Pawn shop will go to $4500. They have absolutely nowhere near $5500 into it. I would say they aren't more than $3000 into it, in fact. Those places operate on 9000% margins.

I need to hit pawn shops now? dang

Was thinking the exact same thing came here and you already posted it. One pawn shop, near my home, at least has a Taco Bell next door to it. I can get me sum of dat Locos Tacos at the same time. Yeahhhh, that's the ticket...hopefully get a Funhouse or WH20 for a couple g's and then chow down on this locos thing I am hearing about...yeah gonna get me some!!!!!!!!!!

$4500 sounds decent, but yeah, save up for a TZ.

Hey Dommer, my wife is a Stephens girl & we spent lots of time playing pinball @ Gunthers games back in the day. I am in Columbia almost once a week!

Anyway I think that's high for a reimport in our market.

Talk to Chuck @ www.CPpinball.com when you want something to buy. He knows a lot of people & he's a great dude!

I visit his arcade 2-4 times a month so I can help with transport if needed.

Why do people sell to pawn shops? The seller probably got a quarter of what it's worth... Yet he could have sold on CL for full price. Strange.

Pawnshop = quick ditch (especially something as big as a pin) and at least SOME money in your pocket.

As for what the pawnshop is asking: Shazaam!!!!

$4500 is way more reasonable if it's in pretty darn-good shape.

Not even a quarter.

Pawn shops do not work how you see them on fake "reality" TV shows.

The guy at the biggest pawn shop I ever seen said no pawnshop on earth has ever given more than $500 for ANYTHING; no matter what its value.

More than likely what happened was the guy took it there on a pawn, planning to pay the money back and reclaim the pin and just couldn't scrape the cash together in time. No way he would have outright sold it to them.

I can guarantee he gave absolutely no more than $2000 for it, probably $1500. Chances are he gave the guy selling it to him the same run around you want to give him. Except, he also gave him the "I don't know who to sell this to......I'm not a pinball guy and nor are my customers...." runaround.

Make a list and give them monetary values.

Shopping it out at a reputable repair place $600
New clock unit $100(or whatever)

and so on....

Everything you can list out, including man hours for whatever, quantify with money and then offer him $3000, cash.

Everything you list out is what he's gonna have to put into it to see that $5500, otherwise it's just an eyesore for him. An eyesore that he spent $1500 for. If he's smart, he'll cut his losses and let you have it right around there. Then, I'll give you what you spent on it plus a couple hundred for shipping and you send it out to me! Just kidding.

In all seriousness, that should be the way to go in there and offer him that low of a price. But wait a day or so and when you come back in, tell him you've "done a bit of research on prices to fix it up and make it right". Then start your spiel.

Hope this helps!
-Mike

If it's on pawn, it wouldn't be for sale. He'd keep it in back for the 30 days, or whatever the agreed time period, then he'd put it out for sale if the guy never repaid him for the loan. What's the point of pawning something to get a quick loan if the guy's just gonna sell your stuff as soon as you walk out?

^^ That's what I said. Likely the guy couldn't get the cash back before the time limit on the pawn ran out.

No.

There is not a chance in hell that he lent him more than $200-400 for it.

It's not a TV show, it's a pawn shop.

You don't get to haggle over how much it's worth towards the loan amount - they don't care.
You don't get the director of the Metropolitan Art Museum stopping by to do an appraisal.
You don't get an expert on the Civil War to authenticate your rifle while you wait.

Bring in a $10K diamond ring, a lawn tractor, a giant Kennedy tool box, or a Civil War Gatling gun. You will be "lent" a few hundred dollars.

Pawn shops don't really buy stuff (except on TV). They loan you a fraction of the value of an item you bring in to pawn. They charge you 25% weekly interest rate + storage fees + some other fees (depending on what state you live in). Your yearly interest rate is 240%.

If you were hard up for cash in the first place, you will likely not have a windfall of cash to go get your item out of pawn, especially once you see how much you owe to get the item back with the interest and fees.

After 30-90 days and you don't pay your loan off (depending on your state) the shop puts the item for sale.

I work in columbia and may go check it out just to see condition. That price is way too high. An op that I have fixed a few pins for sold one of his TZs for $3400 just a few months ago. For $5500 you might as well buy from nick and brook at the pinball company across town. At least it would be ready to go.
I would say they have $2000-$2500 in it tops.

Sad but I think vid1900 is correct. That tv stuff is scripted. That is the reason I stopped watching storage wars and pawn-pick shows. My friends uncle works as some bigshot exec out in that scene and that's how I found out the lowdown. It was at a family picnic of his...it crushed me because the sucker I am, I actually thought Storage Wars was the real deal...including my future ex-wife Brandy Nope. All staged and scripted in advance.

I think/speculate that vid1900 is hitting the nail on the head here!

Yup. Only thing pawn shops "buy" is gold and diamonds.

