Pawn Shop Tool Hunt NIGHTMARE.

[Tejaas]

I figured I'd give this method a try, as up until three trips ago (all within the last week) I've never set foot in a pawn shop in my life.

I hit 5 shops on the "main drag" and was surprised as to what kind of tool selection there was. It actually appeared as if a Snap-On truck puked everywhere, there were so many of their second hand tools around.

However, I quickly realized that every one of the first 4 pawn shops were charging -MAYBE- 10% less for these used tools, than the catalog price for them NEW. Absolutely ridiculous.

At the 3rd one, I even found a used Dewalt jigsaw for $10 MORE than Lowes charges new.

I found the staff at the 4 pawnshops what I'd call "downright unwilling" to budge on price, in regards to the Snap-On stuff they seem to be following the "it has a lifetime warranty so it deserves to be paid full price for" logic that I had heard about.

If it wasn't Snap-On, it was dollar bin hand tools... If ya found anything TAIWAN you could consider yourself lucky.... I was on the lookout for older Craftsman 3/8" drive socket extensions... Not exactly what I would have imagined to be a "hard to find" secondhand item.

That 5th shop was the icing on the cake for me. They didn't have hardly anything other than golf ****, lawnmowers, and hoodrat car rims.

I did have a decent find, although I wasn't looking for it. I found a 10" long 3/4" diameter Snap-On Bronze Punch (Part Number PPB1002A). Retails for $76.00... I walked out with it for $7.66. Took it home and polished it, happy because it's in mint condition.

I'll post the actual picture tommorrow, but this is the one I'm referring to:

Now for the bad part. I asked the guy If he had any old tools laying around... he took me to a practically hidden corner and showed me a ratty old steel hand box and a 5 gallon bucket. He said "there ain't much here, but a dollar apiece for anything you find takes it home".

I searched the bucket and it was either no-name "CHINA" stamped wrenches or broken Stanley screwdrivers.... Just about gave up until I opened the old steel toolbox.

Cracked it open (thing was rusted and ratty as hell) and inside there are 2 Mitituyo combination squares, 2 Starrett 6" rules, a brand new Starrett feeler gauge set (with duplicate leafs), and the older-style wooden cylinder box set of Starrett steel punches. I think to myself "Home Run".

I get to the counter with it all and realistically prepare to pay without haggling too much because I was thankful to salvage the day with my find.... Guy comes over and looks everything over and I can tell he halfway knows what he has... And practically tells me he "forgot they were back there" and he still needed to inventory and move them to the floor for a proper sale. Refused to even offer a dollar amount.

I was so pissed I could scream... Little rat *******.


~Tejaas~

WTB: Snap-On SDD6 & SDD8 Orange Handled Screwdriver!

 

[Westly]

I was also on the lookout for Craftsman 3/8 extentions. The ones I found were surprisingly soft. Very disturbing to feel it wrapping around itself when you hit about 30 ft lbs. I stuck with my K-mart Japanese one and a Blackhawk. Very nice.

It helps to go into pawn shops as a buyer looking like a crackhead. They won't gouge you then. Mess up your hair and pull half your shirt tail out.

 

[coyotejake]

I'm amazed at the different attitudes of pawn/second hand shop owners in my area. One pawn shop in particular, I'm surprised they are still in business, with what they are trying to gouge (I mean charge), for stuff. Right across the river, a guy and his wife are doing it right. Plenty of cheap stuff at pennies on the dollar, and Snap On, Mac, Armstrong and the like are 50% of list (and he has current books to show you where his prices come from). Some places I'll never set foot in again, and some places I try my best to support through regular purchases.

 

[Westly]

One time I took a bunch of stuff up to the counter and while the guy was sizing it up I said "If it's too much I'm going to have to leave some of it." It was true, because I didn't have much cash on me. I was just thinking out loud. I think that might have cut the price about in half.

 

[redware]

Right across the river, a guy and his wife are doing it right. Plenty of cheap stuff at pennies on the dollar, and Snap On, Mac, Armstrong and the like are 50% of list (and he has current books to show you where his prices come from).

I'm still mourning the loss of a pawn just like that only an hour away from me. My best find: 15 never used Snap-On wrenches (12 in a set and 3 more on top) for $150.00! Now they've stopped selling high end tools in favor of more gun counter space.

 

[Cadillac fan]

Place Near me wanted $95 for a made in China no brand sliding T connector. Tried to say it was Snap On.

 

[Holt]

Few near me charge more then retail. The price sticker shows retail then their price which is 25% off retail but the retail price is inflated so high. You have to buy in bulk to get good discounts. Some other stores dont list any price. You have to ask. They size you up then give you a price.

 

[Phog Allen]

I have never found anything worth a tinker's damn in a pawn shop. If you did it was priced more than new. So to me, NOTHING worth even bothering with. Any I have been in had firearms and tools priced higher than new and some of the tools were in horrible shape. It is probably too harsh but most of the types I have encountered running or working at pawn shops were worse than the socially challenged(lets be real, bums) they were fleecing for high interest loans. I haven't been in one for over ten years.

