My Experience With A Pawn Shop

Pennyfinder

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I had a couple pieces of gold jewelry (one of which was appraised at over $400). I knew I couldn't get that much. I was figuring on $100 or $200. HA! It is a shriners sword with diamonds and blue saphire (14K). And I have a woman's white gold wedding band (18K). The girl said she'd give me $7. :mad: :shock: Dream on! Not in my lifetime! I took them back and left. I won't grace their doorstep again.
 
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pawn shops are crooks these days

better off takeing to a jewler and see if they are interested if not they might put on consignment for you...GL.....cliff.
 
Pawn shops are the worst kind of thieves. I never have had a good experience in any pawn shop.
 
Pawn shops are the worst kind of thieves. I never have had a good experience in any pawn shop.

I liked pawn shops but i never sold anythign to one, only ever bought things from them...like console games for 2 pounds each, i couldnt go wrong.

Now i buy gold and stuff but i pay almost always 100% melt then dont melt, just keep it, my safe deposit box is stuffed to the top, silver, gold and zincolns (ok joking about the last bit)
 
i ventured to one of those gold buyers shops locally and they treated me like i was some sort of criminal. fingerprints, forms and sworn statements i didnt steal the gold jewelry etc... of course i can see that they have to protect their assets but really... pawn shops give you less than a penny on the dollar. reputable gold buyers are few and far between..not worth the bother...:shock:
 
i ventured to one of those gold buyers shops locally and they treated me like i was some sort of criminal. fingerprints, forms and sworn statements i didnt steal the gold jewelry etc... of course i can see that they have to protect their assets but really... pawn shops give you less than a penny on the dollar. reputable gold buyers are few and far between..not worth the bother...:shock:

Pawn shops have more laws they have to comply with than banks. They are not all the same. Always get a second opinion. Check around. They are not the best place to sell things but they all aren't like that one.
 
Wow htat was horrible, I think you were getting robbed. You should have called the cops!
 
There's a few buying gold and silver places here, only went to one to sell some of my late mother's gold and silver. I wasn't expecting too much (not sure exactly the weight of the jewelry) The guy examined it, set aside what was junk and what gold and silver. Got $280 for it all. I am not sure if I could have done better, but was pleased to get that much.
 
There's a few buying gold and silver places here, only went to one to sell some of my late mother's gold and silver. I wasn't expecting too much (not sure exactly the weight of the jewelry) The guy examined it, set aside what was junk and what gold and silver. Got $280 for it all. I am not sure if I could have done better, but was pleased to get that much.

Anyone in the biz is going to give you less then you should get, its a company, better to get yourself a decent set of scales, then some testing acids and stones and test the stuff yourself, at least the extra money you get by knowing the true weight will pay for them and you can always sell them afterwards or take up buying some stuff later if you want, if your detecting then its always good to have a weight written down when you call the buyers or fleabay or whatever, the more you know the less likely you are to get ripped off
 
I visited a local pawn shop because they had some used detectors. While there, I showed them a 7.5 gram 14K men's wedding band that I had dug. I asked them how much they would give for it, basically just wanting to hear what they'd offer.

She came back and said they would give $67 for it! :lol: I of course said no. She asked what I wanted. I joked that I would take no less than $100. Quicker than I could finish, she said "oh, I can do $100."

Yeah, right! I took it somewhere reputable and got enough to get an F2 with a Garrett Pro-Pointer!
 
@ Curbdog -- That's what I was hoping for -- to get enough out of them to purchase a Compadre. Probably far fetched. But the girl also said that the "lady" (owner I'm assuming) takes all the diamonds out of the jewelry and just tosses them in a jar and saves them in the safe. :shock:

I'll just hang onto them for awhile. I'll post them here later -- gonna take me awhile to get to the status where I can sell them. I'm just now reaching Junior Member. :wow:

Oh BTW -- THEY ARE NOT dug finds! I've never found real gold yet. :no:

UPDATE -- GOT MY FIRST GOLD (but it wasn't mine to keep). See my post on LOST AND FOUND -- http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=117950
 
