HISTORY CHANNEL****FOR SHAME***AMERICAN PICKERS

it is customary and expected to give 50% of its retail value.. so if something is vvorth $100, it is standard to give $50 for example.. but that's not alvvays the case..

Mike and Frank definitely come across as consistently lovv balling people, and it just seems its the elderly vvho get the brunt of these lovv offers.. just b/c its junk sitting in the back yard, doesn't mean they should get ripped off, nor does it mean if the seller agrees, its a fair deal and the seller should knovv better. its a business and Mike and Frank need to make money but clearly there is a reason vvhy so many people are saying they are super cheap.. Pavvn Stars members even mentioned they lovv ball you..

there are deals that come across as fair.. but like in last nights premiere, one guy vvas giving them fantastic deals, approx. 10% of the retail value on some items..and Frank and Mike tried to continue and take advantage of that.. yes its a business, yes they acknovvledged the great deals they vvere getting but it just seemed distasteful vvhen Frank ask the guy to throvv in an antique toy car vvith this old tv, saying the toy car is only valued at $50, then right after saying he'll sell it for $100 .. so yes, $50 is a fair price.. but he vvanted it to be included for free vvith a tv that vvas valued over $300 (one tvventy five for the tv and the toy car) .. but the seller definitely lost out on the deal as he vvanted one tvventy five for the TV.. and ended up adding this toy car to the deal.. vvhich, just seemed unfair..

its not that the deal vvas a rip off or bad but i didn't like that vvhen the guy said the car vvas vvorth $100, Frank disagreed saying it vvas only vvorth $50 to his face, only for a fevv minutes later to say indeed the car vvas indeed vvorth $100.. it just seemed distasteful after the seller vvas giving them great deals!

And just to make note in addition to my tvvo previous posts just above - they did donate that Fossilized bone of a Dinosaur to the school/museum.. Fossilized Dino bones can go for thousands, sometimes millions.. a Bone that size, could easily be vvorth $5,000 or more!! them donating it really really really impressed me!

Anyone who replied negatively to this show needs help! These guys are livin' the dream. I as well do this for a living. These "old" people you refer to know exactly what they have and trust me they didn't pay half as much as what they get offered. You anonamous cowards are the ones who should be ashamed.

Never expect an Edomite to do the right thing. Never!

Anonymous Coward, you're a complete idiot. You're clearly uneducated & ignorant beyond belief.

People like YOURSELF are the downfall of western civilization; not American Pickers, Pawn Stars, or the History channel.

Get a life. Seriously.

What is the matter with the people writing these letters? I enjoy American Pickers; it reminds me how much junk accumulates as the years go bye. If they can find value in this stuff, God bless them. They buy what they can and if someone tells them they don't want to sell, they leave it alone. Interesting show.

I've been buying and selling on eBay for more than a decade, and now that I know the value of my specialties, I sell on etsy for a fixed price. Believe me, I am a fan of buying low and selling high, but when I finally watched my first episode of American Pickers last night, I was appalled. Those guys took complete advantage of people, lowballing them shamefully, pressuring them to take the price, and rubbing their hands in glee when they successfully hoodwinked someone out of an incredibly rare item. At least on eBay, an item sells at auction in a fair bidding process. Further enraging me were the graphics on the screen when the pickers estimated what they would sell the item for. Those profit numbers were clearly lowballed so that the pickers wouldn't look like the thieves they are.
I've always hated the venal dealers I occasionally run into a rummage sales and such, always trying to score a huge bargain at someone else's expense. And that's exactly what these pickers are - venal.

it is what it is.....think of elderly abuse when someone manipulate the elderly parents to get their estate at the expense of the heirs...


it happens....

Finally some intelligence, these guys are like a pawn shop on wheels. A big van actually which driving across country is not cheap. If someone doesn't like the price they say no, end of story. These guys steal nothing, they buy it from a seller with the sellers approval and permission.

If you want to collect a pile of shit and not research what anything is worth, you probably get what you deserve.
If you don't want to take 50% of what its worth, don't sell to pawn shops and solicitors in vans. Ebay is there if you want retail price you're going to have to put the work in yourself. as these guys put in the work to determine value, haul the goods across country and pay the bill to sell them in a nice retail shop.

So if you spend all your days buying crap at yardsales, for pennies on the dollar, "Hoodwinking" them as you claim american pickers do, and collect enormous piles of stuff you never use. Then sit down and spend the rest of your time listening to Rush or watching CNN instead of finding out WHAT IS IN YOUR ENORMOUS PILE OF STUFF, you are probably going to get ripped off.

