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How do you find a top rated pawn shop in your area? Nothing is worse than driving all over the Inland Empire just to find a bunch of run-down stores with poor service. There are ways to eliminate all of the bad eggs right from the comfort of your home. After you’ve narrowed down your choices to a decent few, it also helps to know exactly what makes a pawn shop worthy of being considered top rated.

Narrow Your Search Right at Home

Before you grab the car keys and start visiting every single pawn shop in Upland, Ontario, and Pomona, take a moment to do a bit of research online. It’ll save you so much time and it’ll save you the disappointment of running into a bunch of trips that are hardly worth your time.

Search Up Local Shops

A simple “pawn shops near me” online search is a great start in finding all of the stores within a comfortable distance, but the real treasure is in the reviews. Pull up the online reviews for pawn shops close by and use other people’s experiences to gauge how well off a business is doing. Of course, the more positive reviews the better. Having a great amount of posts is also a good way to tell how long a business has been in the area and how well they handle their customers. Studies show that people are more likely to leave bad reviews than good ones because negative experiences tend to linger in our thoughts more. Keeping this in mind, you can imagine how impactful a pawn shop’s service is for someone to actually leave a good review.

Check Their Online Inventory

If there’s a certain type of item that you want to buy or sell in Upland, like trading cards or power tools, it can be frustrating to walk into a pawn shop to find that they only specialize in jewelry or firearms. Many of the more successful and dedicated pawn shops around the Inland Empire upkeep an online store as well as their physical one which makes it easy to see if they have the item you’re looking for or if they’re likely to take your own item. This is also a great way to see how well they’re doing as a business. For example, having thousands of product listings online most likely means that they get enough traffic in order to stock their inventory to be as vast as it is.

Call Ahead

If you found a pawn shop with lots of positive reviews and a vast online store in Upland, the next thing to do is test their customer service. Calling a shop ahead of time will let you see how friendly and helpful they are over the phone, and that attitude will likely be even better in person. A few helpful questions you can ask them include:

  • What are your hours?
  • What days are you open?
  • Where are you located?
  • Do you sell [insert item]?
  • Can I sell [insert item] at your store?
  • How long does it take to get a loan?

The staff should be able to answer all of these questions easily, and you can use this small conversation to see if you sense any negative vibes from the person you’re speaking with. Consider this the final test of your at-home search.

Qualities of a Top Rated Shop

You’ve done everything you can do to narrow your search at home, but there are some things that you can only determine in person. Before you go to a pawn shop in the Inland Empire, you should educate yourself on what exactly makes a pawn shop good enough to be a top rated one.

Fast and Easy Transactions

Flexible pawn shops work at your convenience, not theirs. You shouldn’t need to make an appointment or get on a waitlist just to take out a cash loan on an item. Additionally, pawn loans shouldn’t be anywhere near as excessive as a regular loan in terms of paperwork and qualifications. It should be as easy as walking in with your item, negotiating a price, and walking out with your new cash. That’s the beauty of pawn shops, and any shop that takes up your entire day should rethink their process.

Compassionate Pawn Brokers

Yes, compassionate pawn brokers exist. No, not all of them are out to get your entire bank account. Successful pawn shops in Upland are staffed with people who understand why you are coming to them in the first place. They’ll hear your story and do their best to work with what you have, and they’ll always be open to fair negotiations. Speaking of which, it also helps to know how to negotiate at a pawn shop in order to get the best deals.

Realistic Loan Terms

While sleazy pawn brokers will give you hard-to-achieve loan terms in the hopes that you won’t be able to pay it back and thus keep your collateral item, pawn shops with a better reputation in Upland, Ontario, and Pomona are known for being generous to their customers. They’ll give you a good few months to pay off your loan which is a decent amount of time to get things back on track, and they’ll offer you a fair APR based on your situation. Seasoned brokers want you to come back which is why they’re more than happy to treat you right.

Fair Pawn Loan Term Example
  • Loan amount: $2,500
  • Loan period: 4 months
  • APR: 24.12%
  • Total interest paid: $201

If for whatever reason you find out later on that you can’t meet these terms (it’s ok, life happens), don’t be afraid to go to your broker and ask for a loan extension. After hearing your story, many pawn brokers will be understanding of your situation and help you out. That’s just another perk of going to a top rated pawn shop in Upland!

The Best Pawn Shop In the Inland Empire

If you’re looking for a top rated pawn shop in Upland, Ontario, or Pomona, Central Mega Pawn has everything you need with the best service in all of the Inland Empire! Come visit any day of the week or call ahead at 909-627-9622 to speak with the friendly staff.