Category: Consignment

Consignment Shop vs Pawn Shop
What comes to mind when you hear “consignment shop”? What about “pawn shop”? We’ve noticed a lot of folks are not aware of the differences between consignment shops and pawn shops, and since we offer both options at Lambert Pawn, we thought it was worth clarifying.

Consignment Shops vs Pawn Shops

The difference between consignment shops and pawn shops comes down to 3 things:
1. When the ownership of the item is relinquished
2. When the seller is paid
3. How the shop is paid
When the ownership of the item is relinquished by the seller to the shop

If you are looking to earn some cash, with no real urgency in turn for items you no longer want or need, you are looking for a consignment shop. If you have an immediate need for cash for items you know are worth some collateral but don’t necessarily want to sell, you are looking for a pawn shop.

And that is the key difference when it comes to ownership of your item. You only relinquish ownership of your item to a pawn shop if you fail to meet the terms of the agreed upon loan (with the item held as collateral). A consignment shop exists specifically to take your unwanted items and sell them to the public, earning you a share of the sale price. This means ownership or authority of the item technically is relinquished when you leave your items at the consignment shop with an agreed upon understanding of the commission share.

Consignment Shop Consignment Shop has ownership or selling authority over item once the commission shares are agreed upon and item is left with the shop. If item fails to sell, the seller is able to pick-up their unsold items.

Pawn Shop Pawn shop owns the item if the seller fails to repay the short-term loan in accordance with the loan terms.

When does the seller get paid?

Let’s start by defining which party we are referring to when we speak of “sellers” for consignment and pawn shops. If you take items into a consignment or pawn shop to sell or receive a loan on, you are the seller. For the purpose of this article, the seller is not the party that is responsible for the actual sale of an item to the public, which will be referred to as the “shop”.

Now that we have defined who the seller is, let’s talk about when the seller (you) gets paid. If you are bringing an item to a pawn shop, you will receive cash on the spot as an upfront advance on a short-term loan, which you will be expected to pay in full in accordance to the loan terms. If you don’t, you forfeit the ownership of the item to the pawn shop.

Consignment shops have lower risk of losing an item but also have a higher risk of you not receiving any money at all. Fact of the matter is, if the item doesn’t sell, you don’t get paid. The bright side is that if the item doesn’t sell, you don’t lose it to the consignment shop but rather are free to pick it up and try another means of selling it.

Consignment Shop Seller gets paid when the item sells. If item does not sell, seller receives item back.

Pawn Shop Seller gets “paid” upfront with the item held as collateral. Seller received item back once loan terms are met in full.

When is the shop paid?

A consignment shop will get paid when the item sells. Typically the consignment shop will receive a percentage of the item’s sale price, with the seller receiving the other portion. Consignment shops typically have standard store policies on how percentages are charged. The seller should be fully aware of what the selling terms are before they relinquish their items to be sold by the shop.

Pawn shops are paid in two ways. The most common earnings a pawn shop sees is from the interest charged on the pawn loan itself. Most pawn loans are paid back in full. However, if a loan is not paid in full, the pawn shop has a second opportunity for earning money and that is through sale of the item that was held as collateral.

Consignment Shop Shop is paid when the item sells. The shop will keep a percentage of the sale price.

Pawn Shop Shop is paid via interest on the pawn loan and/or through resale of forfeited items.

Hopefully this clears up some of the misconceptions around secondhand stores. Consignment shops and pawn shops are really quite different from a seller’s perspective. Before you delve into an agreement with a secondhand shop, do your homework and make an educated decision on how to earn cash on your gently used items.
July 16, 2018
5 Reasons to Sell on Consignment
Selling furniture, jewelry, art and clothing on consignment is a popular choice for anyone looking to earn some money on high-value items without the hassle of managing the sale. There is a lot involved in the sale of an item, including advertising, negotiating, and working through the weeds of unmotivated buyers. Selling via consignment allows the seller to pass the ownership of those tedious tasks to another individual as a trade for a percentage of the sale price.

