Any pawn shoppers out there?

[jmh21586]

I had a good day in the Minneapolis, ST. Paul area yesterday.


1/2" drive impact. Dang near new. Two 18 volt XRP batteries + charger and case. $90. I think they retail around $200+.

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DeWalt cordless hand held vacumm. Really good shape.
$45

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And this summer I got a like new Matco 76 peice tap and die set.
Like this one. $100

You fellas ever find any good deals at pawn shops?

 

[TEXACMAN]

Looks like you got some good deals. I usually scout the pawn shops a few times a year. A lot of my tools are from pawn shops,I stay away from the chain pawnshops ,deals are usually not as good.

 

[RRmech]

I'll hit a pawn shop on occasion.
Sometimes, I can pick up a few sockets and wrenches, on-the-cheap.
Depends on the attitude of the guy behind the counter?
Too many pawn shops pretend to be antique shops, and price accordingly.

Steve

 

[jmh21586]

The sticker price on the vac was $75. Noooo way.
Offered the guy $45 and he took it.
Remember. Pawn shops buy their stuff ridiculously cheap. So there's room to negotiate.

 

[SMKS]

I stay away from the chain pawnshops ,deals are usually not as good.

My experience has been the opposite. There is a pawnshop chain here in Kansas. I get most of my things from one of their four locations. All the locally owned pawnshops seem to never have anything or want $4 for a US made wrench.

Also, there is a Mr. Money pawnshop in my hometown. That is a big chain. Their manager is a woman, so any loose tool is fifty cents. I've got some really good deals there.

I find that for loose tools, the chains can be better than a locally-owned place.

 

[NWphotog]

Nice buys! I use to have a hook up and bought a lot of items for resale. That eventually ended and haven't had much luck since.

 

[TEXACMAN]

Just depends on the area I guess. The chain shops close to me price things higher than new and then they still don't go down on price much.I had one place that had trouble selling tools where he was at and I would walk out with armloads of tools everytime very cheap.

 

[I can fix anything]

I go to at least one a day.

 

[bonneyman]

I have three pawn shops, one thrift store, and a weekly estate sale location that I hit at least once a week. I'm a "regular", and take the time to ask about peoples lives and how they are doing. And I usually get stuff cheap. But the times that they ask a little more, I pay it without griping - you've gotta give a little to get, you know?

 

[jmh21586]

Serious??

What kinds of stuff do you find??

 

[y2knole]

every time I try a pawn shop, I end up aggrivated. half the time they price stuff so close to retail that its not worth taking a risk on, then act like you are an jerk if you offer them something reasonable for it.

 

[jmh21586]

I'm an auction freak but this year was terrible. There were none.

 

[Red Green]

I swing through the pawn shops at least once a month. There are two local to me and one I get deals at and one is more of a cash advance type that dosen't deal on tools and have had the same items for years.

 

[littlekillertoad]

There's a couple of pawn shops in my area, but the prices are usually pretty high. I still swing by about once a week, just to see what's new.

 

[kc-steve]

I'll have to try it again soon I guess. The one time I did check it out, it was a Cash America Pawn nearby and it looked to me like their prices were high. The woman didn't help her case when I mentioned that I could buy a lot of the stuff new at those prices, and she said "no way!" shutting down any further discussion. She could have said make me an offer on something specific.

And I think it also scared me off when I saw a pair of old Bose 901 speakers for the same price they sold for NEW in the mid-1970s.

The manager or owner probably has a lot to do with whether they are fair or not. So I guess I'll look around.

Steve

 

[64merc]

I have been to many pawn shops, and everything pretty much depends on the attitude of the manager. Even the expensive shops sometimes slip up and sell bargains though.

 

[Major Ramifications]

I hit at least two pawn shops almost every weekend. The Cash America chain is my favorite, with corporate policy setting the prices. I love it when they have tent sales or preferred customer sales and everything is discounted.

I have bought tons of stuff from Cash America, many of the deals were OUTSTANDING.

 

[Packard V8]

I scout pawn shops only so I'll know current retail for used tools. Their prices are always too high on the good/truck brand stuff. Maybe, once or twice a year, I'll find something which doesn't have broad customer appeal.

Last time I was walking out the door, I overheard a guy telling some sad story needing cash to leave town. The pawnies said they were overstocked on what he had (at their prices, no surprise it wasn't selling!) and weren't buying that day. He was parked next to me and I him to drive around the corner and show me what he had been trying to sell. I ended up with a trunk full of misc. power and hand tools for a $100 bill. I kept about $250 of the best and got $150 for the rest on craigslist. I wouldn't ever buy stolen tools at any price, but he had showed them ID, so it seemed legit.

jack vines

 

[fordbroncodave]

.

hello fellow Minnesotan!

yes indeed the pawn shops in minnesota are very good. personally i stay away from the Pawn America branch, they are too far outta line.

i will not share my areas i go to but i will tell you i get some good brands for some insanely cheap prices. snap on mac matco cornwell, all for pennies on the dollar

 

[jmh21586]

I scout pawn shops only so I'll know current retail for used tools. Their prices are always too high on the good/truck brand stuff.

jack vines

Yeah but you wouldn't go to a car lot and pay sticker price would you??

