Pawn Shops - Ever Used One?

JupiterKid · 19-08-2012 08:53PM #1

I was reading up an article on the Journal.ie and it was all about the three surviving pawnbrokers in Dublin, which are apparently doing a very good trade thanks to the recession.

Link:
http://www.thejournal.ie/in-pics-dublins-pawnbrokers-559185-Aug2012/

Many younger members here have probably never heard of pawn shops outside of the TV show Pawn Stars. Basically, if you need a quick money loan, you take a valuable item to the pawn shop (often a wedding or engagement ring, gold chain etc.) and then the pawn broker will lend you a certain amount of money against the value of the item that they keep. If you don't pay back the loan within 4 weeks, the item will be auctioned off by the Pawnbroker.

Pawn shops were very common in the early 20th century when banks only lent money to the wealthy. Families would literally pawn off their clothes and meagre possessions to raise money to feed themselves until pay day at the end of the week and reclaim the items at the pawn shop only to pawn them off again at a later stage when cash ran scarce. Often, they lost the items to the pawnbroker because they couldn't afford to pay the loan back.

Have any boardsies been inside a pawn shop? Has anyone here ever pawned off their goods?

saiint · 19-08-2012 08:57PM

well their fuking usless now
went to one recently
the prick asked me for a receit of the item i was giving him?
doesnt that defeat the purpose of pawning it?

themandan6611 · 19-08-2012 08:57PM

yeah, paid €60 for a blow job and ride

Colmustard · 19-08-2012 08:59PM

Never I am told you can get some bargains in them.

DEFTLEFTHAND · 19-08-2012 09:03PM

I've never actually been in one in Ireland. In the USA they're quite common, every small town seems to have one.

summerskin · 19-08-2012 09:06PM

saiint wrote: »

well their fuking usless now
went to one recently
the prick asked me for a receit of the item i was giving him?
doesnt that defeat the purpose of pawning it?

No. Unless you're a criminal.

admiralofthefleet · 19-08-2012 09:06PM

i used to use the ones on capel street when i was single

saiint · 19-08-2012 09:09PM

summerskin wrote: »

No. Unless you're a criminal.

if it was a phone id understand but it was a gold necklace which was 8 years old
why would anyone keep a receit that long off an item they dont expect to return it to its shop?
brought it to cash for gold got my moneys worth their
pawning **** in this day and age is stupid in ireland
they ask for a receit? give you a price which is a **** lot lower then what you bought it for and they know it because of the receit
then they sell it for a price just below the actually price of said item

no point in pawning anything
adverts.ie way to go

Jimoslimos · 19-08-2012 09:14PM

Was moving abroad so had to get rid of a tv and freeview box. Got £20 for the lot. In fairness although they were only a few years old they were cheap Argos crap - the tv was one of those old style CRT jobs.

Taxi fare to get the stuff to the shop was £15 - so £5 profit. Thinking back I should just have given them free to whoever came to collect

bobin fudge · 19-08-2012 09:21PM

handed in my gold chain to one and got €30 for it and paid closer to £300 for it, forgot about it and went back almost 2 years later and it was still there

his estimation must have been right -2 years there and nobody bought it - tee hee

JupiterKid · 19-08-2012 09:22PM

Apparently in America people often pawn off guns as collateral to raise loans.:eek:

I've never actually been inside a pawn shop but I know the unusual symbol of the three brass balls that hang over their shopfronts. It always seemed to me that the clientele of pawn shops where people who were financially hard up and only went there as a last resort.

It also seems that these cash for gold and other cash "converter" places are the modern equivalent of pawn shops - basically places where you go to trade assets for cash.

Krieg · 19-08-2012 09:26PM

Are cash converter type stores not pawn shops?

seven_eleven · 19-08-2012 09:30PM

Yeah they've popped up all over the place in the past 5 or so years. I wonder do you get dirt for what you're trading in? Like in gamestop where you might trade in your ps3 for €50, then they put it back up on the shelf for 5 times the price. :rolleyes:

phasers · 19-08-2012 09:37PM

I haven't but my Dad has, he pawned his gold chain that matched my Mam's. I want to get it out for him but the eejit lost the receipt.

Jimoslimos · 19-08-2012 09:42PM

Krieg wrote: »

Are cash converter type stores not pawn shops?

Yeah same thing. The BBC did a documentary a few years back called Skint about the lives of people who frequent these shops. Pretty sad to watch. Many have serious mental health problems aswell as drug issues.

A neverending cycle of selling their possessions, then getting them again on buy-back (at a higher price of course).

