[Gene Temple]

One Saturday the wife and I went to every pawn shop in town and on another occasion in VA Beach did the same excursion with my son. What I found is, they don't have anything! Mostly stuff you don't want. Anybody have any decent places to find cameras and lens? I was expecting to see some TLR's and the like.........it was so dissapointing.

[TaoMaas]

Welcome to the wonderful world of pawnshops in the Ebay era! I've frequented pawnshops for the last 35 years or so and things definitely went downhill once Ebay and Craigslist became popular. I think people tend to sell their stuff online rather than pawning what they have. And even if a good deal on a camera DOES show up in a pawnshop, it won't be there long. Some guy who is looking to buy stuff cheap, then turn it for a profit online, will snatch up that bargain before you even knew it existed. That said...it's still possible to find good deals in a pawnshop. The trick is to stop by on a regular basis. I have about 4 or 5 that I try to hit at least once a week.

[forensicscientist]

The key to finding the good stuff is to ask what they have coming out on the floor in the coming days. You see, pawn stores can't sell the stuff until the pawn period ends. Until then, the customer can still return and claim their stuff for some period of time. 30 days, maybe 6 months...whatever. So while you are there, you ask the clerk, what they have coming out next week....if you've made a friend in the store, they'll tell ya to return next thursday....we have a "blah-blah-blah" that will be available. You show up promptly when they open, and out you walk with your "find".

[Ratmagiclady]

This seems to be the way, really. A local place I recently made some scores at was initially actually pretty good, in some ways, though I think in part they've just gotten out of the cameras area. Or someone else has 'discovered' them.

[Lloydy]

When I started to haunt one of the local pawn shops I would chat to the owner and give him some advice if I knew about a particular lens or camera that he knew nothing about, and even phoned him back after a visit with some information for him.

Now he calls me when anything Pentax arrives.

[alohadave]

The trick is to stop by on a regular basis.

Same thing goes for yard sales. My wife is a fanatic and she drags me along pretty much every weekend during the open season. You have to do a lot of trawling to find the big fish, and a lot of time it's luck.

I've found some nice bargains, but I've also found many people who check eBay first to set their prices.

The best ones to buy from are the little old ladies who are clearing out their attics or garages.