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@ Curbdog -- That's what I was hoping for -- to get enough out of them to purchase a Compadre. Probably far fetched. But the girl also said that the "lady" (owner I'm assuming) takes all the diamonds out of the jewelry and just tosses them in a jar and saves them in the safe. :shock:

I'll just hang onto them for awhile. I'll post them here later -- gonna take me awhile to get to the status where I can sell them. I'm just now reaching Junior Member. :wow:

Oh BTW -- THEY ARE NOT dug finds! I've never found real gold yet. :no:

If you post more then 100 comments you get to sellable status, if you know anyone then get them to sell your stuff on fleabay...or take plenty of photos then take them to a consignment store with a minimum price for them to sell them for (ive heard said some consignment stores have waited till you went then bought them, themselves for a pittance and then you got the small share of nothing and they got a deal better then a gold buyer would get.

Always make sure you get a minimum sale of and what your share is going to be then if they buy it so be it, you still get the minimum amount...

I had a book seller consigner offer to sell my book for me (1812 christian messelany) for $20, but it had the front picture still intact and the picture was colored so its value was 10 times that, i refused and i still have the book, and the only other copy of the book i know that is out there with the inner front cover picture painted is in yale university library
 
I went to a local jewlrey store to sell a ring I had. It was 11.5 grams 14karat no stones. They gave me about 75% of the melt value of it which was $230.

That seemed pretty fair to me, much better than a Pawn shop. Those places are just legal criminal enterprises.
 
yeah, for anything you try to sell like that ebay is the safest most secure way to do it, i regularly go to estate sales where i try to find small easily shipped items particularly rare or exotic tools and have made a good amount of money that way, im disabled so i have a fixed income, the stuff i sell on ebay ends up being my mad money, i just sold a weird tool on there i bought at an estate sale for a buck, for 150 dollars :P
 
75% seems very fair to me!

I went to a local jewlrey store to sell a ring I had. It was 11.5 grams 14karat no stones. They gave me about 75% of the melt value of it which was $230.

That seemed pretty fair to me, much better than a Pawn shop. Those places are just legal criminal enterprises.

That buyer will in turn sell to some place else probably for 80-85% of spot and make a profit. They will get more than they paid you but will sell their gold in volume which brings a higher price.

Good Hunting, ArtWI
 
And that's how it works. I made money, they made money, and whoever they sell it to will make some too. We are all happy about it.

It's better than a Pawn shop offering 10% and then selling it for 95%
 
And that's how it works. I made money, they made money, and whoever they sell it to will make some too. We are all happy about it.

It's better than a Pawn shop offering 10% and then selling it for 95%

A pawn shop will never sell for 95%...not a chance in hell...they are going to sell for a minimum of over scrap...or they will jst melt it down....if itswearable they will charge at least 10% over melt and people will buy it thinking the value of gold will go up or they get a retail item for 50% retail....i have never seen or will ever see a pawn shop sell for less then melt.
 
Can you just melt all your similar k gold into a bar? Has anyone here just piled up enough gold until they could get a bars worth and melted it into a bar? Where would you go to sell a given bar size?
 
Can you just melt all your similar k gold into a bar? Has anyone here just piled up enough gold until they could get a bars worth and melted it into a bar? Where would you go to sell a given bar size?

Many members save up their gold until they have a reasonable amount and sent it off to a place such as ARA Gold where they receive 98% of spot price. Just takes a bit to ship it off and get your check back, but they are reputable and many folks have used them :yes:
 
Pawn shops? Never!

In Connecticut, pawn shops will hold the gold for 2 weeks (required by law) and immediately send it out for melt no matter how nice the piece is. The reason is this: If the gold is stolen, and the real owner spots it, they must return it to the owner. Of course the owner must prove it is thiers and the police are involved in the process. However, if the piece is already sold or sent out for melt, the owner is out of luck. Melting is quicker than selling and doesn't sit in a display case for everyone to see. I know this because my wife and I had $13,000 worth of gold stolen from us and it was traced to a pawn shop. The detective told us to go to the pawn shop and see if it was there. It was already melted, so we were out of luck.
 
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