FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions
A Pawn (loan) is basically a collateral loan. You bring in an item(s) of value. We determine the possible loan value of the item(s) and you exchage that for CASH! From there you have 30 days to redeem your item(s) by paying the loaned amount plus the service charge, or you can extend the loan by paying just the service charge and extending the loan an additional 30 days.
The loan period is for 30 days, however at SAMS PAWN SHOP, we offer a 30 day paid extension meaning we can hold your item an additional 30 days without pay before you would forfeit your item. This grace period is paid by the customer upon payoff. So if the holding fee is $10 per month and you choose to use the 30 grace period extension, your fee would be $20 for the 60 days you used. Also, as long as you are paying the service fees every month, you may leave your items in pawn for as long as you need to.
The forfeit date is the date we could put the item out for sale. This means that if your item(s) can be put out for sale if they have not been paid on and we have not been contacted by you within the 60 day total grace period.
All “In Pawn” items are stored in the back room, out of sight from the general public.
ALL TYPES! Jewelry (broken or not), Gold (coins, jewelry, etc), Silver (Coins and Flatware), Guns, Tools, Electronics, Music Equipment and Instruments, Hunting/Fishing Equipment, Archery, Car Audio Speakers, Antiques, Unique items, etc…The sky’s the limit… If we have room, and can agree on a price, we’ll look at ANYTHING! At SAMS PAWN, we strive to think outside the box for ways to loan you money and find value where others may not!
Anything that we will pawn, we will sell. In addition to that we stock several NEW items such as firearms, drum sets, guitars, sterling silver jewelry, electronics, etc.
The monthly finance is as follows:
- Merchandise Under $500 is 20% (3% Interest + 17% Storage)
- Merchandise $500-$1499 is 16.6% (3% Interest + 13.6% Storage)
- Merchandise $1500-$4999 is 12.5% (3% Interest + 9.5% Storage
- Merchandise Over $5000 is 5% (3% Interest + 2% Storage)
We use several factors when valuing your items such as: condition, resale value, having/not having all parts, market trends, our inventory, customer payback history, customer needs, seasonal, and more…with the internet more and more relevant, we combine that with over 25 years experience to treat EACH item, customer, and loan opportunity on an INDIVIDUAL basis.
With more than 40 years of jewelry buying & selling experience, we look at each piece on an individual basis. Market value, scrap vs sellable, quality, designer, resale value & trends are what we consider when pricing your gold and jewelry. We pay MORE than scrap price for sellable jewelry! Appraisals, while great for insurance purposes, don’t always translate into loan or market value, however we typically loan and buy at a higher rate than the industry standards.
While it does happen occasionally…under 1% of our merchandise actually turns up as “stolen” merchandise. In the grand picture, that is a SMALL percentage. At SAMS PAWN, we take certain precautions (as well as some state and county regulations) in order to prevent continuous illegal transactions. We turn copies of all pawns/purchases in to Madison County Police as well as Alton Police EVERY day. State regulations require us to hold pawned items in store for 2 days, and purchased items for 10 days before releasing them for sale or back to owners in order to check for theft. We, as a store, block customers who are found to have stolen items from ANY future transactions so as not to have repeated offenses! What people don’t realize is that we lose out on the money paid AND the merchandise when items come up as stolen. At SAMS, we work closely with all victims and law enforcement in order to assist in any way with suspected stolen merchandise!
At SAMS PAWN, your merchandise is treated as if it is our own! First, because it may be necessary to recoup our money, we don’t want to have any trouble selling any lost items. Second, any and all merchandise that requires passwords, personal accounts such as tablets, laptops, and game systems are reset to factory settings prior to resale as to not allow new owners to access personal and private information. Your merchandise is safe with us! We have worked hard for years to establish that trust!
At SAMS PAWN, we have years of customer transaction records which allows for quick and timely pawns/re-pawns, however, making sure you have all necessary cords, parts, passwords, chargers, as well as items that require charging being fully charged definitely helps speed up the process!
While it is a common misconception in the Pawn Industry, and some shops may treat it as such, we do NOT want to have to sell your merchandise. Resale is NOT our goal…it is a last resort! At SAMS PAWN, our first goal is to loan you as much as possible for your merchandise. Our second goal is to work with you to get that merchandise back! We offer payback plans, flexible hold periods, principle payments to lower interest, automatic extensions based on customer history, and do our best to give customers every opportunity to reclaim their property. Our Customers are not just a date or dollar amount…and our flexibility is the main way we can prove that!
We are family owned and operated and our customers are treated like family. We offer the BEST customer service, honest opinions and values and strive to get you the MOST MONEY FOR YOUR MERCHADISE! We have the largest variety of merchadise for sale and on most items, NO ONE PAYS FULL PRICE! We work with our customers to make sure they have the best pawn experience, purchase experience, and overall best quality pawn shop experience around by offering grace periods, no prepayment penalties, no hidden fees, principal payments allowed on up-to-date loans, 90 day LAYAWAY on purchases, test all merchadise on sales, and offer 30 day warranty on ALL ELECTRONICS PURCHASES. No other pawn shop offers all of that to their customers. Basically, if you work with us, we’ll work with you.