I've found good buys on certain things, esp original 8 bit Nintendo games, and also tools. Look at how much ladders cost at a hardware store. They're about 75% cheaper at a pawn shop.

Considering people bought shit they couldn't afford, and pawning is the quickest cash method, it makes sense.

There is something sad about shopping at a pawn shop, though, don't you think? You're potentially feeding on someone else's desperation.

@Mr_Human: Eh, I've pawned a few things in my day, when money was tight. It's an easy way to sell your stuff... there are books with price guides of what you should get for your item, which reputable pawn shops will follow (might be law, I dunno) and the seller is given weeks to come back and get the item before it ever goes on the shelf for sale.

So you figure, a person might be desperate, but if they can't get their shit together in the 2 months or whatever they have to reclaim their item... well that's too bad... And if the desperate person didn't have the pawn shop to turn to it would be worse for them.

I don't find pawn shop deals to be that good, every time I go looking I leave disappointed. Before Ebay I'd find a rare bargain but these days, with the going price of everything a mouse click away, it's all overpriced. In our area shops tools fill fifty percent of the floor space or more, yet the prices for used, dirty, mildly rusted items is often higher than you can find a new one for during a sale. Yes, I can talk the price below that, but not enough to make up for the difference in condition.

I think the "deals" in pawn shops are only deals to those who don't have the ability or forethought to search for them outside the pawn shops.

After recovering from a pawn shop a number of items stolen from my home, I complained to a lawyer friend of mine about pawn shops being willing to take stolen merchandise.

He said, "Oh, you've got it all wrong. If it weren't for pawn shops, we would never catch thieves! Without a pawn shop, they'd sell things out of the backs of their cars and we'd never track them down for doing something stupid... like selling stolen stuff to a pawn shop."

and half the furniture in my house was found put out for someone else's trash pick-up.... Come to think of it, I saw a bulk item notice for collection in Fountain Hill$ the other day... I should go scope that out...

One man's trash, another's treasure and all that...

Pawn shops are great for power tools as well. Do I worry that they're stolen? Yes, but I also know that tools always have some value so, in desperate times, people will pawn them. If you are troubled by buying, though (as I am), take solace in the fact that they do serve a purpose. Remember, never, ever pay the listed price at a pawn shop. Here are some recent deals I've gotten:

Unused Heavy Duty Milwaukee Sawzall: $45
Unused, in the box 10" compound miter saw: $65

Guns can also be a good deal but you'd better know what you're buying or take someone along who does.

I have a story about pawn shops that ought to give anyone pause before entering one.

While I was in school, I used to support myself as a renovation contractor. I did honest work and it felt great to make a living with my hands. As a construction guy, I owned a fair number of power tools --all of which I purchased retail. Because I'm a rather organized guy, I always write down the serial numbers of things I buy.

Well one day I was working on a kitchen renovation and I had set up a cutting station on the driveway of the house where I was working. It was a few steps outside of the kitchen I was working on and it helped to minimize the amount of dust I was making inside the house.

I had a table saw, a miter saw, an angle grinder and a hammer drill outside in my cutting station. The table saw and the miter saw were kind of heavy, but the angle grinder and the hammer drill were light enough that someone could grab them and run. That's precisely what happened. I went to use my drill and realized that it was gone, ditto my angle grinder. Now at the time, I was a starving student and those two tools cost me somewhere in the neighborhood of $350 when I bought them originally and their sudden disappearance pissed me off to no end. So I called the police and filed a theft report. Do to my anal retentive nature, I was able to provide the St. Pete police with the serial numbers of my pilfered tools. The officer was compassionate and sympathetic, but he and I both realized that the odds were pretty good that I'd never see those tools again.

I put a crowbar in my wallet and I replaced them later that week. I chalked the whole thing up to experience and never left a tool out of my sight again.

Well, a couple of weeks went by and I got a call from a detective from the St. Petersburg Police Department. It turns out that someone had pawned my tools the very afternoon that they'd gone missing. I never knew this, but every time someone pawns something, a copy of the pawn form gets forwarded to the police in an attempt to dissuade people from pawning stolen goods.

