Our ten-year-old television is pretty crappy: 20" screen, no digital hookups, increasingly fuzzy picture (it’s now hard to read subtitles, and reading credits has been almost impossible for awhile). We’re not big tech-geeks, so we’ve been limping along with it, but when our cheapo DVD player crapped out and stopped working through our jury-rigged system, we decided it’s time to get a new one.
Only thing is, televisions are expensive. And we’re really unlikely to spend more than $400 on one; $200 is a more realistic estimate of what we can afford.
So I’m considering other possibilities, one of which is looking at tvs in pawn shops. I’ve never been inside a pawn shop, and I don’t know what to expect. Does anyone have any advice? (And “don’t do it!” is fine advice if that’s what you have ).
Specifically, are some pawn shops better than others? How can you tell? What sorts of things should I look for in a pawn shop TV that I might not otherwise think of?
Hmm… after looking at the Target online store, I see that they have a flat-screen CRT tv made by Sylvania that is $179. With built in DVD player it’s $229.
However, as far as pawn shops go, in my experience, you’d be buying the same condition TV you’d be getting rid of. When I have gone into pawn shops it’s to look for cheap, non-working realistic props for my amateur film making. I don’t go into one thinking I am going to get something that works decently. But other people might have had different experiences. The only other time I have gone into a pawn shop was to get $4 a piece for NES game cartridges.
Hmm–that’s a good point! Maybe I should start a companion thread, “Help me find a cheap decent television.” In fact, I’ll do that, since I really don’t know how to shop for a TV.
I’d be interested to know how to buy from a pawn shop too; I worked downtown a few years ago, and once went in to the pawn shop across the street. I was kinda looking for a cheap guitar to see if it would be something I’d like to learn to play, but the prices all seemed quite steep to me.
That, combined with the creepy employees who didn’t seem interested in selling me anything led me to leave without purchasing anything, and go back to looking at the go-kart in the window while I waited to cross the street.
(ps - I did check out the SNES games, but though they were ancient even back then, they were priced well outside the realm of sanity…)
Pawn Shops tend to pay people peanuts for things and then sell them for inflated prices. I’ve never understood how this works, and how it’s a solvent business model - both the people selling to them and buying from them get screwed.
If something’s obviously stolen, you can get good deals. When he and I were 17, my friend and I got a piece of music equipment from a pawn shop for less than half of what it should have cost - the week it was released. It was a classic fence situation, complete with an “Uhh, it fell offa truck”-style explanation from the pawn broker.
Sadly, the days of getting good scores in Pawn Shops seems to have vanished, what with the internet and Ebay and such. You used to be able to find good deals when the Pawn Broker didn’t realize what a gem they had, or didn’t understand what it was (I scored a great vintage moog synthesizer that the Pawn Guy had labeled “electronic piano - broken; only plays one note at a time” for about 1/20 of its value back in the days before Ebay.)
My family used to own a pawn shop. You definitley don’t want to use one for electronics of the newish variety. They take advantage of the stupid on both the front end and back-end for that.
You are wayyyyyyyyyyy overestimating the cost of a decent TV these days and the correct means to get one. Just go into Target, Best Buy or any decent electronics store and you can easilly get a great 30 inch TV in your price range. TVs tend to be pretty stable and consumer friendly these days so just look at the picture, sized, and features that you like. TV’s don’t tend to break down these days like they used to. Salespeople can help you with the finer diferentiation.
I just bought my son a 27 inch Emerson TV from K-Mart for $98. When I went there, I was going to buy a 25 inch Goldstar that was advertised for $129 but found the Emerson instead. It has front and back jacks and a pretty decent picture. The kid in the electronics department told me that TV manufacturers are going to be dumping a lot of the older style TV’s on the market with the switch to HDTV just around the corner.
It was really trial-and-error. In the early days of pawn shops they tried it the other way— paying people generously for their merchandise and then reselling it for next to nothing— and it just didn’t prove that profitable, so they gradually adopted the “rip everyone off” model, and the rest is history.
I have seen a number of elecronics (like TVs) on Craigslist listings. I get the impression that sometimes people make big purchases and then have a change to their financial picture, and thus need to get what they can for the thing that they are well past being able to return to the store.
Of course, people get rid of TVs for other reasons, too. I just sold a 46" rear-projection TV for about what you’re hoping the spend, because it just takes up too much room for us.
I like to look in pawnshops but like VCO3 said, the days of the hidden gem bargain are over. I’ve looked at tools there and they really aren’t any cheaper. Home electronics are almost always a rip off.
The flatscreen LCD TV (with connectors for anything and everything, I can even use it as a 'puter monitor) was even cheaper than some of the “big ass” TVs in the same supermarket; it came to €149 and this area is expensive for electronics.
Take a good look at electronic stores and huge supermarkets in your area, you should be able to find a new TV within your budget. Just don’t get one the size of the living room wall.
I have a friend who went to a pawn shop and bought a set of golf clubs. The price can be haggled. He found that he could sell them for a profit. He then started frequenting many pawn shops and built up an inventory. There was money to be made. It could have become a business.
In Key West ,I decided I wanted a divers watch. I went to 3 pawn shops and finally settled on a Seiko. I paid 50 bucks. When I went to Disney a waiter noticed my watch and showed me the same watch. He paid 500 bucks for it.
While I was buying it my wife noticed a video game. It was one my son wanted and we got it for half price and it was new in package.
The one category that always mystifies me is tools. There are several pawn shops near my office, and fairly often, they have tools available. But, who in their right mind would pay more for a used power tool than they could buy it new?
Guess the shop thinks people will gladly pay extra for the lovingly-applied scratches and paint splatters.
Since we’ve had the “tool” people, “TV” people and “jewelry/watch” people reply, I’ll chime in with my own field of interest: musical instruments.
The “pawnshop special” guitar is a total cliche these days, and the deals just really aren’t there anymore. At a pawnshop, you usually see bottom-end instruments (people with $3000 guitars who need cash that bad don’t pawn them, they sell them to real buyers), dirty and poorly kept. Dedicated used musical instrument stores (Music-Go-Round, etc.) have better instruments in a better selection, and better maintained - the first thing a decent shop does is at least clean it up and make sure there’s afull set of strings on it.
At the local pawn shop, probably others, the owner will take a LOT less than the marked price. You can haggle him down to 50% or more off what he has marked. If you know what something is worth used and can haggle, you can still get a decent price. I thought the prices were all way too high on everything until my dad, an expert haggler, explained.
Yeah, but you’re not factoring in the friendly, personalized pawn shop service you don’t get at the big box retailers!
Which, as I remember my last visit, consisted of a stubble-faced man wearing a flannel shirt and bass fishing hat, perched on a stool behind the counter, smoking Marlboros and glowering at me as I browsed the aisles whose shelves were cluttered with dusty rubbish. On the wall behind him were an enormous Confederate battle flag and several well-worn signs and bumper stickers prophesying the future reascendence of the South and hinting that if asked, the owner would likely name the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as his favorite out of all the Amendments.
Say what you will about Wal-Mart, but at least I can shop there relatively unafraid of waking up tied to a chair in someone’s basement dungeon with a ball gag in my mouth.
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