 

[coyotejake]

I'm sorry to hear that some of you don't seem to have any decent local second hand/pawn shops. The good one we've got across the river has the equivalent of a 55 gallon drum of sockets to dig around in. He even tries to keep the better brands separated so you can narrow your search by brand. Good stuff is in the back, and he'll stand around to make sure you don't rip him off, but he'll let you take your time and search through all his (separated by brand) tool boxes without complaint. He mentioned that a lot of guys will make a list of all the individual sockets they need to complete their sets, then come in and pour through his stuff for hours. Yeah, I've got a list started.

 

[woody 73]

Funny thing it does not matter if it takes place in Texas, or my home State of Ohio all the same everywhere high prices...

I have been trying to buy a used snap on air tool and they will not budge on price and that tool sits month after month in their store. My best guess is they make so much on interest that they could care less if they never sell any tools.

The part that I hate the most is their attitude to every customer that walks into their store, almost like are you doing in my store type of stare.

Still I keep going...got to have my head examined...

 

[jethrodawg]

I have been trying to buy a used snap on air tool and they will not budge on price and that tool sits month after month in their store. My best guess is they make so much on interest that they could care less if they never sell any tools.

Same thing around here. They can afford to hold out on price since they buy a lot of the stuff for pennies on the dollars. Most guys who end up selling good tools to pawn shops do so because of desperation and have no leverage.

I always thought Craigslist would kill pawn shops but people want their money immediately. Craigslist is great place to get tools and I always get a bill of sale for anything with a serial number.

 

[TJJP77]

Me and a buddy have a routine to hit a bunch of pawn shops whenever I go out to Colorado to visit friends and family. We tend to find that the "corporate" pawn shops like EZ Pawn or Mister Money are more willing to make a deal and are less emotionally invested in their stuff like the mom and pop stores. They basically look at it like: we paid x for this item, the customer is offering y, and that leaves us a profit of z....sold! Seems like the smaller non-chain stores look at it like: this is a great item that is worth X and we will take no less even though we have practically nothing in it.

That said, I rarely buy tools in pawn shops unless it's a screaming deal. Years ago (pre-internet) I got a few like-new Snap-On torque wrenches for good deals in pawn shops, and occasionally my friend or I will find an off brand tool like Wright, Proto, Williams, etc for a good price. Last time I was out there I got a pair of Knipex end nippers for $2 and a Craftsman branded pair of Knipex Cobra pliers for $1. I also found a Williams S-53 ratchet in good shape for $7.

The stuff me and my buddy look for are things like knives and multi-tools. The pawn shops always have high prices written on the dumb "collector/fantasy" knives like you see on the shopping channels, but they generally seem to have reasonable prices on stuff like USA made Kershaw, Gerber, Buck, Leatherman, etc. I've gotten some smoking deals over the years on stuff like that.

 

[byoungblood]

There is one pawn shop around me that occasionally will have some decent stuff and doesn't want the world for it. As long as it is well used they'll put it out in their shelf bins so you can pick up about any decent name brand socket for 25 cents to a dollar or so, ditto with the wrenches and screwdrivers. Not a bad place to shop for a road box or for a size you're not going to use much. Newer stuff is usually behind the counter though.

Others generally don't have anything worth buying. They'll have a few overpriced truck tools locked up in a case, but the rest of their stuff is generally junk. Save this one that is out in the middle of nowhere about 20 minutes from the house that had a huge assortment of tools, but was asking full retail for even the well used stuff.

Most all of the pawn shops, even the first one, will still sell HF junk for near full retail if it isn't beat up.

 

[warmpancakes]

There is one Pawnshop in my town, every good Item goes straight to ebay I dont even go in there except for the first saturday of the month (dollar DVD day)

My best luck is 2 pawn shows in Flint, the only 2 that dont ebay everything, yesterdays score came from a shop in detroit that 99% of their buisnesss is Music equipment

 

[cmanningjr]

We've got one local pawn shop run by 2 women. I've bought craftsman wrenches for $1.00 each. If I buy more than one. Mostly because they've had them forever and dumped them out on a big table to dig thru.

Most of the pawn shops south of me where I work stopped dealing with tools because they can't get rid of them. Maybe it's because they wanted the same price as new for them.






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[ScottsGT]

Sounds like you were in my area. If I want a good laugh, I walk into a pawn shop. Always marked up higher than new, and worn out ****. One of the last times I walked into one to look at their inventory was when I was on an M1 Carbine hunt. The joker handed me some old non USGI **** with a broken receiver and tried giving me some story about his uncle used it to storm the beaches of Germany after they attacked Pearl Harbor.
When I showed him where it was broke in half and made of pot metal, he looked at me like I had just grown a third head and ran me out of his shop.

