Pawn Store is a type of retail business that sells goods such as jewelry, tools and electronics and provides financial services including fee-based check cashing, payday loans, vehicle or house title loan and currency exchange. These shops are usually located in urban centers and serve as one stop financial facilities especially to communities that do not have access to banking services. They also act as informal remittance agencies and bill payment stations.

Generally, a person walks into a pawn shop for one of three reasons – to buy something, to sell something or to pawn an item. The problem is that not all of these possibilities make the same kind of financial sense from a consumer perspective.

What to Expect at a Trusted Pawn Store

When an individual pawns an item at a pawn shop, the store will give them a certain amount of money for the item (generally around half of its actual value). The item is kept by the pawnshop until the borrower either pays back the loan plus interest or forfeits the property to the pawnbroker.

Most pawnshops will also purchase items outright from customers who just want to get rid of an old item. They will generally pay a little more to outright purchase an item than they would for pawning it, because they have a better idea of its true market value and their potential profit margin on resale.

Some pawnshops specialize in certain kinds of merchandise, such as firearms or musical instruments. Others will sell anything that they can turn a profit on, including new and used cars and motorcycles.