If you have to come up $500 and need to make a pawn loan to get you there, then you will want to read this article so you know what you can pawn to get you there.
Of all of the various questions that I get while in the pawn shops that I visit, one of the most frequently asked is about how to get a certain amount of money on a loan.
What I often tell people is that there is no one perfectly correct answer.
So much of what people are offered for their items at the various pawn shops across the country is going to be based on what that pawn shop’s pawnbroker is comfortable loaning on to begin with.
Additionally, as you average pawn loans across the country, you will find that you can take two of the exact same item and the prices one pawn shop will offer versus another across the country could differ somewhat significantly.
The reasons for that vary, but it’s almost always going to come down to how much a pawn shop thinks that they would be able sell the others for.
In same areas, there will be really high demand for things like silver jewelry, hunting rifles, or video game systems. However, in other areas of the country, these things just aren’t big movers and shakers in the pawn shops.
So for that reason, when attempting to determine how much a pawn shop might give you for something, it’s best to use eBay or Amazon prices for similar items as a baseline for what they might offer you.
Typically speaking, you are going to be looking at between 40-70% of the current used value for the items seen on eBay depending on whether or not you are making a loan on it, or just outright selling whatever it is.
With that in mind, let’s talk about some things that you can pawn to get you close to $500 in a pawn shop.
$500 would be considered a pretty big loan at most pawn shops, but they can be and are commonly done. Here are some ideas of what you can pawn to get up to $500 at your local pawn shop.
Things You Can Pawn For $500 At A Pawn Shop
A $500 loan from a pawn shop is a pretty big loan.
The average pawn loan nationally is roughly $150, so we are talking about getting roughly 3 times that amount, making it a bit of a challenge.
Big, Heavy Gold Jewelry
The first and probably most easy way to get up to that $500 mark is by pawning big, heavy gold jewelry.
The higher the karat (or purity) of the metal, the better.
To come up with 500 dollars on this, you’re going to need at least 35-45 grams of gold, and in some cases, maybe a little more if there are stones involved that are being considered as a part of the overall weight.
Gold & Silver Coins
If you are a coin collector and have some gold coins that are 24kt and weigh about an ounce, you will probably be able to get $500 out of them pretty easily at a pawn shop.
On the other hand, if you are talking about silver, you are going to need several pounds worth of coins to get that far – but I’ve seen it done!
Musical Instruments
Some really high end Les-Paul guitars and other instruments of similar value can sometimes get about $500 on a loan at a pawn shop.
It really depends on what the instrument is, how collectible it is, what kind of condition it is in, and what they typically sell for on eBay.
If a guitar sell for around $900 on eBay in similar condition as yours, then there’s a good chance that a pawn shop will loan you $500 on it.
Large, Clear Diamonds
To get at least $500 from a pawn shop, you are going to want to bring in a diamond that is at least 1 carat in size (single stone), and is very clear, with good color.
A cluster of smaller stones that come up to a carat will not unfortunately get you close to $500 as smaller stones are worth much less just by their nature.
Of course, if your diamonds is well over the 1 carat mark, then you will likely be able to borrow far more than $500 depending on what you need and what the stone is exactly.
Princess cut diamonds will be your best bet, followed by rounds. Everything else is harder for pawn shops to sell quickly and therefore, it may be harder to hit your dollar goal with them.
Extremely Large 4k TVs
Most TVs are a dime a dozen these days. Heck, you can go into just about any Walmart and buy their very best TV for less than $2,000 in many stores.
That having been said, if you have a truly premium, high end, 4k curved TV that is less than 6 months old, most pawn shops will consider making you a $500+ loan against it depending on what exact model it is and what kind of condition it is in.
Obviously a TV that looks well used won’t get that kind of money, but if your television is less than 6 months old, I hope it wouldn’t be.
High-End Macbook Pro 15.4’s Less Than 2 Years Old
Another item that might get you close to that $500 goal is a high end MacBook Pro with one of the faster optional i7’s, 512GB-1TB flash storage, and a discreet video card.
If your Macbook pro is more than about 2 years old, the chances of getting a $500 loan on it drop significantly.
Apple makes so many changes to their hardware every year that while Macbooks do retain their value better than PC counterparts, they too still do lose it relatively quickly, as do most electronics in general.
Car Titles
If you live in a state where pawn shops can make loans against auto-titles, then you may be in luck here.
If you have a nicer car that isn’t currently financed elsewhere, you may be able to get a $500 against the title of that vehicle pretty easily. That’s something you will have to call around and check about though as the law for these types of transactions vary so greatly state to state.
These Were Just Some Ideas
Obviously, this was in no way a complete list of items that you could pawn for a $500 loan, but hopefully it gave you some ideas of the types of items that most pawn shops would be able to work with for a dollar amount that high.
As always, the more valuable something is and the easier it would be for a pawn shop to potentially sell it, the better, and more likely it will be that you can get a loan in the amount that you are looking for.