The Amazing Spiderman · 19-08-2012 09:49PM

saiint wrote: »

if it was a phone id understand but it was a gold
brought it to cash for gold got my moneys worth their

no point in pawning anything
adverts.ie way to go

lol

GalwayKiefer · 19-08-2012 10:00PM

Cash Converters are all over the place here, I've never pawned anything but I've bought a fair bit from them. A few guys at work use them to get some cash for old games and dvds they don't want anymore.

Ficheall · 19-08-2012 10:05PM

Aye, there are at least two in Galway, though they don't seem to be as busy recently as they were - perhaps the recession is over, eh?
I buy DVD's in there for about 2euro each. Got a passable beginner's accordion for 130, and found my bike, which had been stolen from outside my office a fortnight earlier, in one of them.

Grayson · 19-08-2012 10:09PM

Never sold anything in one and I don't think I could buy anything there. Especially jewellery. I'd just be thinking about how much it hurt someone to hand the stuff over.

cloud493 · 19-08-2012 10:13PM

Do they still have cash converters here? Back in Liverpool, they were just frequented by junkies and thiefs/

Ficheall · 19-08-2012 10:15PM

Grayson wrote: »

I'd just be thinking about how much it hurt someone to hand the stuff over.

Don't worry - it had probably been nicked.

mackg · 19-08-2012 10:26PM

I've bought stuff in cash converters.

shruikan2553 · 19-08-2012 10:31PM

There's a place in Galway I've visited. As some one interested in video games it's a good place for PS2/Xbox games. I would rather sell my stuff on ebay or to a friend

Darkglasses · 19-08-2012 10:39PM

I buy a fair few things in Cash Converters, very cheap DVDs/Electronics/Music Equipment. Nice guy who runs it as well, much more decent than the kind of person some people might expect to run a pawn shop.

Where To · 19-08-2012 10:42PM

No, I'm not really into seafood.

Lyaiera · 19-08-2012 10:45PM

Where To wrote: »

No, I'm not really into seafood.

What exactly does seafood have to do with chess, young man?

JupiterKid · 19-08-2012 10:46PM

I think posters here are confusing cash converters and pawn shops proper. They are not quite the same thing.

A cash converter just buys your goods and sells them on At a profit whereas a pawn broker will give you a loan against the collateral
of the item you have pawned off to him and you can then claim back within 4 weeks by paying back the loan plus a small fee or else the items are auctioned by the pawn broker.

Pawn operations are strictly regulated and for any items that sell at auction above the reserve price - the difference is supposed to be paid back to the pawner.

A reputable pawn broker is apparently a much better deal for the pawner than a cash for gold operation.

Pawn shops were very common in my grandparents' day.

Where To · 19-08-2012 10:47PM

Lyaiera wrote: »

What exactly does seafood have to do with chess, young man?

They are both potentially fatal when not done properly.

Tope · 19-08-2012 10:53PM

saiint wrote: »

no point in pawning anything
adverts.ie way to go

shruikan2553 wrote: »

I would rather sell my stuff on ebay or to a friend

But the point of pawning stuff is that you don't want to sell it – it's a means of borrowing money with the intention of getting your collateral item back when you have the cash.

Which is why it's often sad if they're desperate enough to have pawned something of sentimental value like a wedding ring or family heirloom - they would have had every intention of getting it back at the end of the month but obviously it wouldn't always work out that way.

(Edit: JupiterKid explained it properly above!)

D1stant · 19-08-2012 10:53PM

Grayson wrote: »

Never sold anything in one and I don't think I could buy anything there. Especially jewellery. I'd just be thinking about how much it hurt someone to hand the stuff over.

Anything you buy in a Jewellers has a long line of extreme exploitation behind it. Pawn broker ihard-lick stories dont come close

ADonoghue · 19-08-2012 11:14PM

I worked in a pawn-shop in Liverpool when I left school in the early 60s aged 15 , a life experience .

My first Monday morning the boss told me to unbolt the two big front doors and be careful not get " knocked over in the rush " I thought he weas joking , he wasn't they would pawn anything to old clothing , shoes wedding rings , radios , my own Mother knew the boss on first name terms thats how they survived in a poor area .

Tuesday the local police called with a list of stolen items which includied serial numbers of radios etc .

THe Wednesday I was given a box of DDT to go upstairs and delouse all the old suits and clothing , the fleas were jumping , the first thing I did when I got home was strip off and have a bath .

On the Friday I asked for my cards ,I made some stupid excuse why I wanted to leave what a life experience it made me realize at a young age it wasn' for me .

Pawn Shops - Ever Used One?

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