Pawn Shop Goes Upscale: Is This a Good Way to Score Extra Cash?

California -based dentist Dr. Michael Hammond intended to finance his dental practice using a small business loan from a traditional bank. Given his strong credit and business plan, he assumed he’d have no issues.

But the bank wouldn’t grant the loan he expected, so Dr. Hammond moved on to plan B: selling family jewels to the pawn shop for $40,000.

Though the words “pawn shop” tend to evoke thoughts of “Cash 4 Gold,” online pawn shops have taken the strongest part of the business model (fast cash in exchange for your stuff), and revamped it for a higher-end customer. With banks getting loan-shy post-recession, these virtual shops offered consumers another source of funding—which they could procure from their jewelry box or favorite curio drawer.

How to Deal With a Pawn Shop

A pawnshop can be a good place to get a few extra dollars to pay a bill, buy a gift, or maybe just put some gas in your car. These steps will explain what happens in a pawn shop, and how to make it work for you.

1. Decide on the item you want to pawn, and the amount of money you are looking to get out of it. Tools, electronics, guns, and jewelry are all common items. They do need to be in good, safe, working condition however, or you won't get very much money for them, or none at all. If you don't re-pay the loan (or "pawn") for an item, the pawn shop will put it in their store to try and sell it for more money than they loaned you. This is one way they make money. They can't sell broken or nonworking items, so it doesn't pay for them to loan you money on them. For this same reason, they can't give you what the item is truly worth either, because if they had to sell it they wouldn't make any money.

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Calaveras Coin & Pawn - eBay Store

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Common Gold & Silver Bullion Abbreviations

Buyers should become familiar with bullion abbreviations so that they know what the seller is referring to. This could be critical product information that shoppers should know before making a purchase. Common abbreviations used to describe a bullion product include the following:

Abbreviation	Description
AU	About Uncirculated or Almost Uncirculated
BU	Brilliant Uncirculated
CAM	Cameo
CCE	Certified Coin Exchange
COA	Certificate of Authenticity
DCAM	Deep Cameo
DMPL	Deep Mirror Proof-Like
LOA	Letter of Authenticity
NGC	Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (a leading grading service)
NNC	National Numismatic Certification
NR	No Reserve (seller has not set a minimum price for sale)
PCGS	Professional Coin Grading Service (a leading grading service)
PR	Proof
UNC	Uncirculated