Plain Robbery

[biker]

I'm sort of interested in older digital cameras. I'm not a true collector, I've got only a very few of them. I like their style (pictures and camera itself). That's why I browse through second hand offers time by time.
One of our major photography equipment resellers (Megapixel.cz) runs an online second hand camera shop. There's also an online calculator if you want to offer them your camera for repurchasing.

Out of a curiosity I selected an offered camera (Pentax K20D body - full accessories - almost no traces of use) and used it in the repurchase calculator to check what would I get for such a camera.
The repurchase calculator has set the price to CZK 350 ($14). But they sell such a camera, in the same condition for CZK 4900 ($196). That's 14 times more!

Newer/more expensive cameras haven't got such a mad repurchase/reselling prices ratio, but with these old models it's really so insane. I know - they spend time by checking and cleaning repurchased cameras (well, another renowned reseller tried to offer me a Pentax ist*D I was interested in and it was all dirty, sticky and with flat batteries), they pay some taxes, they offer a 6 month warranty to the next owner and they still want to profit. But the price 14 times higher is a plain robbery IMO.

I tried to contact them through their website and ask them if these prices were OK. But they haven't replied and the ratio has been still the same.

[MattBurt]

Well that is their line of business, to buy low and sell high. Maybe you could find a similar camera from a different source at a better price?

[Jim Pascoe]

Yes it is a free market - nothing wrong with that.  I have an old (2004?) Canon D30 3 Megapixel DSLR.  I should think it's resale value is almost zero.  But it still works and makes very good pictures with a top lens attached.  One day it will be worth a fortune I should think......

Must be very satisfying for a dealer to actually make some real money from selling cameras.  I think they are so screwed down on margins with the new stuff that they probably make more money from selling filters and CF cards than they do even fairly high-end gear.

Jim

[Zorki5]

they spend time by checking and cleaning repurchased cameras (well, another renowned reseller tried to offer me a Pentax ist*D I was interested in and it was all dirty, sticky and with flat batteries), they pay some taxes, they offer a 6 month warranty to the next owner and they still want to profit.

They also have to store them somewhere, and they run the risk of buying it from you and not selling it, or at the very least paying you now and getting paid themselves god knows when.

But the price 14 times higher is a plain robbery IMO.

I don't think so...

Try to look at absolute numbers, not just "times", and suppose they had a free stock of used Pentaxes... At what price point selling those would be profitable?

[Otto Phocus]

As others have pointed out it is a matter of monetizing risk.

If a store buys a camera and can't sell it.  The camera store can't go back to the original seller and ask to cancel the deal. 

So the store has to sell the camera for

What they paid for it + the monetized risk of not selling it + the costs of storing and selling the camera + profit (and probably a slew of other costs too)

You may not like the price the store is charging, and the price may be unreasonable for the majority of customers.  But it is not robbery in any sense.

It may not be a price you are willing to pay though. And that's OK.

"Everything is worth what its purchaser will pay for it." -- Leonard Nimoy.    (Some may claim it is from some guy named Publilius Syrus, but when was the last time he was asked to do a voice over for a video game?)

[Telecaster]

I still have my K-20D stowed away in a box somewhere. For US$200 even in 2016 it's a lot of camera.

-Dave-

[scyth]

I'm sort of interested in older digital cameras. I'm not a true collector, I've got only a very few of them. I like their style (pictures and camera itself). That's why I browse through second hand offers time by time.
One of our major photography equipment resellers (Megapixel.cz) runs an online second hand camera shop. There's also an online calculator if you want to offer them your camera for repurchasing.

Out of a curiosity I selected an offered camera (Pentax K20D body - full accessories - almost no traces of use) and used it in the repurchase calculator to check what would I get for such a camera.
The repurchase calculator has set the price to CZK 350 ($14). But they sell such a camera, in the same condition for CZK 4900 ($196). That's 14 times more!

Newer/more expensive cameras haven't got such a mad repurchase/reselling prices ratio, but with these old models it's really so insane. I know - they spend time by checking and cleaning repurchased cameras (well, another renowned reseller tried to offer me a Pentax ist*D I was interested in and it was all dirty, sticky and with flat batteries), they pay some taxes, they offer a 6 month warranty to the next owner and they still want to profit. But the price 14 times higher is a plain robbery IMO.

I tried to contact them through their website and ask them if these prices were OK. But they haven't replied and the ratio has been still the same.

try KEH - a well known business in USA - see what they do

[biker]

Okay  - now I can see it in a bit different light.
Maybe they aren't so careless as the other reseller that tried to offer a second hand *istD that was dirty, sticky and with flat batteries. (The other reseller is a respected photography equipment house with educated personnel but their second hand section hasn't done a good job here.)

I can understand they might not be able to resell a particular camera but they always can stop repurchasing that type/category. What I know, the other reseller doesn't repurchase any older compact cameras with 1/2.3 sensors.

Must be very satisfying for a dealer to actually make some real money from selling cameras.  I think they are so screwed down on margins with the new stuff that they probably make more money from selling filters and CF cards than they do even fairly high-end gear.

Didn't know their margins are so low. The accessories are indeed the way to make a profit. A few months ago I was searching for an original FujiFilm lens hood and both shops mentioned were selling it for $52. But I googled more and found an e-shop and the price was $16. That's a difference I'd say. The goods received was definitely original with a protection hologram and intact. And they also got some profit because why would they sell it?

@scyth: Thanks for the tip but I'm in the EU and shopping in the USA is a PITA because of duty procedures.

[Jim Pascoe]

Margins vary enormously depending on the product.  I'm no expert but I used to work in a bicycle shop and the mark-up on clothing was about 50%, but on bicycles only around 17% I seem to remember.  So when a customer was trying to haggle a 10% discount he was looking to take half the profit margin.

I believe electronics including cameras are even worse.

Jim

[Farmer]

Focussing on the "14 times" really isn't appropriate when you're talking about such a low value item. 

They're charging $182- less taxes, less overheads, cleaning, wages, administration, warranty, turnaround time, and so on.  Other than the taxes which are proportional, the rest are fixed costs whether the item is worth $14- to buy or $1,400-.

[GrahamBy]

suppose they had a free stock of used Pentaxes... At what price point selling those would be profitable?

A good way of putting it. I have a K10 and a K7 in the cupboard. Looking at prices things sell for on ebay (as opposed to what people ask), they might bring me 20€ and 50€. With the hassle of selling, shipping, buyers complaining and so on... it's not worth the effort to sell them. I'd give them to a beginner, but he or she would then need lenses, and she will probably be looking ahead to when she can afford to buy newer equipment... so she'd be more likely to want to buy Canon or Nikon lenses (right or wrong). So probably I couldn't give them away.

Also, someone who buys them up front and then offers them for sale... might eventually only sell 1 in 10. In which case the effective buying price of the one sold is 10 times what was handed to the seller.