All items · Electrical
Used printers
Also covers: printer, inkjet printer, laser printer
Can you donate used printers to a UK charity shop? Usually not.
Why shops may refuse it
Used printers can be costly to test and may be incomplete or uneconomical without working cartridges, cables and drivers.
What to do instead
Working printers may be suitable for a computer reuse project or local reuse group. Otherwise use a retailer or council WEEE service.
Useful links: Offer a working printer on Freecycle ↗
Charity by charity
33 mentions-
Can't accept
Ardgowan Hospice category-wide rule
Whole "electrical items" category listed as currently not accepted.
Their wording
“Currently we CANNOT accept: -Toys, large furniture or electrical items.”
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Can't accept
Their wording
“There are a few exceptions to the electrical items you can donate, such as printers, which we cannot accept.”
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Can't accept
Their wording
“Computer equipment: monitors; keyboards; scanners; printers”
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Can't accept
Their wording
“Home printers — unless brand new and boxed with ink supplies”
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Can't accept
Claire House Children's Hospice category-wide rule
Blanket exclusion of electrical items, though brand-new factory-sealed hard drives, SD cards or USB sticks are excepted.
Their wording
“Electrical items”
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Can't accept
Brand-new boxed printers can be sold; used ones are refused.
Their wording
“Printers unless new in box”
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Can't accept
Cransley Hospice Trust category-wide rule
Listed under 'Unfortunately, we are unable to accept some items' ('Electrical items, Kitchen equipment and utensils, Used baby equipment including car seats and prams/pushchairs, Bikes') with no exceptions stated.
Their wording
“Electrical items”
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Can't accept
Their wording
“Printers and ink cartridges”
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Can't accept
Brand-new boxed printers can be sold; used ones are refused.
Their wording
“Microwaves / printers: unless brand new & boxed”
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Can't accept
Their wording
“Printers”
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Can't accept
Their wording
“Computer equipment including printers and hard drives”
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Can't accept
Their wording
“Printers and large TVs”
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Can't accept
Hospice at Home Carlisle and North Lakeland category-wide rule
Applies to all electrical items
Their wording
“Electrical and medical items”
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Can't accept
Katharine House Hospice, Banbury category-wide rule
Listed under 'Unfortunately, we're unable to accept' on the shop donations page.
Their wording
“Electrical items or any furniture.”
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Can't accept
Their wording
“Microwaves & printers”
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Can't accept
Brand-new printers and ink cartridges can be sold; used ones are refused.
Their wording
“Printers or Printer ink cartridges (unless brand new)”
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Can't accept
Phyllis Tuckwell category-wide rule
No electrical items are currently accepted, with one exception: old mobile phones and tablets are welcomed.
Their wording
“Unfortunately we are currently unable to accept any electrical items or suitcases.”
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Can't accept
Their wording
“Computers, monitors or printers”
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Can't accept
Shown when searching 'Printer'.
Their wording
“Thank you for thinking of us. Unfortunately, we’re unable to accept this item, as it’s one we generally can’t resell in our shops.”
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Can't accept
Their wording
“PCs, printers and monitors”
- Can't accept
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Can't accept
Printers listed among electrical items the Furniture Centre cannot accept.
Their wording
“Electrical – CD & DVD players, printers, radios, record players, scanners, shredders, stereo systems, TVs, coffee machines, cookers, freezers, fridges, irons, kettles, microwaves, toasters, tumble dryers”
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Can't accept
St John's Hospice (London) category-wide rule
Applies to all electrical items
Their wording
“Electrical items”
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Can't accept
Scanners are refused on the same line.
Their wording
“Printers and scanners”
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Can't accept
Old printers explicitly listed as not accepted.
Their wording
“Computer hardware, including old printers.”
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Can't accept
St Raphael's Hospice category-wide rule
Stated on the Our Shops page for shop/Donation Centre drop-off. The separate Furniture Collections page still refers to collecting 'large items of furniture or electrical items' via its home-collection service, so this blanket refusal may be specific to walk-in shop donations rather than the large-item collection route.
Their wording
“We are no longer accepting any electrical items or pet toys, sorry for any inconvenience caused.”
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Can't accept
Their wording
“Printers”
- Can't accept
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Check first
Save the Children category-wide rule
Exception: accepted at selected stores — donors are told to check first.
Their wording
“We're unable to accept electrical goods (except in selected stores - please check first)”
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Check first
Used printers only accepted new/boxed with ink.
