Oh, so it's worse than than the impression I got previously. If he already had a buyer lined up, $125 isn't just lowballing, it is insulting. Yeah, these people are trying to make a profit, but at that price, even if you needed money immediately, it would still be worth your time to go somewhere else.
Pawn Stars
- Thread starter Lookingglassman
- Start date
I've got to say I quite like Rick, the "son"/part-owner. He seems like he tries to be as fair as possible between needing to run a business and being good to his customers. I think he's probably doing/has done a good job of reversing the stereotype of the sleazy pawn-dealer out to rip off someone selling/pawning something. Now, naturally you know he's buying this stuff and then likely selling it at as much as double he's paying for it but that's pretty much how all businesses work.
Good show, if I ever find myself and Vegas again I'd like to check this place out.
Good show, if I ever find myself and Vegas again I'd like to check this place out.
Incredibly interesting! Thanks for the info!
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Yep. I have no problem with pawn shop owners, I have a problem with thieves, and he was definitely a thief, but being in a very poor neighborhood, he knew he had the upper hand.
Ok, seriously, is Chumley... er, "deficient?"
Or is just really dumb and is getting edited to look like a someone who should be wearing a helmet?
Or is just really dumb and is getting edited to look like a someone who should be wearing a helmet?
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Chumlee is definitely not an idiot. You can tell if you watch him long enough.
I've just started to watch this show now that I finally have my cable up and running and am getting hooked on it. I like Rick as well, Chumlee is funny as hell! This is fast becoming one of my favorite shows.
I like the guys on Pawn Stars, but I still think they rip people off at times.
^ I would agree to a certain extent on some of the objects that have been brought in. Others I think they give what they feel is fair value for them. The people that sell them for less than what they're worth can always pass on the offer as I've seen some do.
I think Corey/Big Hoss is the worst at "ripping people off", I think Old Man floats in the middle and Rick strikes me as someone who tries to be as fair as possible.
It's still incredible to me how many times people will take an "appraiser's"/expert's price and assume that's what the pawn store will give them. I want to reach into the TV and smack these people who say this as they're obviously oblivious to how this whole process works.
Especially in situations where Rick has to take the item and get cleaned, repaired, touched up to make it sell-able. They're not ripping people off, they just have to be able to make money and as Rick often says they've no idea how long the item will sit on their shelf. Fairly consistently for an item that doesn't need any work or has in labor in it (like needing to catalog a large number of items in a collection, etc.) and it's something he thinks he can sell he'll offer around 50% of what his appraiser/expert says the item well fetch in auction.
I'd say that's being pretty fair.
Hell, well gets me is the times when Rick is honest and the person still tries to get more money out of Rick.
In a recent episode a woman brought in a Faberge item and she wanted a few hundred dollars for it, Rick said he'd gladly give it to her but he'd feel guilty about it and wanted to bring in an expert to tell them (and more us) about the item. Guy comes in, confirms its Faberge and tells how much it's worth it was something like $20K. Rick offers the woman like 10 or 12K for it.
Keep in mind, before the expert this woman was only asking for a few hundred dollars and Rick was honest with her, knew it was worth more, and got it appraised for $20K. So he offers her the $12K (remember Rick and the pawn shop have to make a profit and this item will sit on Rick's shelf for who knows for how long) and she then tries to negotiate him up! I think she then closed Rick's margin substantially with her counter offer. The balls on this woman! I think she siad $18K or something, I think eventually Rick settled on going going about a grand higher than his initial offer (because he really wanted the item) but I couldn't believe the woman tried pulling that shit.
More times than not I find myself shaking my head and angry at the customers who've no clue on the whole retail/reseller process works.
It's still incredible to me how many times people will talk about this show without realizing that it's staged to hell and back.
Remember the guy selling the antique Coke machine from the '50s? That was the brother of Rick Dale (the star of American Restoration, which was spun-off from Pawn Stars). You can see the seller, Rick's brother, on all four aired episodes of American Restoration.
There was another fellow who was trying to sell a black Les Paul Custom. Rick brought in an "expert" to educate the guy, telling him that the guitar was a different year than he'd always thought and other details, and so on. Rod, the seller, is the luthier at Cowtown Guitars, located a few blocks away from the Gold & Silver. Jesse, the expert, is one of the owners of the shop. Both of them knew exactly what that guitar was, how much it was worth, etc.
I've said it before, but if you think this show is legit, you're off your rocker. There's a two-man camera / sound crew, local, on-call every day. When someone comes into the store with something that the staff thinks would be interesting, they call the "expert" and set up an early-morning time (usually around 6 a.m.) to shoot the segment. The price and negotiation are done before the segment is even shot -- everything on the show is a re-enactment. Additionally, Corey (Big Hoss) said in a radio interview a while back that the experts are fellow dealers / collectors, and if the expert thinks it's valuable, the pawn shop tries to buy it immediately before the other guy gets his hands on it.
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Yeah that's a great point. You can pretty much tell it's staged and constructed. It's just like any other reality show that way.
Well, I had assumed it was something like that but didn't now the particulars. I knew it wasn't a "live" day-to-day shot of things and they only filmed the people with something interesting, didn't know (or figure) the negotiation segments were dealt with beforehand and figured that that part was recorded live for a degree or two of "realism." Sometimes it seems that way, but whatever.
The "experts" I knew had to be arranged as it made no sense to me that Rick just "calls in an expert" everytime something odd comes in. Believe me, I knew the show was staged to some degree and wasn't truly a candid recording. Still it's an interesting show.
And if they are staging the negotiation segments then they need to re-write them to make the seller look like an idiot with no grasp of how retail works.
The "experts" I knew had to be arranged as it made no sense to me that Rick just "calls in an expert" everytime something odd comes in. Believe me, I knew the show was staged to some degree and wasn't truly a candid recording. Still it's an interesting show.
And if they are staging the negotiation segments then they need to re-write them to make the seller look like an idiot with no grasp of how retail works.
Wow this was enlightening! I thought the camera crew hung around and filmed folks who brought in interesting stuff. I thought when Rick called for an expert that filming stopped until the expert showed up and then they started filming again. Thanks for the info.
Just one question, what about the things Chumley and Corey buys and Rick and the Old Man get upset over like that ballon? Are they actual events or are they re-enacting something dumb those two did?
Yeah, that "calling in experts" thing is not how pawn shops work. They even made fun of it a little in the first episode of Hardcore Pawn.
As for Hardcore Pawn, which has been accused of staging things... it is, but only to a point. The production crew does pre-interviews with the customers. Mostly because the general public doesn't know how to act in front of cameras. The staff of the pawn shop, however, have no idea what is going to happen.
Man, I thought all of it was real. I didn't know it was staged in anyway. I am bummed. 
Next you'll be telling me Matt Smith doesn't actually travel through time in a phone box to shoot those episodes of Dr Who...
I watch the show, so does my dad. He says that while he likes the show, it pisses him off that people so easily get rid of family history for a quick buck. I happen to agree, escpically the woman how had a flag that had been on the moon, family history, but she sold it.
But atleast its not like the B.S show Hardcore pawn, which is just stupid. They really make certain people look bad and fit stereotypes.
(I know I spelled that wrong)
But atleast its not like the B.S show Hardcore pawn, which is just stupid. They really make certain people look bad and fit stereotypes.
(I know I spelled that wrong)
People have different reasons for wanting to sell what they do.
