So, how do they work in terms of getting your stuff back? When you pawn something, does it become available for sale right away or is there a time frame in which is it safe from resale, allowing you to raise the cash to get it back?
In general, the latter, hence the “pawn ticket”. If you show up with the pawn ticket, and the loan + interest before the due date, you get your item back. Pawn shops will sometimes also offer to simply buy the item from you, rather than hock it.
Okay, thanks! We were driving past one today and neither my husband nor I knew how it worked.
Aren’t you in RI? What Pawn place were you at? Be careful, some are really slimeballs. Whatcha got to hock anyway?
I’ve always wondered how one would go about opening a pawn shop. Do you have to go and buy a bunch of guitars, triple beam scales, neon signs, and cheap jewlery first, or do you just rent an empty storefront and wait for the junk to roll in?
I’ve been in a pawn shop just to look around. I don’t see how they can sell any of the stuff they had. The prices were inflated. Some of the tools I looked at, which were in poor condition, cost more than new.
Who buys that stuff?
Prices can be terrifically inflated, cheap, or anything in between. You might find a good deal in a pawnshop if you know what you’re looking at. If you buy without checking elsewhere, you’re likely to get gouged. I bought a condenser microphone very cheap at a pawn shop several years ago. It needed a battery. I don’t think the pawn shop owner knew it took a battery, and thought it didn’t work.