OT: Any Pawn Stars watchers?

[18IsTheMan]

Pretty far off topic here, but...

Anyone here watch the show? I used to years ago when it was new, but I quit watching after a while since it was too formulaic: someone would come in with an item valued by an expert at $25,,000. Rick would then ask how much they wanted and the person would, without fail, respond "Well, it's worth $25,000, so I want to $25,000." Rick would laugh and give some insulting number like $3,000 and haggling would ensue. I got sucked into watching some clips online recently and I see the format is still the same. Every. Single. Time. I mean, the show has been on the air 14 years, people know by now they are never gonna get anywhere close to the items actual value. I know it's all staged and all that, so I assume it's scripted for them to ask for the high amount. Or people are just really stupid.

My real question though is: Why in the world do these people sell to Rick when they could sell elsewhere for much more money? Why sell to someone who has to then turn around and sell it and make a profit of his own? It's just throwing away money. Sometimes thousands of dollars. The easy explanation is it's people in Vegas looking for a quick buck to go hit the casinos, but a lot of the people are looking for money to pay for kids college or some other legit thing. Obviously, the main draw of the show is the variety of unique items you see. But, still, I can't imagine throwing away, in some cases, tens of thousands of dollars to sell to Rick. If was a different of a thousand bucks or so and it saves you the hassle of having to list with an auction house or something, I guess I get taking the financial hit for the convenience, but I can't see throwing away thousands of dollars.

It's also interesting to me that in Vegas, Rick has access to experts in everything from cars, to clocks, to pianos, to sporting goods, to Spanish gold coins from the 1500s, to cigars, to Soviet and Nazi era items, to...you name it.

 

[jsusc]

Being from a white trash background, I used to enjoy Hardcore Pawn more.

 

[gamecock stock]

Pretty far off topic here, but...

Anyone here watch the show? I used to years ago when it was new, but I quit watching after a while since it was too formulaic: someone would come in with an item valued by an expert at $25,,000. Rick would then ask how much they wanted and the person would, without fail, respond "Well, it's worth $25,000, so I want to $25,000." Rick would laugh and give some insulting number like $3,000 and haggling would ensue. I got sucked into watching some clips online recently and I see the format is still the same. Every. Single. Time. I mean, the show has been on the air 14 years, people know by now they are never gonna get anywhere close to the items actual value. I know it's all staged and all that, so I assume it's scripted for them to ask for the high amount. Or people are just really stupid.

My real question though is: Why in the world do these people sell to Rick when they could sell elsewhere for much more money? Why sell to someone who has to then turn around and sell it and make a profit of his own? It's just throwing away money. Sometimes thousands of dollars. The easy explanation is it's people in Vegas looking for a quick buck to go hit the casinos, but a lot of the people are looking for money to pay for kids college or some other legit thing. Obviously, the main draw of the show is the variety of unique items you see. But, still, I can't imagine throwing away, in some cases, tens of thousands of dollars to sell to Rick. If was a different of a thousand bucks or so and it saves you the hassle of having to list with an auction house or something, I guess I get taking the financial hit for the convenience, but I can't see throwing away thousands of dollars.

It's also interesting to me that in Vegas, Rick has access to experts in everything from cars, to clocks, to pianos, to sporting goods, to Spanish gold coins from the 1500s, to cigars, to Soviet and Nazi era items, to...you name it.

I used to watch it. Sellers do get screwed at that Pawn Shop. Stopped watching for that reason and because Rick is an a..hole away from the Pawn Shop.

 

[HillsToSea]

Pretty far off topic here, but...

Anyone here watch the show? I used to years ago when it was new, but I quit watching after a while since it was too formulaic: someone would come in with an item valued by an expert at $25,,000. Rick would then ask how much they wanted and the person would, without fail, respond "Well, it's worth $25,000, so I want to $25,000." Rick would laugh and give some insulting number like $3,000 and haggling would ensue. I got sucked into watching some clips online recently and I see the format is still the same. Every. Single. Time. I mean, the show has been on the air 14 years, people know by now they are never gonna get anywhere close to the items actual value. I know it's all staged and all that, so I assume it's scripted for them to ask for the high amount. Or people are just really stupid.

