Pawn shops will commonly accept microwaves if you take them into their stores.
I understand what it is like to need money right now and not be sure what you can do or what you can sell to get it.
I’ve been there myself plenty of times and understand that it sucks completely.
But one of the things that we all almost always have hanging around are microwaves. But do pawn shops buy microwaves?
Well, that’s a fair and actually a very good question because the answer isn’t as easy as you might expect it to be.
The problem with trying to answer questions like this is that all pawn shops operate a little differently. They aren’t like Walmart or Target where all of the stores follow the same rules.
Pawn shops are owned by individual small business owners and they all have their own ideas on what items would be good for their pawn shops to take in versus what wouldn’t make a good buy or loan.
But with that in mind, I will tell you that most pawn shops will look at microwaves, or at least they should. It’s one of those items that eventually someone will need to buy and therefore, the pawn shop should have a good chance at selling it at a later point in time.
If you have a microwave that you would like to sell then you will be happy to know that most pawn shops will buy microwaves. This is particularly true for microwaves that are in good condition and higher end units.
How To Get The Most For Your Microwave At A Pawn Shop
So, here we are, you’ve decided that you are going to take your microwave down to the pawn shops to see if they will buy it or even just make you a loan against it.
What’s next, where do you go from here, what should you do?
Well, the first thing that you’ve really got to take into consideration is that a pawn shop is going to expect your microwave to be as clean as possible.
Obviously this means that any kind of food related debris should be out of the microwave and off of it’s surface.
Beyond that though, you are going to want to make it look as good as possible as that will give the pawn shop the impression that they shouldn’t have a problem reselling it in the future should and when they have to.
So at very least, wipe it down with a damp cloth and if you really want to do it right, use some degreaser on the inside of the microwave and maybe a polish of some sort on the outside.
The better your microwave looks, the more likely you will be to get the most money possible out of it.
Additionally, most microwaves have a plate on the inside that food, bowls or plates will sit on while the microwave is running. Make sure that you have that with you as well.
The Nerd’s Opinion
With all of this having been said, let’s keep in mind that we are talking about microwaves here.
You’re not going to get a huge amount of money for your microwave at a pawn shop. You can go buy a brand new one at Walmart for around $50-$150, so when we are talking about a used one, you’re probably going to get between $5 and $25 unless it’s something really special.
Obviously if it’s a brand new, stainless steel, large capacity microwave with all of the features you could ever want, you might get more – but you’re not going to get hundreds of dollars out of one.
The reason I bring this up is because it’s important to keep your expectations reasonable on something like this. Microwaves are almost a dime a dozen at this point.
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.
