Educate Yourself with the Scrap Silver Calculator

February 9, 2012

Whether you frequent pawnshops or are new to the trade-in-your-goods-for-cash scene, it’s common knowledge that most of them will do their best to rip you off; it seems they’ve made a business of it. With the popularity of reality-television shows like “Pawn Stars” and “Hardcore Pawn” combined with the still-in-shambles economy, some pawn shops are hoping to cash in on your naivety.

 

While some who turn to pawn shops do so because they think they own something rare and exceedingly valuable and are curious about how much its worth may be, the average pawn shop customer is one who is in a financial rough spot and needs some extra cash to help make ends meet. These individuals are often the most desperate, vulnerable, and susceptible to being taken advantage of by pawn shop owners who may not be as honest and reputable as those featured on their favorite television shows.

 

Pawn shop owners nationwide claim that not only have the popular pawn shop centered reality television shows increased their business by up to 45 percent in just two years, the shows have also brought to the average consumers attention how important it is to be educated and knowledgeable about how much your items are actually worth. In the shows, experts are often brought in to evaluate an items’ worth, and customers very rarely seem disgruntled or upset with how much cash is offered to them in exchange for their items.

 

The negative stigma often attached to pawn shops is quickly diminishing, partly because pawn shop owners are jam-packed with business and no longer feel the need to offer the lowest amounts for items just to make a profit, and partly because consumers have become more and more aware of how to protect themselves from being taken advantage of during a pawn shop transaction. One of the best ways to protect yourself is by knowing how much your items, especially gold and silver jewelry, are worth.

 

There are many resources available to potential pawn shop customers, including the scrap silver calculator. This calculator takes the weight and purity of your jewels into consideration, and calculates the worth of your items using the current price of silver. The scrap silver calculator is one of the many weapons a customer can arm themselves with before entering a pawn shop and selling their valuable items for cold, hard cash.