the trials of selling photo equipment

[Endeavour]

I've sold off most of my canon kit now, with just a couple of lenses I'm trying to shift.

overall the process has not been an enjoyable one, right from the start its been little pockets of pain and hassle which I never have the time for.

I tried selling one lens on ebay, 1st buyer (buy it now) turned out to be a scam who tried to get me to email my paypal details - thus circumventing ebays protections and leaving me open to shipping the lens and having the payment withdrawn.
I thought about selling on here or getdpi etc - but that could leave me open to paypal hassles (and fees) - only with international shipping thrown in to the mix

Then I tried using the free online resources like kijiji which for the most part worked well, until you have to deal with kids who just email "will u take $500 cash? lemme know asap" for a $1500 bit of kit. then hound you with poorly written messages, getting upset when you dont respond within 5 mins (because I'm at work rather than a student )

then you arrange to meet someone to take a look, picking somewhere like starbucks and you wait for a while before realising they dont show up.

and add to this the constant back and forth of "well that lens is a couple of years old now, you should offer a lower price" - how do you explain that quality L glass doesnt lose much money just because of age, if its been looked after well.

sorry, for the mild rant, just letting off steam

[Colorado David]

I've never changed systems, but as I upgrade to newer Nikon gear, I've never considered selling anything. Probably at least partly due to the reasons you state above. I used to trade gear in at a local camera shop, but they've stopped carrying Nikon. I have donated some to non-profits who were never going to pay for my services anyway. I've bought some things here and from eBay and had good experiences.

[Endeavour]

I think this is why photography is great for students and retired peeps - they have a lot more time to deal with this stuff

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

I just recently sold off all of my Canon kit except for one lens.
Wary of Ebay, I posted on LuLa's For Sale thread and quite soon sold off to three separate buyers with no problems.

Some years back, when I was just getting into digital, I advertised my Mamiya 6 on our local Craigs List and got a buyer (serious photographer). I specified cash, and we met at a public place where she could look over the camera, and satisfied, she paid cash. We were both fairly prompt at the meeting site.

Prior to that I have mostly sold my old gear to the local camera store.

Selling gear is a hassle, but I guess I've been lucky. Most often I run my gear into the ground so that there is nothing worth selling.

My last remaining major item is a nice 4x5 Beseler enlarger, which I'm hoping to find a non-profit (school, etc.) that I can donate it to for a tax deduction.

[petermfiore]

I think I have every bit of kit that I have ever bought...and is just fifty years worth.

I got to think about that?

Peter

[Endeavour]

I think I have every bit of kit that I have ever bought...and is just fifty years worth.

I got to think about that?

Peter

I have a lot of expensive hobbies, when I moved to medium format professionally I made the decision to fund the switch from the sale of my 35mm kit.

[petermfiore]

I have a lot of expensive hobbies, when I moved to medium format professionally I made the decision to fund the switch from the sale of my 35mm kit.

I would personally give up the sailboats...LOL

Peter

[Endeavour]

I would personally give up the sailboats...LOL

Peter

what's that saying? if it flies, floats or f***s  - rent it



cars are my downfall.

[AlterEgo]

then you arrange to meet someone to take a look, picking somewhere like starbucks and you wait for a while before realising they dont show up.

when I sold off my previous system, mostly through craigslist except 2 items that were sold through Amazon, I simply specified that buyers have to come to my office (my day job) between 10 AM and 4 PM EST and that's it - not starbucks mess... along the process (it took me several month as I am far away from major metropolitan areas) I actually run into a 2 non local people who were willing and did send me money orders (not checks) to cash first and ship the gear to them later... with eBay/PayPal I am done after the dispute where I have to use my credit card to file a complaint against them and get money back once eBay/PayPal (as usual) resolved the dispute in favor of a buyer ... they naturally closed my account and I opened it again under a different name - but now I only buy, I do not (and never will) sell there

[Rob C]

I've also stopped getting rid of stuff. But that's balanced by buying only what I think I really can use to advantage. A pension makes you think.

I've not sold camera stuff to individuals; I either traded in at my local dealer - long gone - or not at all. I really believe in building up relationships with brick 'n' mortar places; I was about to buy an external HD from the web this morning and decided the hell with it, I'll go local and help the guy keep open, which is ultimately to my own benefit when I need more computer stuff, which computers make an inevitable part of life.

I'm currently transferring files from one old HD to the new one... what a mind bending bore!

