Browsing around online and instore I never really see anything worth buying, especially when it comes to electronics. Prices are generally a little lower than RRP but that should be expected for second hand goods.
Who are they really selling the stock to?
Cash Converters makes most of its money on lending rather than sale of second hand goods. I imagine quite a few of the shop items were collateral for loans and never paid off.
Have I ever found a bargain? No. Most stock is priced sky high.
They have counterfeit products too. Last time I had a look I found a bag of Chinese early 20th century coins that should all have been silver. Selling price was $200. Every single coin was a $1 fake off AliExpress. Did the store know? Unknown. The same store also had a common date Australian penny in average conditon for $40. It's barely worth a dollar.
I've found plenty of bargains over the years, but they're few and far between.
I bought a road bike from my local cash converters a couple of years ago. It was a Merida something. It had a flat tyre, so they gave it to me for $20. I replaced the tire and sold it for $170
they gave it to me for $20. I replaced the tire and sold it for $170
Profit Converter
Sometimes you can find a bargain that someone didn't do their research on and mispriced. Other times you can negotiate them down, buying multiple items helps here.
PSP firmware 1.50
I once saw a guitar in CC that was mispriced (although it was a confusing model line so could see why). Sold it easily for a $300 profit
Their guitars are usually overpriced
I've got heaps of bargains from CC. Not so much now that most small pawn shops are no longer around.
The trick with CC is to always negotiate to around 60% of their asking price
Is that really possible? I find most of them to not budge beyond maybe a $15 discount…
Did the item cost $37.50 to start with?
they give sellers of items 30% of the item value.
Sold them a couple of items in past. Was given only 30% of their cashies selling price. So even at 60% off they make 10% generally.
One item I got from Cash Converters many years ago was a thing labled an Air Pump. It was actually a very expensive Hydraulic Pump valued at about ten times what I paid.
Never found a bargain from Cash converters but I have found some at other pawnbrokers, few and far between
Yes I got my cordless drill without a battery (already have the battery) for $15, it retails for $90.
Went in with my battery, tested it, worked, purchased, done.
My best CC deal was pairs of Dali Zensor 5, Zensor 1 speakers and a Zensor Vokal speaker for $440 all up.
Yep and was one of the best bargains. It was a HF Radio and we got it for $400 no warranty. It was in the amplifiers section. After we bought it, we told them what it was and that it if we were to resell it on eBay right now, would go for $1,000.
My Dad tuned it up and had that radio for years!
This would've been 15 years ago I reckon. We still reminisce on that story!
gold chain link necklace for my sons 18th. He's now 23 and the chain has 10X
If they're selling it at a low price it means whoever they bought it off sold it to them at a very low price.
Which either means the person selling it needs the cash to pay their dealer outside (or something equally as desperate) or the seller doesn't even know what it is (stolen or estate item they wanted to turn into cash without going through an auction house or online sale). Either way, likely to be very uncommon to happen.
I've seen the odd thing really cheap, but it happens less and less. I used to buy the odd game really cheap but it's too easy to check the prices on games these days. Same with electronics. I bought a really cheap guitar once too, but like an above post it wasn't clearly identifiable as to what the value was (70s guitar)
Never not even close to a bargain as pawn shops
have found a few decent deals at savers
From Cash Converters
A great source for second hand musical instruments if you know what to look out for.
Some of the absolute bargains:
A Soprano Sax in excellent condition for an awesome price. Top quality professional level brand. Just needed to be recorked and it was good to go. (Still about 1/4 price of what a new one would have cost).
A trombone, had a slight bend in the slide which didn't cause any significant compromise. Perfectly fine for a beginner until they decided if they would continue learning. Significantly cheaper than otherwise renting or new.
A trumpet: excellent for a beginner as above
A C# harmonica - about $300 cheaper than a new one but in pristine as new professional playing condition, good brand and sound.
Accoustic Guitars : I purchase many acoustic guitars to refurbish to donate to a music program for disadvantaged and/or disengaged youth. Frequently find decent candidates for as little as $5 - but always plenty around for under $50 that don't need too much work or money (if any), to get up to scratch.
Another OP shop - 8kg of Lego for $50 - mainly SW, Indiana Jones, and superheros with many minifigs.