When you go to a pawn shop you have the option of selling or pawning your jewelry and other valuables to us. We always try to offer our clients the maximum we can for their property. Customers often ask is it better to pawn or sell at a pawn shop? The answer is, it depends.

If you are looking for a pawn shop in Ventura County, please contact us at Mills Jewelers & Loan. We have been in Camarillo, California for over 30 years. There is no more trusted resource for fair and honest prices on your valuable jewelry and other goods.

You have two options if you need money quickly and want to exchange your personal property, mainly jewelry, for cash. You can sell us your property or, you can pawn your property with us. Not sure what it means to pawn your property, check out my pawn and loan web page. But the quick summary is that we will give you a short-term loan of 120 days and in exchange, you give us your property to hold. If you pick it up within the time frame, you get it back. If you don’t, we keep it.

So, is it better to pawn or sell at a pawn shop?

Again, it depends. The question for you is: what is your goal in selling or pawning your property? A case can be made for both options.

In both cases, you can get immediate access to cash. We will evaluate your jewelry and other property on the spot and try to come up with a valuation of the property. If it’s jewelry, we will have an answer immediately. If it’s other property, it may take a while longer if we are able to make an offer at all.

If we do establish a value, we can offer to buy your jewelry, or you can pawn it. How much we offer will depend on a wide variety of factors.

The question to ask yourself is:

• Do you want the option of recovering your property within a reasonable amount of time? If the answer is yes, then you will want to pawn your property. For more information about what you can expect when you pawn your property, see my blog. In addition, it is likely that I can offer you more money if you pawn your property.
• If you have no attachment to the property and you simply want cash immediately, then you will want to sell your property.

Camarillo has a large population of older adults. As such, it is not unusual for these folks to bring an entire estate of jewelry into my shop looking to sell it.

However, many of these same people bring us jewelry that they have a very sentimental attachment to. These folks do not want to sell their parents’ or grandparents’ items and as a result, choose to pawn these items.

Can I get more money if I pawn or sell my property?

It’s really just a matter of financial risk. The risk I take as the pawnbroker is lower in a pawn situation. I am not speculating in this situation how much I can resell the property for (at least not as much as I am when I purchase property).

However, if you sell me the property, I know I’m going to likely get my money back. With regard to pawns, I’m thinking of what can I loan you on the property and still protect myself if you don’t return to my pawn shop to pick the property up.

Protection if you sell your property

If you do sell me the property, you actually do have a little protection, In California, a new law went into effect on January 1, 2019 that protects sellers in this situation.

Pursuant to this law, a pawn shop is prohibited from selling an item it purchases until 5 business days pass after the sale is made. This does not apply to firearms however which have a 30 day hold period.

Whatever you decide to do, whether you pawn or sell at a pawn shop, rest assured that Mills Jewelers & Loan will provide you the best offer we can. It’s a no lose proposition.