Grim

Fair enough.
3speed Breeze for $155 with $90 shipping.
https://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-SCHWINN-...item5193be040b
Another for $120
https://cgi.ebay.com/1970-schwinn-bre...item23082cff17

But that bike is not a Breeze it is 5 speed so it is a Collegiate

https://cgi.ebay.com/Schwinn-Collegia...item27b3223049

Old Fat Guy

FWIW, I've sold Collegiate's for $300, but they were minty fresh.

I bet Chumly (sp?) bought it for too much $$ and they are trying to get some back.

HardyWeinberg

It took me a while to figure out what one of my son's friend's (6 yrs old the time) meant when he was talking about the 'bike shop' at a particular lbs-free location that his dad would take him to to trade in his bike or scooter for a different one. Eventually I realized it was a pawnshop. I'm not sure what kind of margin his dad would get from trading in a razor scooter and getting back a plastic 3 wheel scooter, but the kid knew it was a step backward.

Esteban32696

I used to help a friend out in his pawn shop, whenever he needed someone, Pawn Shops main objective is to buy at 1/2 , OR LESS, than what they can sell it for. I watch their show & think that at times they are paying too much for some items. Also, it is TV, so sometimes, they don't " dicker " & just pay the price. I NEVER saw that happen at my friend's shop. I am sure parts of the show are edited because of time , that is why the " experts, aren't shown for long. Overall it is a pretty decent show . The old man gets a little grumpy,at times, with customers.
That bike pictured, would sell for that price on our Craigslist. HOT bike market , here. Remember, supply & demand can make used price markets fluctuate differently all over the World.

dahut

Remember this is a TV show. Don't assume they haven't checked, when it may have been edited out.

shnibop 

my 2 cents...

people go to a pawn shop because they need or want money, and they go there out of their own free will. anyone with a decent amount of common sense should know (or at least assume) that a pawn shop is not going to give you top dollar on an item. a pawn shop is a business, and like every business the ultimate goal is to make money; whether to pad their wallets or grow the business is irrelevant. so why should anyone feel bad for someone that accepts 50% of the fair market value when ultimately the choice is theirs to sell or keep? in most cases (on the show) an "expert" is brought in to appraise the item, or authenticate, at which time the potential buyer and seller are made aware of the value of the item. at that moment, everyone is on the same page and everyone makes their own choices. also, i would assume that in most situations, someone going to a pawn shop is in need of quick cash and willing to accept almost anything that sounds remotely reasonable. if you want top dollar, hit ebay or market and sell the item on your own right?

Zeake

A decent shop will pay or loan fair prices. I own a Pawn Shop. I pay or loan fair prices to keep my customers happy and coming back. I typically loan 1/4 of new price and try to sell for 1/2. Rick and the gang on Pawn Stars are on TV. A lot is scripted.
I have had a similar pepper box pistol. I sold mine for $100.00 more than Pawn Stars. I was lucky. Most of the time they pay way too much. I think Rick made a whopping 500.00 after he paid over 30k for that Cannon. That kind of transaction would put most shops out of business. Dont forget the hot air balloon his son bought.
I saw a similar Schwinn in Asheville NC several years ago for 600.00 .
Pawn Stores are just like people. You have good ones and bad ones. Not knowing what it takes to keep that business running on a daily basis really has a lot to do with what they offer people. No one makes the customer take any offer. I don't twist any arms. Doing dirty business will catch up to you eventually.
Also some of the "experts" they call in are jokes. Prices some of the experts give are best possible situations like in an auction setting where the auction house gets a very large percentage of the sale. Some thing that would bring 15k in a large auction might only bring 2k in a pawn store. Donald Trump and Bill Gates rarely shop in flea markets or Pawn Stores. My customer base is such that more than half of the stuff Rick pays big money for would put me out of business.
Rick Harrison has won the Pawn Broker of the Year award from the National Pawn Brokers Association. He won it for doing the most to change the stereotype of pawn shops. Still a long way to go. If you are in need of a Pawn Shop make sure they are members of the National Pawn Brokers Ass. We try to keep the bad guys out of our organization.
Geeez I am on a roll for my second post.

