So you are in a pawn shop and they make you an offer on your item. No, wait, you’re in a pawn shop and they have a price on an item that you want…
Well actually it doesn’t really matter whether you are buying something from a pawn shop or if you are selling something to a pawn shop, there are always dollar amounts involved at some point.
The question is if pawn shops will negotiate on their prices at all, either the prices that they quote you or the prices that they want for an item.
The answer is… most of the time, yes pawn shops will negotiate on their prices, but within reason and that’s something that’s really important to remember.
It’s a huge mistake to walk into a pawn shop and try to over negotiate on an item and it’s something that I see customers do all the time, and mistakenly so unfortunately.
That having been said, I understand why people do it. Everyone either wants a little more money for their items if they can get it or they want to save a little more money on a purchase if they can and both of those are very understandable and reasonable things.
It also doesn’t help that so many people think that pawn shops just pay nothing for items that they take in or on the flip side, that since they pay nothing for them that they can afford to sell them for next to nothing as well. That’s just not the case though.
Pawn shops are almost always willing to negotiate on prices and are happy to help you get the best deal you can.
Pawn Shops Are Businesses, But Very Reasonable Ones
The fact of the matter is that a pawn shop isn’t a charity as much as people would sometimes like to think that they are.
Pawn shops are in business and employee people simply to make money, just like any other business out there. After all, you don’t expect Walmart to stay open and not make money on the things that they sell, right? Well a pawnshop isn’t going to do that either.
So keep in mind, when you are thinking about opening a negotiation on some prices at your local pawn shop that there is only so far they can go. There are boundaries that exist that they just can’t go beyond no matter how badly they may want to help you or how badly they may want to help you buy an item.
How To Negotiate With Pawn Shops Properly
So with that in mind, let’s talk about some things you can do to help you negotiate with pawn shops properly and either walk out with a little more money than they may have originally offered you or on the flip side, walk out having saved a little more money over what the original sticker price on something was.
If Selling Something, Know It’s eBay ‘Sold’ Value – So, let’s take the first part of this which is when you go into a pawn shop to sell something.
The first thing that you should have done as part of your homework was looked your item up on eBay and look ONLY AT the ‘Sold’ listings, which is an option box that you can check off on the left hand side of the screen.
What you are looking for is the exact same item (has to be the exact same!) with the same number of either missing parts, or marks and scratches, etc. Whatever it is, it has to be in the same condition as the item that you are attempting to sell to the pawn shop.
I stress this because it’s really important to be comparing Apples-For-Apples here. If you are comparing your item to something similar but a different model or maker, then you don’t actually know the value of your item on eBay, you have a rough guess at best.
But if you have found the same item and everything matches up then you will want to take whatever that dollar amount is and figure that a pawn shop will offer you between 40-60% of that price. Now stick those numbers in your head and that’s what you are going to walk into the pawn shop with.
Present your item and let the pawn shop evaluate it and make you an offer. If their offer is on the lower side of the 40-60% range, then you will probably have room to negotiate and your initial counter offer should be right around the 60% mark.
You may get lucky and have the pawn broker agree to it immediately and you can walk away being satisfied that you have done a good job. However, if they don’t immediately agree to it, don’t get angry and whatever you do, don’t insult them or yell at them. Just keep working at it until you can settle on something around 50% which is pretty fair to both parties most of the time.
If You Are Buying Something, Be Reasonable With Your Counter Offers – Okay so let’s look at the other side of the coin for a moment here and assume that you’ve gone in to your local pawn shop to buy something instead of selling it. What do you do?
Well the first thing that you will want to do is inspect the item carefully and see if there is anything broken or missing as this can help you with your negotiation if you point these things out. However if you do point them out, be polite and honest and don’t try to come off as “Smooth” because that won’t get you anywhere except a quick “NO!”
Now then take a good look at the price and ask yourself first if it’s actually a very fair price. Most of the time pawn shops prices are very fair to begin with so being realistic about this will give you a good idea of where you can go next.
If you think there might be room to work then your initially offer should be roughly 80% of the initial asking price. A 20% discount is pretty aggressive while still being somewhat reasonable and respectful of the fact that the pawn shop is still a business and at the end of the day needs to show a little profit.
If they take it, great. If they don’t then don’t drag the process out – you’re next question should be “Well, what’s the lowest price that you would be willing to sell this for right now?”
See what they say, and then if you are feeling special that day maybe try to sneak in an extra $5 discount.
For example, if the initial price of the item as $120 and you offer them $95 and they come back with $105 you could just quick say something like “So, if I had $100 right now that I could give you for it, you’re telling me that you would turn that down?”
Normally speaking the pawn shop may work with you but a lot of it is going to depend on the item’s initial cost as well.
Negotiating With Pawn Shops Is Easy
If you follow these basic rules and don’t try to get too aggressive or insulting to the business you are almost always going to be successful with your negotiations.
Just keep in mind that they have a business to run just as much as you want to save a little more or get a little more money out of something.
There is no bad guy in any of these and as long as you keep a calm, cool head – you will do just fine.
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.
