Pawn Shops

Then they probably paid 20% less than value, lol. I found a NGC holdered coin at a pawn shop once. It was a franky half. They wanted $30 and I offered them $25. They wouldn't budge. Got home and found one eBay for $23 shipped. Like the saying goes...money talks and..

 

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Pawn shops make their living off ripping people off both ways. They pay rediculous prices for items and sell for nearly rediculous prices.

You want a deal, garage sales, possibly estate sales, and swap meets are the way to go.

 

well if you got a majior pawn shop around the area STAY AWAY!!!!, in my honest opinion go to a small pawn shop to where they dont know anything about coins, all they look at is the melt value, like silver. some just dont know about the value of the coins, i once picked up an 1895 s morgan, guy didn't even know what he had, he asked melt for it and i bought it, turned right around took it to my local coin dealer and made a whopping profit!!!!

 

There's nothing wrong with poking around a pawn shop. Finding a treasure, while not impossible, is usually rare. Some of these are family businesses and have been around for generations. They know what they're doing.

 

No one is forced to deal with a pawn shop and except their offer/retail prices.

Not so ridiculous at all.

 

I sometimes check up on my local pawns to see if they have coins. They are more established shops however, they never put their coins out for purchase, but just silver speculate on it, so if they ever have buillion or Morgans, they just horde it and don't bother putting it out.
On a lighter note, okay, I hate (not really) to bring it up but comedy Central's "South Park" just did an episode on the gold buyer craze. I just watched that yesterday and today we're bringing up gold buyers and pawns, just a wacky coincidence.

 

Did it ever occur to you that they may have paid between $20 and $25 and your offer would leave no room for profit?

 

I find it pretty hard to believe that a pawn shop would pay anything close to that range. (Not that I'm in the business, mind you.)

 

If it's slabbed, by a reputable TPG like PCGS or NGC, they would paid over melt, but about 20% of what they sell for. Most pawn shops, including the ones I've brokered in, search completed sales on eBay and some will look on Heritage as well, to get an idea of what coins are selling for.

 

I think very unlikely. If you've ever tried to sell a coin for the vast majority of pawn shops, you'll discover that you're extremely lucky to get half the book value. And if the coin shop did pay that much for it, then thats their own stupidity, and their own loss. Doesn't mean they should pass that bad judgment on to the customer. Thats how the business works. If you aren't offered a fair price, you walk away. Their loss.

 

Right. Twenty percent of what its worth is the key. Which is why they should have no problem with profit margin if a customer is making a reasonable offer.

 

Just a few weekends ago. I have gotten coins from the dude twice where i got most the stuff and he said hes got a few pre 33 gold pieces too which i will probably check out next weekend.

There is also a woman at the swap meet who sells me her dads old collection.

 

Which brings it back to what I said, that his offer of $25 wiped out any chance of a profit as they may have paid $20 - $25 for it to begin with, which at the time, might have been the 20% of what they were selling for at the time they bought it.

There's no telling when they bought that coin, and possibly could have bought when values were higher than they are today. I'm sure the broker didn't tell the OP when they bought it.

My experience in what pawn shops do comes from working as a pawn broker for several years.

 

+1

 

If a pawn shot was offering a fair price for the coin, they wouldn't hold onto it long enough for the market value to change that drastically. If they paid 20 percent what it was worth, and still had it when he made his reasonable offer, then it was priced too high, very likely.

My experience with coins shops is several years of having them ask ridiculous prices on coins and other merchandise.

 

There are some good pawn dealers out there. And those are the ones that would never have to hold onto a coin long enough to end up having trouble getting a profit on a coin they only paid 20 percent of value for. If they are having that kind of trouble, they should rethink their business.

 

I had gotten 7 coins for 87 bucks after selling just the one Aladin coin for 80 bucks I pretty much got those ones you saw for free


Then I went to him two weeks later and for 15 bucks got a kennedy proof set and 8 of those $5 nickel coins all from different places. A ebay check showed them to vary from 6 bucks to 20 each.

 

But you have to understand something about the pawn business.

The majority of their customers are not coming into the shop specifically looking to buy coins. I worked in two shops, and trained new employees in a third shop. They might get 3 customers a week shopping for coins, sometimes more, other times none at all. Most of the business they get are people looking to either sell, or get a loan(pawn) on property that has value. Numismatic items can sit for upwards of 6 months, and sometimes longer before they sell. Pawn shops keep their overhead as low as they can and typically don't sell on eBay. Several of the shops near me list things for sale on craigslist.com. No fees associated with that.

Pawn shops, with regards to numismatic items, are no different than coin dealers, and B&M shops who buy and sell coins, worth melt only or with collectible premiums.

It's an offer, and the person selling is not being held hostage and forced to take the offer. They can decline it and walk out as easily as they walked in.

Are there unscrupulous pawn shops out there? Sure there are, just as there are unscrupulous coin dealers, and B&M shops.