Pawn Stars Honest Profit Or...........

I was never able to make a deal with any coin or pawn shop here in Vegas. I drove to LA to sell bullion. The TV aspect is different from what I have seen. Their margins are so excessive, that unless you are really, really desperate, why bother ?

I also had a problem with the episode that featured a gold bar from a possible sunken treasure trove. In reality, I think they would have offered $15k for the $24k worth of gold instead of bringing in an expert and paying $37k. None of them every tried to educate me anyway. Go figure ? The shops are buying gold for $13 a gram right now.

 

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What surprises me is the fact that there are only 8 business licenses issued for pawn shops in all of Clark County. You would think there would be dozens of them. The population of Las Vegas proper is over 560,000, and the county population is over 2,000,000. Countywide, there are more than 36,000,000 visitors annually (slightly less than 100,000 per day).

I don't doubt that much of the filming is staged, but I don't see why it should come as a surprise that there seems to be any number of experts that Rick can call upon for authentication purposes.

Chris

 

Exactly, but how many times do they call in an expert when the cameras aren't rolling?

 

I think it is a cool show and I think Paul hit the nail on the head with his posts. If you notice they never really show what they actually sell items for. I think one show covered some of the items from one season and what they sold for. They did not average 500% maybe 20% to 30%. The only ones they really show are some of the big items. I also believe everything has to sit in the "buy room" for 30 days before they can then sell it. For some of the experts they give them first dibs on some of the items - I know on one gun they bought for like 300 and sold to the expert for like 400. That left him room to make money. I like the show and think they are fair(based off what I see). About a month ago my father took some gold jewelry to sell - the local coin shop offered 160 and the pawn shop offered 150. Both were fair in my opinion.

 

A single license can be used to operate more than one store location. Many are like chain stores. E Z Pawn is an example. There is one on every corner. Look on Google maps for Pawn Shops Las Vegas and you will find several pages showing 10 locations on each one. I stopped at page 5. They do the same thing with taxi cabs. 3 licenses and 100's of taxis and 0 independent operators. Here, the big boys have a lock on everything.

 

I thought this at first too, but then I heard about that note the lady found that had been certified before the show. That seems pretty convincing to me.

 

true but before this show ever came about I'm sure they were compensated in some form.

 

I hardly think that Corey,s purchase of a fake Coca-Cola sign is going
To run the pawn shop into the ground!! LOL

 

There are many. Several stores can operate under a single license I believe. Super Pawn is like a McDonalds of Pawn shops. Seems like there is one on every corner.

 

I like the show but they do take advantage of the folks.:kewl:
but all pawn shops do the same thing anyway

 

I think the people on the show get a lot fairer deal than those who are not on camera. I don't think the shops educate people to increase the value of their items. I think they make lowball bids and try to get the items really really cheap. After all, even the Old Man keeps saying "This is a Business" "make more money". Why would they tell you an item is worth more than you are seeking for it or are willing to take ?

It's good TV. IMHO

 

I still don't understand this comment.

Here is what Rick and the gang does for the customer.

• Tell them what they have, if they can, and give them all the specs of the item.

• 
  Call an expert in to authenticate the item, as well as put a value on it

• Make them an offer on the item, that might be less than what they could get for the item, but they get paid on the spot, in cash

I don't see any signs of the customer being taken advantage of. The customer isn't being held at gun point to sell his item for $10,000 less than it could sell for. The seller is offered a low amount for the item, so the owner of the PROFITING business can make money. It is called business.

 

Does it matter that most, if not all of the show is contrived? With evidence to support that it's a sham? Seems more like an infomercial now...

 

That is very true and accurate. My thing is that, I believe they do that for the customers on TV. But the shops I have seen all make low ball offers, tell you it's a piece of junk or fake and try to get it as cheaply as they can. That's called business too, but some guys really stretch it to the limit. I mean fair is fair. Overhead is a fact. And you don't have to sell to them.

I am going down there one of these days and take something for the Old Man to look at. When he says "What do you want to do ? Sell it, Pawn it, Donate it ?" I am going to say "What's it worth ?" When he makes the offer, I am going to say "OK, I want to donate it then, but NOT to you." LOL Maybe I can get on TV too ?

 

Yea but its still funny to see corey buy a fake item with all the experts they call in

 

Yes it is.

 

LOL! That would be quite funny actually, but I refuse to believe that Pawn Shop does bad business, my reasoning is, if word got out, the TV show would plummet in ratings, thus, less money and advertising for the Pawn Shop itself.
I believe them to be a very honest place.

 

They probably knew beforehand that it was fake. The producers just wanted to show us that they are human.

 

I remember the self-congratulatory ads that Littleton Coin Company ran for a while.

A family had a group of rare notes. They went to coin shop A that offered a thousand or so, they then went to shop B that offered twice that amount. Finally they sent the notes, including a rare 1862 $20 note, to Littleton, not a company that is known for offering top dollar by any means. They realized they could not make a low-ball offer without consequences, so they sent the rare notes to auction. The 1862 note sold for around a quarter million.

If someone holds themselves out as certified appraisers they can be liable for rip-offs. Not every seller is knowledgeable. Trust is a big word when you are dealing with family heirlooms. If I were selling items in the thousands, I would try my best to get top dollar. Many people are just glad to get the cash. We see the ads with cash being dispensed to the seller. Some deals are more than fair. Some are not. Educating buyers and sellers is a public service.

 

found this one the history channel shop :goofer: