Pawn Shops are typically a great place to go for home audio equipment and personal electronics like gaming systems and laptops. But do they accept graphing calculators used for school classes? In my experience, the answer is often times yes. If you live in a town with only hundreds or a few thousand people the local pawn shop may not have a market thus not accept graphing calculators. But if you live in a college town or a bigger city, you will find most stores will happily provide a loan or offer an amount to purchase your calculator. Pawnderosa Pawn Shop in Little Rock, Ar for example, is close to University Avenue and is just a couple blocks away from the college UALR and does plenty of business with graphing calculators. Calculators are
frequently bought and sold as a new semester begins or ends. A calculator is a smaller item that is actually worth a decent amount of money which makes it ideal for pawn shops. If you have ever had a kid in high school or college, you probably understand how much these graphing calculators cost new.
What Types of Calculators Do Pawn Shops Accept?
Texas Instruments and Casio are the two most popular brands. The most common calculator you will likely see in a pawn sh
op is the TI 84+. The base model TI 84+ can be used to take college entrance tests like the ACT or SAT and are one of the go to items as far as school calculators go. These calculators can cost anywhere between $110 - $130 new depending on where you purchase. Buying at a pawn shop, these calculators are often discounted between 20% - 40% off what you could find them for new. When buying used, just check to make sure the calculator works and understand the return policy. These are for the most part reliable items that should last a long time. Casio has a few good options which are cheaper and you can find new for as low as
$40. Just be careful and look at the school checklist because they may require a model like the TI 84+ because it is easier to teach a full class with one type of calculator. Buying a Casio calculator can be more difficult to find used in pawn shops because it is cheaper and there is not as much demand. Although, it never hurts to try, and I would recommend to call check before going in store. Now if you have a graphing calculator that isn't Casio or Texas Instrument
s, it is going to be much more difficult to find a pawn shop that will accept your item. If you have an off brand calculator in the $10 - $30 range, you may be better of trying to sell online through a service like the Facebook Marketplace. But again you never know, so calling the pawn shop near you never hurts.
Remember graphing calculators are reli
able items that have a pretty good resell value, so these are often times great items to take to pawn shops. If you have the manual book bring it, because this may be a deciding factor for a store to accept the item. The pawn shop you take the calculator to will almost always test the item thoroughly to ensure working condition. Have fun going to your local pawn shop to sell a school calculator or buy one at a discount price that will ultimately make your school requirements more affordable!