Posted: 2/4/2017 7:08:51 PM EDT
| Went to pick up a transfer today and a kid walks in with a guitar amp. "what do you want to do with it." "sell it" no questions asked on either side. Shop came back with a $10 offer. Kid looked disappointed, but took it. What the hell can you buy with $10, a burger, fries and a drink at DQ? Another guy walks in, looks around and comes to the counter with a 10mm wrench and socket. Handed over $10 bill for them. This is the DFW metroplex, not hard to find a buyer on craigslist right quick or hit up your local Lowes for a tool. Why do people still use pawn shops for trading. |
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I used to buy guns in the spring and tools in the winter. It seemed at least to me The shops in the armpit of CT would flood with tools when guys got laid off. Guys would buy a gun for hunting season. Then in spring sell their gun and buy tools. I refitted my fathers business with all newish high end tools and shit as his were old and beat up for pennies on the dollar.
A funny spin on that. I bought an SKS-M and plinked with it for a while before I could afford my first AR. I then traded the SKS-M to the shop when I had the cash for the AR. Another member here. Same time frame bought a used SKS-M at the same shop. Fast foward almost 15 years I bought a used SKS-M off a fellow from the EE here. After chatting it up and him being from the area of the shop we concluded I probably had just re purchased my old rifle. |
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Motivation=cash n carry. Lots of small items are stolen.
Standard offer for good firearms is 1/3 resale value. Pawn shops will put it on layway first time you are one day late, you loose it. Most pawn shop guns are scratched and not pretty........but, prices are top dollar+++.....the layaway system is a scam. |
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My dad used to hit the pawn shops buying worn out Craftsman wrenches, sockets, drives etc, for a dollar each. Then head to Sears and exchange for new tools.
Keep in mind, these were U.S. made tools exchanged for American made tools. Dad has a large tool box full of nice goodies at dirt cheap prices. |
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The pawn shop didn't want the Amp, Amps are slow sellers and most shops don't have to time to properly test all the functions, so you are taking a risk
of buying a POS that will just get returned, should you ever sell it. They lowballed him and he was dumb enough to take it. If the shop thinks its an item that they can sell quickly and its an item that can be tested/verified relatively easily, they will pay a fair price for it. If your going into a Pawnshop with a item worth $100, don't expect to be offered $90 for it. Pawn shops are under very strict regulations. Every item taken in must have all of its information entered into their system correctly or the shop faces thousands of dollars in fines. Make, Model, Serial (if it has one), Color, any significant identifying markings. etc + all the sellers information, if anything is missed,.. fines. Then they must sit on it for 60 days while the local PD matches that description with stolen property reports. Then if it is stolen, the shop normally gets boned. There is a lot of risk and loses in The pawn business, ad overhead, and there is no way your being offered $90 for your $100 item. $40-$60 maybe. People that come in wanting top dollar for their pawn always get me. Most people don't understand that if you come in with a $500 item to pawn, the pawn shops job is to loan you as little as possible on that item because if they give you what its worth, that takes away your motivation to come and get it. when the time comes to pickup your pawn your thinking, "well I got almost what its worth, ill just let it go". We want people with pawns to think "there is no way I am going to lose X item for that!" and come pick up their shit. |
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Quoted:
The pawn shop didn't want the Amp, Amps are slow sellers and most shops don't have to time to properly test all the functions, so you are taking a risk of buying a POS that will just get returned, should you ever sell it. They lowballed him and he was dumb enough to take it. If the shop thinks its an item that they can sell quickly and its an item that can be tested/verified relatively easily, they will pay a fair price for it. If your going into a Pawnshop with a item worth $100, don't expect to be offered $90 for it. Pawn shops are under very strict regulations. Every item taken in must have all of its information entered into their system correctly or the shop faces thousands of dollars in fines. Make, Model, Serial (if it has one), Color, any significant identifying markings. etc + all the sellers information, if anything is missed,.. fines. Then they must sit on it for 60 days while the local PD matches that description with stolen property reports. Then if it is stolen, the shop normally gets boned. There is a lot of risk and loses in The pawn business, ad overhead, and there is no way your being offered $90 for your $100 item. $40-$60 maybe. People that come in wanting top dollar for their pawn always get me. Most people don't understand that if you come in with a $500 item to pawn, the pawn shops job is to loan you as little as possible on that item because if they give you what its worth, that takes away your motivation to come and get it. when the time comes to pickup your pawn your thinking, "well I got almost what its worth, ill just let it go". We want people with pawns to think "there is no way I am going to lose X item for that!" and come pick up their shit. Yea this. Most pawn shops would be far happier collecting the fee's for pawns and have people come back in and get their shit. Past that it is convenience. Generally speaking you can sell whatever you are selling for more in a private party sale. Still some don't want to deal with the hassle, don't know what somethings worth, or don't want to deal with scams. They would rather get it gone and be done with it. This is why people trade in cars to dealerships, sell guns to gunshops, and sell to pawnshops. It is fast. My stepfather did stereo repair for pawnshops when I was a teen. I'd go with him to the shops which was nice as I could usually get good deals. I'd look through like the sega saturn and playstation games. If I found something I'd like they would look it up and say how much they paid for it and tell me to give them a few bucks more. Downside was that I'd have to help unload stuff from time to time. I actually remember filling a bed of a pickup with vcrs. We went through them and cleaned the heads and anything else cheap. If you know what you are doing you can find some good deals. The downside is that ebay has really changed the game. A lot of pawnshops will ebay stuff meaning they have a better ability to move it. My stepfather actually got a really good deal the other day at one. He got a 1910's or 1920's lever action gun in great shape for either 200 or 250 bucks. I forget what it was exactly has he swung by to drop something off while I was doing brakes on my jeep but he was going to get it appraised as the first person who looked at it said it was at least 2500 bucks in the condition it was in but he needed to check with someone who knew them better as it might be worth a good bit more. |