The honest answer is that it comes down to one thing: do you want the item back?
If you do, pawn it. You will get less — typically 40 to 65% of what we could resell it for — because we are carrying storage, insurance and the risk that gold drops before you return. But the item stays yours, and paying the ticket is the only step between you and getting it back.
If you do not want it back, sell it. Selling pays 20 to 35% more than the loan on the same piece, for the simple reason that we take on none of that risk. There is no ticket to keep track of and no date to remember.
When people genuinely cannot decide, we tell them to pawn it. You can always come back later and turn a live ticket into a sale. You cannot undo a sale.
