There’s a lot of things that pawn shops will deal with all of the time but one of those things that nobody really seems to be sure about is if pawn shops will buy handbags or not.
While it would be great to be able to give you a single, one size fits all type answer that handles all aspects of the question, the sad and unfortunate reality is that unfortunately I can not give that to you.
You see, pawn shops are often small businesses and as such are operated by many, small independent operators who may have different experiences and expertise.
As such, not all pawn brokers are incredibly familiar with handbags. It’s just the nature of the business that they are familiar with a wide-range of merchandise, but handbags are something that will almost always be more exclusive to more urbanized city-centers of commerce overall.
As such, if you take a handbag into a pawn shop in the middle of nowhere-Kansas, they may not be very willing to take in your handbag for a loan or a sale. They just probably won’t have much experience with that type of item and may be leary about taking it in or loan money against it.
But on the other hand, if we were talking about a pawn shop in the Middle of LA or New York, or other areas where designer, high end handbags were much more common then you might find that pawn shops are perfectly willing to deal with them as they might already do so on a regular basis.
How Much Do They Pay
Pawn shops will have a few things that they have to do when a handbag comes into their store.
The first thing of course is to determine if the handbag is a legitimate designer handbag. This can involve a variety of different things that they look at, look for and handle. To be fair, because there are so many counterfeit handbags made around the world, expect a pawn shop to spend a fair amount of time evaluating yours to see if it is a real handbag or just some imposter bag.
Obviously, if you have any of the original packaging or documentation that goes along with your handbag as often does on the really high end designer brands, then you should most certainly take that along with you. It will help the pawn shop verify the handbag is real and that it is something that they should be able to loan against or buy outright.
Of course, something even like a receipt should be something that you take along with you. You don’t want to have it to prove how much you paid for the item because honestly, a pawn shop really won’t care about what something sells for brand new, but rather just to show them that you bought your handbag from an authorized retailer and distributor of that line of handbags.
Upon verifying the the bag is real, they will then attempt to established a used value for the handbag in similar condition and completeness to yours.
This will often be done using a site such as eBay or Amazon to see what used versions of that handbag sell for on the open, second hand market. Having this price is important to the pawn shop because it will give them at least some idea of what they might be able to expect to resell the bag for should they buy it or if you made a loan against it and ended up defaulting on the loan for whatever reason.
Their offer to your for the bag will typically be between 40-60% of the value that they find other similar bags selling for. You will get closer to the 60% end of things if you are selling the handbag as it is easier for the pawn shop to handle these transactions and they know exactly what their total cost may end up being upfront.
Tips For Pawning Your Handbag
So now that we understand how pawn shops work with handbags, there are a few things that you should probably do before making a loan against it or sell it.
Get It Cleaned Up – The first thing that you should do is properly clean and prepare your handbag for presentation. The cleaner and newer the handbag looks, the more that you will probably end up being offered for it because a clean, well cared for handbag will always be easier to sell than one that’s dirty, marked up or has a lot of wear.
Take Everything With You – As previously discussed, if you have any of the original packaging or documentation then you most certainly should take that with you to the pawn shop. It may increase the amount that you are offered for the bag.
Have It Empty And Ready – Don’t take your bag into the pawn shop full of stuff still. Make sure that it is completely cleaned out and ready for not just inspection but for loan or sale.
Following these tips will help you get the most for your handbag when you go to make a loan on it or sell it outright.
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