Trade in or sell privately?

[John Mitchell]

When you buy new equipment, do you sell your old stuff privately (e.g. thru craigslist, eBay, etc) for as much $ as possible or prefer to trade it in for less money?

 

Why?

[Michael Ventura]

I fight with this dilemma often.  You can stand to lose 40 to 50% when trading in or selling to a shop that will resell your gear.  So, I am inclined to sell it directly thru eBay or a place like that.  But the lazy me, which can be a strong force, just wants to sell it to B&H or KEH.

Those two places I just mentioned, will give you an online quote....not sure how that would work for Canadians selling. 

[Betty LaRue]

I sold some through Craigslist. I sold some through Nikonians. Of course, that’s mainly Nikon gear, but they did expand in some other brands. I sold some through a Nikon forum in Facebook.

When I got a quote from a local camera shop, the offer was peanuts in comparison. I didn’t try KEH or B&H.

Betty

 

[Ed Rooney]

Michael, do check out mpb: https://www.mpb.com/en-us/

 

 

[John Mitchell]

2 hours ago, Michael Ventura said:

I fight with this dilemma often.  You can stand to lose 40 to 50% when trading in or selling to a shop that will resell your gear.  So, I am inclined to sell it directly thru eBay or a place like that.  But the lazy me, which can be a strong force, just wants to sell it to B&H or KEH.

Those two places I just mentioned, will give you an online quote....not sure how that would work for Canadians selling. 

 

US and UK-based outfits are not usually good for Canadians due to high shipping rates. I've had good luck with Craigslist in the past. However, putting up with lowballers and silly questions can be a headache, so I'm often tempted to trade-in. My cheaper angels always win out, though, and I end up selling privately. Have never tried eBay. Should I?

[Martin B]

25 minutes ago, John Mitchell said:

 

 Have never tried eBay. Should I?

I literally make a living selling camera gear and lenses on eBay.  You can ask whatever you need to get for an item. You don't have to answer silly questions or respond to low-ball offers. Well cared for lenses often sell for close to, and sometimes more than, their original retail price. Digital bodies, not so much. They don't hold value well.  Post very detailed photos, and write an honest and accurate description.

[Marianne]

I just went through this and settled for a compromise.

i traded in my backup camera for more than I'd have gotten on eBay as part of the Sony trade in event on B&H, so that was a win. Digital cameras don't hold their value like lenses do. 

 

I then sent an email to a couple of photo groups I belong to or have belonged to in the past with the list of my equipment and what I was asking (priced at a slight discount compared to what they were going for on eBay and the used departments of various online retailers in hopes of a quick sale). I gave it a week and sold a few lenses for my asking price, then sold the rest through mpb which gave me the best price (I checked out KEH and B&H too). mpb later lowballed some of the equipment after receiving it, but I was able to get them to go back up to the close to the original price they'd quoted. I know I lost a lot on the equipment I sold them compared to what I'd get on eBay but they took it all, and since I was selling off all my Nikon cameras and lenses except for one I decided to keep, I just couldn't deal with all the hassle of eBay listings, mailing it all off, etc. Selling locally to people I knew or who were friends of friends was easy.  I packed up all the rest in one box and was done.  So, lazy me won out, but the few pieces I sold locally made up for a lot of what I lost on the lazy end, and I now have a new Sony A7rii and some lenses I'm happy with, and a lighter kit.

 

I think I might go with KEH in future. I wasn't really happy with mpb but the cash in my bank account is better than a bunch of unused equipment on my closet shelves. 

 

I've got a lot going on in my life at the moment, so speed and ease of sale won out. 

 

 

[Chuck Nacke]

99% of the time I just put it on Craigslist (CL) and meet the person at Starbucks, was going to make a

joke about Starbucks but....,  It is easy to figure out if someone from CL is serious and for the last decade

it has not been a problem, but every time I have tried B & H or KEH I have not been happy with what they

offered me.  One thing I do is take very good accurate photographs of what I'm selling.

 

I've also sold a lot of my surplus equipment on eBay, but CL does not take a fee for the sale....

[Marianne]

Maybe I'll try Craigslist next time. That extra 50% would have been another lens or two.... 

[John Mitchell]

7 minutes ago, Marianne said:

Maybe I'll try Craigslist next time. That extra 50% would have been another lens or two.... 

 

As Chuck said, include a few photos in your ad and meet at Starbucks or some other coffee shop. That's what I always do too. I've enjoyed meeting the people that I've sold stuff to. Many of them have been students just getting into photography.

[spacecadet]

New equipment? You're having a larf. I've only ever had two new cameras, in 1977 and 2009.

I now buy and sell on ebay, it always works out fine but I'm very much at the bottom end of the market. Sellers are protective of their ratings so they invariably try very hard. But the UK market may be very different.

[John Mitchell]

9 hours ago, spacecadet said:

New equipment? You're having a larf. I've only ever had two new cameras, in 1977 and 2009.

I now buy and sell on ebay, it always works out fine but I'm very much at the bottom end of the market. Sellers are protective of their ratings so they invariably try very hard. But the UK market may be very different.

