Are these cameras really THAT unpopular?

A

Ash

Selflessly Self-involved
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This is a half-plug for the Contax-II I've been trying to sell. Not entirely, as I'll give it until I can set up an auction and be done with it.




Are they quite unpopular cameras?

Or

Is it that the currency conversion is brutal for anyone outside of Europe??



Discuss please :)
 
Ash

If you did not really want to sell it, someone would buy it... We are all waiting for you to offer it for less.

Noel
 
Ash, over on this side of the pond, we're used to lower prices for this gear. I've bought IIa's with Sonnars for $275.
 
Fair enough. I've put it on ebay now. :)

Course, I'd be willing to close the auction before I get any bids. With over 300 views of the ad and no bites, that's unlikely!
 
That's a sweet set up, Ash, but the exchange rate is crappy at the moment. Otherwise I'd be tempted. That and I just got a IIIf :eek:

I'll get a Contax and Sonnar someday...
 
FrankS said:
Ash, over on this side of the pond, we're used to lower prices for this gear. I've bought IIa's with Sonnars for $275.
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Ash, I agree with Frank about the prices over this side of the Atlantic
 
Lucky SOB's :D


I admit I buy a lot of stuff from the US now, purchasing from is more favorable than selling to you lot.
 
I've always wondered why camera gear is so much more expensive in Europe. I think in the past week alone I've seen probably 4 or 5 items I was interested in that was posted in the classifieds, but because of the exchange rate, it would've been cheaper for me to buy brand new from the US.
 
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Not just camera gear,but most things--Tax,homes,cars,petrol,probably food.Not sure about clothing though,when I can buy a polo shirt for less than 3 quid!!

We must grin and bear it :)

Brian.
 
SCOTFORTHLAD said:
I can buy a polo shirt for less than 3 quid!!
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Not to smash your smirk joy, but plenty of thrift stores sell clothes for nothing, and I've bought a handful of shirts (though not quite polos) from H&M for around $5, ~10 pounds right now.
 
Well, folks, come on over here and try to get reasonably priced health care. (I know, you're all taxed very highly, including VAT, so you pay for it in other ways.)

Right now Europeans have a very favorable exchange rate with the US dollar, so that helps with buying stuff from here.
 
SCOTFORTHLAD said:
Not just camera gear,but most things--Tax,homes,cars,petrol,probably food.Not sure about clothing though,when I can buy a polo shirt for less than 3 quid!!

We must grin and bear it :)

Brian.
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BTW Ash,good luck with the auction,if you recall I had the same experience with the Leica,but it sold at auction to Europe,for the price I had set with no response, here in the Classified.All may not be lost:)
 
erikhaugsby said:
Not to smash your smirk joy, but plenty of thrift stores sell clothes for nothing, and I've bought a handful of shirts (though not quite polos) from H&M for around $5, ~10 pounds right now.
Click to expand...

Erik,
Give me a break,you've spoilt my fun:)

Brian.
 
Humm... on Noel's point, I don't understand what the 'market value' is. If it doesn't go for £180 on the bay, then I'm keeping it. That's already £70 ($140) less than what I paid.
 
Ash,

In oz dollars that's $480.00 ... as a point of reference my IIa and Sonnar cost me $200.00 US which equals $270.00 Australian. Maybe I got lucky ... It did seem cheap at the time!

I may sell mine too I think ... strangely I have discovered I prefer my Kneb II. It sits in my hand more comfortably and I prefer the direction of the focus dial ... must be a 'downunder' thing! :p
 
Maybe I overpaid. The price seemed about right to what I was researching at the time of purchase. American/overseas prices were no cheaper after postage and customs.
 
I got my II with f/2 folding sonnar off ebay for US $169, sent it to Steve Ash for new shutter ribbons and cla, about 50 pounds. Guess I got a lucky deal.
 
Cameras in Europe, especially in the Contax era, were heavily taxed and therefore almost twice the price over USA prices when new. The higher price seems to have stuck through obsolescence into the collectable era. Unfortunately the Contax is not treasured on the collectors market and therefore a users bargain. Even on the collectors market the prices haven't held. I sold a major Contax collection to Bob Pins in 1989 for an amount far in excess of current prices.
 
Ash said:
Maybe I overpaid. The price seemed about right to what I was researching at the time of purchase. American/overseas prices were no cheaper after postage and customs.
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My mistake on the improper dollar-pound conversion earlier.

However, from what I saw during my jaunt through London it appears as if you've essentially forgotten currency exchanges; that is through all the new DSLR ads I saw everything was "numerically" comparable to USD (that is if one disregards currency specifications the raw numbers were very similar, e.g. if memory serves due a Sony A100 was priced at 650 pounds when in the US it cost around $700-750. £650=$1300, nearly double that of the US street price for the same product).

I don't understand it, and unfortunately it is going to kill your chances of selling to an American buyer, Ash.
 
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