Contender for most over-priced used tool

[gwyneth]

On a rare trip to the bigger town in the next county (whopping 7,000 pop., Walmart, and three hardware stores, among other attractions) I stopped by the pawn shop for the first time.

I was stunned to see how many tools were piled up...until I looked at the prices.

Very few were priced less than the same thing would cost new: the PC belt sander which even Woodcraft sells for $119 was...$139 (and without the case and instructions that would come with a new one). Crappy old Skil routers: $79 and up. The early, 1 1/2 HP? Ryobi plunge router, $95.

But the real champ was a battered Ryobi planer. The original 10" model. What would shock you? Think of a totally outrageous price.

I bet your figure was lower than the $225 they were asking!

[p8ntblr]

I bet your figure was lower than the $225 they were asking!

Maybe they considered it an antique. heck may all they're tools are antiques.

[gwyneth]

Maybe they considered it an antique. heck may all they're tools are antiques.

That PC belt sander came out last year or the year before (the roundish one).

There must have been 100 circular saws in the pile, too, and many of them did look a little aged.

But at those prices, they'll turn into antiques before somebody buys them.

Funny...there was a Ducatti that looked mint, and its tag was only $2,000. But since it was somewhat covered by a pile of fishing tackle, low-end stereos, and some sleeping bags (who'd have thought you could pawn those?), it probably wasn't drivable.

[LCHIEN]

I tried browsing pawn shops for a while looking for bargains, not only in WW but cameras, and stereo equipment and what I found was the stuff in the front of the store was generally overpriced and out of date and in very used condition.

Maybe the reason they were in the front of the store:
owner pawned item.
Store gave them more money than the item was worth (mistake on their part)
Customer decided not to redeem said item since it was worth less than what they owed.
Pawn shop put said unclaimed item on the rack to sell to recover the pawn value.

[leehljp]

Most overpriced tools via their selling price: many Ebay tools A sucker born every minute.

One tool that I have and love but it is high priced for its size: Fein Multimaster.

I tolerated the price, got my money's worth on the first go-round of attachments, but the replacement parts price are more ridiculous than the ink cartridges for a free Lexmark printer!

[Dale In Corona]

The first time I observed this phenomenon was at a small pawn shop in Missouri while on vacation with my family. We were in town to go to wally world and while we were in the area we stopped b y the local pawn shop to look at their rifles. We were eye-balling the black powder rifles (all of which had rust, and were over priced to boot, so we were not buying) when I noticed the tool section. It has been several years so I don’t remember specifics, but I do clearly recall the incident because it was the same idea as what gwyneth encountered, ridiculously over priced - especially for used stuff. So much so that it has completely soured my taste for pawn shops and I haven’t been in one since. What once seemed, to me, like a likely spot to pick up the occasional bargain now seems like a total waste of time.

[p8ntblr]

more ridiculous than the ink cartridges for a free Lexmark printer!

so soooooo true. And it's the only printer in the house I couldn't find generic cartridges for.

[LinuxRandal]

From what I have seen and been told by local friends/family fuzz, the bargains are traditionally the stolen stuff that has dropped off the sheets, and they are wanting to get rid of.

Other then that, I only saw one bargain at a pawn shop, they through ALL their sockets in barrels by drive size, and put $x per piece on them.

[Uncle Cracker]

Never found any bargains in a hock shop, so I don't even look any more. Those people are firm believers in the "buy low, sell high" principle. When they price something, you can be sure they want a chunk of profit to cover all the other items they might not sell.

And the earlier statement about eBay prices being high is also often true, as sellers often set their beginning price at what they hope to make, and leave no room for bidders to come in with more reasonable bids. I often see Lie-Nielsen planes, for instance, bid up to prices higher than the cost of new ones.

[gwyneth]

Possibly part of it depends on competition. I have no idea where the closest other one is, but it's at least 35, and probably more like 50, miles away from "Northwoods Rippoffs" (not its real name).

In exurban Maryland (well outside Baltimore), I got some fairly good tool deals at pawn shops, and I'm listening to the radio on some Bose speakers from one.

In Florida, both St. Pete and Orlando, the prices were much, much better...I got some excellent deals.

IMO, a perfect example of how over-priced "Northwoods Rippoffs" is: the used CDs started at $5 each. That should have alerted me.

It's one thing when a pawn shop has just a couple or few things that are somewhat overpriced--that indicates they gave someone too much on the 'loan'. But when they've got a circular saw dune, with $35 the lowest price (for a 70s era B and D with bent shoe and frayed cord), you'd think they'd wonder--hmmm, why aren't any of these selling?

I usually think that a price for used that is too near to the new price is too high--going OVER the new price just makes my jaw drop.

PS-Loren, that's usually quite true about the front. But the tool aisle at "Northwoods Ripoff" was towards the back, and the tools burst out of it. Overflowed in all directions.

[docrowan]

My guess is these type shops are preying on the poor, uneducated, and uninformed. There's a reason why they are usually located in a strip mall right beside a liquor shop, a discount tobacco store, and a cash for titles joint.

I would be highly suspicious of a pawn shop, but the Salvation Army and Goodwill can occasionally be the source of some fairly good deals. In particular, I spend a week of vacation in Florida every year. We try to swing through the thrift stores while we're there and can usually find some great deals. It's a bit sad why - many older folks retire to Florida, when they pass away their children or grandchildren do not want to deal with hauling all the possessions back home so they donate them to the thrift stores. Almost my entire collection of clamps comes from a fellow who got out of woodworking in my parent's retirement community. They bought them for me super cheap.

We usually carry home a small library of books and other items. The pressure this puts on clothing prices seems to work to our advantage on new clothes as well.

[John Hunter]

I stop in at the local pawn shop every now and then, I did score a Porter Cable ROS for $25 and have been using it for a couple of years now.

[mater]

I used to stop and browse a couple pawn shops looking for pocket knives. Every time I found one the price was ridiculous. Power tools were the same way and most looked well used and abused.

[ExYankee]

I once had a friend that owned a pawn shop and got a few tips from him. The first is the business model; they are not there to sell stuff, but to collect interest on loans. The selling stuff part of the business is only for the appearance. Most of the items on display are ‘filler’ (his term) to make the shop look busy and more business like. I saw a Ryobi 9” band saw and pointed out to the owner that it was priced $30 more than it was new at BORG, he just smiled. He might have paid $30 for it collected $60 against the loan before the customer stopped paying, and would be happy to ‘cut a deal’ for me for $65.

If you have the time go hang around and browse near the end of the month or 2 days before payday and listen to what is being offered to the folks bringing things in. It seldom more than 20-30 cents on the dollar. A guy might get $100 for a whole tool chest and it will be sold piecemeal for $400. Interest rates fortunately are set by the state say from 240-391%

No, that’s not a typo.
And if you don’t pay the loan off in the set time you can roll it over, which adds a fee; late payment adds a fee, yada yada yada.

I’ve bought a fair number of tools in pawnshops, only one was a stinker, a Ryobi R-500, I think) big beefy router that sounded ok, but the plunge was all warped, I should have given it more than a once over I guess.