Re: if you go to a pawn shop hunting amps and stereos.......
I have a cousin who owns a pawn shop and he said that he stopped dealing with car stereo equipment many years ago. His main complaint was the idiot that hooked something up wrong and fried something that was tested and proven to be in working order before it left the store. Of course, after they broke it, they brought it back saying that they were sold a bad amp/cd player/speakers etc.
In fact, I called my cousin two weeks ago hoping he could grab some old school Linear power or Orion gear for me and he said he would give me a call if anyone brings something in
2012 Subaru WRX - JL Audio C5-650s run active off a Lunar L450; Digital Designs 1508 powered by a Lunar L1500; Pioneer DEH-80PRS as the source unit.
Re: if you go to a pawn shop hunting amps and stereos.......
Quote:
Originally Posted by starboy869
There's 5 pawn shops in my area of town (pop. around 30,000 btw) Nothing but junk for car audio. A few older alpine decks, some off brand ie. pyle, old school (80's style) amps, etc., One place did have an older PG EQ for $300 vs ebay price of $100. 9 out of 10 ten times the shop know what they have and jack the price on it.
With the advent of the internet, it's much easier for pawnbrokers to check and see what something like that is really worth now. If they do get something of value that they don't have much market for, they can always put it on ebay, so it's getting harder and harder to find a good deal.
Re: if you go to a pawn shop hunting amps and stereos.......
Quote:
Originally Posted by ItalynStylion
Is buying amps and stuff from a pawn shop facilitating stealing? I mean, if no one bought amps from pawn shops then they wouldn't sell the; and there would be no need to steal amps. Then we could all live happy and not get shit stolen
I guess you shouldn't buy gear off of Ebay, then.
Ebay is a bigger fence of stolen items than 10,000 crooked pawn shops.
There are vendors there that only sell the three most stolen car parts: airbags, HID lights and seat belts. Catalytic converters are coming on strong. There are legit suppliers like LKQOnline, but there are a few that are obviously thieves and fences.
My amps had lots of feel and emotion, so I put them on Paxil. Now they are smooth and mellow. Silly amps.
Re: if you go to a pawn shop hunting amps and stereos.......
if a pawn shop gets some gear and doesn't look it up online to see what it is and what its worth, they probably already went out of business.
I've looked at a couple of pawn shops here, really hoping to find a diamond in the rough for next to nothing - but failed to find it. I will stop in everyone couple of months tho just in case someone decides to sell their dead family members old Audio gear without first looking online to see what its worth.
Re: if you go to a pawn shop hunting amps and stereos.......
The best deals I have found at pawn shops was on tools of all things! I may go looking at the pawn shops when I am in the market for a plunge router, which will be soon!
2012 Subaru WRX - JL Audio C5-650s run active off a Lunar L450; Digital Designs 1508 powered by a Lunar L1500; Pioneer DEH-80PRS as the source unit.
Re: if you go to a pawn shop hunting amps and stereos.......
tools, yes they have tools. i just saw a rotozip for $10...
probably want to test them before you leave with them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 06BLMUSTANGGT
The best deals I have found at pawn shops was on tools of all things! I may go looking at the pawn shops when I am in the market for a plunge router, which will be soon!
Re: if you go to a pawn shop hunting amps and stereos.......
I used to have a pawn shop as a tenant and i know that most of them are honest. That said.....
Pawn shop trick #1 - write down the serial number change the 8's to 6's or the 3's to 5's. That way it doesn't come up on the hot sheets if someone runs the legit serial #. Happened to me on my stolen Litespeed road bike last year.
Pawn shop trick #2 - the crackhead takes my bike to a pawn shop just across the police jurisdiction, so the pawn desk cop there was not familiar with my case.
Pawn shop trick #3 - "assistant manager" list stolen item on Craigslist and sells it as a "private" individual
Problem with photo ID - crackhead who stole my bike lists the local homeless shelter as his address, good luck finding that asshole.
Pawnshop Cop problem - Atlanta has two, count 'em, two pawn desk cops.
Pawnshop happy ending - my persistence got the pawn shop raided. Ten assorted felonies and misdemeanors on four different people (owners and employees) and the shop got closed.
3 - 5% is stolen, you must be in Beverly Hills. Most of the stuff in the local shops here are tools, yard equipment and other things owened by working men. Do professional tradesmen sell their means to make a living? No, but there shit gets stolen all the time. I live in downtown Atlanta and there is a car break in in my four block area almost every night. Rule number one at a job site si don't remove your tool belt unless it is going straight into the locked job box. They are selling that crap somewhere, primarily pawn shops, Craigs List and Ebay. Crackheads use pawn shops becasue they aren't on Craigslist and Ebay. Conceivably they could go to an unregulated neighbiorhood fence who posts on the web.
