Pawn shops, they take in so many things. Jewelry, tools, laptops, video games, all sort of electronics, and yes – some will even take in bikes. In fact, in some pawn shops, pawning bikes is a big business.
But that of course begs the question – just how much will a pawn shop pay you for your bike?
Will you get a good deal?
And just how do they figure out the price that they offer you for your bike anyways?
I know it can all be a bit confusing and trust me, when we started taking in bikes it wasn’t the easiest thing to figure out either.
The truth of the matter is that how much pawn shops will pay for bikes depends on a variety of factors and when you get right down to it, they are all pretty easy to understand and work with.
In fact, figuring out pawn shop bike prices may be a lot easier than you might think…
Pawn Shop Bike Prices
Okay, let’s have a chat.
If you have read this site for any length of time than you will already know that a lot of pawn shops pay for items based on a percentage of what they sell for in similar condition on sites like eBay and Amazon.
Now, when it comes to bikes specifically, that is still true to an extent, but it is much more variable depending on a variety of factors.
Let’s break this all down for you so that you have a better picture of things.
Pawn shops will often take bikes in but the amounts they they pay for them can depend on a lot of things.
Baseline Prices
The first thing that pawn shops will often do is examine you bike and look for any major defects, mechanical problems, damage, condition – you know – all the normal stuff that pawn shops look at when someone brings in an item.
Then with that information they will often reference the bike’s make and model information and see how much similar bike’s are selling for online in used condition – like yours.
Once they’ve got that number, whatever it may be, you can typically expect to get between 40-60% of that value depending on some of the following criteria.
Time Of Year
The fact of the matter is that in most of the country, winter is not a big bike season. In fact, most pawn shops don’t sell any bikes at all during the winter in some of the colder states.
Obviously states like Florida or California will differ here because of their much warmer weather, but for instance in a state like New York – nobody is riding a bike in January.
So with that in mind if you take your bike into a pawn shop during the winter months and are trying to sell it, you are going to get less for it than if it was the middle of the summer.
You see, the pawn shop knows that they are going to have to store and hold onto your bike for quite awhile before they even have a chance to turn around and sell it – and storage costs money.
So if you are trying to sell a bike in the winter months, expect to get between 10-15% less for it than if it was in the middle of the summer.
Modifications
Bike owners do a lot of things to their bikes, particularly the expensive bikes out there.
That having been said, sometimes they can take their bikes a bit too far or do something to the bike that they really love but that others might hate.
On the same token, some people do things to bikes that everyone will love, no matter who they are.
So take a look at your modifications if you’ve made any and take those into account in terms of what the general public might appreciate versus what you really love or hate.
Based on these things, adjust the price of the bike either 10% up or 10% down depending on the current popular trends.
Frame Damage
Some bike riders really ride their bikes hard and in these scenarios, you’ve got to be on the lookout for any frame damage that your bike ay have endured over it’s life.
If there’s anything that stands out, expect to have your offer price reduced at least 5% and maybe even have the bike turned down overall.
Getting The Most For Your Bike
If you want to get the most for your bike then treat it like anything else you would take to the pawn shop.
Make sure that’s it’s clean, that everything works properly and that you are presenting it in the best possible light.
Doing this will help ensure that you are going to get the most out of your bike possible and have the best experience with your local pawnbroker that you could hope to have.
