The I HATE PAWN stars thread!

[tonyromo09]

After watching several episodes of both these PAWN shop shows on cable, im just disgusted.

Ive never had to use a pawn shop for anything but these shows just confirm my suspicions.

It comes across really slimy.

When offered to buy something they play hardball and lowball everyone by less than a THIRD what its worth. I understand thier need to make a profit but geez, are all these sellers so stupid or hard up they accept any offer they get?

And frankly some of them show some good collectible knowledge, others know almost nothing , all they know is people are suckers and buy anything for pennies on the dollar.

 

[MattMunson]

So you hate the show because they try to turn a profit so they can stay in business? You do know this is what america is all about, right? Would it surprise you to learn that chain stores can pull a 90% markup on some items? heck, from what I have seen on the show, they usually try to go for a 50% markup. If they can sell the item for 1000 bucks, they will offer 500.

50% is actually a pretty awful margin for a business, and a GREAT deal for the guy selling their stuff.

 

[Funky]

After watching several episodes of both these PAWN shop shows on cable, im just disgusted.

Ive never had to use a pawn shop for anything but these shows just confirm my suspicions.

It comes across really slimy.

When offered to buy something they play hardball and lowball everyone by less than a THIRD what its worth. I understand thier need to make a profit but geez, are all these sellers so stupid or hard up they accept any offer they get?

And frankly some of them show some good collectible knowledge, others know almost nothing , all they know is people are suckers and buy anything for pennies on the dollar.

Fail.

I love this show and they are doing NOTHING wrong. They have no "moral obligation" to offer what's "fair".
You need money? I'll offer this. Don't like it? Walk.
It's very simple. Millions of pawn shops operate in this manor every day. They are trying to make money and NOBODY is putting a gun to the sellers head.

 

[tonyromo09]

A markup is a markup, what kind of markup would you say is 'pushing it'?

 

[OldKen]

A markup is a markup, what kind of markup would you say is 'pushing it'?

They actually TELL the customer what they will sell it for and often have an appraiser tell them what it would bring at top dollar auction.

They are in Vegas. People are desperate. The Oldman was brilliant to open it there.

Plus... do you have ANY idea how much it would cost to rent a building where they are? Even if they own it it's not cheap to have a shop in Vegas meesa thinks.

 

[The Prop Stop]

I love the show...an american pickers....

Its really changed the way I view buying props in fact....

 

[tonyromo09]

do you have ANY idea how much it would cost to rent a building where they are? Even if they own it it's not cheap to have a shop in Vegas meesa thinks.

yep, they have been screwing over customers for years

Not sure if I hate the customers more in many cases but when the pawn stars laugh at the sellers(victims) and then offer them scraps , I feel bad for them.

Moral of this story may be,'if you EVER need to sell something, dont sell it at a pawn shop cause you wont get anywhere near what its worth'.

 

[Jedifyfe]

The "sellers" that come in to the Pawn Shop have every right NOT to accept the offer. Most of these people don't care and take what is offered. Who is the idiot then?

I love this show as it is a faster paced and more interesting version of Antiques Roadshow. The Harrisons are fun, informative and Chumley ROCKS!

Here is the best part, if you don't like it there is a little button on your remote that says "power" push that once, get up from the couch and go do something productive.

 

[Funky]

The people you SHOULD be upset with are the sellers. They bring in an item, it appraises at 5-6000.00. They they ask them how much they want for it and they say 6,000.00. When to Rick says that he makes no profit margin if he buys it for full value the seller acts insulted and disgusted.

 

[tonyromo09]

I love the show...an american pickers....

Its really changed the way I view buying props in fact....

The pickers are at least 'nice' about trying to take advantage of people.

 

[propologist]

I enjoy it. it has several things going for it. the city it's in and it's on TV. You really only see a very small,edited version of the day to day operations. Things are only worth what you can get for them. They never show you what they sell things for so there could be some bargains.
The shows only been on for a couple of season and that shop has been running for years. I would like to go just see what all they had we didn't see.

 

[propologist]

The pickers are at least 'nice' about trying to take advantage of people.

but again you only see a very small part of it. I would imagine there is many others working it behind the scenes to " help " the pickers find such good deals. They aren't just riding the roads and " happen" upon a bum selling 1920's motorcycle parts.
And again you never see to many things sell on their show..a few here and there , but I would think they sell on ebay and other places to help out

 

[tonyromo09]

The people you SHOULD be upset with are the sellers. They bring in an item, it appraises at 5-6000.00. They they ask them how much they want for it and they say 6,000.00. When to Rick says that he makes no profit margin if he buys it for full value the seller acts insulted and disgusted.

Im upset with both buyers and sellers here.
The buyers/lenders attitude is harsh.
The sellers come accross desperate and dumb.
In your scenario, item is appraised at 6,000, seller asks for 6,000, rick laughs at them and offers 1,500 , stupid seller caves and sells at 1,500.

Why wouldnt they put it up for auction themselves for a 400% more profit?

 

[Maelstrom]

The pickers are at least 'nice' about trying to take advantage of people.

Now bashing the pickers? C'mon Frank and Mike seem like pretty good guys and they step up to the plate $ wise on a lot of stuff. The show even shows you what they expect to make and sometimes its even sold by the airing of the show and their profits don't always come out that much ahead on things. When you take into consideration that these guys rent/own a building and travel (which means gas, food, lodging) they have an even higher amount of $ shelled out to make what they do a success.

And there have been times on the show that they have even made mistakes and well overpaid for something.

I think that American Pickers and Pawn Stars are 2 of the best shows on TV right now.

 

[propologist]

A lot of those items can't be sold on ebay for one...2nd..they need the money right then ( cash in hand is better than two in the bush)..AND there on TV...

 

[Funky]

Why wouldnt they put it up for auction themselves for a 400% more profit?

That, sir, is the real question. The answer? They lazy or just don't have (or know) the means to do it. They'd rather take what they can get NOW and walk away. Most of us at the very least would go to eBay. I'm a patient man. I'd rather wait two weeks and make as much as I can that take a very small percentage today.
Hey, you have a free appraisal, use it!

 

[Qui-Gonzalez]

Sooo, let me get this straight. If someone brought an item to you and you knew the worth, you would NOT try to low-ball them into selling it cheaply? After buying it cheaply, you would not try to then turn it around for a profit?

 

[propologist]

:rolleyes

 

[Glockink]

I HATE those guys. Especially when people are told the item is actually worth alot of money, and those asses laugh in their faces and offer a fraction of what its worth. I'm sorry but if I have a $10,000 item, I will sell it for that. If it didn't sell for that I would hold on to it until it did, or got a FAIR amount for it. I wouldn't take the $200 BS they offer.
So yeah, the customers are at fault to, but the way he laughs at people then offers them almost nothing is sickening.

 

[propologist]

I HATE those guys. Especially when people are told the item is actually worth alot of money, and those asses laugh in their faces and offer a fraction of what its worth. I'm sorry but if I have a $10,000 item, I will sell it for that. If it didn't sell for that I would hold on to it until it did, or got a FAIR amount for it. I wouldn't take the $200 BS they offer.
So yeah, the customers are at fault to, but the way he laughs at people then offers them almost nothing is sickening.

i feel most of that is staged, esp. if you see they always deal with rick etc. those people sign paperwork and get the scoop long before they get on camera