Everything Mike said in his post right after this one I quoted PLUS....take cash .

Man I watch those cats on TV and they can be ruthless
-I bet they gave him $500 and a bus ticket for his pin

Hey Dommer, if you don't end up wanting it, let me know so I can get it. I'll call them straight away and arrange the shipping and everything. Are you able to go in and take pics of it?

Give us updates.

Brandie is one naughty milf, what she is doing with Jarred is beyond me, she could do much better

Yea, they are obviously scripted, especially Pawn Stars, I like to see the stuff tho, some very interesting items on that show.

She was a stripper and he worked at the club she danced at. No lie.

It's the sleazy equivalent of the quarterback and the cheerleader.

scripted? ha! it's more set-ups than anything just to get viewership ratings and people to come into their pawn shops. a co-worker went into the american jewelry shop here in detroit (hardcore pawn) and he said that after looking around in various areas for 30mins, he couldn't even get find any employees to talk to purchasing something from the cases, let alone buy one of their t-shirts

I think that the "odds and evens" pinball repair on pawnstars (the vegas show) was the worst set-up ever. the "repair guy" claiming that they could get $5K for the machine after he fixed it (he didn't really completely shop it either)

I drove by Gold and Silver (Pawn Stars) in Vegas. There was a line of rubes wrapped around the building waiting to hopefully catch a glimpse of the 'celebrities'.

Tough stand. I applaud you. I feel you did the right thing. Maybe give em your name for when they realize what they will get in the real @world. When they call, tell em 2750!

vid is probably the most realitstic and knowledgable guy I have seen posting on a message board in a long time . . . once again he is 100% correct. The guy bringing in the Pin probably got a couple hundred bucks, maybe three hundred . . . and that is it. The pawn shop basically has zero in the game; that said, they know what it is worth and know what it would likely pull off of ebay - that is your competition to get a good deal from them.

I know Nick at the pinball co. With the work it sounds like the game needs, he would never give $5k for it. I haven't looked at it yet, but it sounds like this guy is trying to retire off of this machine. If others wanted it, they would have already bought it.

HA!! See, I knew she was naughty!!! Still does not explain Jarred LOL!!

It is a shame it is staged in advance though. That is what caused me to stop watching the show. Maybe if they announced or forewarned the audience with a message like, "The following show and it's individual transaction amounts/values have been prearranged. This type of advance scripting is required in order to appeal/market to the general audience".

If they said that I at least would not have been fooled and would probably still be watching it today!
I didn't know Brandy was a stripper...hmmm I would still accept her as a potential future ex-wife of mine though

They might have been talking about me! I emailed them not too long ago just asking for pictures of it. Maybe they thought I was going to offer them more than $2500 for it. Wasn't gonna happen.....

Still don't haven't heard from them, either.

I've been to said pawn shop before. The store is nice and clean but damn do they lowball the stuff outta ya. The ladies in there are easier to deal with than the guys.

That's not even funny how poorly staged and edited that is.....I feel sorry for the people who not only watch this show, but also for the ones who believe it's real.

That was pitiful.

That is terrible, it was like I was being robbed of life. Looked like they just broke a piece of glass, not the back glass. UGH! I need Tylenol.

The pinball machine fish tank is kool for sure. Can you imagine how that thing plays, bet ya cant tilt it, or even nudge it. Hope the guy never moves, or has to service the backbox.

This is the ticket. Go in there when you know it'll be just them and run through your same schpeil. Offer them the $3k as well. They'll go back, look at the books, realize their huge profit margin and make the deal thinking about how proud the guys will be of them for making so much money!

It's worth a shot! If not, leave your info like others here have said. When they have it on the floor for over a month, they'll come calling.

The "hold til Thursday" sign might be the end of whatever time period the city regulates for a stolen property check. Most places, it's 30 days before they can sell something they bought "off the street". I used to work at Guitar Center many years ago and we could put an item out on the floor and sell it, but they couldn't leave with it until those 30 days were up.

Screw it. Let 'em sit on it. Give them your name and number and let them know you've got three grand CASH waiting when they're ready to sell it.

More power to them if they can sell it for even $4500, which would be a lot for that condition.

Was in there today and they still had it. The price was still $5500. Looked like it needed a good shop job, but not much else.

been there for almost half a year but its a bargain at the price! Yep, keep that floor space and money tied up. They would have been better off to flip that thing 5 months ago for the 3k and reuse that money to make more. I have no idea how these people run pawn shops that have no idea that the only way to make money is a quick turnover. Good enough for them.

I wonder the same thing about local warehouses here that 'sell' pins, but sit on them forever without seemingly selling anything since their prices are so f'ing ridiculous.

CRACK !

I'd eat her A$$...

She's freakin sexy... a BITCH... but sexy !

I think they just keep it there for their own entertainment. Maybe they would take some guns and gold in trade for it? It seems to work on craigslist.