Bunch of things

Haha, you're awful at reading.

Sell it via every other method people use to sell stuff that isn't a pawn shop. An ebay auction, a craigslist ad.

BUT WHAT IF THEY DON'T HAVE THE INTERNET!?!?!, amirite?

Well, if they go to the grocery store and put up a flyer that says they're willing to sell that orbital palm sander for the same $3 a pawnbroker would give them, they'd have no trouble selling it.

BUT WHAT IF THEY DON'T HAVE THE INTERNET, NO LEGS, CAN'T AFFORD A POWER WHEELCHAIR AND THE NEAREST PLACE TO POST AN AD IS OVER 7 MILES AWAY BUT THE PAWNSHOP IS RIGHT NEXT DOOR!??! WHAT ABOUT THEN?!?!

Then I guess they're one of the tragic few who would fall through the morally upright and contributory cracks filled by paragons of virtue that are pawnbrokers.

It's so funny that you said "NAME ONE! JUST ONE" when anyone without an extra chromosome would have absolutely no trouble figuring out just how people sell stuff without pawn shops. People who live in places without pawn shops don't seem to be struggling to sell their stuff.

Thats not helpful if they need the money now!

Then they could go to the grocery, put up the flyer, wait for people to respond (and those people will still try to give some lowball offer), wait for potential buyer to show up (they always show up late, doesnt show up at all etc) etc.
Thats a lot of time wasted. You could argue that many people who need money instantly, and want to pawn stuff often are unemployed, so wasting time is not that big of a deal. But its just not as simple as you make it out to be.

undoubtably some people would resort to theft to get more money but most people aren't thieves. however the pawn shop itself isn't what makes people steal. do you really think if pawn shops didn't exist those thieves would
1)stop stealing or
2)steal and find other ways to sell their stolen goods

I agree with you that most pawn shop transactions aren't to prevent people's heat from getting shut off but they are still providing a service.These people are too lazy/stupid/impatient to put the work in, wait and make more money for their goods.The reason they sell to the pawn shop is bc they want money that second and they don't want to put any work in.That isn't the pawn shops fault.Most people are also terrible negotiators so when they go up against someone who does it for a living they are gonna come out on the short end of the stick.

People who make piss poor financial decsions tend to make them continuously and as you put it crash and burn. If pawn shops didn't exist these people wouldnt magically become finacial gurus.

exactly- they couldnt get a loan at 6 pct or 20 pct for that matter.if banks and cc companies say this guy is too high risk to lend them money at 6,20 or even 30 pct why the hell should a pawn shop?Why should a pawn shop buy their goods at close to their value on ebay?

Preachers?

great reply!

Oh, it is absolutely, 100% 'as simple as I make it out to be'.
The ones who are relying on elaborate scenarios and outlying circumstances to try and make things appear other than what they are are the pro pawnshop types, as evidenced by their position relying on a continuum of "but what if's" .

Like I said. I'm not campaigning they be banned.
I'm simply pointing out that the narrative of them providing an 'ethical service' to people is ****ing absurd and that I'd guess the complexion of 99 of 100 pawn transactions are nothing like the pawnshop white knights are trying to make it seem. People who engage in this business are scumbags who will die having lived a life of a parasite.

Also, just an observation, but since you guys are so big on scenarios, what is the scenario where someone selling a $15 chainsaw is in such desperate need of an instant (INSTANT) $15, as in not even 4 hours later (which is about the lag time for an under-priced ANYTHING on any given craigslist), that cuts out Craigslist as an option?

They need to feed a parking meter?

So what is this other source that they have as an option that they are running to the pawn shop instead of?

Do you think a poor person is better or worse off being evicted vs. pawning something and maybe getting it back if they save up enough?

I mean it sucks, but these people do not have good options. The least bad one is sometimes the best one.

You realize that most people don't sell stuff at pawn shops but pawn it? GL finding someone on Craigslist to do that for you.

It isnt some "elaborate scenario". I had a bunch of used items for sale, when I was moving, I would have gladly taken it to a pawn/second hand shop and taken a price cut, instead of having to wait around for people to show up etc.

But why arent these people selling there stuff this way then, instead of going to the pawnshop? Having a pawnshop around doesnt prevent them from doing this. Or are you just advocating people should be protected against their own laziness/stupidity?

You haven't been reading this thread, have you...

They absolutely ARE selling things this way.

Are all you pro pawn shop types asking this question rhetorically or are you seriously all so dumb and oblivious to the world around you that you're sincerely unaware of how 'used stuff' can be sold to anyone other than a pawnbroker? Everything from 'talking to people you know' to internet sources, garage sales to flea markets.

Do they provide usurious instant liquidity at 1/20th the marketable value that a pawn shop does? Nope, however I'm perfectly willing to leave those people on their own and whatever consequences they may face (because they need that $20 in the next 5 minutes to "pay their rent!" right!?! Naive ****ing idiots ITT) in exchange for not having a deeply negative presence in the community that absolutely facilitates theft of property, financial predation and basically exists to scalp dumb people and addicts.

As far as advocating people be protected against their own stupidity in certain circumstances, yes.
That is exactly what I'm advocating (and that answer isn't flippant, either. Dead serious.) I lost my taste for mindlessly dogmatic sociopath-capitalism when I got out of my 20's and realized there were some tricky shades of gray in this life and if you let those kinds of people run the show, it's a ****ty show to watch.

Good for them then. Having a pawn shop around just give people even further possibilities, how to sell their stuff. It doesnt prevent them from using craigslist, ebay etc

You could have just left it with "I don't like people who take advantage of people." Maybe add in that you aren't sure how or whether such things should be regulated.

The additional words aren't helpful.

In fairness to him emptying his gall bladder over this (the gall bladder stores bile... look it up) I had to take out a payday loan back in the summer of 2010 when the poker sites had those payment processor problems and I'm STILL pissed about the interest rate they charged me. (I needed money for a week and was pretty much maxed out after going 7.5 weeks without a withdrawal going through. Naturally the day after I got the payday loan the payment hit my bank account) Heaven help them if I ever get to regulate them. Bad things would happen.

At least your contributions are consistently pointless and awful.

The tricky ones are dumbasses who occasionally have insights worth reading. Your posts are a no-brainer instant blow by.

^ Three sentences, which means we can expect three individual quotes with three dedicated replies ^

Sounds like your poor money management skills were bailed out by a pawn shop yet you complain you didn't like the interest rate? Where were your friends while this was going on? Why didn't they give you a loan?

It was 200$. My poker playing friends were mostly going through the same thing at that time, and I NEVER ask family for money. (It encourages them to ask me for money) My only error at the time was having most of my money tied up in a poker site. Interestingly because of this situation I cashed out all but the minimum amount needed to keep playing and was barely hurt by Black Friday as a result. (I didn't play on FT thankfully) I also had the money sitting around and made a very very profitable investment that pretty much financed everything I've done since.

None of this stops me from being very angry about being charged 30$ in interest on a 200$ loan for 2 weeks. That still annoys the hell out of me. I'm a nit about things like that.

Yeah... This isn't remotely close to true, and you're making an ass of yourself.

If $30 on $200 was such a horrible deal why did you take it?

So what do you think would have been a fair price?

Do you think they should bother wasting their time lending you 200 bucks at 2 dollars interest over those 2 weeks?

It also sounds like it ended up teaching you a good lesson about having large amounts of money tied up online when you don't need them to play.I know I made the same incredibly stupid decision when I first started playing online.

I'm not really concerned what people who take payday advance loans think of me, or what they think of anything for that matter.

I am, however, here to save your dumb asses from yourselves.

So you are opening a charity to help people who need payday loans?