Pawn shops

[abunaitoo]

How are pawn shops in your area????
We have a few here. Some are honest. Most are crooks.
Honest ones seem not to have many things in them.
Bad ones have stuff from floor to ceiling.
Most seem to not last to long.

[Chill Wills]

How can you tell a good one from a bad one? I have never bought anything from one.

[FLINTNFIRE]

Here there are a few , crooked yes , honest none left , firearms are marked as high as can be , at least there are a few gun shops left and they are pretty good.

[am44mag]

My LGS is a pawn shop. I don't think he sells a lot, I think he mainly does it to have something to do. It's a small shop. Some tools, a couple guitars, some electronics, and maybe a dozen or so guns. He used to have like a hundred a few years back. I actually bought by first gun there. A Remington 700 ADL in 30-06 with a gorgeous nutmeg laminate stock. $400 OTD. Didn't look like it had ever been fired.

He does my FFL transfers for free.

[am44mag]

How can you tell a good one from a bad one? I have never bought anything from one.

If they're selling a $300 gun for $600, and their typical clientele looks like they just walked out of a crack palace, then they're probably not that great. Generally, you should avoid the ones in the rough part of town.

[abunaitoo]

Pawn shops here cannot sell firearms.
Kind of shows how trusted they are.
I know a guy who owns one.
He says he doesn't do much pawns. Mostly collateral loans. Seems like the same thing to me.
He kind of likes to skirt the law.
Sells lose tobacco, so no cigarette tax.
Had a few gaming rooms, with supposedly legal game machines.
He's never had a problem with LE, so he must be doing something correct.
Another one I know of, is owned by a retired cop.
Went there only once.
I'm sure he was a crook.

[richhodg66]

We have three in our little town, all of which I have bought a gun or two from, all are honest. One in particular is a third generation family business is he is a respected member of the community. He's always done me right. He also looks out for the other guy, in the past, he's had obvious attempts from people to do straw man purchases and after he shuts them down, he's on the phone to the other gun dealers to be careful. Most of his business is guns, but he does other stuff too. A while back, someone brought in some professional photographs of the town from the 1880s or so, he bought them and turned around and donated them to the county historical society and museum. Great guy and everybody in town thinks well of him.

[Petrol & Powder]

Pawn Shops are interesting places. They are only as good as the people that run them. They can range from excellent to shady.
I know some pawn shop owners that are honest men and I know some that I wouldn't trust as far as I could throw them.

I've never pawned anything but I've purchased items in pawn shops. You must know what the item is worth in order to get any type of decent deal. It makes no sense to buy a used tool in a pawn shop for the same amount as a new one in a retail store. Same holds true for guns.
I rarely see good used guns in pawn shops and the few I've encountered were almost always priced over what they were worth to me.

Pawn shops make money three different ways: !. They make loans, charge interest on those loans and hold an item of value as collateral. 2. If the loan isn't paid in time, they sell the item held as collateral for more than the amount of the loan. 3. They buy property outright and sell that property for more than they paid for it.

That third category is actually the bulk of most pawn shop businesses.

[NyFirefighter357]

We don't have any local pawn shops, never even heard of a pawn shop until I went to Colorado. The closest to me aren't even in NY but Ct. Doesn't matter as they can't sell guns here or in CT and mostly buy gold & cash checks. The one by my work 40 miles from here is small can't be more than 600sqft. I've never been in a pawn shop either.

[pworley1]

We have 3 in town and all are good to deal with. I have bought many tools and guns from them, never at their asking price, they have also help people recover their stolen items.

[Tom W.]

We have several in this city, and a whole lot more across the river in Columbus. They range from some that I won't even slow down when driving by to a small chain that is clean and sells both new and used firearms, but I've never seen junk firearms in their stores. The small chain will dicker on the prices, and I bought several new handguns from there. There's one that's a mile from my house that I bought a pristine Colt revolver from, but if my across the street neighbor hadn't been working there I probably would never have gone in there.

What really surprised me is that there is one LGS that I know of in Columbus, and 99% of all firearm sales around here are either pawn shop, internet sales or 25 or so miles away....