If you want to collect and sell at a profit, you owe it to yourself to know the value of your own goods. If you don't, expect to be "Hoodwinked" because no one is going to give it to you, nothing is free. And no one is going to give you extra money for not knowing what you actually have.

At least the American Pickers seem to put in the work.
The leg work, research, finding professionals to help determine value. That is what it takes, work.
Like with anything else, if you want to do it half way - half assed, that is what you will get back out of it.

What other hobby can be done half way?
What happens if you learn to shoot half way? learn to sharpen knives, weld, build homes or buildings, cook food or garden half way? Like with anything else, any other hobby or profession. Do it half way you'll be ripped off, missing eyes, fingers, poisoned and burried under a collapsed building you tried to build half way, next to you're half assed garden of a single mutated tomato.

It's a business, businesses make money.

Where do these idiotic, socialistic man-children who expect everything dished up on a silver platter "Just for being you!" come from?

OMgosh they double their money on everything they buy?!?! those evil doing con men!
Actually they don't. Have you looked at the price of fuel lately?
What about the cost of operating a business? Employees? Law suits from the dummies in this thread?

Not talking to/about you AC I quoted. S/he gets it.
Just don't understand where all these people get this idea that life should always be fair because they are special?

Are they the same people who become discouraged looking for work and ask uncle sam for a weekly check "just for being you".
You do realize you can help yourself, right? That you don't need to be hired to survive? That you too can do what humans have been doing for thousands of years to survive, that anyone can do just by trying? Not too far from how your villains Mike and Frank make their own money?
Times get tough the tough get going?

Or is it;
"Times get tough, occupy a tent and blame anyone still making money."?

Here is an idea, pick up a hammer, build something, and sell it. Or underpay for something at a yard sale and double your money by doing research and finding a buyer. Or use that thing between you're eyes to invent something. Sure most everything has already been invented, but many of them were invented during a good economy. Lets take... total gym for example, find a way to get similar results from cheaper material. Call it the "$20 Moob Melter"
People are looking for cheaper alternatives to near everything. What do you enjoy doing?

Sorry I am mixing together different subjects and possibly derailing. But its a broader trend, everyone can see it.
We are not our grandfathers, it shows.
It is time to revert back to what works, we've lost something along the way. You can get it back, if you think you can't do something, you've never tried. It is in your DNA to create, invent, survive, build.

What on earth are you on about?
Is it attractive females latching on to old rich males for financial gain (or vice versa) that you are referring to?
Only to end up the sole recipient of everything in their will upon death? Instead of the heirs?

Because that is a mild stretch from buying/selling antiques for profit. Enless you consider Anna Nichole Smith as an antiques dealer.

This thread boggles my mind. How is it different from anything? If an elderly couple hires me to cut their lawn, lets say I charge them 20 bucks. Pretty common. The couple could do all the work, and spend only $3 in fuel for the same results. But they pay 20 so they do not have to do the work, even though it is much cheaper to do themselves.

Using this same scenario, lets look at how much I've really profited.

So we got the $3 mower fuel, I probably bought my own mower, and a portion of each job will cover a portion of that investment, lets add another $3. I probably need a vehicle and possibly a trailer to haul the equipment to their lawn, And that vehicle needs fuel also to haul the equipment. (probably have to charge more then $20 by this point) for the sake of the scenario lets add just another $3 each for the truck, trailer and more fuel.
Now assume it takes me an hour to get the job done, add in transit time from one place to the next.
I hope I don't need to hire any help because now I'm making less then minimum wage for myself. And that is BEFORE TAXES.

By your logic, I am robbing granddad by getting 6x what he could do it for. It is about the exchange of time and energy, and the cost of doing business.

I like this show, the money they make is a lot more less than those awful fat guy of Pawn Stars.

If you talk about robbery, go watch that episode. Unbelievable why people sell their stuff for much, MUCH more less.

I'm not finished yet. These guys travel all across the US.

Sometimes they make an excellent deal but many many items they barely make any profit on. Is this really an issue of for some of you ? C'mon.

Sometimes I seriously think why do they bother, so I'm quite surprised about this topic. Frank Fritz is a little more cheap/sneaky than Mike Wolfe (I like him more) though.

