Charity shop - behind the scenes

This is nothing to do with gardening but I just wonder if anyone can shed light on behind the scenes functioning of charity shops.
We had a big wardrobe clear out recently and I took 10 bin liners full of stuff to a local charity shop. Mostly it was quality stuff (Boden, Artigiano, Poetry etc) in very good condition. Two days later my wife had second thoughts about a coatigan (coat/cardigan combo) she’d given away so I went back to the shop asking if I could have it, or buy it, back. “Sorry, no,” they said,”it’s been sold.” There was a certain cageyness to the response and, as far as I could see, nothing else on the racks was ours waiting to be sold. I asked if it had perhaps been forwarded to another shop but was told it hadn’t.
Can anyone shed light on how the system works? Is better quality stuff, but not necessarily high end fashion labels, passed on to a third party for selling on at a higher price elsewhere, maybe on line. I have no issue with this; indeed I am pleased if the charity is getting maximum returns but I just wondered if there is a different market operating behind the scenes.
As it turned out, my wife sourced the coatigan on eBay. It wan’t hers, this one was unused and had labels on it and cost £60. Lesson learned! Don’t be too hasty when giving things away.
We had a big wardrobe clear out recently and I took 10 bin liners full of stuff to a local charity shop. Mostly it was quality stuff (Boden, Artigiano, Poetry etc) in very good condition. Two days later my wife had second thoughts about a coatigan (coat/cardigan combo) she’d given away so I went back to the shop asking if I could have it, or buy it, back. “Sorry, no,” they said,”it’s been sold.” There was a certain cageyness to the response and, as far as I could see, nothing else on the racks was ours waiting to be sold. I asked if it had perhaps been forwarded to another shop but was told it hadn’t.
Can anyone shed light on how the system works? Is better quality stuff, but not necessarily high end fashion labels, passed on to a third party for selling on at a higher price elsewhere, maybe on line. I have no issue with this; indeed I am pleased if the charity is getting maximum returns but I just wondered if there is a different market operating behind the scenes.
As it turned out, my wife sourced the coatigan on eBay. It wan’t hers, this one was unused and had labels on it and cost £60. Lesson learned! Don’t be too hasty when giving things away.
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My mum volunteered in a charity shop for years, and the volunteers do get first dibs, and why not, when they give their time and energy for nothing. But I think they usually have to get it priced by the shop manager, they can't just pay what they like.
What I do find objectionable is the practice of putting bags through letterboxes for people to fill and leave out for collection. This is NOT done by the charities, but by commercial firms which sell the stuff on and give a stingy percentage to whatever charity has its name on the bag. Much better to take your stuff to the shop if you can - and I appreciate the bag round is easier for people who have difficulty getting out of the house.
I fully accept that they want to get the best price but i wished they'd be honest about it.
I also saw a programme about 'dead white men's clothes' which detailed how our donations ended up in Africa destroying their local clothes industries.
Weused to gift aid our stuff, so would get emails telling us how much was raised.