[GhostHawk]

My wife and I had started visiting a local pawn shop some 2 miles away fairly regularly on friday evenings.
"Date night" was a trip to the pawn shop then supper out someplace.

First shop was a chain, got sold, new owners did not want to deal in guns. So we quit going.

Some 5 months later we stuck our noses into a new pawn shop just 4 blocks away. Much to our surprise we found most of our friendly staff from the old place. They did not like it either. Setup their own shop.

We go regularly.

Typical items marked at 15$ will be charged to us at 10$. No drama, no fuss, they throw out a figure, I nod either yes or no. Hand over the card. Very seldom say no.

Wife looks for Black Hills Gold Jewelry and interesting items. I look at tools, knives, guns.

Brand new bow saws, 3 in a bundle, 6$ which they knocked down to 5$. Hard to complain about that.
Less than a year old Minn Kota Trolling Motor, 44 lb thrust stern mount, camo paint job. Goes for 2-300$ new, this one did not have a mark on it, no indication that it had ever seen use. 100$ out the door.

[RU shooter]

We have very few and none sell guns . But judging by the prices they have listed on their 20yr old or older "vintage" bear and Jennings compound bows I wouldn't be a buyer anyways . Way way over priced . Not worth my time or effort trying to haggle .that polished turd is a bar of gold in their eyes.

[Reddirt62]

Done go in them much anymore. Years back I found one that would look up the price of a snapon tool and sell it for half....those days are long gone. No the norm is -10% retail. Only bought one gun. S&W 686 no dash. Nice pistol.

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[osteodoc08]

Pawn Shops are interesting places. They are only as good as the people that run them. They can range from excellent to shady.
I know some pawn shop owners that are honest men and I know some that I wouldn't trust as far as I could throw them.

I've never pawned anything but I've purchased items in pawn shops. You must know what the item is worth in order to get any type of decent deal. It makes no sense to buy a used tool in a pawn shop for the same amount as a new one in a retail store. Same holds true for guns.
I rarely see good used guns in pawn shops and the few I've encountered were almost always priced over what they were worth to me.

Pawn shops make money three different ways: !. They make loans, charge interest on those loans and hold an item of value as collateral. 2. If the loan isn't paid in time, they sell the item held as collateral for more than the amount of the loan. 3. They buy property outright and sell that property for more than they paid for it.

That third category is actually the bulk of most pawn shop businesses.


This right here. The bulk of their clientele are folks that work paycheck to paycheck, regardless of source, and rely on the pawn store for quick cash.

A good friend of mine in college, who I “lost in divorce”, had most of his family in the lawn business. I’ve been there in the store with them to help out or to visit and their clientele was always, um, interesting. He and his family were hard working and honest but the pawn business is the pawn business.

[bedbugbilly]

I haven't been in one for several years. One I went in out in AZ dealt with guns as well as ammo. He had quite a rack of used rifles - I almost choked when I saw the prices on them. About twice what they should have been. I asked about several of them and the guy had a chip on his shoulder attitude - I just chalked that up to him probably having to deal with folks who were trying to take advantage of him. He warmed up a little after a while and he wasn't a bad guy. I ended up buying a Browning T bolt 22 rifle from him at what I felt was a fair price to both of us - not what was marked on the tag though.

My wife had never been in a pawn shop so we went in to another one in a different part of Tucson. She got very uneasy with the clientele that was coming and going. Funny thing - I never knew there were so many pieces of used tools available for pawn. ;-) Most of it was obviously stuff that had been ripped off of construction sites or out of someone's work truck. Most of the people pawning those items were kids/young people - many of them obviously on something. We left after only a few minutes.

There used to be, maybe still is, a show called Pawn Stars (I think that was th name) that was centered around a pawn shop in the Detroit area. I had a few pieces of my Civil War collection up on fleabay when I was liquidating it. I got a call from one of the producers of the show that had seen one of my items I had up on fleabay and she wanted me to take it down and come over to Detroit to be on the show - acting like I wanted to pawn the item - IIRC, it was my Civil War surgeon's kit. I asked her what in the heck I would want to do that and her answer was "so you can be on TV". Really? I then asked her how it worked and she laid it all out. I pretended to be hard of hearing and kept asking her . . . "You want me to be a porn star?". I finally told her what I thought of their little scheme and hung up on her. Obviously, they troll for interesting items and people to be on these shows.

