A walk through the city of Escondido will almost always lead you past more than one pawn shop. Escondido has more than its fair share of pawn stores, all of which look similar from the outside. It isn’t until you go through the doors with the plan to buy or sell items that the differences between these businesses really stand out.
Pawn Shop Escondido
What Is a Pawn Shop?
People who have never done business with a pawn shop often have misconceptions about what to expect. Pawn shops have a misplaced reputation as being a type of shady business that takes advantage of people’s misfortune to get their valuables for much less than they are worth. TV shows and movies often portray the stores as places where thieves get rid of their stolen goods. The fact is that pawn shops are legitimate businesses that happen to work a little differently than the average retail store. Each pawn shop also operates differently from the next. Choosing the best pawn shop in town will result in you getting the best value whether you sell, pawn, or buy.
Retail Stores vs. Pawn Shops
Retail stores obtain the items they sell from a manufacturer at wholesale prices. They sell the items at a markup of 100%, 200%, or more, depending on the type of item. The markup covers expenses like rent and labor. Anything the store receives in excess of their expenses and the cost of the item is the store’s profit.
Pawn shops obtain their merchandise from people like you, either by buying it outright or through pawn loans. When you pawn an item with them, they give you a percentage of the value of the item as a loan. Like any loan, the terms determine how much your payments will be, the fees added to the loan amount, and how long you have to repay the loan. Once the loan is repaid in full, your item is returned to you.
Sometimes people are unable to pay their loan and the pawn shop takes possession of the item that was used as collateral. This is one way that pawn shops obtain the merchandise they sell. If you want to get a pawn loan and you want to get your item back, look for an Escondido pawn shop with flexible loan terms. Make sure you have options that allow you to extend the loan repayment in case something prevents you from paying the full amount on time.
The second way that pawn shops get their merchandise is by buying it outright. If you have valuables that you no longer need, selling your items is a great way to get fast cash. You don’t have to spend time trying to sell your items online or looking for a buyer; the pawn shop takes care of all the work for you. Be sure to find a pawn shop that pays the highest prices for the type of item that you have to sell.
Most of the time, people who decide on a loan do so because they want their item back. It may have more sentimental value than it does actual worth. If you don’t care about the item, selling it outright is more likely the best option if you need money for a short term goal.
What Pawn Shops Buy and Sell
One area where pawn shops differ is in the variety of items they sell. Shops will only accept items for sale or pawn that they normally carry in their store. That means you need to find a pawn shop that deals in the type of items you have.
Most deal in certain standard items, including gold, jewelry, electronics, and musical instruments. Some specialize in a single area, such as just buying gold or musical instruments. Many people don’t realize that the value of gold changes, along with the formula for how much a pawn shop will pay you. Even so, gold is always valuable even if it is a broken chain or old coin. The shop buys the metal at a salvage price and has it melted down. If you have gold to sell, it pays to check around and find the one offering the highest rates at the time.
Some features that set one pawn shop apart from the rest are the fees they charge, the prices they offer on pawn items and loans, and how well they back the items they sell. Researching these and other details will help you find the best pawn shop in Escondido for your purposes.
Reasons to Buy from a Pawn Shop
People don’t always go to a pawn shop to sell or pawn items. Some go there to buy! Many find it a great way to get top-quality items at lower-than-retail prices. Most pawn shops only deal in top quality, newer items that are in great working order. They don’t have the same markup that retail stores follow so they can offer lower prices on top items.
Shopping for back-to-school is one good example of how the right pawn shop in Escondido can save you money. Getting the basics for kids at any grade level costs as much as $1,500. Now that electronics are as essential to education as pencils and paper, shopping for school requires a much higher budget than it did in the past.
Before you pay top dollar for laptops, notebooks, or other learning devices, take a look at the pawn shop. Those that include electronics as one of their areas of specialty will probably have just the items you need for your kids. The more kids you have to buy for, the more money you can save. You don’t have to sacrifice quality and you’ll often find better items for a lower price.
Learn from Previous Customers’ Experiences
If you don’t know where to start, you can always rely on the experiences of others. Online reviews serve as a great tool for evaluating any business if you know what to look for. Popular review sites like Yelp typically use a five-star rating system. Looking only at the overall rating of any business can be misleading. You have to read beyond the rating and find the consistencies in what previous customers have to say. Why?
