I talked to this guy in 1998 about second-hand goods, and at one point
he said that pawnbrokers have a policy of buying goods at 20% of
retail value, and selling them at 80% of retail.

Is that true, and if not, what are the typical percentages?

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Clarification of Question by markabe-ga on 14 Jul 2003 02:07 PDT

Please note that I'm not referring to borrowers who leave their goods
at the pawnbroker as collateral; I'm only referring to people who sell
their goods to the pawnbroker.

Here's a mention of the 20% figure:

"Borrowers bring in items such as cameras and sockets and leave them
at the pawnshop in exchange for a fraction of the money that the items
are worth.

Typically Butler gives 20 cents on the dollar. If the borrower returns
within 90 days to pay off his loan, he gets his item back. If not, it
becomes the property of Hawker's Locker.

People fail to return for their items about one-third of the time, the
younger Butler said."

http://www.multnomah.edu/voice/0203/0203feature3.html