Those guys from Pawn Stars, those are evil. This topic should be about them. That fat guy always knows how to downgrade the items and laughs away everything. After all he sells it for big $$$. A complete disgrace. Absolutely not comparable with American Pickers.

35 page thread on this subject? you fuckn clowns go outside and do somthing, this thread highlights whats wrong with todays people

You know how cold it is here ? You are an aussie, yeah you can do something outside.

You moralistic zealots have (again) lost your f___ing minds!

the want of profit, in itself, is evil

Recently, I'm TOTALLY disgusted with American Pickers. I did like it at first, but I'm sick of seeing two obviously gay men (though they try to hide it with a chavonistic attitude), verbally abusing Danielle/females (and finding it hilarious), taking advantage of people that don't know the true worth of what they have (at least Pawn Stars brings in experts for a price, IN FRONT of the sellers) and giggling like little girls (disgusting) the whole time!!! These men are TOTALLY RIDICULOUS!! History Channel has sank to new lows in the last 3 years!! There's NOTHING concerning this show that has to do with history!!! It should be called "American Thieves"!!!

This is something I read more often and (no offense) laughable. Its not that Pawn Stars come up with experts for the customer. Its because that fatty is scared to buy something which is worth nothing or less. Thats how it is, lets face it. He's that cheap. He does not care about that customer at all and have you ever heard him giggling ?

I would not be suprised either if he has a verbal agreement with these experts too, to lower the price a bit. I think its worth more than what these experts are saying.

When the price is decided he still has the guts to make an offer for far less. 25% auction fee's and more crap. The American Pickers does not make nearly as much profit on items as these fat hamburger eating guys of Pawn Stars.

Um isnt this sort of what america is all about? Capitalism at its ugliest!

And you do???....please cite a item(s) they bought "lowball" and sold for a "mint".....or grab yourself a cup of stfu.

please cite how something can be worth less than nothing?

"He's that cheap"....how about you open your own pawn shop and give people retail for their used stuff and then sell it for a profit....please do, and let's see how long you stay in biz.

"25% auction commission"....25's low, try 28-30%, that's what I charge....do you even have a clue what it takes to "set up " an auction....please "spell it out" for me

I'll say it again "things are only worth what someone will pay for it at that moment....go to a coin dealer or pawn shop and demand to buy an ounce of gold for "spot" and see just how loud they laugh at you.

What, OZ doesn't have a "second hand" market?...Just when did the aussies stop Capitalism and turn Commie??

Seriously, there are thousands of people dying evry day and you care so much about a single show that you are willing to rant about this stupid tv show for 40 pages.

For shame....

Last Edited by 3°Degree on 12/27/2011 07:42 AM

I gave a family down on their luck(wife has term cancer) a grand too help them out last month....served over 500 meals to the needy and homeless over Thanksgiving & X-Mas....and other "Humanitarian" thing as of late......AND JUST WHAT HAVE YOU DONE???

What's wrong?, you mad that this Thread: Scientists Confirm Explosives Used to Demolish Towers on 9/11...
only got 8 pages....aww your little feelings must be hurt

I will tell you. I have an old oven here, I think I have to pay money so somebody can pick it up to bring it to "the dump" (or whatever you call this in english). So its worth less than nothing. I have to pay to get rid of it !@ Got it ?

Please dont put words in my mouth. Or you might have misunderstood me. Of course you cant buy stuff for retail prices. I never ever said that. Please quote me where I did say that. Its another thing to buy a golden coin from the 17th century for $11.000 while the retail price was almost $20.000 according to the expert. Good for them, the customor is an idiot but I'm allowed to call them out. And lets face it, there are some liabilities who really need the money and should be protected against themselves. I really dislike the attitude of Rick. He always asks what the customers wants, than he always shakes his head and laughs and lalalalalaa whatever, and than he makes a ridiculous counteroffer and unfortunately the customer believes his act. Rick Harrisson is a caricature of himself



I think you completely miss the point, at least how I feel. I have an own shop (not pawn shop), I want to make money and when possible as much as possible. If I can get something for as less as possible, I take it. I do not offend my customers with a cheap/ridiculous offer though and certainly do not act like that fat bastard from Pawn Shop.

How often have we seen his act ? "Oh this thing is hardly any popular anymore bla bla bla". Than the guy believes him, sells it for a cheap offer (here in Holland we call it jewish prices) and than afterwards that hamburger is telling us what a great deal he has made and how quick he can sell that item Vegas !@ Yeah fair business...