DeputyDawg
Smyrna,#2UPDATE EX-employee responds
Wed, July 25, 2012
I have been in the pawn business a number of years, originally as a P/Timer wanting to simply learn the business, and ten years later winding up as an Owner/Operator. Regarding the comment mentioned above, the consumer visited a pawn shop to help solve a financial need. The consumer brought in an expensive yet worn, used, no longer brand new, set of tools. The word "Pawn" does not mean "Sell". Pawning an item allows you, the consumer, to retrieve your item as long as you meet the terms of your transaction. Pay on time, or expect to see your items on the showroom floor, for sale. An ethical pawnbroker will ask you "Do you want to Pawn or Sell this item?" Some pawnbrokers will just ask: "What do you want to do ?", leaving it up to you, the one in need of cash, to answer that question. Make sure you say "Pawn the item". This will always, always allow you to keep the item at the time of repayment.
How do we arrive with a dollar amount to offer you? A pawnbrokers' first thought is always this: What could I sell this for, in the event I should own it? If it's a used item, it's a used item. Forget what you paid for it. It's used! You may have very well paid $2,000 for that set of tools, but if my store has a poor history of being able to sell tools like yours, I have to keep that sales history in mind when calculating how much to offer you. I'd offer you close to 25% of what I'd be able to sell it for. If I have a lot of calls looking for your kind of item, I'll offer more. But if you tell me "I want to sell you this item", and we agree on a price, then it no longer belongs to you the moment you place your signature on our transaction form.
Having 2nd thoughts about what you did the day before? After your wife finds out you sold us your tools yesterday? Don't come back expecting to pay anything close to what we paid you for it. Especially not the next day. Can you spell "W-a-i-t-i-n-g P-e-r-i-o-d"? By law, we have to keep the item off the sales floor, so local law enforcement verifies it hasn't been reported stolen (by your wife, girlfriend, employer) The consumer complained of coming back the next day expecting to "get a deal". You couldn't legally buy this back until the required waiting period expired. You also would be paying "Our price" not "Your price".
In closing, you stated "If I hadn't been in a bind, I wouldn't have sold my tools"............. No one ever said you had to sell them. No one told you that you couldn't "pawn" them. You made the decision, and obviously, the wrong one.
Using words like "rip off artists" and "these people will rip you off" really have no place being used in your comments.