April 4, 2020 | 2 Min Read

Ever thought of selling or pawning something to a pawnshop? Here are the 5 Best Kept Secrets to getting THE MOST money out of your item at any pawnshop. If you do all 5 of these you are GUARANTEED to get more money than the Average Joe that doesn’t know these secrets. (Especially number 5!)

#1 pawnshops will pay more money when you sell instead of pawn

99.9% of the time, if you bring an item into a pawnshop you will be asked this question - “Do you want to pawn it or sell it?”

Please take my advice. If you are not going to come back and pick your item up, sell it! The majority of the time, pawnshops will offer you MORE money to sell it than to pawn it.

If you pawn it - the pawnshop has to hold the item for 62 days before they can legally sell it in the store.

If you sell it - that hold period drops to 21 days. THIS is why you’ll almost always get more money to sell your item.

#2 make sure your item works

There’s nothing more embarrassing at a pawnshop than telling the pawnshop your item works, but when they test it - it doesn’t.

Make sure that EVERYTHING on your item works before you bring it in to sell.

Bringing in a tablet that the kids haven’t played with in years? Charge it up and make sure it’s still working!

Have a drill that’s been sitting in the garage not being used? Make sure the batteries are charged and ready to roll!

Trust me, it doesn’t make a pawnshop want to pay top dollar for your items if they don’t work when you bring them in.

#3 don’t hold info back

This is particularly true with old or rare items that you bring into the pawnshop to sell. Vintage musical instruments, rare coins, and old comic books are a few examples of these items.

If you’ve done your research and know a little info about the item, don’t hold it back! Don’t make the pawnshop waste all the time looking for information you’ve already found.

Most people think that by NOT sharing this info, the pawnshop might give up looking for it and pay more than they are suppose to. The exact opposite is true. You will always get more money if you can prove your items value!

#4 don’t ask for a crazy price

This can be really tempting to do.

Here’s what I mean. Let’s say you have a iPad that sells brand new for $200. You know that the pawnshop won’t give you $200 because that’s what it sells for brand new! There’s no way the pawnshop can make money by paying that much.

However, a lot of people would go into the pawnshop and ask for $200 out of the item anyway.

This is the wrong thing to do. Be reasonable with your offer. You are likely to face some sort of negotiation, but don’t start out at a crazy price. You’ll end up landing on a better price by just being honest.

#5 Clean your stuff before you bring it in to sell to a pawnshop

This one might sound crazy, but it’s actually the most important secret to know. Clean items are more attractive than dirty items. If you clean up your item before you bring it in you are guaranteed to get more money.

Think about it. If you were buying a chainsaw from us, and we had two of the exact same chainsaws on the shelf. One dirty and one that looked brand spankin’ new. You would be tempted to pay more money for the really clean one. It’s just how we’re wired.

that’s it!

Now that you know the 5 Best Kept Secrets to getting the most money at pawnshops, what will you bring in to pawn or sell? Pocket Pawn is a pawnshop located in Ozark, Alabama. We are open 9AM - 6PM Monday through Saturday.