The days of stumbling across designer-label gems at giveaway prices in a charity-run opportunity shop could be over.

“Ten or 20 years ago, you might have gone into an op shop and bought a pair of RM Williams boots for $10 because the volunteer [sorting donated goods] went, ‘it’s a pair of boots’ and priced it at $10,” says Matt Davis, the chief executive and national director of The Salvation Army-Salvos Stores.