[jdfoxinc]

Most of the "sales" on American Guns were of that type. One Colt Peace Maker actually belonged to the owners collection. The 'seller' was just a local customer. Mr Wyat is where he belongs.

[Rick Hodges]

The main pawn shop in our town has a few well worn guns prices like pristine Civil war collectables. I have only been in there a couple of times since I retired and saw nothing that was of any interest to me.

[pertnear]

Not many bargains at a hock-shop, but I did just do a FFL transfer at a local for $10. Smoothest & cheapest I ever paid! :2_high5:

[2ndAmendmentNut]

Local pawn stores have almost all junk and absolutely no deals or even reasonable prices on their firearms. Lots of high points, badly modified military surplus rifles, and mossberg shotguns. Years ago I saw a stainless 4” Colt python, timing was out and every screw head was badly damaged as though somebody had tried to dissemble the gun with a pneumatic wrench. Asking price was almost $2000. That poor Colt sat around for a while until The Walking Dead became popular and then somebody must have bought it because, “it’s just like the one on TV.”


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[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I frequent a few pawn shops, none of which are in a metropolitan area. So these small town pawn shops and edge of suburban area pawn shops are pretty decent and seemingly NOT crooks at all. Prices are always set real high, but with cash in hand, the real price is usually half or less. As I understand it, if someone comes in for a loan or to 'swap', those high prices are pretty firm, to take advantage of the person who has no cash and is a bit desperate.

My favorite was "Jack's Gun and Pawn". The store closed long ago and Jack has passed away. Jack became a good friend. His store always had a lot of turn over, he was always bringing in guns from God knows where? and this was before the internet. I recall wanting a Turk Mauser (in mid 1990s) from some ad in Shotgun news (Century Arms? maybe?), I think they were $39 for hand picked and $29 for ones with cracked stock. He brought in six that had cracked stocks (BTW, all but one, didn't have cracked stocks, just major blemishes, the one had a chunk missing by the buttplate) anyway, he let me choose the nicest for that $29 price plus $10 transfer. He priced the rest at $75 and they sold fairly quickly...of course I did send a few of my friends to his store to look at them.

[Beau Cassidy]

What I have learned from police friends is you can gauge the amount of crime in an area by the number of pawn shops.

[xs11jack]

I have found 3 pawn shops around here. A funny thing, I went into one and found a saber saw in great condition marked at $30. I bought it and then looked around and the gun prices were out of sight. But everything else was reasonable, strange! The other two are run of the mill with high gun prices too.
Ole Jack

[timspawn]

I hadn't been in another pawn shop in close to twenty years. I spent a Saturday afternoon and hit about five of them. They were all full..of overpriced **** that wouldn't sell at a yard sale. Most of it belonged in the garbage. I price my stuff cheap so I can sell it. It does no good to have a shop full of stuff that wont sell. Plus it looks bad if it's all overpriced. If a tool is in really good condition, I figure it should sell for half of new price. Much more than that you might as well buy new.

[gpidaho]

We have several pawn shops in our area and my favorite has a very friendly and helpful staff. They have a large inventory of new and used guns, scopes, safes and reloading equipment in addition to all the usual pawn shop junk. They do all my transfers and I always check with them first before I put in my newest order to "Bud's" If they can put it in my hand for the price of an online purchase the sale it theirs, if not they just say so and are happy to make a few bucks on the transfer. If you ever find yourself in the treasure valley of Idaho stop in to Al's Gun and Pawn, good folks to know and your remembered by your name your next visit. Gp

[abunaitoo]

I used to go to Vegas every year for the SEMA show.
I'd go to the pawn shops there.
Firearms were way over priced.

[Char-Gar]

Caveat Emptor...Anybody that buys anything, without knowing what it is, what is a reasonable price and how to judge condition, will be bent over many times in his life. I have bought quite a few guns in pawn shops over the years and nobody crooked me. It it was not what I wanted, was over priced or in poor condition, it was not sold to me.

