-hand shops.

That's the theory, kpc21. In reality, 99% of what goes in there is unusable so the contents aren't even sorted (officially anyway). It all goes straight to be shredded for industrial use and sold by the ton.

Hence the Sue Ryder shop being a much better choice.

You know what? You should not sell your used up clothes (and possibly worn out) but give them to the poor Polish families. You don't have to be a stingy westerner.

Actually, I have a great idea for you, why don't place your used clothes at an auction, maybe you will make more cash for yourself.

You could donate them to the Sue Ryder shop in Warsaw. It's the only charity shop, as far as I know, in the style of the British Isles where the proceeds go to help people in need. But I'm sure if you approach a priest he could advise you about how to get them directly to the needy.


Shizuka doesn't sound like a Western name. And actually Ktos Westerners are far more charitable than Poles. That's not Poland's fault, that's a legacy of Communism and the type of society it created and hopefully it will change in time,but it is a fact that ordinary people in the West on the whole do far more to fund raise, donate, volunteer and directly help others etc than Poles.

I live in Lublin,I am Japanese.I dont care give-away or selling.I just don't want to waste my clothes because they are in good condition.Even if I sell them,it will not be good money in Poland so I don't care.

I just want to reduce stuff to come back to Japan.I brought too much stuff from Japan because I expected I would live in Poland for many years.But I don't want to live here any longer.

Anyway,if somebody know the places I can give away or sell in Lublin,please let me know :)

Thanks in advance.

That's a bit too far from the Sue Ryder shop, however there are two national charities WOŚP (not religious) and Caritas (religious) in Lublin. I'm sure either would be very grateful to you if you gave them the clothes.

Another possibility is just to fold them neatly and put them in a box outside any apartment building when you leave. They certainly won't be wasted.

Ha,ha,ha, you westerners are so stingy you turn every dollar ten times before you spend on yourself not to mention on others. Shows how much you know about Polish people or if you are Polish then, please, look at Polish society beyond your family. Polish gifts are very generous, whereas westerners do not give each other gifts anymore, not even at Christmas. What communism had to do with being a culture of stinginess? You find that it is usually the affluent who are stingy as they become more and more greedy and hurt when they have to reduce their treasure chest by one cent. Ha, ha, ha, what the...? And you wonder why Polish people laugh at westerners.

Sure. That's why the rate of volunteering is the lowest in the EU.

And you got your figures from The Sun paper? That would explain everything. EU has its own system of rating for a start, a system which does not consider little community groups of support which we in Poland run, we are very well organised within small groups as well as big groups but many of these fly under the radar of EU's reporting system. Secondly, I was referring to social events such as birthdays, Christmas, Easter, New Years, Woman's Day, Mother's Day, Child's Day, Grandma's Day and so on, we have many of these and we are very generous then. Same at parties, we do not, despite being the poorer ones, serve chips and dips, we make a lot of effort to make our guests fill welcome and we spend money on it, which I could not say about the people of the West who sigh and roll eyes when they have to make more than a tea for someone visiting their house.

Stick to the topic please

Yes, that was an EU-wide survey. There is however a relatively small amount of volunteering there, and if Shizuka would like to leave clothes in Poland and help a good cause, the Sue Ryder Shop on ul. Bagatela is the best bet. There's another Sue Ryder shop in Warsaw, but I can confirm that the Bagatela one does take clothes.

They also take English language books.

Another possibility is Ukraiński Świat on the corner of ul Nowy Świat and ul. Świętokrzyska. They help refugees from Ukraine and would certainly find someone who would appreciate then.

Good news! I put my stuff in box and left in front of the door of my flat with messege"if you want,please" Then they've been all taken already! I was surprised a bit,but I'm glad somebody took them :)

that is a good idea Shizuka, as there is not really the same 'charity shop' culture that you might get elsewhere.

Yes, that's a great idea and you have certainly made someone very happy!