 

[DieselSaves]

Almost all our pawn shops are decent on prices. Not much money flying around the area so they have to be competitive. There is one that just does tools of every flavor. Great place to go for finishing a set or just to get what you need. The prices are not really cheap but they will deal and trade too.

I heard on Pawn Stars that functional consumer credit in the US was mostly from pawn shops til the fifties. In this town of twenty thousand people, we have about a dozen pawn shops and most have a fair selection of stuff. Most have stopped taking in complete junk and some have even started bringing in new Chaiwan tools to sell with their pawned items. At least for our area, the pawn shops are a good place to look for something before buying new.

 

[Burl]

I attend a half dozen good size swap meets a year, that's where I buy my stuff. I wouldn't give a pawn shop a dime for their typically stolen junk.

 

[-Brent-]

Pawn shops exist to make money... "good deal" and "pawn shop" are rarely in the same sentence.

 

[Davefr]

I absolutely hate pawn shops. Why would I buy used tools at 90% of MSRP??

Does anyone understand the pawn shop business model. I don't understand how they ever sell anything

 

[finn]

I decided that pawn shops are a waste of time. Overpriced, worn out, and stolen junk.

Frankly, the owners, workers, and clientele give me the creeps. I avoid them.

 

[PugetDude]

Frankly, the owners, workers, and clientele give me the creeps. I avoid them.

I watched "******** Pawn" once. Felt like I needed to take a shower when it was over.

 

[Zeke]

As I said in another thread, the inventory is their investment account and it pays interest. A store selling new merchandise has to turn over inventory to make money. A pawn shop just has to get inventory real cheap and let it sit until the right sucker comes along. Meanwhile, they have little invested, new models are not coming out and inflation is helping them, not hurting them.

 

[radrush]

As I said in another thread, the inventory is their investment account and it pays interest. A store selling new merchandise has to turn over inventory to make money. A pawn shop just has to get inventory real cheap and let it sit until the right sucker comes along. Meanwhile, they have little invested, new models are not coming out and inflation is helping them, not hurting them.

Doesn't this theory only work as long as bank interest are rising? If bank interest rates are falling, a company sitting on inventory is losing money.

 

[Sleipnir]

Really depends where you go, I've gotten USA vice grips, four sockets, one being snap on, an extension (-V-) and a few other things for $12 at a local pawn shop.

I agree with the look, if you show up in boat shoes, khakis and a polo - you're gonna probably get a worse price than if you just show up in work boots, jeans and a flannel shirt..

 

[redwrench60]

You guys would **** if you saw the deals I get at pawn shops. Some are so good you'd call me a liar like a VERY lightly used Ingersoll Rand 2135 Ti max impact for $40 out the door. I got a receipt just for proof.

What you guys don't realize is pawn stores usually cut deals with friendly regular customers. I never sell or pawn, I always buy. Sure some things they want too much for and we can't get together on but lots of things we do especially if they've had it over a month. That's when they get ready to cut deals.

 

[Westly]

One pawn shop here has about 500 cars that they own or are in pawn parked on a strip of highway like a car lot. They had so many guns in that they opened a separate gun store for them. All the knives are desirable knives. No fantasy knives with a lot of space around it in a display. No need to clean the mud off your boots. Lots of tools - broken, working, cheap, expensive, repairable and parts only. Nothing has a sticker, everything's negotiable. The owner or his son will ask top dollar. The workers will give you a reasonable deal, just time your purchases.

I was in a another shop the other day and a guy came in and wanted to trade some pistol for a S.A. Ruger on the counter. They all sat down and joked and belittled each other's offer. It was like a throwback to the day when that was entertainment.

 

[HunterMike]

Last week I scored a collection of Craftsman sockets, almost complete sets in 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2 in both 6pt and 12pt, sae and metric, as well as one deep set, 3/8 ratchet, and 3" and 6" extension, all US made, for $20. It helps that my sister in law is the manager of the pawn shop. Was looking for a few missing pieces and she said take them all for $20. I now have a few extras, but got a lot of missing pieces in the deal. It's not what you know but who you know!


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[Westly]

What you guys don't realize is pawn stores usually cut deals with friendly regular customers.

That is very true. With some shops if you buy a couple of the overpriced items people are complaining about here, you will start getting the friendly deals as if they were selling to a buddy. Other shops I could see that not happening with though.

 

[zkling]

I absolutely hate pawn shops. Why would I buy used tools at 90% of MSRP??

Does anyone understand the pawn shop business model. I don't understand how they ever sell anything

This has been my experience as well. I often wonder what they give the people that they purchase from. Probably peanuts. I think there are three different types of pawn shops. Ones that try to focus on high end large sales, ones that focus on loans, and finally those that actually try to sell common items. There is a pawn shop locally that "specializes" in guns, it's a good laugh to stroll through and browse. Ironically it seems their inventory never decreases, only increases. Also pawn shops seem to vary greatly by region the more urban area sounds like they have better pawn shops.

 

[1/2 Cup]

I have found that the Pawn shops here in Australia, are by and large no different, you would rarely get what you could call a bargin.