[RogerDat]

A "good" pawn shop doesn't want to sell merchandise they want to loan you money and have you repay with interest. The goods are just collateral for the loan. You buy a car from a reputable dealer they don't want the car back they want you to make the payments, same for a bank and mortgage. They don't want the house. No reason for that pawn shop to have a lot of merchandise on the floor because most will be in back awaiting redemption by the owner. What is on the floor is like a foreclosed house or repossessed car. A failed transaction.

A "bad" pawn shop has rates that are high enough that with compounding make it hard for clients to repay, some push interest to the end so you can't touch it until the loan is paid back by which time it has grown. Those places will have a lot of goods due to a high default rate. I think some pawn shops do a lot of buying outright instead of loaning against collateral. They buy low and sell high and will have a larger inventory. Think pawn stars, none of those customers on TV are getting loans against the value of the property. Rick just buys for a good percentage below value and sells at value to get back investment plus a return. They will ask all the traffic will bear for a price. Caveat Emptor certainly applies. Offer what it is worth and walk away if it isn't enough.

[Grmps]

Like previously stated, It depends how well you know them and they know you.
I have a couple friends that buy frequently from pawn shops and get great deals (a couple shops will call them when something comes in they think my friend would want.
I don't think The pawn shops can't be jerks to everyone and still make a living.

But what do I know:(

[Texas by God]

My LGS is a pawn shop too. I don't hold it against them. They provide a service to a segment of the populace that needs it.
The gun store side is wonderful, you can trade with them and talk them down on used guns or slow moving new ones. Good farming Christian folks run it and they know their stuff. They don't do xfers, though.

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[Char-Gar]

Pawn shops loan a small percentage of value of the item. When they sell, the item, they have far less in it, than a gunshop does. They ask high prices, but after a proper dicker, most will come down on the price. Sometimes way down.

It might also be mentioned that often they really don't know the value of all the items they are selling. They deal with so many different kinds of things, they can't be knowledgeable on all of them. As a consequence, I have bought guns in pawn shops at less than half of market price. If they won't come down, walk away and come back in a month or two. If they still won't come down, repeat as often as needed. I bought this Colt 1917 about ten years ago for $200.00 after they had it with a price tag $550.00 for two years. It is tight as Old Dick's hatband a perfect bore and no rust anywhere. Think I got a good deal?

[merlin101]

We have a few around here, I bought my wife a new engagement wedding ring set at one (yeah, I know what your thinking) we took it to a jeweler to have it sized and cleaned ectara. and was told we got not only a great deal but a real great deal! I r3ecently bought a Dan Wesson pistol pac at another one here in NY ( its the only pawn shop in NY with a FFL) he had it listed for $1800, I ended up getting it for $1000 plus a trade in worth 300-500.
I've also picked up a few silver Eagles at some of them.

[Petrol & Powder]

A "good" pawn shop doesn't want to sell merchandise they want to loan you money and have you repay with interest. The goods are just collateral for the loan. You buy a car from a reputable dealer they don't want the car back they want you to make the payments, same for a bank and mortgage. They don't want the house. No reason for that pawn shop to have a lot of merchandise on the floor because most will be in back awaiting redemption by the owner. What is on the floor is like a foreclosed house or repossessed car. A failed transaction.

A "bad" pawn shop has rates that are high enough that with compounding make it hard for clients to repay, some push interest to the end so you can't touch it until the loan is paid back by which time it has grown. Those places will have a lot of goods due to a high default rate. I think some pawn shops do a lot of buying outright instead of loaning against collateral. They buy low and sell high and will have a larger inventory. Think pawn stars, none of those customers on TV are getting loans against the value of the property. Rick just buys for a good percentage below value and sells at value to get back investment plus a return. They will ask all the traffic will bear for a price. Caveat Emptor certainly applies. Offer what it is worth and walk away if it isn't enough.


/\ True.
Pawn Shops make loans and hold property as collateral AND Pawn Shops buy property outright.

I can't say what the percentage is of loans (pawns) to purchases but it appears that outright purchases are the bulk of most pawn shop business.