It is no wonder that selling firearms via consignment is just as popular as selling expensive handbags. If you are familiar with selling on consignment, you are aware that many of the benefits in doing so are equally present regardless of the nature of the item being sold. For example, whether you are selling an oriental rug or a handgun, you will find that selling via consignment limits the hassle of posting the item on Craigslist or Facebook and keeping up with the item’s post. Similarly, whether you are selling your Great Aunt’s porcelain doll collection or her hunting rifle, selling via consignment eliminates the uncomfortable negotiation process. Below is our list of top 5 benefits of selling an item, especially a firearm, on consignment.

Top 5 Reasons to Sell Via Consignment
1. Hassle free experience
2. Don’t have to deal directly with the buyer
3. Sale is 100% legal and compliant (which is essential with firearms)
4. No need to deal with window shoppers or tire kickers
5. Access to customers who are ready to buy
In addition to the reasons listed above, selling your firearm on consignment through Lambert Pawn, offers even greater benefits to the seller. Our shop sees hundreds of customers each week, which means our consignment sellers have the opportunity for their firearms to be seen by those same customers! Thanks to our community standing and stellar reputation, we also have a long list of regular firearms buyers who check in with us regularly to inquire about new inventory.

The perks of consigning at Lambert Pawn don’t stop there. Since we are an FFL store, we handle a lot of firearms and firearm accessory inventory. This means that our knowledge and experience in dealing with the sale of these items far exceeds your Average Joe. In fact, we might just even know more about selling your gun than you do. When it comes to selling firearms online, we have full knowledge and operating authority to sell guns online that may cross state lines, something that most independent sellers are unable to say for themselves.

We even offer the option to ship your gun TO US to sell on consignment. So if you are just stumbling on this post via a random search but are across the country, you’re in luck. You’ve found exactly what you’ve been looking for to sell your firearm as quickly as possible with the assurance of knowing you walked away with a fair amount. Don’t believe us? We have A+ ratings on every website we are listed on – do another Google search and see for yourself.
April 2, 2018
What You Need to Know about Firearms Consignment
If you own firearms, you may wonder about selling firearms on consignment. There are many lines of thinking about this, but if you’d like to sell your guns for a fair price, consignment can often help you get the best price for your guns.

Before you get started, there are a few things you should know in order to make sure you enter into the firearms consignment process as informed as possible.

How Does Firearms Consignment Work?

First, it’s important to understand how consignment works in general. A consignment sale is one where the owner of the item (you) remains the owner until the piece is sold to a third party. What that means is that you take your firearm to a consignment store and make an agreement that they will sell it on your behalf since they have access to more people interested in purchasing firearms than you do. You go home but retain ownership of the gun. When the shop sells the gun to a third party, you receive relinquish ownership and receive payment.

3 Things to Know about Gun Consignment
- Consignment Fees Since the gun consignment shop is doing work to bring your gun to a new owner, they receive a portion of the sale price. This consignment fee is not paid until the firearm is sold. There should be no upfront costs to firearm consignment. However, consignment fees can range from 15-25%. Make sure you know what the consignment fee is and why. A lower fee is not always better – it may mean you get a lower price for your firearm or it takes longer to sell since the shop does not intend to work hard to sell it. Alternately, a high fee is not always better. It may simply mean the shop wants more money. Make sure you know whether the fee is fair for the work that’s being done.
- Firearm Promotion In order to sell well, it’s important to understand how your firearms will be promoted. Some shops take high quality photos and get a full, detailed description of the firearm to provide to potential buyers. This can increase the likelihood that buyers will come in to see your item. Some shops have a special rack designed for guns that are on consignment. Regardless of what their practice is, it is important that you understand how your item will be promoted and how likely it is to sell.
- Licensed Dealers There are plenty of people who are willing to take a cut of your profit in exchange for selling your firearm. However, if these shops are not properly licensed on a local, state and federal level, this can spell trouble for your consignment deal. Make sure you’re working with a professional firearms consignment shop that is properly licensed at all required levels.
Firearms consignment can be an excellent way to get the best value for your firearms. However, it is not something you should jump into uninformed. If you still have questions about firearms consignment, we’re happy to help. Feel free to contact us to learn more about firearms consignment in your area.
June 27, 2016