Anybody buy from pawn shops?

Does anybody buy anything from these places? I was watching some cheesy reality show about pawn shops and they claimed to be selling $400 watches for $75. The few times I've been in a pawn shop, the prices were dangerously close to what I'd pay at a normal store for full price new stuff.

i haven't even set foot in a pawn shop in 10 yrs. Last thing I bought there was a cell phone.

Otto Maddox wrote: The few times I've been in a pawn shop, the prices were dangerously close to what I'd pay at a normal store for full price new stuff.

This. When I was looking for a guitar, I hit the local pawn shops figuring I'd find something decent. I found a few nice guitars, but the asking prices were outrageous.

I know my local pawn shop's owner, I have been buying from them for years and pick up tools etc when they are in, he looks after me and I pay less than 50% of retail for anything I do buy.

Steve

I met a guy who owned a pawn shop. He told me that a lot of addicts go to an electronics store that issues their own credit card and instantly max it out on the most expensive TV that they can charge. Then they bring the TV to him in the unopened box, along with the receipt, and cash out at 10-50% of the selling price.

Technically, it's legal, even though they never have any intention of paying the bill. They're screwing their own credit (or someone else's), but they don't care. It's a small scale illustration of how economies collapse.

Then the pawn shop sells the TV, new in the box.

I would worry that tools are stolen items - listening to a shady conversation between the local hood rats and a Ukrainian pawn shop owner didn't help that suspicion. sucks having morals about that kinda thing.

It's rare to find a decent deal at one, in my experience. Game bundles can be cheaper, but overall it's not worth it. On occasion, I have found some that have some good gun collectors who run the place and know their business.

The local shops charge way too much for stuff. I am not sure who buys there or how they stay in business.

In reply to Woody:

Sounds like some big box stores playing fast & loose with shareholder money. The E36 M3 thing here is when the bill for that TV shows up on your credit report.

I actually frequent a few of my local pawn shops. Stuff like media can be very cheap if you know what you're looking for. I generally pay less than 10$/season of any given show, that can run 50$ new. Just gotta know what you're after and what you're willing to pay for it.

I don't buy or shop there but I do fence a bunch of stuff I stole when I need cash for drugs.

Most of them around here are way too high on their pricing. That being said, there is one really good one in town that I try to check out about once a month. They always have really cool oddball guitars.

I quit some years ago because their prices were absurdly high. Frequently higher than new.

On a lark, I tried it again just a few months ago. Nothing had changed, insanely high prices.

Really absurd insane high prices. A Play Station II for like $300. A battered old incomplete Conn student trumpet for $600+. Melted rusty k-mart screwdrivers for $15 a piece. Part of an aluminum siding bender for $3,000.

I like to swing by Pawn Shops every once in awhile and see what they have. For the most part I've only seen expensive junk. But once every blue moon there are deals. For instance I once saw Glock 19 for $200. It was the shop owners, and he was selling it for so cheap because he just HAD to have the 4th Gen G19, and that's how much money he needed to get it. He even offered to go to the range with me. I should have bought it.

i don't worry about tools being stolen when buying from pawn or other small resale shops, because most of them seem to come from cokehead or alcoholic contractors who hock their tools in the fall to pay for their addiction and buy them all over again in the spring.

There's a couple I go to every few months. And some I won't ever go back to. Like the one that wanted more for a used chop saw than I could buy a new one for. The ones I go to have reasonable prices, and, of course, you have to remember that the price shown is usually a starting point. It's a lot like shopping in the Orient. I got a Mosin for $100 out the door just before Christmas, with a cheap sleeve thrown in. It would have cost me more than that to buy it from Century, once the FFL fee and shipping was factored in.

Friends of mine have bought stereo gear. Only when it's hard to find gear that they really want. I don't think there are any bargains there. But if they have something you want and you don't mind paying for it, they can be fine. If you want a deal, I think you need to stay away unless you happen to have specific knowledge of something that got by them. I don't think that happens often.

only ever bought one thing at a pawn shop. in 1995 i found an early-80's Fender Precision Fretless Bass with hardshell case for $300. It had replacement tuning hardware but the OE Fender stuff was in the case. I dorked with it for a couple years, then sold it on eBay for $650.

I buy stuff at pawn shops occasionally. Prices listed are usually damn near retail. Offer half of the listed price. They probably paid 10% of that. Sometimes they will take it, sometimes not. If you visit fairly regularly, you will know what has been sitting on the shelves for a while. The longer it sits the cheaper it gets.

I've bought a few things. A decent old Minolta film camera (w/ advice from a camera-nerd friend), a Play Station w/ some games, a case and wireless controllers, and a couple of guitars that were way under-valued for what they were. One guitar I got for less than 1/2 the listed price after talking to the guy for a bit and asking him "where is the rest of it" since it was an old Ibanez synth guitar w/o the outboard hardware.

Weird. There's a few pawn shops in my area that offer great deals, especially on stereo equipment.

Whether it's because they don't know what they have, or because they want to move stolen stuff fast, i really don't know.

Junk tools for making things out of. Like taking a combination wrench and bending it into a 3D S to get to that one bolt, or cutting in half, etc. Cheap sockets for welding onto things or cutting slots in for sensors/bulbs. Occasionally other stuff too. Before most went computerized, I used to crack their pricing codes. It's not that hard. Just write down all the letters you see on the price labels. On new stuff, like a new Glock, you can find out what wholesale is pretty easy by looking in SGN. That will give you the first number/letter combination right there. Frequently repeated/seen letters at the end of the string are likely 0. Use some logic and you can come up with more, like an item listed at $50 with a code of RB would tell you that 'R' is < 5, and probably < 3 and 'B' is probably 5 or 0. Knowing what they have in it will give you a distinct advantage in the price negotiating phase. Some still use the pricing codes and computer codes. Some use the old (real old) pawn shop code of MARYLOUISE for 1 through 0.

I usually plan a day per week where I have an hour or so of free time before work or whatever just to hit a few pawn shops.

Occasionally I find a gem as a tool junkie......$80 toolbox full of Snap-On stuff retailed about $3500.

Some of the chain type pawn shops get ridiculous with some of the prices but the smaller shops along with the "resale" shops often have good deals.

A local downturn in economy often has a glut of sellers leading to lower prices...both when selling or buying.

Hurricane Katrina drove a lot of folks into our area with loads of what they considered valuables that they sold for food or lodging money.

They are not near as lucrative as they were before E-Bay and Craigslist....

Bruce

Yes. We've bought guitars online from them. Most of the time the prices are too high, but sometimes we'll find a good one. We just bought one that was advertised as rough for 550. Well, by rough, the guy meant dirty. Gave it some Zymol and sold it four weeks later for nearly double. But those experiences are few and far between.

I do buy DVD's from the one near school because they are dirt cheap, but you have to make sure to test it out first. That one also has a good selection of tools at decent prices.

I've only bought guns from pawn shops. Just the right time right place kind of thing. When I stop in a pawn shop, its usually spur of the moment when I'm near one.