Charity bookselling

       In The Telegraph Anoosh Chakelian 'investigates how Oxfam is challenging the bookselling giants -- and which unwanted authors we are dumping after Christmas', in State of donation: Oxfam takes over the high street.
       Some impressive statistics -- such as:

Out of the 700 Oxfam shops in Britain, 140 of them are bookshops. Oxfam sells 11 million books a year and are its second highest-selling items after clothing. The charity store has become the biggest second-hand bookseller in Europe, and the third largest general book retailer in Britain.

       And also that:

Paterson normally receives an average of 3000 donations a week, a figure that had rocketed this month, as sacks of unwanted Christmas books are dumped at Oxfam counters throughout the nation.

       As to the objections against charity shops having an unfair advantage over for-profit stores, I'm not sure this is the best way to make the argument:

Tim Godfray, chief executive of the Booksellers Association, which represents the likes of Waterstone's and Blackwells, is concerned by the new, slick image of Oxfam bookshops.

"Oxfam are really professional, and therein lies the rub, says Godfray. "In the old days, charity shops projected an image of, dare I say it, amateurism -- books stacked on trestle tables run by well-meaning volunteers. But now the retailing arms of many charities are run by hard-nosed professional retailers. Oxfam has more outlets selling books than Waterstone's.

       Ah, yes, as long as the non-profits were 'unprofessional' it was okay .....