My real question though is: Why in the world do these people sell to Rick when they could sell elsewhere for much more money? Why sell to someone who has to then turn around and sell it and make a profit of his own? It's just throwing away money. Sometimes thousands of dollars. The easy explanation is it's people in Vegas looking for a quick buck to go hit the casinos, but a lot of the people are looking for money to pay for kids college or some other legit thing. Obviously, the main draw of the show is the variety of unique items you see. But, still, I can't imagine throwing away, in some cases, tens of thousands of dollars to sell to Rick. If was a different of a thousand bucks or so and it saves you the hassle of having to list with an auction house or something, I guess I get taking the financial hit for the convenience, but I can't see throwing away thousands of dollars.

It's also interesting to me that in Vegas, Rick has access to experts in everything from cars, to clocks, to pianos, to sporting goods, to Spanish gold coins from the 1500s, to cigars, to Soviet and Nazi era items, to...you name it.

Like you, I used to watch. Got tired of it. Used to scream at the TV “ don’t take the money. Walk away “

 

[bayrooster]

I got tired of seeing sellers coming to a pawn shop asking for what they've seen their item go for at auction. It's a pawn shop idiots!

 

[muscleknight]

All the high expensive items that people want like $1,000,000 for always turn out to be fakes. I want to see Rick actually purchase a million dollar item on the show.

 

[Crutcher]

I enjoy seeing some of the interesting items that show up. I don't care one way or the other about the price asked or given, most of the sellers on there are not there for the money, they want to see themselves on TV.

 

[Spinal Tap]

I was never a consistent watcher of the show, but the final straw was Chumlee. He was making my low IQ lower. Couldn't continue with him.

 

[gamecock stock]

I was never a consistent watcher of the show, but the final straw was Chumlee. He was making my low IQ lower. Couldn't continue with him.

Chumlee should be an encouragement to all untalented people. ANYONE can become a star.

 

[18IsTheMan]

I was never a consistent watcher of the show, but the final straw was Chumlee. He was making my low IQ lower. Couldn't continue with him.

Yeah, his character is pretty useless. It's a nice story...Rick's family basically took him in when he was a kid and more or less adopted him. But, yeah, on the show, couldn't stand him. I think they probably have him exaggerate the stupidity though.

 

[Uscg1984]

My real question though is: Why in the world do these people sell to Rick when they could sell elsewhere for much more money? Why sell to someone who has to then turn around and sell it and make a profit of his own? It's just throwing away money. Sometimes thousands of dollars. The easy explanation is it's people in Vegas looking for a quick buck to go hit the casinos, but a lot of the people are looking for money to pay for kids college or some other legit thing. Obviously, the main draw of the show is the variety of unique items you see. But, still, I can't imagine throwing away, in some cases, tens of thousands of dollars to sell to Rick. If was a different of a thousand bucks or so and it saves you the hassle of having to list with an auction house or something, I guess I get taking the financial hit for the convenience, but I can't see throwing away thousands of dollars.

For rare and unusual items, they sell it to him for $10,000 even though the retail value may be $15,000, because they aren't in position to sell it for the retail value. It's not like you can put a rare 1880s first edition book on Craigslist or Facebook marketplace and expect to sell it for what it's worth. You can take it to an auction house and _hope_ to sell it at retail (minus any applicable commissions). You could consign it to a rare book seller and hope it doesn't sit on their shelves for 18 months before a buyer comes along, but when it finally does sell, you'll owe a large chunk of the price as a consignment fee. It's often easier to get your 10 grand now and let Rick figure out how to sell this rare item with an extremely niche market.

Now, when it comes to more common items with a readily accessible market that any Joe Schmoe can access without much effort (motorcycles, guitars, routine sports collectibles, etc), they are probably selling because they need money fast. But, I have noticed with those readily marketable items, Rick is usually willing to buy them much closer to the retail value than the really rare stuff. He probably knows he can sell those at retail within a week or two.

What I always find amusing on the show are the sellers who think they have an item that is worth about $4000 and they say in the pre-interview that the least they'd take is $3000 because they need it for their kid's college or something. Then, the expert comes in and tells them the item is worth $350. Rick offers them $200, and they sell it. In the post interview, they never look all that devastated and say something like "oh, well, I'll take my kid out to a nice dinner instead."

 

[18IsTheMan]

For rare and unusual items, they sell it to him for $10,000 even though the retail value may be $15,000, because they aren't in position to sell it for the retail value. It's not like you can put a rare 1880s first edition book on Craigslist or Facebook marketplace and expect to sell it for what it's worth. You can take it to an auction house and _hope_ to sell it at retail (minus any applicable commissions). You could consign it to a rare book seller and hope it doesn't sit on their shelves for 18 months before a buyer comes along, but when it finally does sell, you'll owe a large chunk of the price as a consignment fee. It's often easier to get your 10 grand now and let Rick figure out how to sell this rare item with an extremely niche market.

