MovieChat Forums > Pawn Stars (2009) Discussion > Has anyone here sold an item to a pawn s...

Has anyone here sold an item to a pawn shop?

posted 8 years ago by rmontro
8 replies | jump to latest

A lot of people complain about Rick ripping people off on the show, but I actually am quite surprised at the amount of money that he gives people for their items. I don't live in a very money-rich place like Las Vegas, so I'm sure that's part of the difference.

I'm just wondering if anyone here has sold an item to a pawn shop? I just have the feeling that if I went to the local pawn shop, they would seriously, seriously lowball me, or just as likely tell me they weren't interested in buying the item, whatever it might be. And I don't mean lowball me like Rick lowballs people, I mean more like Les Gold from Hardcore Pawn.

I do have a friend who sold some nice tools he had to a pawn shop, but I don't know how much money he got from them. I imagine pawn shops in big cities can offer more because they have a larger market to sell to, as well as being closer to a larger, better economic area.

I'm just curious as to how your pawn shop selling experience matches up to what we see on TV.

[–] SidekickinWhiteFury 8 years ago

I have, and they do lowball you. They are taking advantage of desperate people. It is a business of greedy vipers. People who have no conscience.

[–] pyrojames 8 years ago

I'm pretty sure getting lowballed at a pawn shop - ANY pawn shop - is a normal thing. All pawn shops are trying to maximize their profits so they are always taught to "buy low, sell high". Let's say you have something worth $1000 that you're trying to sell, you'll be lucky if a pawn shop offers you $400 for it as their first offer. They know that you're going to counter-offer closer to $1000 so they will then counter-offer that to something closer to their first-offer. If the end, their final offer will be close or around the half value mark ($500-ish). This way, they re-sell for $1000 and double their money.

Unless you have something super, super, super rare or valuable, you're almost guaranteed to be lowballed at a pawn shop.

[–] SidekickinWhiteFury 8 years ago

Not even close. In a real pawn shop, not a TV pawn shop, if you have something worth $1000 you will be hard pressed to get 100-200 for it.
Gold is a different matter, but you will be screwed there as well. If you have $1000 worth of gold you will get between 600-700. You will do a little better at a gold buying shop. Perhaps 750-790, but there are greedy sharks in that business as well always looking to short weigh you, and short count you. Because people are morons and besides their profit, they try and rip each transaction for an extra hundred.

[–] Cement-Mixer 8 years ago

i sold a 1983 chewbacca action doll with no head cuz my idiot dog chewed it off. I got 2 bucks for it and believe its worth at least 5. I beat that dog with a coat hanger

[–] davidhkii 8 years ago

That's really cute/funny you beat your dog.

[–] Henry_Framus_Valentine 8 years ago

I don`t sell, I trade.

I traded a Norma tenor guitar and some old baseball cards for a Harmony Stella tenor guitar at a pawn shop in downtown Fullerton (near Anaheim). It was a good enough deal for me. The Norma was a crappy Japanese import with some serious action issues. The cards were not especially collectible. The Harmony Stella I still have. I don`t play it as much as I did then (mid-1990s), but it has not lost any of its mojo.

🇺🇸 Liberty • E Pluribus Unum • In God We Trust 🇺🇸

[–] carlc86 8 years ago

Haha vipers? Seriously! No one forces you to sell. Idiots

[–] swtdelt 8 years ago

What people don't seem to realize is you're NEVER going to get full value when you sell something to a pawn shop. They're only there to give you quick cash for your item because they have to resell it for a profit.

Sure you'd get more for it if you sold to a private collector, BUT it'd be a longer drawn out process. Which would require posting ads, and if you're in desperate need of quick money pawning is the way to go. Like if your car is on the verge of being repossessed and you have to come up with quick money then trying to find a private seller for your historic painting won't work.

Or sometimes people are just too lazy to go through all the bs of trying to sell it (placing ads, having to meet up with buyers, buyers who could attempt to rip you off, possibly shipping the item, etc).