How do you shop for top camera gear at a pawn shop - and get great deals?
   You can either start at the pawn shop’s business and business model or with a specific item in mind - but the end result is the same:
   1) Pawn shops - even of major chains - have a rather-typical method of deciding how much to lend on an item or buy it for: usually eBay to see what the item sells for used.  Adorama and other deep-discount photo distributors with used-gear divisions are beyond their mindset - as they see eBay as their real competitor if a loan defaults or anything they bought is to be sold.
   2) Evaluate the item carefully before buying - as usually it is a cash sale with no return.  Major pawn chains now only take cash or debit cards - not credit cards, which offer recourse for buyers - for this reason.
It is far easier to evaluate something you yourself forfeited to the pawn shop when you were much worse off!
   3) Upper-end items are much likelier to have stood up before the pawn shop got them than low-price knockoffs or worse.  Regardless of the pawn shop’s own practices, anyone with a $2,000 Canon “L” zoom lens handled it a lot more carefully before losing it to the pawn shop or selling it to them than someone with a bottom-end camera.
   4) Shop the case at the pawn shop that their pricier camera gear is kept in - at least weekly.
   5) Finally, you need to know the “market” used price on any item you’re considering before buying from the pawn shop - or especially to negotiate with it!  Shop the used-gear division of Adorama or even see what the item goes for on eBay - and you know what a good price is on that item.