Pawn shop advice please!

Piggy_Bank_Raider

Hello everyone,

I'm in desperate need of cash as I've only got £2 to live on this month until the 25th Jan. I've got bad credit and I'm in a DMP so I've exhausted any chance of an overdraft or payday loan. I was thinking about pawning a couple of silver rings I have although I don't think they're overly valuable.

Just wondered if anyone has any advice re pawn shops? I've never done this before but thought it might be worth a try, even if I only get a tenner! Has anyone else used pawn shops and any idea the minimum value they'll accept?

Help much appreciated!

missworks2jobs

I've never used a pawn shop (I have attempted it). A friend of ours split up with his fiance and wanted to get rid of the engagement ring but was embarrassed to take it in, so I (not being bothered about embarrassment) offered to try a few shops for him see what they offered.

He paid almost £2000 for the diamond & white gold ring and had a damage/loss/theft insurance policy with it that had 3 years to run the most I could get for it (with made up sob story to try encourage a higher offer through sympathy) was £300. They told me i'd get more for it on ebay!?!

What type of things were you thinking of selling, gold is worth a lot at the moment apparently it always holds its value well in a recession.

Near us there is an "exchange shop" where you can swap or get cash for DVD's, games, consoles, cameras, mobiles etc. That might be worth a try.

What about ebay....you can list things for 3, 5, 7 or 10 days. People buy allsorts, although i'd go for smaller or lighter items so you dont end up forking out a fortune for postage (high postage can also put people off).

Can you borrow some cash of friends or offer to babysit for them or something like that? or go round a relatives for meals just for the time being to see you through. My mother in law regularly takes my sister in law food shopping when she's running low on food and her wages wont cover it.

Can you convince someone to go to a car bootsale with you - (half the entry fees) and you can sell a lot of stuff that way. Or if you know someone who already goes to one, sweetheart them into taking some of your stuff to sell?
Good luck.

Tixy

Hi

Sorry I don't have experience of pawn shops. I assume you have tried all other avenues to get some money to see you through?
Has your DMP payment already gone out? If not you could try asking your DMP provider if you can pay a lower amount this month (they should allow this in emergencies).

What essentials do you need to buy? Would your employer give you a small advance (if you are employed)? if its food you need to buy have you been through all your cupboards to see what you have in? do you have clubcard points or nectar points you could use? have you ransacked the house for loose change etc (down the back of the sofa etc).
Anything you could sell at all (gumtree can be quicker than ebay for getting the cash).

jamespir

i do have experience with pawn shops and they cab be quite fussy as to waht they take in and you wont get a lot for stuff if you have more than one in your area shop around another way to make easy cash is any old console games (or pc games depending on the store) you no longer play take them into cex or game station or hmv gamestation will price match hmv so take the stuff there first see what youll get then take it along to game and they will match it and give you a pound more

SEASHELL

When I used a pawn shop recently they wouldn't take any silver .

SEASHELL

Not sure if it would help but I've sold some stuff on facebookbook recently. I came accross a couple of local "For Sale" groups on it and managed to get some money from that

Piggy_Bank_Raider

Thanks for all the useful advice. It's given me food for thought. If I really need to I should be able to borrow a little bit of cash from a friend- I was just hoping not to have to ask again this month as I was a bit embarassed. Any road, I've got loads of DVDs and a couple of Wii games I don't ever use so I think I'll see if I can sell these to any shops.

Gleek

If it helps I took my old phone and about 20 DVD's and 15 or so assorted (old and not very good!) console games that we don't play with and got approx £188 in total for them from CEX last week.

Piggy_Bank_Raider

Thanks so much for all your earlier help. I had a sort out and took a few old Wii games to Gamestation and they gave me £16. I'm so happy- now I wont have to ask anyone else to help me out and I don't have to pay this back to anyone. It was also much less daunting then going to a pawn shop- they seemed genuinely pleased to take them off my hands. Never has £16 meant so much to someone- thanks again everyone, you're aces