[richhodg66]

About six months ago, I swung through a relatively new shop which deals mostly in tools, but has a few guns, usually cheap shotguns and .22s. One stood out so I asked to see it and it was a well-sporterized '93 Mauser which he said was a 7x57. I've wanted a 7x57 sporter a long time and have had a few, all of which hit me wrong in one way or another and went down the road. The rifle has a laminated Herters stock, a commercial barrel, nicely turned down bolt and Beuler or similar safety, plus it had a good Weaver K4 on it. He was asking $269. I wasn't sure it really was a 7x57, and couldn't tell by looking so I asked him if I could come back and check. I brought in a sized and unprimed empty .270 case the next day and asked if I could try to chamber it and he agreed, it wouldn't chamber, I was satisfied it was a 7x57 and offered him $250 out the door which he readily agreed to. It is rapidly becoming one of my favorite rifles, shoots cast pretty well and I've been shooting it more than most of my others put together since.

I don't think I got treated unfairly at all. I didn't even know this guy like I do the other two in town. I've had good luck with pawn shops around here and in Topeka and Leavenworth too.

[gwpercle]

In 2015 a Pawnshop in Kingman Arizona received a Ruger Blackhawk stolen from me in 1995 , they ran the serial # and it came back as a stolen gun , they called local police and turned it over.
The RBH was returned to Baton Rouge PD and they brought it back to me . The officer who made the original stolen gun report , returned it to me at the same office , after 20 years ...
I don't know the name of the Pawn Shop in Kingman , there are at least three , but evidently one of them is honest and I thank them for returning my first revolver purchased in 1972.
Gary

[rl69]

Ours or ok; they just don't have enough competition

[gandydancer]

I worked at one in Waterbury Ct for about a year in the gun dept. Items they no longer sell. They gave in to the nay sayers. It was run up and above board at all times. The manager and assit manager where both top notch. and they purchased all our meals seven days a weak what ever we wanted two shifts a day. I would still be there but I moved out of state.

[Boaz]

I use to make the pawn shops regularly years ago . It was interesting if nothing else , everything in the world that could be bought , traded and sold . Shops back then wanted to have a high turnover on the merchandise to keep folks coming in to see what was new . Hobby items , antiques , guns , tools , musical instruments , old pocket watches , collector coins , or just literally anything . I have bought a lot of guns . We had three pawn shops that were second generation businesses and knowledgeable .

I don't even go to pawn shops now , basically they are limited , too high to buy , and uninteresting to look in .

[richhodg66]

In 2015 a Pawnshop in Kingman Arizona received a Ruger Blackhawk stolen from me in 1995 , they ran the serial # and it came back as a stolen gun , they called local police and turned it over.
The RBH was returned to Baton Rouge PD and they brought it back to me . The officer who made the original stolen gun report , returned it to me at the same office , after 20 years ...
I don't know the name of the Pawn Shop in Kingman , there are at least three , but evidently one of them is honest and I thank them for returning my first revolver purchased in 1972.
Gary

That's a great story. I love a happy ending. What are the odds of that happening? Congrats.

[marlin39a]

Several pawn shops here in my area, but I've never found a gun worth buying. Mostly overpriced Junk guns.

[Tripplebeards]

All crooks in my area. Biggest slime balls you'd ever meet. Every thing in shops are marked double retail. I can buy brand new rifles for cheaper than what they have them priced at. I stopped going in there 15 years ago. Not even nice people. They treat their customers like ****. I can't believe their still open. I hate to say it but they attract a certain breed...and there are a lot of them in my area that keeps the shop in business. It still has piles of stiff people stole and trying to resell just like pawn America. At least they ship their items around from location to location. I went into pawn America a few years back and found a fishing pole that was stollen off my dock back in the late 70's with my name still carved in the pole handle. They had a good supply of trail cameras and tools that I guarantee I would have burnt my hands on if I picked them up. I wouldn't walk into another pawn shop of my life depended on it. As far as I'm concerned the place is funded by thieves selling to scum bags that either work or own the place. Neither I care to associate with.

[RogerDat]

There was a pawn shop in a suburb of Detroit where a women tried to swap sex with her daughter for I think it was a laptop. Pawnshop owner turned her in to the police. Don't know about the owners normal business practices but he at least had some moral scruples.

