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Has anyone pawned items? What did you pawn? Did you pawn---which is a loan---then reclaim, or outright sell the item?
Also, wonder if there's a better time to pawn than others? Say, if you pawn at the end of the month, they know you're short a few days until pay day and just need money to tide you over, so, it would seem to me they would probably offer the lowest prices then. If you pawn right after pay day, perhaps they would realize you're not quite desperate and offer a bit more? Hmmmm so, WDYT?
Is it a better deal to pawn or just sell? I suppose it all depends on if you want to reclaim the item someday...
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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I have never been hard up enough to pawn anything, but I once had a surplus of musical instruments and decided to get rid of a few, so I sold them to a pawnshop. I was happy with what I got for them, but had a friend go back later to see what they were asking for them, and it was 3-4 times what I had been paid, and well more than they were worth.
Sure, over the years when things got tight between paydays, we would occasionally use a pawn shop for a short term loan. My Wife had an expensive cocktail ring I bought her and we would use it to get a few hundred bucks to tide us over. We always made sure we redeemed it before the deadline, it was simply a lifesaver when we needed it.
My mother had a TV set that developed a defect -- a half hour after turning it on, the screen would suddenly go dim, but it was always OK when first turned on cold. She bought a new TV, and I took her old one to a pawn shop, where the guy plugged it it, turned it on, and gave me $30. I feel morally ambiguous about that, because I know that he sold it for $75 to somebody who got a worthless piece of junk.
I've only been in a pawn shop once in the late 90s while laptop computers were still expensive. What they had was junk so I never went back into one and I never plan to.
I have bought and sold items at a pawn shop. But never pawned anything with the idea of getting it back when I repaid the loan. I do know what you get for something can vary a lot from one store to another. Always get prices from several stores.
If it's jewelry you will get nothing even close to the value of the item. As Teckeee said it's "10-20 cents on the dollar". I have sold jewelry and that has held true for every item except one. I had a Rolex watch. First I took it to 2 Rolex dealers in town and their offers were disappointing and quite low. Then I took it to a pawn shop, the one on Pawnstars, and they paid me more than I originally paid for the watch so I made a profit! But that rarely happens!
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so, WDYT?
