My pawn shop experience.

Ever wondered what it's like to pawn something in real life? Keep reading and find out.


So I have a bill due, but not getting money until a week after it's due date, so I took some of my coins down to the pawn shop.

I wasn't going to sell them, just paying the bill and using the money coming to buy them back. So I planned on pawning them.

The pawn store was ran by an older couple, who seem to not know very much about coins.

This is what threw me for a loop, they had been there for 5+ years, but they did not use a Redbook, nor a grey sheet.

Instead, they used completed eBay listings, not even taking the fact that they were PCGS graded.

So one of my coins was an "1831 Capped Bust Half Dollar VF35". So they just put in "1831 bust half vf".

They took the cheapest completed one, harshly cleaned, that sold for $30, and that was "my price".

The other 3 coins was a 1892 MS63 Colombian Expo. Half Dollar, an 1853 Seated Dime VF30, and a 1944 Half Dollar.

My "loot" was worth $75.

Now the "realistic" price on these items were totaled to around $225. If we add up the "list price" it's $285.

My "offer" was $75, so about 30%, which is rather low, but again, I did not care what I was offered, because I was not selling them, just pawning them.

It took about 2 minutes for them to fill out paperwork, they took my ID, jotted down all the info from it, and made me sign a line.

My "finance charge" was $15.00, or 20%. My state has a law that pawnbrokers can only charge up to 20% interest.

The entire process probably took 15 minutes.

They put my stuff in a plastic bag, so it won't get mixed up with other's.

Here is my conclusion:

While this particular pawnshop needs a better way to price coins, I must say, if you need a loan, it's perhaps the best way to get one. But I only recommended it if you have an absolute guarantee of future income. Otherwise you may loose all your stuff.

Pawn shops are really not the place to sell something, but perhaps the best place to get a small loan.

 

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Eh, they got to make money. Great thing about America and Pawn shops is no one forces you to take the offer.

'MURICA!

 

Just be sure to pay them back. I'd be in pain seeing the coins just disappear for $75.

 

Interest rates are typically quoted in yearly rates. So $15.00/$75.00 is 20% interest if the pawn shop gives you one year to pay them $90.00 to get your coins back.

But that is not typically how it works, at least not in most states. If you don't have the $90.00 in a month you have to pay them another $15.00 to renew the loan. So if you just renew the loan every month for a year it would be ($15.00 x 12) / $75.00 which is a 240% annual interest rate.

 

you shouldn't need $75 bad enough to have to pay $15 to borrow it short term.

This is a tank of gas.

 

I hope you didn't buy these coins last month

 

Lol here comes another 11 page thread to nowhere...

 

Eventually, all debts come due. I guarantee that pawn ticket will not be redeemed.

 

And I will say it again; welcome to the real world.

In regards to their supposedly needing "better way to price coins"; that’s too bad. It's a pawn shop making a [FONT=&amp]tiny[/FONT] loan on relatively low value coins. YOU went to them for help, and they must tie[FONT=&amp] their money[/FONT] up, so it is [FONT=&amp]their [/FONT]choice as to how much the coins are worth to [FONT=&amp]them[/FONT]. No one put a gun to your head and forced you to take the loan.

And how many times have you advised people to do this? Why is this okay for a collector, but wrong for a dealer, or in this case, a pawnshop? You have also told people not to pay for plastic, so by your own word, this should have nothing to do with it. Were all the coins PCGS, or was at least one raw?

Do you now have an absolute guarantee of future income? Honest question.

 

Are you suggesting I'm going to have to figure out how to UNSUBSCRIBE here lol

And at what point are we allowed to randomize this thread, please?

 

I guess next time you just need to bring a bunch of culls with you - worth 30 bucks and get the same 75 dollars if thats all they do.

 

You should be lucky their offer wasn't a couple of dollars under melt. Pawning in real life is no different that on the t.v. shows. You never, and I mean NEVER get full value for your items on a loan from any pawn shop.

 

Their eBay pricing might backfire on them.

My seated time is worth $45 in the PCGS price guide. My "offer" was $30. My CBH is $145 in the PCGS guide, and my offer was...$30.

Now while they could of made $115 on the CBH, they are only making $15 on the seated dime. Now you can see why eBay pricing is not accurate.

Maybe instead of paying them the $15 finance charge, I should give them a redbook?

 

Would have gotten a lot more dosh by posting the coins on the BST and flat out selling them. It sucks selling coins, I sold a whole collection of $20 Libs and Saints and practically all my foreign gold back in the late 1990s - I was just glad I had something to sell. And now I have better stuff than I had then.

 

Glad to hear that they did not have to call in an expert like they do on Pawn Stars. TC

 

You're missing the point Tim.

It doesn't matter what any price guide says your coin is worth.

You will never get the full value from any pawn shop on a loan, or even if they buy it from you.

Bottom line!

 

It must be tough to know more about (insert profession here) than the people that actually make a living at it.

 

I'll take completed listings over price guide values any day of the week. Sounds to me like they are doing a pretty good job of valuing your coins, building in a fat cushion for themselves, and earning a nice little profit on the interest. You have to realize, they are not experts on every item so they are not going to maximize every coin. What counts to them is that on average they get it right, and in your case it sounds like they did.

 

Tim, are you familiar with the Golden Rule?
He who has the gold, rules.
You are at the mercy of the pawn broker.
It's simple, really.
Live by his rules or live without the cash.
There is no room for complaint here.

 

Should have come to me..I would have loaned you $100 for the same coins and only charged you 10% interest. Oh well, lesson learned.
Guy