Ya gotta wheel and deal with them.


That's part of the fun of pawn shops.

 

[RMR&C]

I picked up 2 nice USA vise grips for $4.00 each the other day.....I always can use more vise grips!

 

[yjWrangler]

Wish there was one nearby me

 

[red97k1500]

Last week i payed 27 cents for a 1/2" snap on wrench that i dug out of a bucket of loose tools at a local pawn shop.

 

[I can fix anything]

Hit 2 today did not find much.

 

[supertooljunkie]

I love pawn shops. I hit one last weekend and got three ratchets, 2 USA made, one Taiwan, 15" Williams adjustable, three Gearwrenches, a US made Thorsen 1" combo wrench, and 8-10 C-man sockets for $20.
Couple weeks before that I found this for $5. Three Snap on sockets that totalled $116 new, a Williams 14mm 3/8" deep well, and an extension.

 

[Wrenchette]

Haven't hit many lately myself. Most have gone up in price since I've last been to them.

Tonight I had a little free time and bought a Blue point extendable mirror, a "Barberton O" Wright socket, a Vlchek wrench, 2 Snap On and 3 Cornwell sockets, another Wright deepwell to further complete a set and a few sockets to add to my 7/16s collection (weird, I know, I have about 45 USA made 7/16s sockets of various manufacturers), a P&C, a Fleet and a Vlchek.

 

[wrenchr]

Use to get deals at the hock shops now the snap on stuff is out of sight price wise and everything else is more than retail. Crafty socket sets, MIT impact socket sets all way above retail.

 

[Red Green]

Found one this past Friday with the strangest pricing policy I'd ever seen.

They would NOT sell their wrenches/sockets/etc by the piece (or even cannibalize boxes and make their own sets to sell); they kept every box of tools intact as they received it, and would only sell the ENTIRE box as-is.

Every box was horribly overpriced; and they had probably 20 toolboxes that didn't look like they'd moved in years. For every decent piece you'd find in a box, there were 14 Chinese tools. I've never seen such a bassackwards pricing policy in all my time pawning - and needless to say, I left empty-handed, even though I did see a few pieces I needed. Owner would not budge off his policy, either.

I just ran into a place that was doing the same thing on a trip to detroit. Next time I am going over there I am plan an extra hour to go through the boxes. The prices seemed ok but I didn't have time to sort though all of them.

 

[toymn6366]

i go to 3 pawnshops a couple of times a week and 3 thrift stores about once a week.yesterday bought a craftsman valve spring compresser for 1.91 at a thrift store which was odd to find tools at. the pawnshops i go to one is a chain the others are indenpents but i know the manager and both of the owners so i get some good deals at all 3.
another thing i do is when i'm out of town i use my gps to find pawnshops, my brother and me have what our wives call a pawn- thrift store trips we leave them at home cause you have to move fast and travel light and they slow you down

 

[jmh21586]

Went to around 10 pawn shops today.

Ened up with only 4 Disney movies.

Win some, lose some. All the shops I go to pick through the loose stuff pretty well and sell the good stuff on it's own.

The junk boxes are only full of junk.

 

[DHS]

I dont get too lucky at pawn shops. I did get 4 fishing rod and reels for $125. I sold the best and worst one for what I paid and got to keep the other two. The two I sold were Penn Senator 9/0 and 4/0.

 

[bonneyman]

I have been to many pawn shops, and everything pretty much depends on the attitude of the manager. Even the expensive shops sometimes slip up and sell bargains though.

I returned to a shop that a week ago the girl said they had to sell the tools in the box for the stated price. This week another guy said, "No problem. We can sell you one or two items out of the box - we've been doing it for a while now!". And I got an oil port C-man rat and Proto Los Angeles DOE wrench for a great price - Christmas sale price and all!

 

[SocketDeviler]

I've done well at pawn shops but it's something I have to keep at. The stuff does not just jump out at ya. One of my best finds last summer was a near new 1/4" Cornwell ratchet for $2.00.

 

[RLRRLRLL]

There is 2 i go to once in a while. ! more then the other. Went to the one i dont go to often and he had some nice snap on stuff...a lil to much on price though. I saw a bunch of snap on screwdrivers behind the counter and asked about them ,he said it was his personal stuff. Seems like he keeps the good stuff that comes in and puts the china **** in the bins. The other one just has an old cman box that he dumps everything in. Ive only bought a few things from him, couple random cman sockets, cman stubby screwdrivers, a snap on #2 screwdriver, few wrenches. Hes good on the price.