This is pretty much exactly how every selling excurion goes.
For those of you without cable, or aren't in the know about pop culture nowadays, people are fucking fascinated by other people who sell shit. I haven't figured out exactly what makes Pawn Stars as popular as it is, past the fact that there can be some decent historical facts thrown at the audience. The general premise is that someone brings in something valuable (read: old and sentimentally valued), and tries to hock it to the Pawn Star guys, who in turn try to buy it off them for as little as possible. Their business is money, and they obviously do well enough to have their own syndicated series. Most interactions between customers and Rick (the owner) devolve into Rick not knowing enough about an item, and then calling an expert that just so happens to know about the obscure item in question. This is standard fare for a typical Pawn Stars episode, with a light sprinkling of humorous drama between the triple-generation stars.
Inherently, I have no problems whatsoever with the Pawn Stars crew. They exist solely to make money, and they do it in a way that makes sense; if an item can get them money and they can get it for the right price, they buy it. If an item's owner is asking too much, or won't budge on their price, the store passes. This here is where I get salty about the show. It isn't the show, but the customers/guests that irritate the shit out of me. The typical seller comes on the show without a clue as to what they possess, and when the Pawn Stars have someone appraise their shit for exorbitant prices, they become as giddy as school children. As any able-minded consumer understands, there is no benefit in purchasing an item you plan to resell if there is no profit to be made. Many of the shows customers come in with an antique firearm, hoping to get $1000 for the item, have it appraised at $900 (at Rick's expense), and then ask for that top value, instead of having the mental faculties to realize that Rick's only interest is in the money he will make off the item. Pawn stores and stores who will facilitate trading and pawning stick to a pretty cut and dry formula: if you're pawning or trading, they will offer you up to 50% of the value of the item. If you're selling, they'll offer 25-35%. If sellers came on the show with even a little research, they wouldn't appear to be complete jackasses to both themselves and the Pawn Stars.
That last point brings me to a particular case of idiocy from the show involving a Fabergé spider brooch that went for one of the highest non-vehicle related sales the show has had. The guys are in it for the money, true. However, this does not mean that they are out to fuck anybody over. In this particular scene, the unassuming woman brings in a Fabergé spider brooch for sale, not pawn. For the uninitiated, Fabergé is most commonly associated with their jewel-encrusted miniature eggs, and the company that exists now sells jeweled items for a metric fuckton. As is the case, this lady unassumingly asks the modest price of $2000 dollars, which given the situation and the item in question, is fair considering she has no idea what the hell she's sitting on. Rick in turn offered her $15000 for the brooch, citing that it was much more rare than she was aware. For those who can't math, this is $13000 , 7.5x as much as she was asking. Greed in America is no new thing, but the amount of undulating smiles and gasps that erupted out of this idiots facehole was startling. Rick did the honest thing, and offered her an honest price that wasn't undercutting her a bit. And what does she do? She asks for fucking more. Nevermind $13000 more dollars than she was asking for in the first place, this idiot decided it was worth embarassing herself by asking for more after he just offered her 7 fucking times the amount she was asked. I remember laying down on my futon watching this episode and just sitting there, livid with anger at how dumb this lady was. I was ridiculously salty then, and whenever I see that episode being reran on History, I sour at the thought of seeing this moron try and squirm more money from the store. However, I also sickly relish in watching the scene, because Rick promptly puts her in her place after her palid attempts at more money.
Chumlee is a rocket scientist compared to this jackass.
This may have seemed incredibly long-winded, but damnit I needed to get that off my chest.
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