4 month old ZI + 50 Planar at $500 ???

[nayanan]

I was debating if I got too many cameras and lenses to focus on taking pictures, and today, I finally stopped by a local camera store (called Keable & Shuchat in Palo Alto, CA) to learn how much they'd offer to buy my Canon SLR gears.

Hearing $350 for the very clean one-year old 70-200/4L + 7NE + B&W MC CPL filter set, out of curiosity, I asked about their offering price for my ZI + 50 Planar combo which I'm carrying with me all the time. And their answer was $500 for both gears which aged only 4 months so far.. It almost felt like stealing.. 🙁

I'm just wondering if this is only an example about how ouside world sees the film equipment these days, or it is just them who sort of lost a sense of ethics... (BTW, They're selling many used cameras like Leica, Rolleiflex, Nikon, to name a few, at prices higher than B&H.)

Anyways, the occasion helped me decide to keep my gears and use them until they're all worn out of good usage... :bang:

 

[cp_ste.croix]

it's more a function of their desire to make as much money off of you as possible.

 

[einolu]

if you were to put the body and the lens up on ebay you would probably find that they havent depreciated all that much, especially if they look find and have the box and papers.

 

[Don Parsons]

I agree. Your 70-200 is worth that.

 

[ghost]

never sell things to sellers. 😀

 

[back alley]

trading in or selling to a retail store will get you on average about 40% of their value.

 

[ZeissFan]

This shouldn't come as a shock. A camera store is in business to make money, not help you get a good deal. So they will offer you as little as possible in order to maximize their profit. By cheap, sell high. Plus, there is no guarantee that they will be able to resell your lens in a timely manner. And that means it takes up valuable storage space. Time + space = money.

While it might not seem fair, it does make sense from a business point of view.

If you want to sell gear, eliminate the middle man -- in this case, the camera shop.

 

[cp_ste.croix]

this very day I went to see if I could trade in my EOS 1VHS against a used Leica...it was not worth it as they needed to make money on both ends of the deal, which, though I understood, still annoyed me. I think your best bet is to sell privately and then buy more gear...it's a PITB, but it's your best return.

oh, and anyone with an M3/M6 that they want to trade for a EOS 1vHS plus lens, pm me 😀

 

[tedwhite]

A long time ago, 1984 or 1985, to be more or less exact, in a camera shop in Tucson, I was shown a break-through in camera engineering. So I got seduced by the new AF Minolta Maxxum 7000 (Minolta's AF caught the big boys with their pants down), and traded an M3 w/50/2 Summicron for a 7000 with a 50mm lens.

Obviously I've just opened a new window on stupidity. To the Maxxum's credit, it lasted until last year, but boy, do I wish I could retroactively rescind that trade.

ONe can but speculate on how much the camera store made on that "trade."

Ted

 

[cp_ste.croix]

Ouch Ted....I feel your pain.

 

[Wimpler]

A used camera store only wanted to give $10 for my canon 50mm f0.95.

 

[Kevin]

Camera stores here in Germany practise the same buy low technique.

 

[Avotius]

might I suggest if there is a college around you that has a photography department or something, go post some adds on their boards or something. Thats what I did when i wanted to get rid of my old sony f717. Plus you wont get taken as much as going into a store, those places are a rip off anyway.

 

[ywenz]

who cares what they're offering you. Just check out what the ZIs are going for on Ebay.

 

[jaapv]

I sold a 70-200 4.0L a year ago on FM at 750$. And that was a more than fair price.

 

[Les Lammers]

A long time ago, 1984 or 1985, to be more or less exact, in a camera shop in Tucson, I was shown a break-through in camera engineering. So I got seduced by the new AF Minolta Maxxum 7000 (Minolta's AF caught the big boys with their pants down), and traded an M3 w/50/2 Summicron for a 7000 with a 50mm lens.

Obviously I've just opened a new window on stupidity. To the Maxxum's credit, it lasted until last year, but boy, do I wish I could retroactively rescind that trade.

ONe can but speculate on how much the camera store made on that "trade."

Ted

Ted,

Don't feel bad. About the same time I got an M-3 and DR Cron in a thrift shop for $15. Yup, $15. I traded it for a Nikon FM-2 and a couple of lenses. :bang:
Seemed like a good idea at the time.

Les

 

[nayanan]

Thanks, folks, for your caring replies and advices.
They're awakening also..

In the way how I ended up determining to really use up my gears,
this "mishap" turns out to be "happiness in disguise" I guess..