I think Teaze nailed it. I haven't been in once since we were looking from some check electronics when our broke asses were in college, but from what I saw there weren't shit for bargains. Nothing but old junk or overpriced new junk.
I'm sure there's money to be made in it, but I have no idea how you actually get people to pay those prices for that shit.
I'm sure there's money to be made in it, but I have no idea how you actually get people to pay those prices for that shit.
If that's the case, that means that nothing has changed in the last 20 years. The couple we checked out were an absolute f'ing joke.
I wouldn't be surprised if many of them of them were just a front for something that they wanted to keep under the radar.
Come to think of it, I don't know anyone who ever bought anything from one of these dumps.
Well Terry, I know Vegas better than you do, after living there for 6-7 years.
There is one pawnshop chain called Aal-jays ( or something close to that). They go out to the Broadacres Swapmeet ( in North Las Vegas) with a large UPS type van full of tools, to sell. ( on weekends)
no bargains, maybe I never learned how to barter with them properly ?
I don't think they are a front for anything. They'd loan you like $20 on a tool that would cost $100 to replace ( new). Then try to sell it for used for $90+, once it was lost to them.
They just must somehow liquidate stuff in places other than their storefronts, IMO. They weren't very good price-wise at the swapmeet, either.
The stuff goes somewhere, I never did figure out where !
GD will know of this place:
http://www.broadacresswapmeet.com/
If you buy something from a pawn shot that is stolen there is absolutely nothing that can be done to you legally!
Matter of fact if you go to a pawn shop and find your own stuff with your name taped to it, you still have to pay the pawn shop for you own stuff back
Its the law buddy.
I have bought all my vacuum cleaners from pawn shops. I swear, since college i have never ever bought a new vacuum cleaner.
I would go to one of these before ebay because these people check stuff like that thoroughly and make sure they work before buying them.
Aal-jays is kind of a place where construction workers pawn their tools until payday.
Take something common like a Milwaukee Sawzall ( Maybe $99 at Home Depot, brand new, on sale).
AJ loans you $20-25 on it, if that. Then they want $100 for it, out of pawn, won't take a reasonable offer like $60, FUCK them.
Something like a Rolex or a diamond has to be even worse. I could see them loaning $300 on a 10k watch.
Take something common like a Milwaukee Sawzall ( Maybe $99 at Home Depot, brand new, on sale).
AJ loans you $20-25 on it, if that. Then they want $100 for it, out of pawn, won't take a reasonable offer like $60, FUCK them.
Something like a Rolex or a diamond has to be even worse. I could see them loaning $300 on a 10k watch.
That's not true, at least here in Tx. If you make a police report that lists the items stolen, and they are located in a pawn shop, you don't have to pay anything for them. I do this all the time for citizens. I simply place a police hold on the property, it's then picked up and then taken to the police property room where it's then recovered by the complainant.
Now, pawn shops are not supposed to knowingly accept stolen property, but you know how that goes. I work burglary cases all the time and make arrests based on pawn slips.
Bottomline, if you have property that's serialized then write it down. if you have stuff like jewelry or other itmes that aren't serialized then take a picture of it or make some kind of unique mark on it.
If it's your property and it can be proven that it's yours you don't have to pay anything to get it back.
That's pretty close to being accurate TexasFan but not always true, at least not in Florida/Mississippi. Laws vary from state to state, sometimes pawn stores get shafted when they take stolen property but not always. Depends on the case. Often law enforcement will make sure a store gets what they loaned out back, just not make any interest, they don't want stores making a profit by taking stolen property.
As for the other comments, if you loan $25 you get $31.25 in return if they pay in 30 days, hardly anything to get rich with. Tools were mentioned, they are a pain in the ass. You take them from your regulars but you don't go looking for them. Stores are different of course, all are not the same but most make their big money on jewelry, gold being the big one. People will pawn that for $4/5 a gram and the pawn shop operators will scrap it for a very nice profit. That's the golden goose in this business, that's what keeps the lights on.
Guns can also be profitable but the red tape is just incredible, you don't know what you're missing until the ATF and 20 other agencies get up your ass. The amount of paperwork and red tape create almost more aggravation than it's worth. The whole business is this way, you have to be an expert on everything that comes in the store or you will be conned. Even then you must hold everything 60 days minimum and pray nothing is reported stolen or you go through the whole hassle all over again. Harder than it looks and much cleaner these days then most realize.
As for the other comments, if you loan $25 you get $31.25 in return if they pay in 30 days, hardly anything to get rich with. Tools were mentioned, they are a pain in the ass. You take them from your regulars but you don't go looking for them. Stores are different of course, all are not the same but most make their big money on jewelry, gold being the big one. People will pawn that for $4/5 a gram and the pawn shop operators will scrap it for a very nice profit. That's the golden goose in this business, that's what keeps the lights on.
Guns can also be profitable but the red tape is just incredible, you don't know what you're missing until the ATF and 20 other agencies get up your ass. The amount of paperwork and red tape create almost more aggravation than it's worth. The whole business is this way, you have to be an expert on everything that comes in the store or you will be conned. Even then you must hold everything 60 days minimum and pray nothing is reported stolen or you go through the whole hassle all over again. Harder than it looks and much cleaner these days then most realize.
