So, I’ve never been to a pawn shop before. I’m curious what’s there, but TV makes them seem shady and odd. What should I know before I visit? I’m sort of expecting a cross between an antique and a thrift store, that sort of vibe.
I’m in the USA and don’t intend to pawn anything.
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If you limit your purchases to items whose value you are knowledgeable about you can secure decent bargains especially if you have any charisma and can negotiate.
To add to this go online and look up what items are going for used online. Don’t care what people are asking for them, that’s not indicative of the true value. If possible you want to know what the final bids in several auctions were.
Also when negotiating price remember they paid for it and need to make a profit on it. Any offer that doesn’t allow them to make money on a sale can be an insult.
Any offense from the clerk is certainly either frustration or a negotiating tactic. Negotiating is their business, if they’re getting offended by low-ball offers they need to find a new line of work
It’s just a store. Sometimes you can haggle. Sometimes there’s screaming deals. I bought a Nintendo Switch for $150 a month after it was released.
Not so much of a deal after the second month.
If they still have it it’s worth more than a brand new switch, the first models are sort after because you can jailbreak them
Pawn shops take advantage of the lowest and most vulnerable of society. They buy something from somone for a tiny fraction of what it’s worth, and then sell it to you for almost-new prices.
Why should you visit a store that concept roots in scam? I don’t mean fraud, just buying cheap from desperate people and selling high. That’s a scam imo. Just don’t. There’s nothing to find there, no treasure, no unique stuff for borderline reasonable price. Maybe a gun. You need a gun from a pawn shop?
Where I’m from they’re mostly used as alternatives to online marketplaces like Craigslist and Facebook marketplace for people who can’t be bothered to respond to a slew of messages.
You can typically find last generation consoles and games pretty cheap.
TBF you just described most of capitalism.
I don’t need a gun, but the pawn shop on my commute has some musical instruments in the window which intrigue me. I’m a serial hobby-starter, and prefer gently used hobby tools over new, because used items have less of an environmental impact than new items.
Musical instruments are one of the better things you can find, and usually you can try them in store.
Most pawn shops deal primarily with guns, tools, and jewelry. You’ll also find all kinds of electronics and collectibles, some places may have furniture too.
I once sold a 100$ used laptop for 100$ to a pawn shop. Soo… It’s not terribly bad.
Try haggling unless they have weapons very close to the employees. Other than that, same as any other store. (Except like, most of these goods are from desperate folks etc. Still, probably about as ethical as our phones etc.)
They’re not going to shoot you for trying to haggle. Shit I’ve haggled on the purchase of a gun.
No, you’re not getting shot for that.
And it absolutely depends where you live. But hard pawn shops, where they’ve seen enough shit, haggling will make your price go up or just get you a “get the fuck out.”
Proximity to weapons is a reasonable indicator of what kind of place you’re in.
Every pawn shop I’ve been to has guns displayed behind the cashiers. If you are experiencing a lot of people saying “get the fuck out”, I’d attribute that to some other common variable.
Nah man, businesses tell their customers to get the fuck out all the time.
This isn’t GTA.
Haggling will only make the price go up if you suck at haggling. If someone offered to buy something 75% off they might get told to leave. But if you offer someone $185 on something listed at $200 they’ll likely be more willing to haggle with you.
As for the last part lots of pawnshops have random guns or swords. Owning either does transform someone or some business into some harden gangsters.
If you’re not really comfortable with haggling my go-to is always “what’s your best price on this?”
They usually have a quick range that they’ll accept and you know if it’s something that you were already interested in and you can suddenly get 10% off just by asking one simple question then go for it.
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