One thing I recall from both Fayetteville and Norfolk was the abundance of pawn shops. As a window shopping experience it was impressive. That would have been back in the 70's for Fayetteville and the 90's for Norfolk. Fayetteville made the largest impression. Nothing but bars and pawnshops, and diners. Stayed at the Prince Albert Motel right in the thick of it.

[RED BEAR]

There was a small pawn shop right down the road from me that I used all the time mainly for vintage jewelry as my better half just loves the stuff. Had a lot of jewelry repaired there very honest and everything above board. Closed when owner retired. Have used a couple others for the transfers lot cheaper than the gun stores. The ones that carry firearms seem to be high but then the gun stores seem high to. I don't mind paying some extra at a gun store but when they are charging 150 to 200 dollars more than I can buy it in line that's just to much. I have found that a pawn store is the cheapest place i can buy a new gun. I purchase it and in a couple of days it's there and a lot cheaper than the local gun stores!

[aap2]

I recently won an online auction for a 70-year old S&W M36 snub-nose 38 advertised in "great condition". The seller was a pawn shop and the price was reasonable and they had positive feedback. The gun arrived and it was in mint NIB condition; better than advertised. I made that pawn shop a favorite seller; I'm sure that there are good and bad pawn shops just as there are good and bad dealers and individuals. I admit that buying a gun from a pawn shop made me a little nervous at first,but the seller knew guns and "under promised and over-delivered" in my online purchase. I may even check out a few local pawn shops in person....

[Char-Gar]

All crooks in my area. Biggest slime balls you'd ever meet. Every thing in shops are marked double retail. I can buy brand new rifles for cheaper than what they have them priced at. I stopped going in there 15 years ago. Not even nice people. They treat their customers like ****. I can't believe their still open. I hate to say it but they attract a certain breed...and there are a lot of them in my area that keeps the shop in business. It still has piles of stiff people stole and trying to resell just like pawn America. At least they ship their items around from location to location. I went into pawn America a few years back and found a fishing pole that was stollen off my dock back in the late 70's with my name still carved in the pole handle. They had a good supply of trail cameras and tools that I guarantee I would have burnt my hands on if I picked them up. I wouldn't walk into another pawn shop of my life depended on it. As far as I'm concerned the place is funded by thieves selling to scum bags that either work or own the place. Neither I care to associate with.

I don't know of a single Texas Pawn Shop that would knowingly purchase stolen good. Anything with a serial number can be traced. If the item is stolen, the police will find it and it will be returned to the owner and the Pawn Shop must eat what they paid for it. If too much stolen goods shows up in a certain Pawn Shop, the shop runs the risk of being investigated as a "fencing outlet" and being charged with knowingly receiving stolen good.

Pawn Shops are the poor folks bank. Folks who can't get a loan at a bank, can get cash on a short term basis from a Pawn Shop.

If your description of your local Pawn Shops is accurate, that is just another reason why I would not live in your part of the country.

[David2011]

Last place I lived, in East Texas, there were two pawn shops I visited regularly. I'm more likely to buy guns at a big gun show that has more unusual stuff; generally not what pawn shops have. One was in reality a gun shop with a little pawn stuff on one corner. The other seemed to end up with more pre-owned reloading stuff than most pawn shops or gun stores. After the owner had seem my face a couple of times he was giving me discounts without me asking. I would stop in any time I had a chance just to see what was on the shelf.

Where I am now one pawn shop has an interesting practice. They collect the money for a gun from the buyer and then call in the background check. If for any reason the background check doesn't go through immediately they refund 80% of your money. Not a place where I would do business. I'm not concerned about passing a background check; just think that's a sketchy practice and an end run around it being prohibited to charge for an instant check.

[lightman]

Locally theres not much to see. I know of a couple of large shops in other parts of the state that have lots of guns, ammo and even reloading tools and components. I've bought a few things from both of them. If you get to know them they can treat you pretty good and even call you when they get interesting stuff.
I've got a few sets of big name sockets and wrenches by buying them 1 at a time for 25cents, 50cents or $1 each and looking through a box of misc stuff. Brand names like Snap-On, older Craftsman, Proto or Mac.