Pawnbrokers markup?

Sueinbirmingham

I hope this is the right forum to ask this.

We are valuing jewellery for probate after a relative died. It isn't worth enough per item to pay for formal valuations. I've looked in a pawnbroker's window and valued the more expensive items according to their sale prices, but for probate purposes, I want the price that we could sell them for.

Can anyone tell me what the typical mark-up at a pawnbroker's is? If, say, they'd sell a ring for £100, how much would they give the person who sold it to them?

geordie_joe

I don't think looking at pawnbrokers is a good way of doing things.

I've never use one, but I expect they give as little as possible for items and it depends on what the "customer" is willing to accept.

I also thought the idea of pawnbrokers is for the customer to go back and redeem the item by paying back the money plus interest. The pawnbroker only sells the item if it is not redeemed. In this case they may sell them for less than they are worth for a quick sale.

e.g. A customer brings in a ring, the pawnbroker thinks it is worth £150. The customer accepts £50 for the ring and the deal is they come back within 30 days and pay £70 to get the ring back.

The customer doesn't come back, so the pawnbroker puts it on sale for £100. Knowing it will sell quick and he will get more than he would have if the customer had came back to redeem the ring.

Sueinbirmingham

I couldn't think how else to value the stuff other than by looking at secondhand values in the high street. I know you can work out what gold costs, but that doesn't take into account the diamonds etc. Maybe I should look at ebay prices. I don't think the stuff I'm looking at is worth formal valuations which round here seem to be about £30. (We paid for valuations of the best rings.)

inmypocketnottheirs

I'd say as a rough guess if an item is in a pawnbroker's window for £100 then it would probably be around £30 cost.

hannahO_2

Whether you are selling or pawning, the value is the same when pawnbroker takes in your jewellery. It doesn't really matter if it's modern or antique, they go by the weight of the gold (with minimal price difference for stamped or not). People will say "yeah but it cost £150 at Argos" etc.... usually that sort of ring the value of rending would be about £10-15 depending on the condition. Lets say if someone borrowed for £30, it will be sold at at least £90-120 (60% markup). I used to give £1 per point for diamond, nothing for ruby, sapphs, emerald on a ring.

Hope that helps.

inmypocketnottheirs

hannahO wrote: »

Lets say if someone borrowed for £30, it will be sold at at least £90-120 (60% markup).

So my assumption was about right then!!