American Pickers

[piecemaker]

But it's too unbelievable.

They're businessmen who are interested in profits.

They're in a "feast or famine" kind of business

If those camera's weren't rolling there's no way they would offer more than what the seller asks for.

They'd be out of business in 2 weeks if they did that.

They can afford to be generous because History Channel is flipping the bill.

It just not realistic, imo

I live about 10 miles across the river from the "Pickers" buisness and met Frank's Dad a few months ago,when he stopped in where i work trying to drum up some buisness for the tire company he works for.We talked to him about the show and asked him about the episode where Frank bought the old car and "lost" money.He said the HC basically staged that to show that the "Pickers" dont always make a profit.

[Doc]

I like pickers because they will actually pay a reasonable price for something instead to raping the person like pawnstars. I get too mad and can't watch an entire episode.

Yep Thank you I agree. There is running a business and then there is screwing someone.

[AAAAA]

Yep Thank you I agree. There is running a business and then there is screwing someone.

Pawn stars are pretty honest.
the old man motto , tell what its worth and then go from there, there other shops in Vegas they can leave, there not a ripoff there a business , Rich and his dad have gotten a rep for being upfront & truthful , and taking items that are unusual , for cash.
most pawn shops deal in items that they can liquidate quickly and turn a profit like jewels, gold, electronics .

[Mikey]

....... Rich and his dad have gotten a rep for being upfront & truthful.........

That is true.
If they wanted to be shady they could have a deal with the brought in experts to value the item lower.
They don't do that .... The expert say's it's worth $10,000 and they offer $250.00

[Doc]

That is true.
If they wanted to be shady they could have a deal with the brought in experts to value the item lower.
They don't do that .... The expert say's it's worth $10,000 and they offer $250.00

[Hector]

Pawn Stars are located in Las Vegas...the perfect location...they can tons of desperate gamblers who need quick cash...perfect scenario for them.

I don't fault the Pawn Stars...I fault the addictive gamblers.

[Goblin19]

I think the guys on Pawn Stars are prtty reasonable. They frequently offer more than 50% the value of an item. That's pretty good considering most of these items are odd and they have to find a buyer. Even if they already have a buyer, they still hav done their work to find the market in the first place.

[Twiki1979]

Pawn Stars & American Pickers are the only two shows i watch on television

[Zemo]

I think the guys on Pawn Stars are prtty reasonable. They frequently offer more than 50% the value of an item. That's pretty good considering most of these items are odd and they have to find a buyer. Even if they already have a buyer, they still hav done their work to find the market in the first place.

I agree.

[livnxxxl]

Every episode is pretty much the same story on Pickers, but I still watch it anyway for some reason. It's better than that idiot pest control guy or Dog the Bounty Hunter, man I can't stand that dude or his freakshow of a family.

That is for sure.

if you really want top dollar for your stuff you DON'T go to a pawn shop. Sell it at auction, or put it on consignment someplace.

Great advice. Too bad a lot of folks don't seem to use it though.

The people in pawn shops are either lazy, or don't care as long as they get something, or are desperate for money which is why they only take 40% of what it's worth. If you don't like the offer, you are free to leave. You can't blame to pawn guys for trying to get the most for their buck.

This reminds me of a recent "we pay top $$$ for gold deal" going on locally. My gf and I received a card in the mail that this gold buyer was going to be in town for a week. There was a scratch off game on the card stating that one can win this , that or that. My gf being a scratcher addict that she is went ahead and scratched it off. Our numbers matched the winning numbers. Surprise! Surprise!

My gf then wanted to go and "claim her prize". So in order to claim your prize you had to go to the event and at least have something gold appraised. Not a problem as we both have plenty of gold jewelry.

We go in and there is like two other people there in front of us. I told my girl that this was a gimmick from the very get go before she even scratched off the "stupid junk mail ad". Still for the sake of appeasing her I went with her anyway.

When it came our turn I took off one of my gold chains (I already knew of all of the specs about it to begin with, Weight, carat, etc and etc. The guy places my chain on his scale and tells me that he will give me $60.00 for it.

I kind of laughed and told him that I know that it is worth waaay more than that so I would respectfully decline his offer. The guy said no problem and handed my girl friend a plastic card for the ad that she brought with her. We started to leave and the guy is like so how much do you have to have for that chain? I told him and he was like ohhhh I couldn't do that as I am only wanting to buy it for the gold content to melt down.

Personally I could not care if he was wanting to buy it and stuff it up his arse cause he still was not getting it for $60.00 LOL!!

I guess he figured that he would try to make one last ill attempt to make me a low ball offer so that I was just hand it over like the other two idiots did in front of us.

Anyways....We leave and go out to the parking lot....my gal is chomping at the bits to see what she won. I think the prizes were like a Wal-Mart gift card ranging from $5 to $300.00 or cash prize of up to $10,000.

My gal was like bugging me to call it in on my cell while we were standing there. She just "knew" in her mind at least that she was a big winner. There was a number on the card that you have to call and scratch off the pin # on the back. We did this as this was all automated over the phone.

My gal is like well? Well? What did we win? I looked at her with my eyes real big and surprised like....mind you she was holding onto the card with a death grip. I started joking with her and told her that it was no good and she did not win anything. I told her that I would go ahead and take care of throwing the card in the trash for her. She knew I was playing and was still in suspense...

Finally, I told her the truth and that the card was only worth $5.00 at Wally's. I told her to keep it and try not to spend it all on one place. LOL!!!

She was like that sucks! What am I going to do with five bucks?

I apologize to turn this into such a long story, but I think that it was very funny and worth telling.

[livnxxxl]

I am not a very avid TV watcher. Although I do enjoy watching Pawn Stars at times. I like the episode where the tow truck driver got a REAL Cobra Shelby shell just for hauling it away from a storage unit for the people that owned the storage unit facility. The person who had owned the shell aparently had not paid his/her storage rental fee. So guess what?

Pawn Stars offered him $30,000 cash for it. The shell was worth at least $60K. The tow truck driver eventually broke down and took the $30,000 cash. To make a long story short for those that did not see this episode Pawn Stars put the rest of the Cobra together and it was valued at some where over $100K to $150K when they were done.

[livnxxxl]

Pawn Stars are located in Las Vegas...the perfect location...they can tons of desperate gamblers who need quick cash...perfect scenario for them.

I don't fault the Pawn Stars...I fault the addictive gamblers.

Definitely!

IF some one was stupid enough to want to give something to me for next to nothing I would not mind cashing in on it either at their expense. It would not be like I am twisting their arm to do business with me or anything.

My problem is that I do not ever seem encounter these stupid type of people to get the kind of deals/steals that others do.

[Zemo]

Pawn Stars put the rest of the Cobra together

Yes they ended up with 110k in it, but should have had Shelby do the restore. Car is worth about 160K.

[livnxxxl]

Yes they ended up with 110k in it, but should have had Shelby do the restore. Car is worth about 160K.

Thanks, I could not remember the exact $$$ amount.

[kryptosmaster]

My problem is that I do not ever seem encounter these stupid type of people to get the kind of deals/steals that others do.

Have you considered opening a pawn shop?

Rich