I love when Rick offers like 50% of the experts estimate and then tells them if they go to auction they'll pay a 20% fee (usually it's actually less than that). Can people not do basic basic math? Lose 20% or let Rick rip you off for 50%.
shareI guess some sellers will still take Rick's offer because they need cash right away. It could take a while for an item to be appraised and approved by an auction company and then wait around for the auction to take place.
Okay, well... filibuster.
Let me give an example (true). I had a vintage movie poster I no longer wanted. Looking around the internet, I determined it was worth around $1,000, maybe a little less. I got an offer from a vintage poster store for $300. Reluctantly, I took the offer, receiving less than I paid originally.
But that poster is still available for sale on the dealer's website, 3 years later! In other words, there are many items, even desirable ones, that take a long time to eventually sell. So the price for getting instant cash can be high.
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They can't need the cash *that* quickly as all the people with items you see on the show are callbacks. If you get chosen to feature on the show, they call you back on one of the filming days. On these days the shop is closed (the people milling around in the background are like extras on a movie) and all the experts are standing by to walk in as required.
shareAre sellers really gonna wait for the auction and then even go to one? And just because experts say that its worth X amount of money - that doesn't mean that the seller will get that same amount of money at the auction.
So Rick accept all risks. Not only is he buying an investment, but also has to pay for his employees and for his store. So 50% of the original value is actually more than a fair offer. If sellers feel they can get more - they're free to try to sell it to somebody else on their own.
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"Мы вас похороним!"
Yup, what auction would accept to have a reserve price on a low-value item (probably none), when and where would they find one... OFC., the price that they're paying to the sellers is (often) nowhere near the 'real' value - but, it's how you say (& how Rick, also, tells the people over the counter - so they'd know :))
shareAlong with other responses to your post, bbnj, there's also the fact that when an item is auctioned, the price it brings may not be nearly equal to what it was appraised to be worth.
You could be auctioning off an item that had identical items that sold at different auctions for, say, $25,000 three times in the past year, one that is said to be worth almost $30,000 by experts at the time of the auction. But if nobody who attends that auction where you are selling is willing to pay that much, your item might sell for, say $15,000. Maybe less.
It really isn't stupid for the sellers on this show to take Rick's offer, not when you consider the risks they take on not selling, the time it might take to get a good offer, and, particularly, their desire to raise money right away--which is why most people go to a pawn shop in the first place.
The fact is, TV show or not, people who go to pawn shops most often need money right away. They don't have the time or patience for auctions or internet sales. The sellers are lucky to get what they do.
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The fact is, TV show or not, people who go to pawn shops most often need money right away.
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Maybe normal real pawn shops. Most of them don't have George Stephanopoulos shopping in them either.
I'm not referring to people who are selling $100 items, but you do see people bringing in items with tens of thousands and taking half. These people don't seem desperate.
Guy selling the les Paul guitar took way less. I'm shocked at the offers, but these folks are at a pawn shop and that place is a predator dream.
You can turn and try and buy that item off of them and watch how steep they value it.
They just showed the buy on the fantastic antique toy/salesman sample carriage. Rick tells her he wants it checked out to see if it's possibly worth more!
Of course he then calls in the guy who never gives a price...but tells them it's very rare, and very high end and in great condition.
So then utter slimy scumbag Ricky offers $100!
For a piece that belongs in a museum!!!!
My personal opinion? potentially worth upward of $4,000-$6,000
These guys don't even try to pretend they're fair. They just don't care anymore about keeping up pretense.
Ricks become as bad as his father who always tries to steal anything that walks in the door.
As far as I'm aware nobody twists their arm to take the amount offered.They can always try Ebay and the Paypal scammers.
shareYou can't be this dumb can you? They're in the business to MAKE MONEY, not break even. They offer 50% of the worth because they want to double their money. You know, like any other BUSINESS.... moron. He's not a collector, he's a business owner. And just because someone says something is worth something, doesn't mean it is. You have to find that buyer and you have to spend money promoting the item. Good thing you're not in the pawn business or you would go bankrupt in a month.
shareBut you will have to take it to the auction and you will also have to wait for the auction to come along. Plus you will have to hope that the right person shows up at the auction for an odd-ball item. So, you're chances are very low to get a good price for an odd item at an auction. If you wait for a specialty auction, you might wait years for one and then you still have to travel to it.
That is where Rick is definitely correct, these people that say "Its going for x amount on EBay".
Well sell it on EBay then. All too often what Rick says is right,what people are asking and what they would get is too different things.