I have always heard it in movies but they move on too fast for me to process it.
In: Other
Theres 100 penies in a dollar. A percent, per-cent, centile, per 100. Its saying its a percentage or fraction of full cost
It means a tiny fraction of its actual value. If you’re selling something worth $100 and I give you $5 for it, that’s 5 pennies on the dollar.
TL;DR: Means “sell/buy something for a tiny fraction of its ‘true’ value.”
Imagine you are a thief. You stole a thing that is worth good money. Say, a diamond ring, 14k gold, big fancy diamond. *Easily* worth $3000.
But you *stole* it: it’s a hot item, and real distinctive. Engraving, fancy patterns, heart-shaped stone, the works. Distinctive is bad. You gotta sell, *yesterday.*
You *could* wait, sell it for thousands…but you don’t have that kind of time. So you sell at $270 to a fence. Fence can work more slowly, and pockets the (huge) difference. You sold for “pennies on the dollar” because you made only 9¢ per $1 it’s “really” worth.
Buyers love this, of course. E.g. say a game company goes under and has to sell its IP to pay off debts. Buyers can nab expensive, popular IP “for pennies on the dollar”, as the ex-company’s need for liquid assets outweighs its desire to get full price for the sale.
I have a painting that is worth $3 million. I owe a loanshark a bunch of money but don’t have the cash just the painting. A friend says he will give me the $50k I owe to the loan shark for the painting. I take it for pennies on the dollar because I am desperate.
Let’s say you are selling your house worth one million. Someone offers to buy it for 100k. They are offering it to you at a ratio of one penny per dollar.
To buy or sell something at a small percentage of the expected value (usually less that 5 percent). For every “dollar” you would expect, you’re instead paying/getting a few pennies.
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