Ukulele in Pawn Shop - Should I try and low ball it ?

greatone88 · Jul 8, 2016

Howdy all, looking for a little advice please. At a local pawn shop I found a Lanikai CKCGC Concert Ukulele. It looks nice and I like the sound of it. I inspected it and I don't see any issues with it. They are asking 149$ for the Uke and I see that it sells in the 250$ to 275$ range new. It has been in that pawn shop for at least 6 months and I was thinking about walking in and say I will get you 50 bucks for it. I figure it hasn't sold in a least half a year and they will probably let it go for less than what they are asking. What do you guys think???? Am I offering too low a price?

Thanks,
Jim

cml · Jul 8, 2016

Do you want or need it?
If not, then no, and keep your 50-100$ and put them towards a nicer uke!

pbagley · Jul 8, 2016

You may be low-balling excessively at $50. If it were me I would ask if they were willing to entertain offers on the item. If they reply with a flat "No" then move on, they do not want your business. But if they are willing to work the price then you can start seeing where bottom dollar is. I've seen some brokers tell me honestly what they paid for an item and then offer it to me for a very slight mark-up. I've seen others that poisoned their own well.

Mr. cml (or is it Ms.?) slipped in some advice while I was typing. Good common sense - if you don't need it then save your money. But where's the fun in that?

Good luck!

greatone88 · Jul 8, 2016

I have a Cordoba 23T-CE that I love and the day I brought it home from work(shipped it to work), I stopped into that Pawn shop and saw the Lanikai Uke. It is now 6 months later and it is still there. The wife doesn't want me to take my Cordoba to the beach and possibly get ruined so she approved me to get a less pricier Uke for the beach. I figure if I am going to pay 75$ish for a beach Uke, I should try and get the one at the Pawn shop as it would be a much better instrument and I can string it with a low G. This way I can one with a high G and one with a low G. She wont know any better that it isn't really a beach Uke, all she needs to know it is a Uke purchased at the price of a beach Uke

So my answer is I do need another Uke and if the price is right, this would fit the bill.

I noticed that also had a soft case for it. I could offer to 80 or 90 bucks for both and see if they bite. I like the idea of asking if the price is negotiable and will mention the fact that is has been sitting there a long time. I think I will do that today on my way home from work.

bearbike137 · Jul 8, 2016

Thanks to the internet, the days of screaming pawn shop deals are long gone...

cml · Jul 8, 2016

pbagley said:
Mr. cml (or is it Ms.?) slipped in some advice while I was typing. Good common sense - if you don't need it then save your money. But where's the fun in that?
Good luck!

I am quite sure it's Mr

.

Booli · Jul 8, 2016

pbagley said:
You may be low-balling excessively at $50. If it were me I would ask if they were willing to entertain offers on the item. If they reply with a flat "No" then move on, they do not want your business. But if they are willing to work the price then you can start seeing where bottom dollar is. I've seen some brokers tell me honestly what they paid for an item and then offer it to me for a very slight mark-up. I've seen others that poisoned their own well.

+1 on this ^

See how flexible they are. If you go in hardcore to lowball, you could offend the seller, and then the whole deal becomes NO DEAL as it has already soured before any haggling take place...

In similar situations, I always start off by asking if they are flexible, and then what do they need to clear to be happy with the sale, and then go from there.

I find that lots of times the 'sticker price' is set just high enough to keep the tire-kickers away, and that if you ask nicely, most folks will respond in kind...

Good luck either way and please post a follow-up if you do buy it.

sam13 · Jul 8, 2016

Make an offer ... a decent price and if they don't take it then move on.

You don't need to be cheap ...

Nickie · Jul 9, 2016

The price they are asking probably isn't unreasonable. As sam13 said, you don't need to be cheap. If cheap is what you want, buy a Bugs Gear from Mim to play at the beach.

