Jul 07 2010
What I learned from watching Pawn Stars
From watching some episodes of Pawn stars I have learned a few basic principals.
- People will sell anything: People come into that place with all sorts of things. From the most treasured family heirlooms to random junk they think is valuable they saw in a garage sale. How they can just not hang on to family heirlooms “passed down from generations” is amazing to me. It would be fine if they list reasons like “I have a lot of health bills”, or “my kids need college money”. But they just say eh I thought it was time I moved on. Really? early 1900’s pistol that might have belonged to Teddy Roosevelt, you just thought it was time???
- Go to garage/Yard sales: Granted not every yard sale is a gold mine but it seems you really can find all sorts of crap in them and often this stuff is amazingly worth more then the people who is trying to get rid of everything in their garage.
- Pawn guys not only will lowball you often they will try and rip you off: They will laugh at your offers, or put it down, or belittle you but they will do anything to sell you out of your own shit. I will hand it to these guys, sometimes they will call in a professional to look at a historic item. And when they do they will have you bring the item back to hear about it’s worth. Granted, I don’t think this is so much for your benefit as it is for their own, you just happen to be there. See, it might seem nice that you hear 1st hand what it’s worth but they will still lowball you right after you hear this, Why? Well, they now have yo raked in and you already thought about selling it so you have that itch… the cash in hand itch now. You hear it’s worth X and they offer you X – 30% or more but dangle the hand in front of you so eventually you cave. Another thing I am fairly certain about, b/c it’s a no brainer. These historic guys who know their shit about what it’s worth prob. know 10’s (or 100’s) of people who will pay that for these items. Setting up the pawn people with these people will probably make them a fee as well. I don’t think these auditors are trying to screw the seller, but I don’t think it hurts them to get a finders fee either.
- Avg Joe loves to be on TV: I think half the reason some of these people flat sell their crap so easy and give in, is b/c they just like the idea the camera is on them. We all want our 15 mins, but these people have that extra little nudge to sell their stuff… the camera.
- People don’t do research on big ticket items: In this age of internet is everything and you can find just about ANYTHING on it, how can you seriously bring an item to a PAWN SHOP that you think is worth alot without doing your due diligence before trying to sell it. Granted they prolly don’t show that guy who knows exactly what it’s worth or more importantly that type of person also doesn’t go to a pawn shop in vegas also.
I wonder how much of these people get their money and run and just blow it at the craps tables after they get their money too.Not a bad show to watch for the fun of it but after 2 or 3 people it just annoys the hell out of you both how dumb people are and how much they are missing out on by going to these guys to sell their stuff.
Yeah I wonder how many people do any research before tryig to sell their stuff to those guys on that show? My guess is not many. They could try to sell the items on thier own but I will say this: some of what I have seen on that show would be difficult to sell on E-Bay because of it’s size or E-Bay restrictions.
I like the television show. It is interesting what they see come walking through that door. But I think you know what you are getting into when you pawn something. You are going into the situation hopefully realizing that you aren’t getting top dollar. It is just a way to sell something fast for some quick cash. Kind of like a Payday loan situation. Obviously you aren’t going to get a favorable interest rate borrowing money at a Payday loan store but it is quick cash if you really need it (or think you really need it)!
Have you seen that show American Pickers where two guys go all over the country looking through people’s stuff and finding things they know they can resell and they make offers for things? Those guys know what they are looking for and they also know that people don’t know what they have! They also hired that girl to basically cold call people to try and find leads for where to go searching for stuff to buy and try to resell. People just sit on old things and both don’t know what they have and at the same time are too lazy to try and actively sell things themselves!
The Redheaded Pharmacist
Bravo Television turns out to be my spanking new Favorite channel! I’m so into Pawn Stars, The Real Housewives of New Jersey and New York – those ladies are nuts! However I do wish that Jeff Lewis of Flipping Out would return – I simply loved him to death. Bravo Tv has obviously upped the ante on cable tv episodes!
Edmundo Mcfarren