# Ever bought or sold at a pawn shop? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 30, 2010, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-bought-or-sold-at-a-pawn-shop/545080 "2010-06-30T16:05:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-bought-or-sold-at-a-pawn-shop/545080/41 "2010-07-06T03:21:38Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Watch Pawn Stars once or twice and you’ll see the same thing. > > “I paid $2,000 for it 10 years ago, so I’m looking for $5,000.” > > Or the expert says it is worth somewhere between 8k and 10k so the seller immediately demands the entire $10k. > > In both cases, that would be a NO. Did you see the one where the guy brought in the wooden leg? Rick had an expert come in, who said it was most likely from the Civil War, and said it was worth $1000. The guy immediately asks for $7500. WTF?!?! He wouldn’t go any lower than $5500, so they didn’t make the deal. What the hell, dude, are you really that fucking stupid. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-bought-or-sold-at-a-pawn-shop/545080/42 "2010-09-07T16:11:05Z")
I bought my TV there. It was marked $275, which I figured was reasonable, so I went up to the attendant and said “I’m interested in this TV.” “I’ll sell it to you for $200,” he replied. I guess my mere presence introduces a haggling factor. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-bought-or-sold-at-a-pawn-shop/545080/43 "2010-09-07T16:36:38Z")
A friend of mine started a golf club business by buying from pawn shops. He had about 5 pawn shops he would go to and pick up golf club sets. Then he sold them for a profit. People who stole the clubs did not know the value and the pawn shops sold them to him cheaply. It was easy money. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-bought-or-sold-at-a-pawn-shop/545080/44 "2010-09-07T16:38:31Z")
I bought a brand new, in the box, never fired Mossberg .12 ga shotgun in a pawn shop for $100. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Duality](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.duality/32/4098_2.png) [@Mr.Duality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Duality)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-bought-or-sold-at-a-pawn-shop/545080/45 "2010-09-07T16:39:33Z")
I’ll buy simple tools at pawn shops, but never anything more complicated than pliers. I’ve learned from hard experience there are too many ways to get screwed. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-bought-or-sold-at-a-pawn-shop/545080/46 "2010-09-07T18:52:25Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > If they’re selling DVD’s for two dollars, how much must they be paying for them? A dollar? Fifty cents? An update. I was in one of their stores a few weeks back and somebody asked this question. They said they paid seventy-five cents per DVD. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-bought-or-sold-at-a-pawn-shop/545080/47 "2010-09-07T19:19:03Z")
Former pawnshop employee here. I’ve purchased many items from pawnshops. Yes, you do need to know what you’re looking for and yes the prices as marked are often high. However, I have never had to pay full retail for a used item. You can always make an offer or ask “Is that the least you’ll take for that?” if negotiating isn’t your thing. Trust me, on used merchandise, the pawnbroker expects to get less than what he’s marked. New items, of which we had a few - mainly guns, are a different story. Some dealers might haggle, we didn’t. Our loaning/pricing philosophy was to loan/pawn an item for about 1/4th of the new price. Guns would normally bring a higher percentage because we could get closer to the full retail price for them when they were used. We would try to double our money on the items that we gave 1/4th for. Knowing that most customers would want to haggle, we would mark them at about 75% of full retail. That’s why everyone says “Well, I can almost buy a new one for that much.” Yes, you can. We know that too. Ask us if we’ll take less. On the back of every price label is (in code) the amount that we’ve paid for the item. We know immediately what we’ll take and how much money we’ll make. One notable exception was jewelry and it led to the saddest customers. We didn’t care for it either. The new retail markup on jewelry is ridiculous. So unfortunately, although you might have paid $1000 for your wedding rings, the scrap value of it is probably around $100, maybe. I can’t sell it to the next customer for the price of your sentiment. I’m sorry. I don’t like being the bearer of bad news either. That was by far the suckiest part of the job. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-bought-or-sold-at-a-pawn-shop/545080/48 "2010-09-07T21:16:03Z")
When I was a teenager back in Dallas, I and some of my friends shopped pawn shops pretty regularly. Back then, we were interested in weaponry. With no questions asked, one could buy “Saturday Night Specials,” which were 32 caliber revolvers guaranteed not to explode until the third shot was fired. These things went for less than $10.00 each. Switchblade knives at $3.95; Brass knuckles for around $4.00 each; blackjacks were dirt cheap, even then. All this stuff was available to anyone of any age who had the money. Those were the good old days, I tell ya. ---
**Author:** ![gurujulp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ba9def/32.png) [@gurujulp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gurujulp)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-bought-or-sold-at-a-pawn-shop/545080/49 "2010-09-07T23:33:02Z")
I have found that only jewelry is worth purchasing at pawn shops. Guns are always exactly priced as new, and who would buy used at the same price? :dubious: I have only sold stolen goods at pawnshops, back when I was a juvenile delinquent. They never carded me, they just gave half of what they would have given to anyone else… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-bought-or-sold-at-a-pawn-shop/545080.md?page=2)