I was thrilled with the news. I'd get my old tools back and I'd be able to press charges against the dirtbag whole stole them from me. Or so I thought.

I met the detective at the pawnshop where my tools were the following morning. The manager of said shop brought them out to the counter and I identified them. I could see my paint-y hand prints all over the handle of the drill and the serial numbers matched up.

I assumed that I'd be able to take my tools back then and there because they had been stolen from me and they were mine, right? Wrong. I was told that in order to get MY tools back, I would have to pay the pawn on them. I thought my head was going to explode. I could see and touch my tools, but I couldn't have them back until I paid the sleaze ball behind the counter $150.

Out of principle, I declined the offer. Loudly. My refusal to pay the pawn meant that the owner couldn't sell them either, but since he'd invested $150 in them, I would have to sue him in small claims court to get them back. Who knew? In addition to all of that, my tools were now evidence and since I wanted to press charges against the guy who stole them in the first place, no one could do anything with them until the thief's case was decided.

Now, the detective informed me that Pawn Shop laws vary greatly from state to state, and that unfortunately for me, Florida's are some of the most one-sided in the favor of the pawn industry.

So at the end of the day, I refused to pay the pawn, I refused to sue the owner, the case against my thief got dropped as part of a plea bargain and I learned a huge lesson about pawnshops and keeping my own stuff locked up.

Think about it before you patronize a pawn shop.

I got my first electric guitar at a pawn shop. Bought it on layaway when I was broke ages ago. I still have that guitar and it's still my main practice guitar. Pawn shops are great for finding odd musical gear. Looking for some really strange effects pedal? Start at the pawn shop.

My advice is to start at Goodwill, then if you can't find it there, move onto a pawn shop. Of course you can't get guns there, but you can be surprised what you can find. I got a TV that was not even a year old for $10.

Down there at the pawn shop,

it's the only way to shop,

down there at the pawn shop,

if it's not in stores...

Heh, I'm not the only one who started singing Sublime in their head...

@mbz32190: actually goodwill, i find, isn't that great. i can get cheaper new clothes on the old navy clearance rack than i can used clothes at goodwill on most days. dishes you can get at the dollar store for $1/piece (of course) which is also still cheaper than goodwill. pawn shops are also a lot more ecclectic and they're more likely to negotiate for a price.

@WaywardSoul:

Not only do pawnshops use ebay for pricing, most of the pawnshops around me also sell on eBay. So the odds of finding something that's a good deal - at least in catagories like electronics, which is what I mainly buy - are pretty much nill.

If you are looking for deals on used stuff, you are probably better off going to yard sales, flea markets, or consignment auctions. I'll occasionally find something good at Goodwill or the Salvation army, but most of the time it's junk.

@Mr_Human: You're looking at it the wrong way. By shopping at a pawn shop, you're supporting a business that allows someone in genuine need to get some money for their excess possessions instead of going hungry/getting evicted/having their legs broken. It's not so easy to get fast cash for an old stereo or guitar any other way.

I bought a Ducati 748 at a pawn shop, best purchase I ever made. The bike was perfect.

@snoop-blog:
What has been sold
Not strictly made of stone
Just remember that it's flesh and bone

Unfortunately the only pawn shop in my city sells stuff at almost retail prices, but I have gotten some good deals at other pawn shops in the past.

A friend of mine in the pawn business makes a ton of money off gold. They buy all jewelry by weight only with diamonds worth about 1/10 what the supposed "appraisal value" is. If you buy jewelry at a pawn shop, know that they paid almost nothing for it.

Totally disagree. Pawn Shops are often higher priced around here (Central, MA) and the stuff is crap. Last year I was in the market for a new acoustic guitar, and so I was shopping around mostly at Guitar Center and Musicians Friend online, but I made a trip to the Pawn Shop to take a look ... and it was ridiculous. They were selling _broken_ guitars with cracked frames, for like $300, crummy japanese $99 learner models for $250+... and $800 Martins for $2,000. On top of that, they didn't let you play the guitars before buying them and every deal was final. An acoustic guitar is one of those things that you _have_ to play before buying.

