Farming exists in a market of government controlled pricing. It is not a free market and has not been for years. You do not buy and sell a product to make a profit. You do not sell to the general public multiple disparate items. Your experience is wanting, ozzymandus. That said, I do admire you for surviving in that climate. Congratulations. My hat is off to you.
If you do not haggle with your suppliers, you are paying too much. My grandfather was a farmer and he haggled over everything and got the best prices he could. . . but that was an era where the free market reigned in farming.
I am not, and never have been a pawn broker. I have bought and sold new and used items in retail in my varied careers and I know what I am talking about. YOU obviously do not. You reek of fear of haggling for the best agreement in an open market. . . but that is what a free and open choice in an unfettered economy is about. Willing sellers and willing buyers coming to an agreement of minds about what is best for both of them, whether or not a transaction occurs or not.
If you watch Pawn Stars or not (I suspect you really have not watched much), about 40% of the time, no transaction takes place because the seller and buyer do not come to a satisfactory agreement on the value the mutually agree would be pleasing to both. That is the way of the market. The other times, both go away happy, one with cash in hand, the other with another item to sell to a willing buyer at some time in the future.
Watching Pawn Stars is mostly educational about the items themselves which was usually quite interesting, no matter what the item. I always disagreed with the idea that an antique gun's value was enhanced if it could still be shot. That is absolutely WRONG because some antiques should never be fired again, at all. Among those are any guns with spiral wound Damascus welded barrels and I have seen them shoot them on the show to "prove their value." Such guns, no matter how good they look, due to the method of manufacture which has a tendency to incorporate oxygen and impurities in the welding technique, spontaneous failure can occur in old ones at any time. I've seen too many burst chambers to ever recommend firing one. I have also disagreed at times with the identification made to some of the guns their experts have made.
There are other pawn shops in Las Vegas, some right down the street from the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop run by Rick Harrison and his family. He is competition with those shops to buy the items brought in by these people. If he does not offer enough, they will take their items to his competitors and they will buy them. Rick has to consider that in his offers as well. When I was running the gun shop, there were five similar gun shops within a mile of my shop who would also buy used and antique guns with similar ability to make offers. . . and they would like nothing better than to have to opportunity to buy the gun I was making an offer on.
Rick Harrison is not "my idol". He is, however, a person I understand and admire as a good, and honest, businessman who gives value for what he does. You attacked him in a thread that had absolutely NOTHING to do with him, making ignorant comments about his business that had no basis in fact. I corrected your impression and you attacked me. I have been trying to educate you about the truths of such a business, of which I have had a similar but different experience. You, however, choose to remain pig headed and hide bound in your ignorance. Fine.
I've told you the facts of a retail business involved with buying from the public and selling to the public. Yet you've chosen to ignore those facts. Instead, you reply with insults and show that you ignore what I wrote. . . "pawn shop?" Did you not read I operated a gun shop? Both new and used, dealing in antiques and more modern? Apparently not. That I have expertise in appraising their values and management? Also apparently not. So you repeatedly choose to denigrate me, a form of ad hominem attack. I also have a degree in economics. . . which goes into quite a bit more depth on all of this. I've also been a CEO of an entirely different kind of business. No, I told you I don't idolize Rick Harrison. But he does know what is necessary to run a business that depends on repeat business and keeping his customers happy. You don't.
You are welcome to ignore the benefit of knowledge from people who have walked the walk, know far more than do you about something you obviously do not, and remain in your dark and gloomy place. You live in dark bubble.
By the way, Ozzy, What you said you'd do would have been unethical in an employee. Had you been working in my gun shop and told a customer who wanted us to buy his gun to try and sell it on a gun auction site instead of accepting our offer, I would have fired YOU as soon as I heard that. That is taking the money out of your employer's pocket.
You make an honest offer. Explain it is a wholesale offer and that you will be selling it for more. If he wants to put it on consignment with you, you can make that arrangement for a different amount, but you never send him elsewhere. That is under mining your employer's business. It is OK to tell him to try and sell it himself, but NOT to tell him where.
If the customer mentions another option such as the auction, you are free to discuss the pros and cons of such an option, but you are not to suggest it as an option. That is unethical to your employer.
No small business is in the business of turning customers to other places to do business. . . unless the item is not something they do not do business with. None.
And I told you before that pawn shops do not "prey on the weak and stupid'. They are the last refuge of people who have no other resources to get quick cash. It's a safety net. Where does someone go when they cannot go anywhere else to get what they need? Banks require collateral. Check cashing and quick loan places require the borrower to have a job to garnishee or bank checking account to write a post-dated check on.
Where does the guy go when all he needs is a couple hundred dollars to tide him over until he can get a job? He pawns something, some jewelry, tools, a bicycle, etc. paying a reasonable interest rate set by the state, for a set period of time, and he can redeem his property by paying back the money plus the interest. If he pays neither, he cedes his ownership to the pawn shop to sell. He usually, depending on the state, can extend the period of pawn by paying a small fee. The average pawn is for less than one month and for less than $150. Statistics show that over 85% of all items pawned are redeemed by their owners.
It also might surprise you to learn that wealthy people use Pawn Shops as an inexpensive place to store very valuable items when they go on vacation. Furs, Firearms, etc. can be pawned cheaper than they can be stored in secure vaults. High end pawn shops are far more secure and the low pawn rates are lower than the insurance and storage rates at the secure vaults and the high end pawn shops have secure vaults for high end pawn items. So these wealthy people merely pawn these high end items before the take off, and redeem them when they return!
In California the pawn loan rates set by the legislature range from 3% up to 9% for 3 months plus a small per month storage charge, also set by the state, that increases according to the size of the item. If you need to borrow money, your other option is a signature loan where the rates are 29%. Good luck on that, Ozzy.