Their wording
“used printers (unless new/boxed with ink)”
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Check first
St Mary's Hospice category-wide rule
Listed as a standalone bullet within the 'Electrical Items' section of the main donation guidance page — electrical items without a CE mark are implied to be refused.
Their wording
“Must have CE mark”
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Check first
Strathcarron Hospice category-wide rule
Donors are asked to check with their local shop before donating electrical items.
Their wording
“Electricals (but please do check with your local shop before you donate these).”
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Check first
Printers are on the refusal list, but the same page welcomes electrical items generally — check first.
Their wording
“Printers, TVs and monitors”
Not mentioned in 120 charities' guidance
Absence from a charity's list doesn't mean they accept it — it just isn't singled out. Ask your local shop.
- Accord Hospice
- Acorns Children's Hospice
- Age UK
- Ashgate Hospicecare
- Ayrshire Hospice
- Barnardo's
- Bolton Hospice
- British Red Cross
- Butterfly Hospice Trust
- Butterwick Hospice
- Cancer Research UK
- Children's Hospice South West
- Children's Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS)
- Crisis
- DEBRA
- Derian House Children's Hospice
- Dogs Trust
- Dorothy House
- Douglas Macmillan Hospice
- East Lancashire Hospice
- Eden Valley Hospice and Jigsaw, Cumbria's Children's Hospice
- Ellenor
- Emmaus
- FARA Charity Shops
- Florence Nightingale Hospice Charity
- Garden House Hospice Care
- Great Oaks Hospice
- Great Western Air Ambulance Charity
- Heart of Kent Hospice
- Helen & Douglas House
- Highland Hospice
- Hope House & Ty Gobaith Children's Hospices
- Hospice in the Weald
- Hospice Isle of Man
- Hospice of the Good Shepherd
- Hospice of the Valleys
- Jersey Hospice Care
- Julia's House
- Katharine House Hospice (Stafford)
- Keech Hospice Care
- KEMP Hospice
- Lewis-Manning Hospice Care
- Lindsey Lodge Hospice
- Longfield Community Hospice
- LOROS Hospice
- Marie Curie
- Martin House Children's Hospice
- Mountbatten Isle of Wight
- Moya Cole Hospice
- Naomi House & Jack's Place
- North Devon Hospice
- North London Hospice
- Nottinghamshire Hospice
- Octavia Foundation
- Oxfam
- PDSA
- Pendleside Hospice
- Pilgrims Hospices
- Primrose Hospice
- Prospect Hospice
- Queenscourt Hospice
- Rainbows Hospice for Children and Young People
- Rennie Grove Peace Hospice Care
- Rotherham Hospice
- Rowans Hospice
- Royal Trinity Hospice (London)
- Saint Francis Hospice
- Salvation Army (SATCoL)
- Samaritans
- Scope
- Sense Scotland
- Severn Hospice
- Shelter
- Shooting Star Children's Hospices
- Springhill Hospice
- St Andrew's Hospice (Lanarkshire)
- St Barnabas Hospice (Lincolnshire)
- St Catherine's Hospice (Crawley)
- St Catherine's Hospice (Lancashire)
- St Clare Hospice
- St Cuthbert's Hospice
- St David's Hospice Care
- St Giles Hospice
- St Helena Hospice
- St John's Hospice (Lancaster, Morecambe, Kendal & Garstang)
- St Luke's Cheshire Hospice
- St Luke's Hospice Basildon & Thurrock
- St Luke's Hospice Plymouth
- St Luke's Hospice, Sheffield
- St Margaret's Hospice Care (Somerset)
- St Michael's Hospice (North Hampshire)
- St Nicholas Hospice Care
- St Oswald's Hospice
- St Peter's Hospice
- St Richard's Hospice
- St Vincent de Paul Society (SVP)
- St Vincent's Hospice
- St Wilfrid's Hospice
- Sue Ryder
- Thames Hospice
- The Children's Trust
- The Kirkwood
- The Myton Hospices
- The Prince of Wales Hospice
- The Shakespeare Hospice
- Traid
- Treetops Hospice Trust
- Tynedale Hospice at Home
- Wakefield Hospice
- Wales Air Ambulance
- Weldmar Hospicecare
- Wigan and Leigh Hospice
- Willow Burn Hospice
- Willow Wood Hospice
- Willowbrook Hospice
- Wirral Hospice St John's
- Wisdom Hospice
- Woking & Sam Beare Hospices
- Woodgreen Pets Charity
- YMCA (England & Wales)