Pawn Shop Experiences?

[scotty365]

I wouldn't consider selling anything of any real value at such a place to be honest... unless you really need £100 in the next couple of hours else big Paul's gunna break yours legs or something.

£100? thats ambitious

 

[scotty365]

snip

I can only speak for my stores, but the stories above are completely untrue to what we do. If we were to offer £25 for a £100 laptop we would be closed within a couple of months due to ripping people off and upsetting the community.

They have been ripping people off around here for years but never shut down - but then if people want to sell there goods quickly then there is a service and lots of people use it.
CC type places simply don't give good prices and I have been stood there when one fella sold something (can't remember what) for a crap price and after he left someone behind the desk said I'll take that - yes they were snapping up sold items for personal gain.

 

[Justintime]

Mate of mine had his speakers and amp stolen from his car, turned up at his local cash converters within a week. Got them back eventually with police intervention. Was a custom made by him cab to fit his car so no doubt it was his.

 

[AtreuS]

Look at it this way...

Laptop you think is worth £300.... because one sold on ebay.

In reality you could get one the same spec new for £300 so second hand in a shop window realistically you will get £200 tops. Depends on area of course.

So take 20% vat off that ( anything a shop buys they have to end up paying vat on it when its sold ) and 20% to cover running costs/wages/shop rent etc and you down to £128. That is the COST figure the shop is lookng at if they want to make nothing on it. SO likely you will be offered £100 ish so they can make 30quid out of it.

This is the usual working out rule of thumb we use in the shop i work at. Ask yourself what would someone PAY for it in the window, when you consider what you can buy online new/refurb.. then multiply by .8 and .8 again and then knock a bit off and start your haggle.

Some people seem to think they can sell to a shop and get the same price they would as if they had sold to the end customer!

We are indi so we can haggle and work out a deal... the chain pawnbrokers tend to be slaves to the computer system. And the main one ( red signs ) sell for silly prices... we sell to get rid of things so we put at a reasonable price. Its causes us headaches as they are the only competition in town and when people went to sell things they harp on about how much "the red place is selling on in the window for blah blah blahhh"... yes and its a rip off at that price!

The average punter cannot seem to understand that "its worth £100 to me mate so ill let you have it for that" is not a fair comparison. Does your mate pay vat and rent and business rates and wages? no didnt think so

As for the OP's watch i would expect a price of around £100 to be a fair offer from a 2nd hand shop. Assuming it is in perfect condition of course If it is worn and scruffy £40 max, as anyone buying it is not going to pay more than a ton for it. You might get more selling privately of course.

 

[Metalface Mark]

Yeah you can haggle if you're selling to them.

I'm not sure if you can for buying, never bought anything from Cash Converters.

I wouldn't recommend cash converters though I only used them twice when my eBay account was broken. They obviously need to make money and most times they will just not bother with things with less than 50% margin due to the sheer amount of people/crack heads who are willing to sell them items at 50% of actual value.

you can haggle when buying from anywhere, most jewellers even the big chains will haggle with you.

 

[CaNsA]

In general, pawn shops will look on ebay for the average selling price of an item then offer you half of that value and sell it for the ebay price.

 

[Battery!]

One experience from me.

I took an engagement ring in that I had from a previous relationship, it cost me around £1200 new.

I was offered £40.

Turned around and walked out.

 

[platypus]

I really don't see how they have such a high street presence, given the ease of selling online now. Bricks and mortar are expensive to maintain.

 

[InvaderGIR]

I really don't see how they have such a high street presence, given the ease of selling online now. Bricks and mortar are expensive to maintain.

Generally the clientèle that will use them do not use the internet or have access to it.

 

[Keltyx]

So take 20% vat off that ( anything a shop buys they have to end up paying vat on it when its sold )

FYI they only pay 20% VAT on the profit not the value they sell it for, i.e. the "value added" by the trader. If they buy something for £100 and sell it for £200 they owe Mr taxman £20 (there or thereabouts)