I think that some of them are hot. Particularly the newer, quality, ones. But I think the older tools are probably from when someone's grandfather passed away, and the yuppie grandkids have no idea what to do with them (not that I know what to do with them either). That also goes for old woodworking hand tools. You can find some wonderful tools, that just need a bit of re-furbishing.

Eric in Japan

Thanks, Eric.

I guess I got the 'stolen-goods' notion from the fact that I couldn't imagine quality and sometimes also sophisticated mechanic's tools being pawned by somebody competent enough to own those tools.

I could imagine second-hand store proprietors attending bankruptcy autions, or buying estate goods. But pawn-shop stuff is supposedly the result of someone coming in for quick cash.

J.

I personally are not fond of pawn shops. I think they tend to take advantage of people. I don't mean in every case... just in general. The people who sell these items to pawn shops are quite often desperate and get very little from what they sell... Not to mention that, yes, the items always have the possiblilty of having been stolen. The first thing most folks around here do after a theft, is check all the pawn shops. That can happen on ebay as well of course, but pawn shops are faster and more convienient for most theives.

I also think that in the case of items that are held until the owner buys them back are sold back at a greatly increased price. I know they have to make some profit, I just don't agree with this practice.

But then, I also feel rather badly towards rental places that sell/rent household items at greatly inflated prices that are up to 3 or 4 times the real cost. I feel these people take advantage of people with little money, give them pretty poor merchandise (have you seen how poor the quality of furniture usually is?)and basically rip them off.

I don't frequent either type of store.

We generally find excellent tools at local auctions (the ones held at peoples homes), at garage sales, and online. The rest we buy new. In fact, most of our tools were bought at an auction from the guy we bought our property from. We got things like a drill press, two industrial size welders, a huge air compressor, a WALL of hammers and many other great items at REALLY low prices. He even had a thing that machined custom parts... but we had spent a lot and had no real need for it... so we let it go. I just wish he had had a tractor we could have bought. Still looking for a good one we can afford. sigh.

We have gotten great deals on tools at estate sales and auctions, where someone has died and the kids are getting rid of all of the junk. It is true that you can get some great deals at pawn shops, but there's a very good chance that the item is there because of some other poor soul's desperation. Whether the item is stolen, or someone is pawning their own possessions because they're desperate for money, neither situation really makes for good karma, in my opinion.

So many here with no work, the shops aren't loaning money on tools anymore.