- People consider their ratings differently and often assign a number of stars that isn’t consistent with their comments. Remember that teacher that wouldn’t give you an A if you had won the Pulitzer Prize for your work? Many people use a rating system in the same way. Their review contains nothing but praise and fails to explain why they assigned a two- or three- star rating.
- Another problem is that some of these ratings come from first-time pawn shop buyers or sellers who don’t understand the process. A good example are people who take their jewelry to the pawn shop. Jewelry tends to have one of the highest markups of any type of item sold. It isn’t unusual to pay $500 for an item with an actual value of $100 or less. Even if you bought it last week for that price, you aren’t going to get the full $100 value unless it is gold and the price of gold has gone up. People often think the pawn shop took advantage of them by offering far less than the value of the jewelry. In reality, common markup practices cause the discrepancy in jewelry prices.
- Sometimes businesses hire writers to write positive reviews for them or negative reviews for the competition. A good rule of thumb to follow is to ignore the top and bottom two reviews and look at what’s left. The more reviews there are, the more accurate the comments are going to be.
When reading online reviews, pay attention to comments that you see repeatedly. For example, “best prices” “best terms” and “great customer service” are good indicators. Another tip is to look for reviews that include employees’ names. Anyone who knows the staff well enough to comment on them individually has probably had multiple dealings with them.
While online, don’t miss the chance to look at some of the pawn shops’ websites. Most list their procedures and policies as well as the types of items they specialize in. This is a good way to find out where to take your item to get the best price. No matter what your reason is for selling, you want to get the best possible price.
The pawn shop decides how much money to offer you on your items according to their policies. You can count on customers to share their feelings about the prices they received. If the majority feels that a certain pawn shop offers the best prices, they probably do.
If you want to get a good idea of what a specific item is worth check out identical items that sold on eBay. Use the sold prices and not asking prices. Sometimes sellers place exorbitant prices on items that they never sell. The sold prices tell you what buyers were willing to pay.
Finally, look to see the shop’s contributions to the neighborhood around them. The unique way that a pawn shop works makes these businesses an integral part of the communities they serve. A pawn shop is a business that thrives on the interactions between the business and the community around them. It isn’t just about making a profit but also providing a valuable service to those who use it. Wouldn’t you rather work with a business that believes in giving back?
Reasons You Might Go to a Pawn Shop in Escondido
If you’re going to a pawn shop for the first time, it might be to get money for something you need. Common reasons for needing quick cash include medical or dental bills, car repairs, and home repairs. Selling and pawning valuables lets you get the money on the same day you take it in. It’s a better option than getting a cash advance on your credit card or a high-interest payday advance that you have to pay back.
Regardless of whether you sell or loan something to a pawn shop, you never have to worry about hurting your credit score. There won’t even be harassing calls if you can’t pay it back. A flexible pawn loan gives you the option to take more time to pay your loan and get your item back.
A Profitable Way to Downsize
Most of us keep things that we never use and never plan to use again. At the same time, we long for an uncluttered living space, where there’s a place for everything to be stored away neatly. Some of your clutter is probably worth little or nothing and belongs in the donation box. But what about those items that have financial value even though they no longer have value to you?
You know that third DVR that you received for Christmas that’s sitting there in the box? How about the expensive watch you got even though you’ve never had any use for a timepiece? You know the clarinet and saxophone that the kids bought for band and then ditched before the first year was out? These are some of the things that you can pawn. Make some extra space at home and put some extra money in your pocket at the same time! All you have to do is find the right pawn shop to sell the items you have for the best possible prices. Since you really aren’t in a hurry for the money, you have more time to do some research and find the best pawn shop in Escondido to sell your items.
Take a Walk through the Neighborhood
It’s always a good idea to do some online research to narrow down your selection of pawn shops. Once you do, take a walk through the neighborhood and visit the pawn shop in person. Just browse the selection to get an idea of the products they carry and their prices. Note the atmosphere and the attitude of the personnel. Good customer service is as important as anything else you learn about the pawn shop.
Monte De Piedad was voted the Best Pawn Shop in San Diego for two consecutive years. Contact us at our pawn shop in Escondido or at any of our twelve other locations. We offer longer to pay, better prices, and fast, friendly service!