Comments on: Selling Your Soul

By: ohdio

ohdio — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 22:51:59 +0000

I can understand the depressing aspect…but come on.. all auctions and pawn shops aren’t the results of some poor druggie needing a fix or a gramma forced to sell her wedding dress for her nitro pills. I’ve been to tons of auctions…most of which are people who are downsizing or families settling an estate of stuff that none of them want. So the items end up with someone who really wants them. As someone else mentioned…with pawn shops people can get their items back if possible, I think it’s a reasonable business.
There are definitly some depressing stories involved I’m sure ,but I bet there are just as many depressing stories at a hospital, in a casino or a library….you just dont have an item to symbolize it.

By: Ben S., of Las Vegas

Ben S., of Las Vegas — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 20:52:34 +0000

Not sure why foreclosure sales would make someone uneasy. If someone can’t or chooses to no longer to make mortgage payments, the house goes into foreclosure.
Should it be abandoned? Left to deteriorate? Given over to squatters? Burned to the ground by vandals?
The foreclosure sale is a natural part of the process of an asset that has been overvalued regressing to a more accurate market value. If a mortgage payer decides he or she can’t or won’t keep current w/a mortgage at say $400k the house has to go back on the market where potential buyers will set a new price, considering today’s situation the new price will be much lower. And that’s an opportunity for someone else to get lower cost housing, either by buying when they couldn’t afford to before or by renting from a landlord who bought low and can offer more competitive rent.
Also, if a person is allowing a home to go into foreclosure it means they probably couldn’t afford to maintain it. A new buyer getting it for a lower price is more likely to hire roofers, electricians, plumbers, handymen, gardeners, etc., to catch up on deferred maintenance and improve the property. And that provides work for people who need it and results in more money sloshing around the local economy.

By: james h

james h — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:51:36 +0000

ok, first of all the pawn stars show is pretty entertaining, i like it and it is the no. 1 show on the history channel.

the problem i have with pawn stores is everything for sale seems to be worn out, and the prices are way to high… the jewerly and watches all look grimy and nasty. if you compare the price for a pawned tag watch with a new one the prices are closer that you would think.

you may not know this but pawn shops are some of the biggest sellers on ebay and craigs list, so whoever said buying on craigs list is better is probably still buying from a pawn shop. I guess they fooled you!

a lot of these shops also sell new products.

colins post are usually interesting, but i agree they are too long, sometimes longer than rexs blog…maybe colin needs a blog, i would read it.

when i was in vegas last month i swear i thought i saw rex sitting against the side gold and silver pawn shop eating some fast food…i circled my car around to get a better look and still thought it was him…however out of respect for rexs anti people policy i didnt stop…

keep up the good work rex!

By: james

james — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:30:16 +0000

Tully makes a good point. I think the internet, via ebay, craigslist, etc would make the pawn shop industry obsolete, except in Las Vegas.

I’m surprised to still see them in other places. I guess the ghetto doesn’t have the internet yet.

By: DavidFromLasVegas

DavidFromLasVegas — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:20:23 +0000

So what would you have the desperate do when they are desperate–eat shit and die? Most items pawned–70 to 80% are redeemed within the 120 days. The shops provide a short term fix for people who need short term help. Or do you want the government to solve their problems? Please!

By: DoubleDownNow!

DoubleDownNow! — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 16:11:14 +0000

Pawn shops are nothing but bottom feeders. As another poster said, they’re there to take advantage of the desperate that are down on their luck! Sad, very sad, ….

By: ColinFromLasVegas

ColinFromLasVegas — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 14:47:47 +0000

Sure. People get rid of stuff to de-clutter their home and get out of their pack rat ways. That’s a given.

But, that logic defies reason because of geography.

This is Las Vegas. Serious Sin City shit. Gambling.

And all of the pawn shops that Rex took pictures of are very, very close to payday loan centers, strip clubs, low end hotel/motel joints where you don’t really want to use the sheets (or even know where they been or who used them), at least one hostel, marriage parlors complete with various incarnations of poor man’s Elvi in attendance at the wedding, and, last but not least, it’s stuck smack dab in between Fremont Street gambling joints and the Strip mega-casinos.

The thing that these pawn shops, based on where they are placed, because they are in major abundance in this area more so than any other area in Las Vegas, is in hopes that a degenerate gambler loses. And he loses big. And he wants to continue gambling. These pawn shops hope that degenerate gambler jumps in his car and heads to the nearest pawn shop to pawn his watch or something.

There’s no denying it. THIS is the main reason these places are there. To catch these degenerate gamblers. And I could probably safely say those types are the major part of their business.

Hell, at one time, there was a 24 hour pawn shop that had a DRIVE THRU! This was a few years back where you’d drive up to the side of the place, like at a McDonald’s, they’d slide open a tray, you’d put what you want to pawn in there, the guy inside would look at it, then tell the guy what he’d give him for it, take it or leave it. If it was agreed upon, the customer completed the transaction while in his car, then drove off with the money.

I kind of defeated my own logic in my previous post, but I still won’t go into a pawn shop. I don’t deal in peoples’ misfortunes and inadequacies.

By: tully

tully — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 13:59:03 +0000

When I was in my twenties, I sold a few pieces of jewelry at a pawn shop. The broker paid me absolute bottom dollar for what I sold.

Sure, some people have items to sell because they are decluttering/minimizing their stuff. Unless they are jammed for time, they will get a fairer price using Craigslist or a similar service. Some items are better suited for Ebay. If you need to get grandma’s sterling flatware to a new home, or estate quality jewelry, Ebay is good for that.

Pawn shops tend to be the choice for someone needing the money quickly. They’re willing to shortchange what they get paid to receive the money now, rather than wait a few days to sell via another means. The brokers know this, and low ball the price they pay as hard as they can. It’s taking advantage of another person’s circumstances, and that’s sad to me.

By: par88

par88 — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 06:48:15 +0000

You’re making some assumptions here which may or may not be true…. people are not necessarily on the edge of destituion when they pawn stuff. Might be they don’t want the item (inheritance?), might be they want to “de-clutter”, might be any number of reasons.

I enjoy Pawn Stars (except for Rick’s annoying laugh). What I find amazing is there are “experts” on every conceivable type of historical artifact livijng in Las Vegas.

By: Darcy

Darcy — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 04:48:01 +0000

I see it in a different way. Most pawn shop items are things that people cannot afford to own in the first place. They are evidence of how many people are living far beyond their means.

People are certainly entitled to sell any of their own possessions to anyone that they can come to terms with, and the reason that they do so is entirely a private matter.

I don’t believe that Rex or any posters have any expertise to judge someone’s character by observing that they sold or bought something with any merchant, be they grocer, waiter, or pawn broker.