The answer is yes. Well, it’s yes in most cases anyways. Of course not all pawn shops are the same or operate in the exact same way so you have to be mindful of that. It’s like anything else really, certain people will just do things certain ways and pawnbrokers are no exception.
You can buy things from a pawn shop online so long as the pawn shop lists things to sell online – seems obvious right? Keep reading and you will understand.
The next question you might ask is how many pawn shops really list things for sale online.
Unfortunately the answer there is that very few pawn shops have much of an online presence and don’t tend to sell much of their inventory online.
The pawn business tends to be a very community centered business in that they serve the community in their immediate area.
It’s not like a Walmart that is generic and can thousands of locations that all look and do the same thing.
How Do You Buy From A Pawn Shop Online?
The best answer there is to look on eBay. Seriously, a lot of pawn shops do sell items on eBay as it’s a constantly moving and busy marketplace for used merchandise.
Fortunately it is pretty easy to find most pawn shops as they have the word ‘Pawn’ in their name commonly.
If you are uncomfortable searching on eBay (as I know a lot of people are), you can actually use Google to do the same thing.
Just type this into the search box:
“pawn” site:ebay.com + what you’re looking for
So if I was looking to buy a DeWalt drill from a pawn shop online, I would type this into the Google search box:
That would be the easiest way to buy from the greatest number of pawn shops possible.
The other thing you can do to find pawn shops selling things online is to look them up with Google as well.
Unfortunately that can be easier said than done in most cases.
To do that I would probably suggest searching something like:
“pawn shop”+”shop online”
That could also give you results for pawn shops that will let you shop their inventory online.
The Sad Part Of This Is
Most pawn shops aren’t really ‘Online.’ Very few owners have really embraced the internet overall because they are a cumminity oriented business.
There’s not much to really say about that – it’s not an incredibly bad thing that they haven’t. They really should at very least embrace social media so that they can stay in content with their customers and let them know about special promotions and sales.
The Nerd’s Experience
Unless you use eBay, it’s going to be hard to shop from a pawn shop online. They just aren’t typically set up that way.
It is certainly possible and eBay makes it much easier to do, but it may not be exactly what you are looking for.
Time will tell but I predict that eventually more and more pawn shops are going to embrace the internet and start opening up their sales shelves to the digital order.
That’s About It…
If you have any questions or comments, please leave them in the comment section below.
Thanks For Everything,
The Head Nerd
Mandy Dormain started working for Pawn Nerd in 2020. Mandy grew up in a small town in northern Tennessee. But moved to New York for university. Before joining Pawn Nerd, Mandy briefly worked as a freelance journalist for several radio stations. She covers politics and economy stories.