@cmdrsass: That's naive. The majority of pawn shop items are stolen, NOT used. A pawn shop will not give somebody $5 for a used stereo, even if that same stereo would sell for $100+ somewhere else.

Hongfiately is right about guitars. I got a good bass amp earlier this year for $50 at a pawn shop. Works great, and I didn't have to drive far to find it.

@MichaelBrazell: and even from a reputable brand and an honest store, you can still get screwed. as i have now learned twice...

STUPID HUMIDITY!!

Not a pawn shop story - though I do frequent them and thrift stores often - but I totally know where that picture was taken. It's down on 10th Street in Oklahoma City, about twenty minutes from where I live. The other side of the sign has him holding a huge diamond, as if to suggest that he pawned it (the diamond) for the cash. Weird.

I use to shop at pawn shops until someone was telling me why they don't...

"Buying form a pawn shop is just getting a deal off of someone else's misfortune."

Times are tough when Paul Bunyan is hocking items. Is Babe already gone?

If you know the product well, you can get a good deal. A friend of mine always stops by the pawn shops for fishing gear, some of them don't know what is high quality from the excellent quality out there. He says it like this: "you cant find a $100 new in box item for $10 but you just might, if your looking hard enough find a $1000 dollar new in box item for almost as low as $100." Most gun shops have a used gun rack, so pawn shops aren't the only place for used guns.

Most items are not stolen in pawn shops. It's a highly regulated industry. You can't pawn something without affirmative ID, and the cops are always looking for the reported, stolen stuff as the pawn shops first.

I stumbled upon a 50's Ampeg amp when I was 16. I think I ended up paying $60 for it. It's worth about $600 now and I gig with it a couple of times a week.
I don't go in pawn shops quite as much these days. I figure I had a once in a lifetime find. Why expect another? Ebay has kinda destroyed the good find pawn shop days for all of us.

My state (Wisconsin) says the pawn shops are illegal !!! For some odd reason they think they rip you off. Which they dont!! I wish the state would change that.

@Mr_Human: Yeah, in this recession economy you can find good deals in a pawn shop-the irony being someone in even more hardship than you had to pawn the item you are buying and could not afford to buy it back in time. I'm not superstitious, but I've always had a nagging feeling that karma is very real.

Oh, and I try to stay out of the kinds of neighborhoods that have pawn shops

I've had good luck finding DVDs in pawn shops. Not only are they usually cheap, but I've found some really nice out-of-print titles that I would've had to pay huge prices for on ebay/Amazon marketplace/elsewhere. One quick run through the scratch remover and it's like new.

Raiding pawn shops, I've found the pickings vary from city to city, or even from one region of the city to another. One might specialize in high tech gadgetry, be loaded to the gills in jewelery, while another may look like a sporting goods store, wall to wall guns and fishing gear. The rougher parts of towns may just have junk in their cases, the desparate ones getting rid of stuff to have some green.

You may do well raiding a shop in the better areas of town if you are seeking a gaming console, one place I raid frequently had at least 3 in the case. I got lucky and got the scoop on some night vision optics for 25% of the going retail on them, in top shape! Dad, for a short song got a turreted reloading press for reloading ammo.

Buying from pawn shops promotes theft.

@Mr_Human: Not only that, there's probably a 50/50 chance that whatever you just bought was stolen. As my brother says, "In the suburbs, Pawn shops are a little sketchy, to say the least. However, in the city, the essentially control the traffic of stolen goods."

@jonworld: *they essentially

Any time something is stolen from me or a friend, I go to the pawn shops, along with my original receipt and serial number, and generally find it in one of the three closest to me. Sometimes it takes a week or two to show up, but show up it will. With a bit of haggling you can usually get your item back for free or the price the shop paid for it [which usually is not that much for stolen goods]. But, you have to carry proof of ownership of some form to say, "Hey, some arse stole that from me, do you remember who it was?"