Now, when it comes to more common items with a readily accessible market that any Joe Schmoe can access without much effort (motorcycles, guitars, routine sports collectibles, etc), they are probably selling because they need money fast. But, I have noticed with those readily marketable items, Rick is usually willing to buy them much closer to the retail value than the really rare stuff. He probably knows he can sell those at retail within a week or two.

What I always find amusing on the show are the sellers who think they have an item that is worth about $4000 and they say in the pre-interview that the least they'd take is $3000 because they need it for their kid's college or something. Then, the expert comes in and tells them the item is worth $350. Rick offers them $200, and they sell it. In the post interview, they never look all that devastated and say something like "oh, well, I'll take my kid out to a nice dinner instead."

Well, for an item valued at $15,000, I'd understand selling it for $10k to save the hassle, but Rick would rarely pay that much for an item valued at $15k. He might pay $6,500 or $7,000. That's what I don't understand.

 

[bayrooster]

Well, for an item valued at $15,000, I'd understand selling it for $10k to save the hassle, but Rick would rarely pay that much for an item valued at $15k. He might pay $6,500 or $7,000. That's what I don't understand.

It seems his job is to acquire items for the lowest cost he can haggle the seller down to. If they are willing to part with it just to have cash in their pocket, then it wasn't really worth more than what he paid for it, to them. I like it when his haggling makes some people change their minds about selling things that are basically family heirlooms. It makes me glad to see people decide to hold on to those things a bit longer.

 

[Uscg1984]

Well, for an item valued at $15,000, I'd understand selling it for $10k to save the hassle, but Rick would rarely pay that much for an item valued at $15k. He might pay $6,500 or $7,000. That's what I don't understand.

I think it just depends on how marketable the item is. He deals with enough of that crazy stuff that he probably has a pretty good idea about how long it will take to find a buyer. I've seen him pay $12K for a $15K item before if he knows there is a large collectors market for that type of item. But for some of the really obscure stuff, he definitely tries to buy it at about about half retail.

I will say this, though; whatever price Rick is willing to pay for most things is probably about 15% higher than what Corey will offer for it. The kid is considerably more ruthless in his negotiations than his dad.

 

[jsusc]

People are always wanting to sell stuff. Does anyone actually pawn anything on that show?

 

[bayrooster]

People are always wanting to sell stuff. Does anyone actually pawn anything on that show?

I've seen some trades, but I think these pawn shop shows followed on the heels of the popularity of the Antiques Road Show, so appraisals are the main draw and focus.

 

[Captain_Obvious]

Pretty far off topic here, but...

Anyone here watch the show? I used to years ago when it was new, but I quit watching after a while since it was too formulaic: someone would come in with an item valued by an expert at $25,,000. Rick would then ask how much they wanted and the person would, without fail, respond "Well, it's worth $25,000, so I want to $25,000." Rick would laugh and give some insulting number like $3,000 and haggling would ensue. I got sucked into watching some clips online recently and I see the format is still the same. Every. Single. Time. I mean, the show has been on the air 14 years, people know by now they are never gonna get anywhere close to the items actual value. I know it's all staged and all that, so I assume it's scripted for them to ask for the high amount. Or people are just really stupid.

My real question though is: Why in the world do these people sell to Rick when they could sell elsewhere for much more money? Why sell to someone who has to then turn around and sell it and make a profit of his own? It's just throwing away money. Sometimes thousands of dollars. The easy explanation is it's people in Vegas looking for a quick buck to go hit the casinos, but a lot of the people are looking for money to pay for kids college or some other legit thing. Obviously, the main draw of the show is the variety of unique items you see. But, still, I can't imagine throwing away, in some cases, tens of thousands of dollars to sell to Rick. If was a different of a thousand bucks or so and it saves you the hassle of having to list with an auction house or something, I guess I get taking the financial hit for the convenience, but I can't see throwing away thousands of dollars.

It's also interesting to me that in Vegas, Rick has access to experts in everything from cars, to clocks, to pianos, to sporting goods, to Spanish gold coins from the 1500s, to cigars, to Soviet and Nazi era items, to...you name it.

A lot of people take huge losses when they trade their car to a dealership instead of selling it themselves. People do the same with pawn shops but the losses are even bigger. The tv shows inflate the prices a bunch

 

[18IsTheMan]

I've seen some trades, but I think these pawn shop shows followed on the heels of the popularity of the Antiques Road Show, so appraisals are the main draw and focus.