 

Buying new is usually against my religion. I was going to purchase a used Sony a6000, but a new one is now on sale for almost the same price in Canada, so I'm foolishly going to take the plunge. Hopefully the larf won't be on me.

[John Mitchell]

Well, I took Sony's bait and bought the new a6000 w/16-50 lens for a very good sale price ($580 CAN + tax, about $200 off the original cost). Now all I have to do is sell my NEX-6 and a couple of old lenses in order to help pay the bill. I've put the items on Craigslist and another local buy and sell site, but so far the response has been somewhat underwhelming. Any hints out there from experienced online sellers?

 

 

[KevinS]

Craigslist is a limited pool of buyers as it is geared to the locale. EBay is a huge pool of buyers, but you usually have to ship the item. I no longer offer free shipping (that amount would be subject to the fee), but keep the shipping charge low so as to not turn off customers with what might look like excessive shipping. For many items I find the fee (~13%) worth getting access to a big marketplace. Check the going prices by ticking the 'Sold Items' box on the search results page.    

[John Mitchell]

8 minutes ago, KevinS said:

Craigslist is a limited pool of buyers as it is geared to the locale. EBay is a huge pool of buyers, but you usually have to ship the item. I no longer offer free shipping (that amount would be subject to the fee), but keep the shipping charge low so as to not turn off customers with what might look like excessive shipping. For many items I find the fee (~13%) worth getting access to a big marketplace. Check the going prices by ticking the 'Sold Items' box on the search results page.    

 

Thanks for the advice. I've never tried eBay. Shall have a look at their terms, "sold items" box (hadn't thought of that), etc. Reaching a wider market makes sense. One drawback is that international shipping rates tend to be very high in Canada. Can you specify shipping only within your own country of residence when posting ads on eBay?

[Michael Ventura]

22 minutes ago, John Mitchell said:

 

Thanks for the advice. I've never tried eBay. Shall have a look at their terms, "sold items" box (hadn't thought of that), etc. Reaching a wider market makes sense. One drawback is that international shipping rates tend to be very high in Canada. Can you specify shipping only within your own country of residence when posting ads on eBay?

 

Yes John, you can specify shipping only within your country....I do that a lot.

[John Mitchell]

1 hour ago, Michael Ventura said:

 

Yes John, you can specify shipping only within your country....I do that a lot.

 

Thanks. Good to know.

 

Nothing personal...

[MariaJ]

John have you ever tried Lens&Shutter?  I see they buy and sell used gear.  I haven't tried them though.

[Reimar]

Odd no-one has mentioned Kijiji.  That's what I use for all my photo gear.  No shipping, and Toronto is a big enough market so that if you have patience, you'll get a reasonable amount.

[John Mitchell]

8 hours ago, MariaJ said:

John have you ever tried Lens&Shutter?  I see they buy and sell used gear.  I haven't tried them though.

 

Thanks, Maria. Haven't tried them, but camera stores generally offer piddling amounts for trade-ins. Another one offered me $100 for my NEX-6, which is in near "mint" condition. They would have sold it for at least three times that much. L&S takes stuff on consignment as well, which is another last-resort option.

[John Mitchell]

3 hours ago, Reimar said:

Odd no-one has mentioned Kijiji.  That's what I use for all my photo gear.  No shipping, and Toronto is a big enough market so that if you have patience, you'll get a reasonable amount.

 

I've listed there too. My first response was from someone who wanted me to ship to Calgary. Sounded like a possible scam. Kijiji hounds you with e-mails, trying to get you to pay for various upgrades to your ad. It's a fairly user-friendly website, though.

[Phil Robinson]

As a rule I leave it on a shelf to gather dust.

But what I have sold I have done via eBay - I've never had any problems and you can set a minimum price and hang onto it if the reserve isn't met (or get in touch with the higher bidder if you decide they can have it anyway). 

I was replacing a fisheye with a wide angle zoom and looked into the trade-in price for the fisheye but got more on eBay (though not a lot more)

 

[KevinS]

30 minutes ago, Phil Robinson said:

As a rule I leave it on a shelf to gather dust.

But what I have sold I have done via eBay - I've never had any problems and you can set a minimum price and hang onto it if the reserve isn't met (or get in touch with the higher bidder if you decide they can have it anyway). 

I was replacing a fisheye with a wide angle zoom and looked into the trade-in price for the fisheye but got more on eBay (though not a lot more)

 

Never had a problem with eBay, either, over a hundred items sold. Lately I've used the Buy It Now option to set a price. Having a good feedback score and being patient has resulted in my getting my price almost always. My shelves are too full to keep it all so moving things along is what I do now as time allows. 

[Bill Kuta]

I've used Craig's List, I believe to good advantage. I always met the individual in a public place and dealt in cash. Of course, that only works if you live in a large enough metro area.

[Bryan]

I've used eBay and once foolishly did not set a minimum price, the buyer got a bargain. Prefer to use Gumtree (UK equivalent of Craig's ?) as there is no commission to pay. 

 

Whatever method, as others have said, sensible pricing based upon previous sales, good photos and accurate and honest description essential. I've never sold to a camera store.