roccobike

That price is no different than any of the pawn shops that I've been to in the Raleigh area. When I first got back into cycling, about 5 years ago, I went to pawn shops looking for a suspension mountain bike. Good thing I knew what new bikes were selling for. One guy had a Trek, about 6 or 7 years old with a nice Rock Shox fork, wanted around $600 for it. I was prepared to offer $200.
I saw a Ross Signature, extremely large frame (hard to sell) but in very good condition. Price: $300. I doubt it's worth that today after 5 years of vintage roadie price increases. Every bike I saw was priced higher than what you'd expect to pay on ebay, after shipping! So $125 for a $50-$75 bike is about right for pawn shop prices.

KonAaron Snake 

+1...I'm amazed at how much he offers people and my gut said exactly what you just said: an expert says it's worth $---, but good luck finding a buyer. I'd wager a good sum of money that those are TV offers and that he'd never offer that in a "real world" setting.

roccobike

HEY, is it me or is there no brake pad in the rear brake?

Amani576

I do believe you are correct.
-Gene-

soonerbills

That's how you corrects wheel rub with out all that tiring and ridiculous truing thing. I mean you really only need the front brake anyway....

sykerocker 

But you're talking as someone who's used to yard sales, used to how cheap you can buy a bicycle. We, as a group, are used to yard sales, enjoy the hunt. And when we score, we run threads bragging about our finds and glow in the positive comments received from the rest of the group.

Most people don't. Most people out there are looking for a 'cheap' bicycle that they can buy without a lot of hunting, negotiating, and spending a lot of time in the process. So they're going to go somewhere where they can buy a quality (as opposed to a WalMart) bike at about the same expenditure. So they'll 'pay thru the nose' by our standards to have the process simplified. It's worth it to them.

$175.00 for that 5-speed Suburban? By Richmond standards, that's about $50-75.00 high, but I believe we're talking L.A. where everything is real expensive by Virginia standards. If that bike was offered to me, I'd probably try to buy it for $25.00 (from the guy most likely taking it to the dump), give it a check over and cleanup, and offer it on Richmond Craigslist for $125.00 for the first shot, with at least 10% of that price figured for negotiation.

Always keep in mind, folks, we are a bunch of incredibly cheap bastards when it comes to buying bicycles. The rest of the world isn't. And that's what makes fixing and flipping worthwhile.

Note: This is being written about an hour after I got a call from a guy asking if I'd be interested in a couple of "Schwinn 10-speeds", and he asked what I usually get for them. I told him, "Around twenty bucks." He didn't sound scared off, and admitted he had previously planned on dumping them off at Goodwill. We'll see if he actually shows up this afternoon.

Grand Bois

I don't think I would have made it through college on the G.I. Bill if it weren't for pawn shops. When I ran out of money I'd pawn a camera or stereo component and then pay it off when the check came from the V.A. I ended up losing one reel to reel tape deck, but I never used it anyway. When I graduated I only had $500 in student loans to pay off.

slushlover2

As long as we are talking bikes and TV shows, we stopped on our morning ride today next to Antique Archaeology from American Pickers.

xtrajack

I bought my first bike as an adult, at a pawn shop. It was a Ross Professional Gran Tour II, it came with 4 mirrors, two baskets, an air pump, and a water bottle. I paid $75.00 in 1979 for it. I thought that it was a good deal.

Esteban32696

As I mentioned above, a friend has a Pawn Shop & I used to help him a lot.
He had one guy who came in every month to pay the interest on the VCR he had in pawn. I saw him come in many months & looked up the record. He had been paying $15 interest, per month, on his VCR. It had been there for 2 years !!!!!!!

I remember the hot air balloon & cannon purchases !! That was a lot of money to " float " for very little profit.