People are always wanting to sell stuff. Does anyone actually pawn anything on that show?

Way back when the show was relatively new I saw a couple trades and I think I recall pawn. Most people just sell at a fraction of the amount they could get by selling through other routes.

 

[Gradstudent]

I have been in the shop, they camera work is very creative, the actual store is much more narrow then it looks, more like a elongated hallway with goods on each side. The people featured on the show rarely are ever at the store, but Rick does "celebrity bar" tending parties at a local bar/restaurant for the super bowl, *Maybe it was his place?" I saw ads everywhere the year I was in Vegas for the superbowl.

Everything is very jacked up in price at that Pawn Store

The large $ items sells or appointments are staged and set up in advance which is why the expert is never out of town or to busy to come over or the person gets tired if waiting and leaves, LOL.

People sell things at Pawn Shops for quick cash vs going to a real auction house, they also have more control on the final price since they can walk, and some people just go there to get themselves and there cool item on TV and have not real intention in selling the item to the store, when visiting Vegas.

 

[18IsTheMan]

One of the clips I saw recently was a guy selling a Bob Dylan album. He wanted $150. Rick offered him $50. The guy responded that he'd seen the same album selling for $100-$150 on Ebay. So I'm thinking "Welllllll, why the heck don't you just sell it on Ebay then???" He settled for the $50.

 

[18IsTheMan]

I have been in the shop, they camera work is very creative, the actual store is much more narrow then it looks, more like a elongated hallway with goods on each side. The people featured on the show rarely are ever at the store, but Rick does "celebrity bar" tending parties at a local bar/restaurant for the super bowl, *Maybe it was his place?" I saw ads everywhere the year I was in Vegas for the superbowl.

Everything is very jacked up in price at that Pawn Store

The large $ items sells or appointments are staged and set up in advance which is why the expert is never out of town or to busy to come over or the person gets tired if waiting and leaves, LOL.

People sell things at Pawn Shops for quick cash vs going to a real auction house, they also have more control on the final price since they can walk, and some people just go there to get themselves and there cool item on TV and have not real intention in selling the item to the store, when visiting Vegas.

Figured much of it has to be staged. Some guy came in selling a Spanish gold coin from the 1500s. Whaddya know...Rick had a "buddy" who just happened to be an expert in 1500s era Spanish coins who was free and available to come to the store. lol

 

[Pepsicock]

Being from a white trash background, I used to enjoy Hardcore Pawn more.

Hardcore Pawn was fake.

 

[lexgamecock]

Watch it on Youtube. You get just the good stuff.

 

[jsusc]

Anyone ever use a pawn shop before? The last time I was in one was a few years ago. I pawned my Glock after I got fired from my security officer job. I knew I wasn't going to pick it back up, because I no longer needed it. I was dumb though. I could've sold it outright for more.

 

[bayrooster]

Anyone ever use a pawn shop before? The last time I was in one was a few years ago. I pawned my Glock after I got fired from my security officer job. I knew I wasn't going to pick it back up, because I no longer needed it. I was dumb though. I could've sold it outright for more.

Yeah, in Columbia when I was a student I tried to sell a 1928 Lady Liberty silver dollar and the lady there would only offer what it was worth in silver. I needed the money, but I knew she was brutally lowballing me so I kept it.

 

[Anon1658788697]

Chumlee should be an encouragement to all untalented people. ANYONE can become a star.

I think some of that is scripted.

 

[Anon1658788697]

All the high expensive items that people want like $1,000,000 for always turn out to be fakes. I want to see Rick actually purchase a million dollar item on the show.

he wanted to pay 300k for Jordan’s space jam sneakers but the expert values them at a million and the guy walked

 

[bayrooster]

I think some of that is scripted.

Well I don't think Corey would know all about the history of folk art made by an extinct South American tribe, though they seem to want you to believe he (and even Chumlee, lol) have encyclopedic knowledge of artifacts from around the world. No doubt their detailed "knowledge" of all manner of antique and rare items is scripted.

 

[PD-Cock]

Chumlee, now there's a priceless artifact.
The "Ole Man" originally from NC.

 

[Johnnysurf]

They sell to Rick so they might can be on TV.

 

[CockRock5]

It’s a fake show. They pretend to buy things from people. It’s all set up before the filming of the show. It’s the same thing with American Pickers. People don’t know this?