Pawn shop dime pick-up -

MaineJim

I stopped at the local pawn shop today and as usual asked if the owner if he had anything new this month. He pulled out a bag of roosevelt silver dimes which I counted out and noted they were all just junk silver. There were 41 in the bag. I asked how much and he said he'd check.

He returned with a 2003 red book and says to me "The book says sixty cents but you can have them for fifty cents each if you take them all." - I said "umm, ok" and he said just give me $20 and we'll call it good. I hand him the money, thinking he must have paid someone about 20 cents a piece for them as he always marks up everything at least 100%. He prices all his coins with that 2003 red book...should I suggest to him that he might want to invest in a slightly newer edition of the book or just continue my monthly visits...

Maine_Jim

savoyspecial

i wouldnt volunteer to expand the numismatic library of a pawn shop


buy all his bullion make sure you are the first call he makes when he gets more in

Tdec1000

He's ripping people off to begin with so I wouldn't say a thing.

sinin1

I keep going to different pawn shops and strike-out everytime (nothing or double + retail)

fivecents

Does the dealer have a vacuum cleaner within reach?

mumu

Geez, and I got an attitude from my pawn shop guy when I offered 1.50 for a couple hundred mercs when I was trying to replace my failed bullion transaction. He said he could mail them out to melt and get 2$/ea that day so it made no sense to sell them for 50c less. I said fine go ahead and mail them out. Dude probably paid a quarter for them. I said, hey i was just making an offer, no offense meant, I just wanted a little room to profit too. He responds..my business is not to help you profit. At this point his attitude felt overboard so i said, if you can find something to sell that makes other people money, youll be the richest man in the world, that is the premise of commerce...and walked out.

morgantype

<< <i>I keep going to different pawn shops and strike-out everytime (nothing or double + retail) >>



I partake of the pawnshops in the Los Angeles area (everywhere from Beverly Hills to East LA to South Central and Long Beach).

All I wanted to say is, your analysis was SPOT ON!!

And it drives me nuts!

ricko

For every tale of 'a good deal', there are a thousand tales of attempted rip offs. Cheers, RickO

carl

There is a guy at a local flea market that deals a lot with coins. He USED to have no idea what they were worth. He just put them all in bins with a sign saying $1 each. I found Mercury Dimes in there such as a 1921, 26S, 42/41 and lots of other great ones. And he used to say the more you buy, the cheaper they get. So I usually bought at least 20 or more and the price would drop to about $0.85 or so. Then I picked up a copy of the Numismatic News with prices of coins and gave it to him. He now places coins in 2x2's and sells for the prices in that magazine and that includes to me.
Sometimes attepting to help someone backfires.

Smittys

The truely sad part is the Pawn shop is ripping some people off majorly.

If you tell him he's low I would tend to believe he would tend to pay low, but price higher.

And to someone else in this thread, Coin dealers are not in the business to make You money.
That being said I bet you there are many items I sell you could buy and sell and make a profit.
My pet peave is someone coming in the shop and asking, what have you got that I can make money on?
JMo

astrorat

<< <i>There is a guy at a local flea market that deals a lot with coins. He USED to have no idea what they were worth. He just put them all in bins with a sign saying $1 each. I found Mercury Dimes in there such as a 1921, 26S, 42/41 and lots of other great ones. And he used to say the more you buy, the cheaper they get. So I usually bought at least 20 or more and the price would drop to about $0.85 or so. Then I picked up a copy of the Numismatic News with prices of coins and gave it to him. He now places coins in 2x2's and sells for the prices in that magazine and that includes to me.
Sometimes attepting to help someone backfires. >>

And what would you have expected him to do with the information? If he didn't adjust his pricing to "appropriate" levels then we would be laughing at him for being the dumbest person on the planet. Too bad, however, that he doesn't provide you with a better deal since you are the one who educated him and (presumably) increased is profitability.

SaorAlba

I like to buy silver quarters and dimes at the "overpriced" antique store - they price dimes at 50 cents, quarters at $1.50 and somehow think they are making a killing.

ScarsdaleCoin

Funny .... I think you guys are the rip off kings.... if the owners of all these places are putting them out at far less than the melt value...it shows they dont know what they are worth..... however you guys write about how they must have ripped them from who they bought them from..... go look in the mirror

savoyspecial

ah yes, we must protect that most defenseless minority known as the pawn broker

johnny9434

i picked up 2 1966 kennedy half dollars today. does that count. i got them at the back at the super market

MaineJim

I didn't think of myself as a ripoff king but I felt strange that he was using a 2003 red book. This pawn shop has so much stuff in it that you can barely walk around there. There were three people working in there when I went in and they were closing up as I left. He also offered me a beer! It was a pretty amusing visit but I was wondering if I should feel guilty....

Maine_Jim