Rob C

[Redcrown]

Consider selling to reputable camera brokers, like KEH. You get 60% to 70% of the best "retail" price you might get via direct sale on Ebay, Craigslist, etc.

I've sold to KEH many times. I'm honest with the condition rating, they are honest with the on-line quote. No hassle, quick and painless. Once they even said the condition was better than I claimed and paid a bit more than the quote.

So maybe I get $325 for a "$500" lens. I lose $175, but I avoid 50 offensive e-mails, 2 Starbucks no-shows, and a lot of risk.

[MattBurt]

I've had good luck with KEH but have also done relatively well with eBay. eBay has its challenges but it can be nice to see a bidding war erupt on an item you are selling. If anyone ever wants to take it outside eBay I just tell them no or ignore them. You can also set up criteria in your eBay profile to filter out people who do not have good feedback from even being able to bid on your stuff. That has helped a lot because people with good feedback want to keep it that way and won't try that scammy stuff. 

[TomFrerichs]

I haven't sold a lot of gear although I've given some of it away (soon, I hope, the Besseler 23c will be gone), and the stuff that I have sold has been to friends.  My local brick & mortar store doesn't buy that much used gear.

To be honest, selling stuff to strangers scares the heck out of me.  It looks like way too much work.

Of course, I don't have _everything_ that I've ever had, unlike some people (petermfiore comes to mind - grin), but I do have leftovers still hanging around. This is kind of handy when I'm not able to leave the house to photograph.  I can do a silly still life in the garage.

Tom

[Endeavour]

I'm always going to have some old stuff kicking around which is mostly useless to me, like remote releases etc  but these last two items can cover 50% of a used lens for my Hasselblad

a 70-200mm f4L IS & 17-40mm L - both mint and boxed. 

As I dont have any canon bodies anymore, there is little point in keeping them

[webrunner5]

I have had really good luck selling gear on Amazon. Just like ebay they take a good bit of your money and takes like 3 weeks to get your money, but I think they have more views than any other site. Highly recommended.

[petermfiore]

I haven't sold a lot of gear although I've given some of it away (soon, I hope, the Besseler 23c will be gone), and the stuff that I have sold has been to friends.  My local brick & mortar store doesn't buy that much used gear.

To be honest, selling stuff to strangers scares the heck out of me.  It looks like way too much work.

Of course, I don't have _everything_ that I've ever had, unlike some people (petermfiore comes to mind - grin), but I do have leftovers still hanging around. This is kind of handy when I'm not able to leave the house to photograph.  I can do a silly still life in the garage.

Tom

How long have you kept the peanuts? they get stale you know...LOL

Peter

[Ken Bennett]

I've sold a lot of gear over the years, both individually through Craigslist (felt like a felon meeting the guy in the McDonalds parking lot off the interstate after dark in the next city over), on various forums, and by shipping to KEH, Adorama, and Robert's. I've had decent luck on the forums, but it takes a lot of time, shipping is something of a pain for lots of individual objects, and there is the off chance you'll lose a chunk of money. So I've pretty much settled on KEH, and in fact just shipped them a big box of gear yesterday. Looking at eBay prices versus what they offered, and figuring in the hassle of individually listing, packing, and shipping each item, I'll take the lower price for the ease of sale.

But if I were retired, I'd probably stick to selling in the forums. You meet some nice folks that way.

[Endeavour]

Thanks I might give KEH a try

fedex should be able to ship ok and sort out the customs etc

[GrahamBy]

I sold all my Olympus OM gear via ebay before leaving Australia... only complaint was an idiot who expected a lens to get from Melbourne to Seoul in 3 days.

A few months back, I got rid of a couple of Pentax zooms. The situation was more delicate: they were redundant because I didn't like them, the AF was flaky and I'd replaced them with Sigma equivalents. None the less, some people like to be snobby about OEM glass and they were like new, so I advertised them with quite up-front statements about the AF being slow. Otoh, I didn't go so far as to link to all the articles about how failure prone those lenses are.

Both sold at decent prices, but the guy in Rome who bought one lodged a complaint on the last possible day... because the AF was "erratic". Eventually we agreed that he would take the lens to an official service centre and get an opinion as to whether the problem was unusual for that model. I agreed that I would discuss paying part of the repair if the agent agreed that such was possible. No more was heard from him before the end of the allowed delay, so I was free to spend the money at last.