This is the era of the internet and ebay—so why are people so clueless about what they have?
Yeah sometimes if you have what looks like a unique item, it might be hard to find one ebay. (example -I once an epsiode with a 1500’s Spanish conquistador’s helmet).
But if you have a Superbowl ring, or old classic 1950’s items , I just want to scream at the “average joe” who brings it in and say “hey, joe–Google it first!”
And there always just happens to be an expert , living conveniently nearby in Las Vegas, who knows everything about Civil War uniforms, or Salvidor Dali artwork, or whatever. So, Mr average Joe–if you’ve just found an item in your attic, why not go to those experts first, and then go to the damn pawn shop?
[minor hijack?]
What’s the legal issue here? Two people standing in a public place, speaking clearly and loudly, and surrounded by dozens of other people (i.e.legitimate shoppers)—where’s the expectation of confidentiality?
The people who appear on the show know that they are on a highly publicized show…so it’s not an issue of illegally recording a conversation without their knowlege.
Because those experts expect to get paid for their expertise.
And while I’ve only seen a handful of episodes, many of the people in the episodes I have seen do check eBay, then expect to get full price, not considering (a) item condition, (b) whether the item is truly what they say it is, and (c) the pawn shops profit margins.
Rick’s book is an enlightening read. Apparently the pawn business is highly regulated. A pawn is considered a form of loan and hence has privacy rules that keeps any part of it from being public. That is why you never see anybody pawning anything, just selling. No laws against showing a sale.
Also, everything they take in has to be filed in some sort of central police database and if it turns out it is stolen, they are just out the money and the item goes to the law enforcement types. In the book, he talks about one time (when the show was fairly new) they aired a guy selling a Rolex that turns out was stolen. They were out the Rolex, but the guy was on video, and he new it at the time. Must have been before, or maybe partly why, they started using so many “set-up” items (along with the fact that makes it much easier to control the “excitement” of the items).
We did see one guy pawn something (toy car collection?) in order to make payroll for his business. He asked for a $20,000 loan and Hoss said something like “I recommend that you do not take out a loan that size” but he took the loan anyway.
I think there’s been like 3-4 pawns. But none since the earliest episodes if I recall correctly.
Could be too that you could sign a waiver to let your pawn be filmed. Doesn’t Hardcore Pawn show pawns?
Pawn Stars probably doesn’t need to show pawns now anyway. I’m sure tons of folks line up with interesting things to sell. Pawn is probably not that interesting.
My mother is a retired police department secretary, and one of the biggest surprises from that job was exactly this - that EVERYTHING coming into a pawnshop must be registered with the police.
We had a neighbor who owned a pawnshop, and he was arrested for dealing in merchandise he knew was stolen. :eek:
Except that that have showed pawn transactions. One guy pawned the cab part of an 18-wheeler for about $80K a few seasons ago. They routinely ask if the customer wants to pawn or sell an item, and several times, the answer is “pawn it”. Then Rick or Corey will give a brief aside to the camera explaining the pawn deal.
What Harrison’s book says it that because of the privacy rules surrounding pawns and the desire for privacy from those pawning items, it’s rarer to show pawn transactions on the show: the customer has to agree to having his face shown, after all. Some folks don’t mind; many do.
Another tidbit from Harrison’s book: the first time he shopped the idea of a reality show around, it was much darker – sort of a Taxicab Confessions Meets Pawn kind of deal. The shop is open 24 hours per day – the lobby is closed at night but they have a walk-up pawn window, and the first vision of a show was to tell the stories of the desperate people who use that service. Harrison’s son “Hoss” relates working at the night window and having a woman ask if she could pawn dental gold, and when getting a “Yes,” answer, borrowed a pair of pliers and returned a few minutes later with a bloody mouth and a tooth with a gold filling.
Kind of a far cry from the cheery atmosphere we see on “Pawn Stars.”
People seem surprised that they know so many experts, etc., but I would think that if you are 27 years in the pawn business you have actually accumulated quite a Rolodex or folks you rely on for expert opinions. Now I don’t know about the experts on the show, but it does’t strike as particularly strange.
I’m curious about the whole business of them bringing in experts. I understand that the show probably pays them, but the impression they try to give is that they’ve got this “friend” who’ll look at it almost as if this friend does it as a favor.
Surely these experts would want to be paid for consulting for a profit making business. Wouldn’t their fee be taken into account in the haggling? I hear “I have to have it framed and restored” but I never hear “I have to pay for the evaluation”.
If I was running the business I think I would tell the customer, pay for an expert evaluation and then we’ll talk.
