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Message:: [QUOTE="Detecto92, post: 1883258, member: 75105"]That's not exactly true. There are both good and bad pawn shops just like there are good and bad car dealerships, paint booths, oil changes places, etc. 600 to 800 is entirely to low for an ounce of gold. Not even those "cash 4 gold" places on TV pay that low. Considering the amount of volume that place has due it's popularity, BESIDES the royalties they get, they can pay much better for stuff. I'm sure people are stupid enough to sell something really cheap just so they can brag about selling it to the "pawn shop on TV". A pawn broker can send bar gold and rounds to places like ARA Gold who pay 98% for pure gold, and 99% over 20 ounces. So you figure a "final loss" for the pawn broker at around 3-4 percent, once you factor in mailing and insurance. So if the broker pays $1,000 for that ounce of gold, he or she can get around $1300 for it, so that's a profit of $300 or a profit margin of 23 percent. My friend pays 85% of melt for gold, which a margin of only 13%, and makes quite a bit of money doing it. Pawn shops actually make more money on pawn loans that they do buying and selling. In our state, the interest is 20% on pawn loans, so if you pawn a $500 item that is worth $800, that's an instant $100 for the pawn broker, or $300 if you default on the loan.[/QUOTE]