One of the shops nearby takes a photograph of everyone that they buy stuff from - with the item in the picture with them. They will always hand it over to the police and sometimes to the buyer on request.

Where I live, pawn shops = FAIL. Nobody who knows anything about what they are shopping for shops in our local pawn shops.

That's not that great. If you're going to be buying used crap, at least go to a thrift store where the mitre saw is no more than $20.

@l951b951: "Buying from pawn shops promotes theft." As others have said, that is not necessarily true. People will always steal and they'll then try to sell it. I've had kids come up to me and try to sell me an obviously-stolen Alpine car stereo for $10 and I'm certainly no pawn broker. Again, as said, the shops at least give an avenue for cops to go look and they do require ID for pawning.

@ReidFleming: Agreed. Shoplifting, came long before the pawn shops were around. Robin hood wasn't taking from the rich, and going to the pawn shop. There are other motives for theft, and some people just get a thrill out of it or are kleptos.

I know people who everytime the move (far distances and they do it all the time) they pawn all the shit they don't want to pack. If pawn shops promote theft, which they don't, than ebay is a cesspool, and even worse.

Snoop - good point. When a friend's father passed way, she was left with a ton of tools and other stuff she had no need for (or space for ) at the time, and no time to hold a garage sale etc. She and I took the majority of it to the local pawn shop and got quite a nice bit of cash for everything. People who think that pawn shops are only for stolen goods have no clue.

I know plenty of musicians who use the pawn shop like a payday loan place. They don't have a checking account so they can't go to a payday loan, but they do have and extra amp, or guitar, that they can use as collateral. I applied for a job at one in my town and my interveiw was in the back room where they keep the things like this, things they cannot sell unless the owner defaults on their loan. I was amazed at the shit I saw back there for one, and there was 2-3 times more shit back there, than on the shelfs for sale. I could see myself working there now, plotting in my head how someones not going to pay their loan and I'm putting my dibs on that guitar right now!!!

My roommate and I used to go to a huge pawn shop when we were at Eastern Michigan University; they had DVDs at five bucks apiece or seven for $25. A great deal, though we were at the mercy of whatever people got tired of watching for their selection (I have never seen so many copies of "Miss Congeniality 2" in one spot in my life).

The place was so depressing to visit (so much pawned jewelry, industrial tools, musical instruments, etc.) that we started calling it the Despair-O-Mart, as in "Hey, are you done with classes for the week? Want to hit the Despair-O-Mart and see if they have anything good?"

They actually had a pretty decent exchange system; if your DVD wouldn't play they'd let you swap it out for another DVD. If you got stuck buying a movie that just sucked, you were out of luck.

Pawn shops are great for finding good stuff for a cheap price. I've gotten a few games in near mint condition cheaper than buying it used at Gamestop. The pawn shop here generally doesn't sell broken stuff.

The only negative experience I've had was witnessing one of the owners try to sell a PS2 for $300 during the christmas season a few years back. His reasoning was that they were hard to find (They were) unless you got it online, which was true, but the price for a new one was $149. I really didn't see the justification for selling it at double the price.

I remember the newstories about people pawning all kinds of things just to be able to afford gas.

But around here to go to pawn shops....you have to travel to more seedy & dangerous areas. Not worth it IMO.

In traveling I've found to avoid pawnshops in farming communities, junky stuff mostly. The best pawnshops & thrift stores are to be found near military bases and colleges. Basically where there's a big population that cycles in and out of an area.

Since eBay, it's harder to find the really good stuff.

Forgot to add that those 'Sell it on eBay' stores have mostly replaced the pawn shop in most areas.

Here in Kirkland (WA) we have a shop called Yuppie Pawn. It's a clean store in a nice area and you can really find some good deals on occasion. It's not far from Microsoft. I mostly just love the name.