Homestead Trading Post

About Our Customer

Homestead Trading Post is a full-service pawn shop in Homestead, Florida that specializes in firearms and jewelry. Recently, Homestead Trading Post made the switch to Bravo for their in-store management after feeling disappointed by lackluster features and broken promises from PawnMaster.

Making The Switch From PawnMaster

Store manager, Leo Ponarski, explains:

“PawnMaster didn’t do what they said they were going to do within their system. For instance, they said I would be getting [cloud-based solutions app] Ignite within 3 months. A year and a half later, I had to call them to complain that I hadn’t received it yet.”

After waiting and waiting for PawnMaster Ignite, Homestead finally implemented.

“I used it for 30 days, and it was just a mess. They had two ways of closing a register. They promised a list of features that turned out not to actually be available. Reporting from the accounting side never matched. Nothing worked the way it was supposed to. I felt like a Guinea Pig. It was a disaster. I even called technical support, and the techs had no idea what I was talking about. By far, the worst experience in the whole pawn industry.”

Experiencing Success With Bravo

Ponarski originally saw Bravo in action at another store and liked it right away.

“Bravo is much more modern, and user-friendly.”

Since migrating his operations to Bravo, Ponarski says Homestead’s business has been positively impacted in a number of crucial ways.

“The Estimator is great. It’s so easy. You just enter a model number, and it pops right up. From there, you can get a quick idea of fair market value, as well as suggested sale price. The Dashboard tells me where inventory items are in the process at any given moment. It’s much easier to stay on top of things, since now I have a better idea on areas where I might be falling behind. And I can approve purchases right from the mobile app. Not to mention that our loan balance has increased by 16%.”

Advice to Fellow Pawnbrokers

"Don’t get lured into PawnMaster’s promises of cutting Bravo’s price in half. Bravo is well worth the price. You get way beyond what you pay for. Plus, Bravo is really responsive when it comes to listening to their customers. Personally, I’m way less stressed with Bravo than I was on Ignite. Within the first month, I felt like I was back to running the business rather than it running me. I can even take weekends off now!”

Less stress, better processes, a boosted bottom line, and even more personal time? Leo Ponarski is seeing all of it become a reality since upgrading to Bravo.

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