I am sure I will never make it as a copy editor:) but these were the words that came to mind reading a classified in the SH magazine.
A [tag]pawn shop[/tag] or individual offering its services to poor foreigners. A niche I never thought of before.
The only time I wandered into a pawn shop was in Bangkok. For some reason most of the pawn shops in Asia are run by [tag]Chinese[/tag] and they carry without exception a Chinese name and a localized version.
A little bit hesitant I noticed all sorts of rings, other jewelery, electronics etc. Even wedding rings had found their way, maybe left behind by divorcées or in exchange for supermarket money. Who knows. I didn’t stay long as it had a sad feel to it.
Fortunately I have had no need yet to exchange any valuables for some hard cash but in case you’re in that situation I delved in the online information world of pawnshops.
The offer of our “[tag]pawnshop[/tag]” classified seems rather excessive. 50% of the resale value should be the minimum you should be able to get. The term of 30 days is average. 90 days is the most often cited, at least in the United States where there is even a National Pawnshop organization.
Incidentally, in the first “new” classified section of SH, the very knowledgeable Mr. Know-It-All answers a question about pawn shops.
There is a pawn shop chain called “Oriental Pawn”. I gave them a call using the example of the question for Mr. Know-It-All and this is what they told me.
You’ll need to bring
- the receipt (fapiao)
- warranty (if available)
- your id card (passport)
- The item you want to pawn
They will
- Set the current value of the item, probably less than you expect.
- Give you 100% of said current value
- Tell you, you’ll have a month to come back and pay 4.62% interest
The 1 month is especially for appliances as they decrease in value fast. Some items can be pawned for a longer period. The interest will add up though.
Oriental Pawn, Address: 381 Xietu Lu, Mengzi Lu, [tag]Shanghai[/tag], Tel: 63055888
As an alternative you can of course always advertise your stuff on eBay or other online auction websites or just place an ad in the expat magazines. It may end up next to the one of our classified pawn shop.
Read more about pawn shops here, in case you’re interested.