Beagle
kennywtelejazz
Yeah , besides the fact that Ebay sucks , every Pawnshop I've been to in the past few years now thinks that they are doing you a favor by trying to fetch ebay prices ..it is a big part of their price structure .
they have even told me this is what they are getting on ebay , and look you don't have to pay for shipping and you can try before you buy..
I look them dead in the eye and I ask them did you pay ebay prices for it when the guy pawned it ? they sure don't like when I tell them that
Kenny
they probably checked ebay prices and paid the guy about 1/2 of what ebay average price for that instrument was.
seriously.
first off my apologies to the OP if I'm a little OT for going here
Beagle , that might happen if a person tried to sell used gear to a Music store , even then , I / 2 of the current market value price of a used piece of musical gear might seem a little high to some of the music stores considering the mark up in a music store isn't as high as most people think ..
if the gear is something they think they can move fast , then yeah , any sort of deal is possible ….
even then , most music stores pay in the ballpark of 1 /2 as the price for the current manufactures list price on new gear …
if they are a high volume shop they may pay a little less .
when the music store pays their bills on time , the companies they are buying gear from will offer them a variable percentage off the normal wholesale price
the faster the bills get payed and the faster the money moves …the happier every one is ...
BTW …Music shops still have to pay the shipping on all the gear …and they have to run a shop ….
running a shop involves many expenses from rent , utilities , pay roll …lets just say the list is endless
Pawn shops on the other hand are a different business all together …
I can't comment on how they do things in your State …
I can comment on NY , Cali , OR, and WA ...I've bought gear in those States except OR …in OR I've shopped and not bought.
Pawn Shops are not in the buisness of buying and selling musical gear ..
people may think that because they see shows on TV like Pawn Stars or Hard Core Pawn …sure on those shows they offer to buy things outright ..
I do know that most Pawn Shops in my area love to buy Gold, Jewelry and Guns….
on those items they may offer to pay about 1 /2 the going price only because they can flip those items and guarantee a quick profit ..this is generaly not the case with musical gear
remember they also have to compete with music stores , the internet and private sales.
let me get to the meat of the subject
Pawn Shops are in the business of lending people money and holding the things the people bring in to them as collateral …..
they make money on the interest that compounds as the loan takes longer and longer to pay
what most people don't realize is that it is always a win win for the Pawn Shop , not the person who borrows the money from them
I've seen this happen at least 10 times ….while I'm standing in a Pawn Shop
I've seen people take a guitar to a Pawn Shop for a loan
for example a Mexican Strat that they could probably sell for $250 ..$300 if they had a willing buyer ..
the person may ask the Pawn Shop to buy it outright and I've stood there and heard the clerk say no we don't buy guitars outright , but we can give you a loan …
the guy thinks OK I need $200 and the clerks behind the counter laughs ….and says to the guy what do you think we are Pawn Stars
if the guy needing a loan is lucky he might get $100 ….I've see guys take $60…for a Mexi Strat
the guy asking for the loan will always think he's gonna be able to pay the loan back …..
in reality , if that was truly the case ………….Pawn Shops wouldn't have walls and walls of Guitars
to cut to the chase ….the guy keeps putting down on his loan , chances are he might only be paying off the interest and if he defaults and docent pay it off or just decides to just say eff it …his guitar will hit the show room floor in a little over 90 days ...
i think in a lot of Pawn Shops a loan can get extended …if the person paying off the loan stays current with the payments the pawn shops actually like that …
REMEMBER ,
Pawn Shops are in the business of lending people money and holding the things the people bring in to them as collateral …..
they make money on the interest that compounds as the loan takes longer and longer to pay
Also, to this day I have never been in a Pawn Shop that would do a fair trade on a guitar that I wanted to trade towards a guitar they had …some won't even allow trades towards gear...
There was a guitar that I wanted to buy from a Pawn Shop and I didn't have all the money to spend comfortably
I brought in a really nice mid range acoustic with a hard shell case and inquired as to how much they would give me towards the trade …the clerk said $ 60 bucks
I opened the case and showed him my receipt for $ 375 that I had spent on this rig….
the clerk looked over the receipt for 30 seconds and then he said OK $ 75 bucks
OH BTW , when that Mexi Strat does hit the selling floor ….the one the shop loaned $ 60 …on ..
the shop probably already made a profit on the loan …the interest rates add up ,even if the guy payed $60 dollars toward the loan before he gave up and defaulted ..he was only paying off the interest …and he might of only hit just a little of the principle
Selling the guitar is just the icing on the cake ….read my lips ..the Shop has already make his money
also , you can bet your last strip of bacon that the price for that guitar will be higher than the listings on C….List , what a music store would sell it for …and it might be the same exact price they are asking on E Bay …not what they sell for ..what they are asking ….
I've even seen used guitars and amps going for $50 to $ 100 bucks more than what they cost new in Pawn Shops
all that aside …..
if it sits there long enough on the wall, or if the shop likes wheeling and dealing ….it will still be possible to get a decent deal ….
Kenny
post edited by kennywtelejazz - 2014/08/31 13:38:12