My amps had lots of feel and emotion, so I put them on Paxil. Now they are smooth and mellow. Silly amps.
Re: if you go to a pawn shop hunting amps and stereos.......
I think tools are stolen even more than car stereo equipment. People see a jobsite and they KNOW there are tools around. People see a car - and if the owner is smart - no one knows there is a stereo in it.
Re: if you go to a pawn shop hunting amps and stereos.......
wow, lots of bad experiences here with pawn shops....
well, the guy I have been talking to is legit, and has some very cool stuff....
He also spoke about the stolen stuff and said that it rarely occurs and is usually what others have mentioned, that someone low on cash has an amp to sell and turn for quick money....
he really doesn't do a lot of purchasing of used amps anymore though....
I hope he will let me take some pics of his little area inside this old pawn shop, as he has more old amps and stereos stacked up than I have ever seen in one place.....
He has more old PPI's, Linear Power, and Rockford Fosgate than I have ever seen....
Literally every brand and size of old-school amp.....
He repairs car stereo stuff and seems to be ultra-knowledgable and very friendly...
I randomly stopped there two days ago on some of my travels because I had this feeling I should.... it was a crappy looking pawn shop from the outside, and this guy just does electronics stuff......
on the other side of things, yeah, overall, at this point, 99% of pawnshops I have been in had Lightning audio or Dual or audiopipe crap in them....
this is the first real shop with Real old school stuff.....
who wants to see old art PPI's and chrome PC PPI amps stacked like cordwood 4 foot high for 20 feet????
Re: if you go to a pawn shop hunting amps and stereos.......
Ok, here is some info.
1. Pawnshops do not make money on Electronics. Keep this in mind. Pawnshops loose money on electronics. The main source of income for a pawnshop is the interest. Here in TX, it is 240% a year. (20% a month x 12). The second part of where they make their money is jewelry. Most pawnshops do NOT want to buy your items unless it is something really neat, or something very valuable. Not a car amp. They would rather you pick up your item than leave it. Here is the first thing you are asked. "do you want a loan, or do you want to sell it?". If you say loan, they offer top dollar since you are implying you want to come back for it. If you say, sell it (thinking you might get more) then they will offer less. If you ever get a chance to go behind the scenes of a pawnshop you will see hundreds or thousands (depends on the size of the pawnshop) of broken and outdated electronics. They sell them in bulk to fleamarkets and people who take them over into Mexico. The failure rate for pawnshop electronics is high. Reason is because the person don't know how to hook it up, goes out of date, fried batteries (cameras, laptops), or just gets dropped. Also there are a lot of attempts of people bringing in equipment with intermitant "quirks". Works for a few minutes, then goes out. Saw a lot of that...
2. If you learn the "pawnshop codes" you will have a much better shopping experience. This is where there are letters on the tags. This tells you how much the shop has in the item. Lets say the tag says $100 and has the letters "BEEE". This would mean $10. B=1 E=0 . The key word for that store would be BLACKHORSE. B=1 L=2 A=3 ect... It really helps when buying items. A pawnshop would love to break even on electronics, but rarely do. Learn the codes, and you will have a much better shopping experience. DO NOT tell them you figured out their codes. If you do, they will most likely not deal with you, or will stick to the price of what it is marked. Due to the fact you just pissed them off.
Total I have 1.5 yrs experience behind the counter, plus about 8 years of repairing the electronics for various pawnshops. When repairing for them, they like to do a flat rate on the stack, or fix one, keep one. They will not spend much on inventory to be fixed. So, you can ask to see their broken msde, and you might get lucky. You have to get to know them pretty good before they will bring you into the storage areas.
Hope all this info helps. If anyone has any pawnshop questions, let me know...
-classic car audio collector-
-former audio repair tech-
Re: if you go to a pawn shop hunting amps and stereos.......
my best paw shop buy was a Carver amp that I paid like $13 and sold for 140..... it had no markings and didn't look like much, but I recognized the name...the had no clue, neither did I until after I bought it and brought it home.
Re: if you go to a pawn shop hunting amps and stereos.......
Quote:
Originally Posted by tomtomjr
Ok, here is some info.