Twibbly · Jul 9, 2016

We've had pawn shops make us awesome deals when we were discussing whether something would be in budget. The last was the tablet I'm typing this on - a Samsung Galaxy S that had been sitting there for a while apparently. I knew it was out of my price range and said so to my husband. The lady working there asked what my price range was. I told her, and ended up with a tablet that goes for $350 and up online (and was marked as $349) for about $200. It's worth a shot. If they haven't had any good nibbles on it, they might just do it to get it out of their shop.

UkerDanno · Jul 9, 2016

greatone88 said:
II noticed that also had a soft case for it. I could offer to 80 or 90 bucks for both and see if they bite. I like the idea of asking if the price is negotiable and will mention the fact that is has been sitting there a long time. I think I will do that today on my way home from work.

offer $80 and see what they say!

greatone88 · Jul 9, 2016

I went to the Pawn shop on my way home from work today and picked up the uke and played it for about 5 minutes (It was already tuned) and a salesperson came up to me and started a conversation. I let him know I was looking for a secondary Uke for the beach and that I had a wife approved budget. I asked if they were flexible in the price and he said yes, so I made him what I thought was a fair office. I told him my max budget was 100$ for the uke and case and if he could do that, I would buy it on the spot. He said he would go look it up and when he came back he told 106.75$ out the door. I said yes and now I have a nice Uke for the price of a "Beach Uke". I think I got lucky to get it at that price and I am set for 4 days of sitting at the beach playing. Here is a picture of my beauty.

OhioBelle · Jul 9, 2016

Kudos on the negotiation! I own that same model and agree it's worth more than you paid. Mine was by far the best playing laminate on the wall at GC that day. It didn't hurt that the brown curly koa lam was so nice, and looked so good with the creamy maple binding and blue abalone rosette.

Mine is office-uke. Yours will make an outstanding beach uke.

padlin · Jul 9, 2016

I've heard Pawn shops look at ebay to see what they can sell an item for. A quick search shows the last one sold in May for $100, plus shipping. Pretty dang close to what you paid.

UkerDanno · Jul 9, 2016

Awesome deal! Enjoy! I always liked that model, shopped ebay a couple years ago, they had some blems on sale, made several offers, but it never went through.

PhilUSAFRet · Jul 9, 2016

Congrats! A very handsome $100 uke. It should hold up well at the beach. Just insure you wipe off the "salt air"...assuming it's a saltwater beach, especially from the metal hardware on both the uke and the case.

UncleMoon · Jul 9, 2016

greatone88 said:
I have a Cordoba 23T-CE that I love and the day I brought it home from work(shipped it to work), I stopped into that Pawn shop and saw the Lanikai Uke. It is now 6 months later and it is still there. The wife doesn't want me to take my Cordoba to the beach and possibly get ruined so she approved me to get a less pricier Uke for the beach. I figure if I am going to pay 75$ish for a beach Uke, I should try and get the one at the Pawn shop as it would be a much better instrument and I can string it with a low G. This way I can one with a high G and one with a low G. She wont know any better that it isn't really a beach Uke, all she needs to know it is a Uke purchased at the price of a beach Uke

So my answer is I do need another Uke and if the price is right, this would fit the bill.

I noticed that also had a soft case for it. I could offer to 80 or 90 bucks for both and see if they bite. I like the idea of asking if the price is negotiable and will mention the fact that is has been sitting there a long time. I think I will do that today on my way home from work.

For the record.. this is always the answer. Everyone ALWAYS needs another uke.

It's like asking "do you want a cookie?" - I ALWAYS want a cookie.

UncleMoon · Jul 9, 2016

I finally got thru the whole thread. Congrats on a screamin' deal. Nice looking little machine there.

OhioBelle · Jul 9, 2016

UncleMoon said:
For the record.. this is always the answer. Everyone ALWAYS needs another uke.

It's like asking "do you want a cookie?" - I ALWAYS want a cookie.

This. THE BEST

Booli · Jul 9, 2016

Congrats on your NUD and advancing UAS! :music:

Ukulele in Pawn Shop - Should I try and low ball it ?

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