1. Pawnshops do not make money on Electronics. Keep this in mind. Pawnshops loose money on electronics. The main source of income for a pawnshop is the interest. Here in TX, it is 240% a year. (20% a month x 12). The second part of where they make their money is jewelry. Most pawnshops do NOT want to buy your items unless it is something really neat, or something very valuable. Not a car amp. They would rather you pick up your item than leave it. Here is the first thing you are asked. "do you want a loan, or do you want to sell it?". If you say loan, they offer top dollar since you are implying you want to come back for it. If you say, sell it (thinking you might get more) then they will offer less. If you ever get a chance to go behind the scenes of a pawnshop you will see hundreds or thousands (depends on the size of the pawnshop) of broken and outdated electronics. They sell them in bulk to fleamarkets and people who take them over into Mexico. The failure rate for pawnshop electronics is high. Reason is because the person don't know how to hook it up, goes out of date, fried batteries (cameras, laptops), or just gets dropped. Also there are a lot of attempts of people bringing in equipment with intermitant "quirks". Works for a few minutes, then goes out. Saw a lot of that...
2. If you learn the "pawnshop codes" you will have a much better shopping experience. This is where there are letters on the tags. This tells you how much the shop has in the item. Lets say the tag says $100 and has the letters "BEEE". This would mean $10. B=1 E=0 . The key word for that store would be BLACKHORSE. B=1 L=2 A=3 ect... It really helps when buying items. A pawnshop would love to break even on electronics, but rarely do. Learn the codes, and you will have a much better shopping experience. DO NOT tell them you figured out their codes. If you do, they will most likely not deal with you, or will stick to the price of what it is marked. Due to the fact you just pissed them off.
Total I have 1.5 yrs experience behind the counter, plus about 8 years of repairing the electronics for various pawnshops. When repairing for them, they like to do a flat rate on the stack, or fix one, keep one. They will not spend much on inventory to be fixed. So, you can ask to see their broken msde, and you might get lucky. You have to get to know them pretty good before they will bring you into the storage areas.
Hope all this info helps. If anyone has any pawnshop questions, let me know...
Thanks so much for that TOMTOM!!!! very cool info there and some great tips on figuring out the pawn shops....
Re: if you go to a pawn shop hunting amps and stereos.......
Quote:
Originally Posted by fredridge
my best paw shop buy was a Carver amp that I paid like $13 and sold for 140..... it had no markings and didn't look like much, but I recognized the name...the had no clue, neither did I until after I bought it and brought it home.
Re: if you go to a pawn shop hunting amps and stereos.......
One more thing I forgot to mention. When you see an item that is overpriced, and they will not come down on it, that means they have a LOT in it. What happens is that you get certain customers that have a good pawn record. They will pawn something worth $20, and get $45 on it. 99% of the time, they will pick it up. But the one time they don't, you eat it. So then that scratched up Orion 225 that is priced at $400 will sit there for years until it is written off by the CPA as a loss. Sometimes this takes several years of sitting in the shop. Doesn't happen often, but if you wonder why they won't come off of a $20 new at the store item, and it is priced at $50, now you know...
-classic car audio collector-
-former audio repair tech-
Re: if you go to a pawn shop hunting amps and stereos.......
You could also wait outside the shop and offer to drive the crackhead to his crackhouse of choice after he pawns his LP amps and gold wedding ring [ for a woman ], then drop him off at the local homeless shelter or jail which ever is more convenient.
[SIZE5"]Power kills speakers ... not waveform shape. ~ werewolf[/SIZE]
Re: if you go to a pawn shop hunting amps and stereos.......
I set my niece and her man up with sound systems, whatever wasn't installed was in their house, until someone came buy and removed all of their valuables.
They went to pawn shops until they found their stuff, notified the police ... when all was said and done they bought what they could back and the police will prosecute the offender.
6 month shoretened version[ synopsis ]
[SIZE5"]Power kills speakers ... not waveform shape. ~ werewolf[/SIZE]
Re: if you go to a pawn shop hunting amps and stereos.......
I've been in a few pawn shops and never found anything good. Only cheap stuff not worth buying. The best place to find old school stuff and good deals is Craigslist. I have bought a few amps( o/s punch45,PG zx450,Adcom GFA amps, o/s PPI amps , ADS amps, Mcintosh amps and a bunch more. Sometimes you get sellers wanting to sell the old stuff as it were new, but the majority of the time I get a good price and usually double or even triple my money selling it back on ebay. Just got an A/D/S p840.2 anniversary edition amp on CL for $50 what a steal. Offer me a good price and I will part with it. Also have Zapco z300c2slx amp with amp remote . My best find was a Mcintosh MC431M for $200 he was also selling a Mcintosh CD player with a DAC for $250 but couldn't buy it. Didn't have enough money.
Re: if you go to a pawn shop hunting amps and stereos.......
[SIZE5"]Power kills speakers ... not waveform shape. ~ werewolf[/SIZE]
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